Early morning check-in woes

ON a recent trip, we arrived at the LAX American Airlines terminal at 4 a.m. for a 7 a.m. flight. Because the trip involved international travel we could not use the electronic express line but were directed to a line already a few hundred strong waiting to check their baggage.

Approximately 1 1/2 hours later we got to the counter to check in. We then had to take our luggage a couple of hundred yards away to hand over to the X-ray guys. This involved another 20- to 30-minute wait to hand over the bags.

The wait and process to get through security to check hand luggage and the personal check was smooth and effortless, taking less than 15 minutes at most.

My point is it seems security screening is blamed for three-hour check-in times when, in fact, our experience was that security was the quickest, smoothest phase of the whole experience. I would suggest the lack of check-in stations open at such an early hour (or any hour) was the problem.

ROBERT HODGKIN

Valencia