Just used GRI for the first time in a decade, via American Eagle to Savannah, GA via one stop at Dallas. ONE STOP! Turned out flying from home was faster and cheaper than Omaha or Lincoln (travel time and parking costs considered), so that was a very pleasant surprise.
Arrived an hour and a quarter before the scheduled flight like we're told to and there was no line at the ticket counter. The TSA agent checking ID turns out to be a friend of the wife and since it was quiet, we got to visit for a while. WEIRD! Her post is out by the ticket counters because there's not enough room in the security area, so that's kind of dorky.
Went through the security process and the 5 TSA folks in there were actually friendly and one of them was apparently in charge of humor and cut up at every opportunity. DOUBLE WEIRD!
So, we get to the holding area and discover that we're about the last ones to arrive for our flight, which had us worried we had the schedule wrong. Nope, everybody else was extra early too and will do better, next time.
The Allegiant outbound for Vegas that should have left an hour earlier though was still on the ground with about 150 folks filling the larger holding annex, or whatever they call it. So, getting to the restrooms was pretty much impossible till they finally cleared out. Apparently Vegas was backed up and putting flights on hold for some reason was all we could gather from conversations.
The next thing I couldn't believe was that people had placed orders for lunches from the cafe outside the secure area and the TSA people were picking them up and bringing them to the passengers by hand.
So, summing up, the current airport is 60's vintage and it shows and the bandaids are pretty poorly designed to keep it running. I've seen preliminary art for the new terminal and it's disappointing that they're only designing it to handle two planes and up to 200 people at a time, but it probably makes all the sense in the world right now. it looks like it will be easily expandable. At least there will be two jet bridges instead of the existing ramps.
The drawings are only preliminary, just for a place to start for discussion, I'm guessing. The final design should follow in a few months as the FAA just released $900K for design work with an early 2014 construction start anticipated.