I just went through airport security and was quite surprised how easy it was (relatively speaking). Didn’t have to go through a body scanner, didn’t have to separate liquids, didn’t have to take out my laptop, and my boarding pass wasn’t even scanned. Did some rules change? Is their thoroughness related to terrorist threat levels?
Last time I flew in the US was back in April, and I still had to do all of those things you mentioned. Not sure how you got a free pass
I’ve been doing that for years via Pre-Check.
I travel for a living, was even delivering weed through TSA around covid times. It’s gotten better, but it just varies, I kept a toothpaste in my bag for three trips, on the fourth trip it was too big to go through.
TSA changes up what they do each day. I just got back from a trip myself. On the way there, they didn’t scan boarding passes. On the way back, they did. The guy even said they change things up to keep “the baddies” on their toes. Sometimes you don’t take off your shoes, sometimes you do.
Pre-check helps tremendously to make that the norm. No need to unpack electronics, no shoes off. Only thing they still do occasionally is the full body scan when randomly selected.
I was going to sign up for pre-check and then I realized I hated the idea. You have to let them do a full background check on you, give your fingerprints, register all of your information, and pay money just to be afforded the same decency that used to be standard. I hate everything it represents.
For those asking it was a domestic flight (USA if that wasn’t clear). Easiest boarding I’ve had in decades.