I’m a frequent flier who travels more than 200,000 miles a year – here’s my hack for getting through airport security faster (even if you haven’t got fast-track status)

I’m Gilbert Ott, frequent flier and Founder of travel site godsavethepoints.com, and I have a hack that will get you through airport security more quickly.

What’s more – it’s absolutely not too good to be true.

I call it the airport pre-strip.

It means, depending on the rules where you’re flying from, taking off any layers and metal-detecting items, such as your belt and jewellery, long before you actually walk up to put your things in trays or go through a scanner.

If you’re required to take out laptops or liquids, think about packing them in a way that takes under five seconds to remove them. And yes, I take my laptop out of my bag in places where I must do so, well before I get to the trays.

The security folks look at me with glee as I slap it down before they’ve had a chance to speak.

Think with me for a second: some airport terminals screen more than 70,000 passengers per day. If you think of the seconds it takes each passenger to take off their belt, their watches or other things, it adds at least 15 seconds per passenger. If there are 100 people in line, those 15 seconds amount to 25 minutes of unnecessary delay.

We could eliminate so much waiting.

My outfit consists of comfortable shoes without metal, comfortable jeans, a sweatshirt or T-shirt as my base layer, and my favourite bomber jacket as my flex layer for changing temperatures. Because I know it’s a time waster to take off, it’s the last thing I pack into the top of my backpack and I don’t don it until I’m ‘airside’, past the scanners.

I travel more than 200,000 miles a year and I can’t tell you the last time I slowed down the side going through a scanner.

More hacks? Sure. You can absolutely bring food through airport security as long as it’s not considered a liquid. I love to bring my favourite meals with me, like good sushi, so that I can skip the reheated airline meals.

More? You can pre-book your security slot at many airports globally and there are also special lanes for families and for those people who buy security memberships like TSA PreCheck (USA) or have airline status that gets them fast-track. Use these to your advantage!

The pre-strip means ‘taking off any layers and metal-detecting items, such as your belt and jewellery, long before you actually walk up to put your things in trays or go through a scanner’