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| - Since moving to Madison last year, I've flown in and out of MSN almost 20 times. For a small municipal airport, MSN is extremely modern, clean, and attractive. Since it's a relatively small airport, check-in and security waits are pretty minimal...I've arrived less than an hour before my flight time and had a good cushion of time to spare. That said, the wait at the airline counter *can* be slow, and the TSA staff at security can be odd and inefficient at times.
When checking luggage, the security staff have ALWAYS opened up my luggage each time, so use TSA-approved locks, plastic ties, or leave your luggage open; otherwise, they'll call you on the intercom and ask you to come down and open your bags.
If you're flying to either coast, keep in mind that most flights route through Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis, Detroit, St. Louis, or other hubs (try to avoid Chicago, as most of my flights there have been delayed). There are some direct flights to New York (LGA) and a few other places, but sadly for me, no non-stop flights to the west coast.
As the other poster mentioned, there's a small variety of places to eat while waiting for your flight (there's a franchise of the Great Dane Pub here, a German restaurant, Ben and Jerry's, a cafe, and some fast-foodish style places--thankfully, no Burger King or McDonalds here).
When you return to Madison, the wait for bags can be excruciatingly slow...I'm not sure if the airport is understaffed or what, but it seems to take a long time to unload planes that have relatively small passenger manifests. Also, don't plan on taking the Metro Transit bus to or from the airport on weekends or holidays, as there is no bus service during these times. Instead, catch a cab on the far end of the baggage pickup area.
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