Just flew to Phila.,and back again over the past 2 days with USAir. First of all, it doesn't seem like that many people are flying these days relative to the years before 9/11. They've cut back their flights quite a bit and even at that the planes aren't full. It's been quite sometime since I've seen anyone waiting standby. There were plenty of empty seats both to our destination and back home. In the past I rarely saw that happen and remember there were more flights that have since been cut back.

Going through security can be humiliating. I made the mistake of wearing pants with a couple of small metal decorations on them, and you guessed it, I got pulled aside and checked out thoroughly. Maybe it's me, but when asked to roll down the waist of my pants in full view of other people going through security, I find that pretty embarrassing. I've heard much worse stories than that. Oh yeah and I had to give them my shoes (been there, done that before) and stand on some strange mat. The security person was pleasant I must admit and I responded in kind, but I couldn't help but wonder who was getting through when all this was going on who really did have ill intent. It's very common to read news reports of people getting through with guns, knives, and other such dangerous items.

On the way back out of Phila., Mark got pulled aside just before boarding. This was after some individual from USAir came through the line asking for ID (which they usually do when you get to the gate agent who looks at your boarding passes). When I explained that Mark was holding the IDs with the tickets, I got told off for that. She also remarked that we didn't look very happy to be flying back to X (where we live)- acted like it was a crime. Well to be honest, our family probably doesn't look too happy post 9/2/98- flying for obvious reasons. It's very depressing for us. At any rate they wouldn't let my daughter and me wait while Mark was being searched- they made us stand in the ____ (can't for the life of me remember the name of that thing that connects the plane to the airport.) So there we stood feeling like idiots as people went by wondering what we had done (?). I wish I could say that this hasn't happened to us many times before but I would be lying. I guess I should take it that they are doing their jobs efficiently. Again though there are all those stories about people getting through with items that could be dangerous. You have to wonder if they don't pick on the wrong people. Like all the old people in wheel chairs they pull over and search, etc.

Now don't get me wrong, I am grateful to the airline for getting my family (what's left of it) safely home in light of what's happened to us in the past with a formerly reputable foreign airline. I commend them for doing their job. I just wonder though if it won't just continue to get so bad to fly with all the hassles that eventually people will just give it up almost entirely. The thought has definately crossed my mind.

About 3 weeks ago when I had to fly, I noticed that one security person was really provoking a passenger going through security. I happened to be standing outside that area when they finally let him go. He was so angry that he was mumbling obscenities out loud. To tell you the truth it crossed my mind that this guy was on his way to some serious air rage and I hoped that he wasn't going to be on the plane I was boarding.

There must be a better way of keeping planes safe and secure, though I must admit it is certainly a challenge in these difficult times we are living in.

edited to add jetway, isn't it?

Thursday, November 7, 2002 Back The Halifax Herald Limited

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Getting naked isn't even good enough to board a plane

By Rowland Nethaway / Cox News Service

AS BAD AS commercial air travel has become since the Sept. 11 airline hijackings, it is about to get worse - much worse.

When America's airline industry goes belly up, the collapse should not be blamed on Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorists.

Americans, acting in response to the Sept. 11 hijackings, will be responsible for the demise of U.S. air travel.

The visiting Frenchwoman who stripped off her clothes during a U.S. airport security check represents the tip of an iceberg of passenger frustration with the inconveniences and intrusions air travelers must endure.

The woman was going through one of those electronic wand frisks where travelers are asked to stand still with their arms outstretched.

The metal-detector device kept screaming at her and she kept moving.

She was ordered to repeat this procedure over and over until she finally ripped off her blouse and bra to show that she wasn't carrying a bomb or a deadly weapon.

Standing there in a public air terminal in her birthday suit, it was obvious that she was not concealing weapons used by terrorists.

But rather than being cleared through security so she could catch her flight back to France, the distraught woman was handcuffed and led off to jail where she was told that she could spend the next few years of her life locked away in an American prison.

While it is obvious that the job of airport security screening would be easier if air travelers disrobed during security checks, passengers risk going to prison if they decide to remove their clothes to help prove their innocence.

Air travelers thrown into prison for helpfully taking off their clothes during an airport security check will be forced to strip naked and undergo a body search before they are admitted to prison.

