I'm way too young to have experienced Ellis Island, but I have little doubt that United Airlines had faithfully replicated it at LAX on Saturday. Lines crisscrossed and people bunched up into bundles of luggage carts and strollers. The line moved so slowly that I made it to the front at 11:15, only 3 and a half hours after my flight departed. Apparently there was a 'security breach' somewhere in the terminal and we were all backlogged and directionless. Every person in a burgundy blazer pointed in 'an over there direction' to the 500 driftless passengers in zig-zag queues. In the end I made it to my destination but not without a few hours of frustration.
