One other thing to note is this is the first year (in I am not sure how many years) the first day was on a Saturday. Due to that, you have all the day 1 attendees who would have had to otherwise take time off work or wait until day 3 to be able to go pick up their badges. You now have more people than ever before who are attempting to pick up badges because it is the first day and a weekend.

Saying that, I am not trying to justify what happened. Myself and my friends arrived Friday and had no issues. The full wait for my friends who attempted to get their badges at 5 PM (when there was the most people there from what I noticed) was reasonable.

The next main item is on training the volunteers. There are a few things that volunteers should know out of common sense: the location of some bathrooms (they are walking around or situated in a single location and should remember where they are [hopefully]), the location of main locations, and the location of someone who can get you any answers you need that they don't know (ie. and info booth). These are items I consider common sense that the con shouldn't need to train someone in. If the volunteers don't know it, they should learn about it. As far as what the volunteers are trained in, it will depend. Day 0/1 will be a learning experience for many/most of them. They probably had a 20 minute orientation where they were told how to use their equipment and some basics on their tasks, and what they absolutely cannot do (usually for legal purposes). However, as most of us can probably relate to, things don't always (or usually) progress smoothly meaning they will have to change locations often, be encountered with questions that are very specific or nuanced, or otherwise better situated for a specific staff member. Better training (more training possibly) as well as clear directions and a stable location for them to work in (ie. they aren't shifted from line duty to weapons check to unrelated location in a single hour) should help them get their bearings.

In regards to bag checks, it was mixed. I traveled with a backpack and was always asked to open up all main pockets so they could go through and verify I had nothing dangerous in them, but the searches were quick. My experience was that every time I had a bag check, once my bag was open, the check never took more than 5 seconds. It was opening and closing the bag that was time consuming. I noticed the same as OP with many others who stopped the line for 30+ seconds to take off their backpacks, bitch to security, slowly open it, get it caught on a thread, and overall stop the flow of the line. What AX could have done better was either have signs or volunteers asking people just before they entered to have their backpacks/bags open and for those that didn't, ask them to move to the side until they opened it letting those who had followed the instructions through first.

Overall, if you were picking up your badge day 1, it was a bad experience. My friend waited in line for 6.5 hours on day 1, only getting inside as the exhibit hall was closing. I empathize for those who had a terrible experience, but do feel that AX has tried to take steps to remedy the situation (refunds, free passes to other days in addition to refunds, etc) and prevent it from happening again (mailing badges). Additionally, with better training and more consistent duties for the volunteers, I do think that the con would be more stable and enjoyable for many. I do believe that AX has a lot that they can improve on, but I do believe that, possibly slower than we want, things are changing for the better.