Prison guards know how to search for hidden weapons. The difference, of course, is that prisoners are convicted criminals and air travelers just want to visit the Washington Monument or attend their niece's wedding.

Tight new restrictions on what passengers can carry onto planes caused travelers to put their pen knives, nail files and other easily confiscated items in their checked-through luggage.

In a few weeks, the government is expected to force open and rummage through locked checked-through luggage.

Congress has ordered this newest escalation in passenger frustration. The Transportation Security Administration has orders to screen all check-through luggage for bombs by Jan. 1.

According to New York Times writer Matthew L. Wald, hundreds of thousands of checked bags will be opened and hand-searched every day.

Not every airport will have huge, expensive bomb detection machines. Checked luggage at other airports will have to be hand-searched. Bags identified as suspicious by bomb detection machines will have to be hand-searched.

Most travelers lock their checked-through bags to prevent pilferage. Locks that come on bags often are supplemented by fancy little combination locks. Other travelers use twine, duct tape, plastic ties or other methods to secure their check-through luggage.

All of these security measures used by passengers to protect their possessions will have to be removed by federal luggage searchers.

Air travelers should not expect their checked-through bags to arrive on the same plane. There are too many bags and there's not enough time. Neither should air travelers expect any privacy in their packed possessions, which may not arrive intact in an unlocked bag.

Look for an upswing in luggage sent by FedEx and UPS, more people avoiding air travel and the airlines asking for another federal bailout.

Rowland Nethaway is senior editor of The Waco Tribune-Herald. E-mail: rnethaway@wacotrib.com


http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2002/11/07/p127.raw.html

Barbara,

IMHO, the US airport security has taken up the hard job to meet and pass Lagos/Nigeria standards.
They win hands down. Even 10+ years before 9/11, standing in line for 1 1/2 hours to pass the immigaration (10 seconds) in August in JFK ...
Transitting? You wait in line to pass immigration, and the statement on the form, that you only intend to stay 2 or 3 hours in an ap terminal area, with no address in the US, it makes you more suspicious. My last transit stop in 'Windy City' last December did it. US carriers are off my list on long range travel to my favorite destination.

Happy Holidays!
and
Welcome to America!
The land of the Free,
and
The land of the Brave!

Hi Hank. I can't say that I would blame you for avoiding US airlines these days. Mark just flew to Boston and had quite an experience himself. Apparently he hit a tremendous amount of traffic on his way to the airport and was late checking in. The airline said they gave his seat away and that if he wanted to board he would have to buy a new ticket. I guess someone ended up volunteering their seat and he was able to board that flight afterall. In the end they didn't make him pay twice but not without giving him a big lecture. Oh and on his way to boarding, you guessed it, they pulled him over for a search. They had about 4 others pulled over and I guess it was getting to where it was really holding up the flight and a fight broke out between the person doing the searching and another airline employee. A supervisor finally broke up the fight and allowed Mark to board his flight.

Of course I can't end this without saying in defense of US airlines, the one that really got us in the end was a foreign airline that is now thankfully out of business as it should be.

Edited to add: Don't get me wrong, I do feel badly for those who lost their jobs as a result of the poor management of this airline. I see them as victims too, but to a far lesser degree.

Apparently, other countries are experiencing the same type of problems these days. From the Halifax Herald today:

Friday, November 8, 2002 Back The Halifax Herald Limited

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Innocent air travellers arrested at gunpoint

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. (CP) - City police, airport security and airline staff will be meeting in an effort to avoid a replay of a takedown last week in which two innocent passengers were arrested at gunpoint in front of a crowd of people.

New security equipment at the airport since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has "caused false alarms in the past," police Chief Bob Davies said.

"A consistent way of handling certain types of emergencies" should be updated accordingly, he said.

Emergency Services Unit officers were called to the airport Oct. 31 after an X-ray machine spotted what appeared to be a gun.

Two Ministry of Natural Resources employees in town on business - who had already passed through the security check and were in the waiting area to board a WestJet flight to Hamilton - were arrested.

Steve Payne, a Toronto-based media officer for the ministry, said he and ministry issues officer Peter Richard were put "at gunpoint, face-first, on the pavement."

A toy gun was eventually recovered from a Halloween costume jacket belonging to a much younger man, who was then arrested but eventually released without charges.


http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2002/11/08/p225.raw.html