I'm flying internally from DCA to FLL and was wondering what security is like and how long to give ourselves to check-in. I know some airports are taking ages these days

I know of no airports taking "ages" these days. The long lines disappeared slowly after the security changes and I rarely wait in a security line more than 5-10 minutes.

National Airport may be one of the secure airports in the country and have the new security system down pat. I fly in and out often and have never waited more than 10 minutes to get through security. An hour ahead should be fine.

Depends on what time of day. When I've flown around 6 p.m., the security lines have been really long (last time, I waited in line about 30 minutes), whereas before 2 p.m., there's almost no line at all.

In addition, with security having changed to govt. workers, it is a little faster. Is that an oxymoron or what?

not only do they have their routines down pat, it still isn't a dreadfully busy airport. I've flown in and out a few times recently and it isn't the madhouse that is Dulles.

I haven't noticed any difference since they federalized security. But then I lived in the DC area until recently, so I was expecting the federal workers to be much slower.

damedonna - I agree that an hour should be fine.

It's funny. Everyone says that it's the best security, but last month I flew to Houston, and when I got on the plane, I realized that no one had looked at my ID until I was actually boarding the plane! Not the guy who checked my bag, and not the woman who looked at my ticket while I was in line for security. That was the first time that happened, but it was a little odd.

Also, the hour assumes you have e-tickets and can use the kiosks. For certain airlines, I have seen some pretty long check-in lines for people without e-tickets.

Karen

Karen is right. If you have an eticket and can use the kiosk, you can breeze in pretty quickly. I fly out of National several times a month, and while I give myself an hour, the last time I actually needed that much time was when I was flying on sept. 11, 2002. But that was a flight to Canada, and you can't use the kiosks to check into an int'l flight. If you have to do regular check-in, be sure to give yourself at least an hour. That's where the lines always are.