What else is new?

Thursday, August 10, 2006

So the airports are in chaos right now. Whoopty doo. You know whats frightening? How non shalant everyone is at the airports these days. 3 hours before departure for a 1 hour flight? No problems. Cavity search for a flight? No bother. When I am flying from Luton or Gatwick or Stanstead, there is a row of booths that everyone is stopped at to get their passport inspected by a Customs officer. This is the last flight I took last week from London to Edinburgh. Before the scare:The flight was departing at 18:00 from Loton to Edinburgh. I arrived 3 hours in advance. I already had a boarding pass so there was no need for me to stand in the check in line that seemed like the line at a free ice cream sampling. I went to the security point thinking that I would sit down in the departure area and eat my sandwich. I was greeted by a hoard of people waiting to pass through the security check where only 2 xray machines were working. Out of available 7. So before you get to the area where you receive some healthy dose of radiation, you have to show your boarding pass and your ID (1 if you are counting the check in counter thats 2). Then I stood inline for about 1 hour 45 minutes while the people snaked around the makeshift slalom velvet ropes making it look like there is a free Picasso napkin doodle at the end of it free for everyone attending. But no. What was at the end, was the more unwilling to listen faces telling people who are late for the flights that everyone is late for the flight. Huh? If you had enough staff you wouldnt have the line because all of the screening machines could be working. But I soon saw what the hold up was and why only 2 places were working. You see, they did have enough staff. The reason that there were only 2 machines woking, is because there were 2 people viewing the xray images, 2 men and 2 womes standing to do a pat down if the person beeps throught the metal detector, and the rest of about 14 people were hand searching every peice of hand luggage going through this section. Every one little peice.So after waiting for 15 minutes for my turn to be evaluated for the neatness of my packed luggage, I was let loose in the collection point between the security barrier and the passport control point, where it looked like the slaughter house and were the sheep. The screener did empty the contents of my bag onto the table and looked at everything, by the way. Police were checking the boarding cards and passports (thats 3) of everyone who was funneling through to board their flight after standing in line to get screened for almost 2 hours. They asked me the questions like am I a legal resident here. Am I working. Where is my residence, and of course the obligatory questions like has anyone without your knowledge had access to my bags. Well, if anyone had, would I know about it?? Fine. It was already 17.30 and I desided to make my way to the gate. Obligatory POlice in full riot gear with semi-automatic weapons dont fase me anymore. Do I feel safer with them around? No. Would you feel safer on the plane if somewhere in the hugeness of the terminal you knew that there were police with guns? No.After walking for about half the way to the gate, I came to what appeared to be another security point where I had to present my ID and a boarding pass (thats 4). So let me guet this straight - all the people flying from the gate past the security point get their little 'you are safe to fly star' and all the people whos gate is before the security point are just good enough? fine. The plane boarding was uneventful, although I was asked to show my boarding card and ID once again at the gate (thats 5) and prior to enetering the plane, although this time, it was only for a boarding card (soI am going to awad it a 1.2). Apparantly the boarding card before coming on the plane is in case someone sneaks in between the gate and the plane door.Thats 5.5 times that my identity has been checked, scanned, probed and, im my opinion, stored somewhere for later use. I lef london 4 hours before departing on a 1 hour flight bringing the total number of hours of travel to 7 (I am counting the bus from Edinburgh airport to Heymarket station).This weekend I am taking a train. From london to Edinburgh. 4.5 hours. Non stop. With scenery. £45 cheaper than flying. Who knew. Plus my cast wrapped broken leg would like some comfort as well.Look. All I am sayin is that the security has to be beefed up. The intelligence has to be beefed up. The research has to be beefed up. But who is paying the price? The consumer. In every way.