Look to your left, and then to your right, odds are, one of those people are a terrorist.
Airports suck. Anyone who’s ever been stranded in a black hole international port like Denver or Atlanta knows that between taking off your shoes at security, to the occasional random search and body violation, traveling via air can make you lose your mind as an American. And last Thursday, as me and two of my friends embarked on a trip to Ireland, we made a mistake that could’ve made us miss our flight and more in the U.S.
Not realizing we had to do an upfront check in to the RyanAir desk – we had checked in online and printed off boarding passes – we went straight through the passport check and almost through security too before figuring out we needed a stamp on our boarding pass. Not that bad a judgment call, just confusion, but one that could’ve cost us dearly at a paranoid American airport being watched by some incompetent Department of Homeland Security hacks.
All that happened was a quick word through the same Passport desk we’d already gone through, and with only some mild argumentation we got through, checked in properly, and got a second stamp on our Passports before we headed off to our gate. Now, perhaps things are a bit too lax in certain parts of Europe, as they rightly know (in some places, like Prague) that they’re not as much of an international terrorism target, but either way, I had to thank god I wasn’t dealing with an American airport.
Just thinking of the one time I left a little pocket knife in my bag, the panic I felt when they pulled it out made me realize how much better things could be for our travel. The paranoia and wrongly-placed attention to detail that we use in our security – like random searching obviously innocent targets like Grandmas, to flawed X-Ray systems and relatively untrained employees is not necessary.
If we’re going to search people thoroughly, let’s do it to everyone. If we have to get to the airport a couple more hours early, so be it. At least there will be more equality, continuity and guaranteed safety. Secondly, it is obvious that the manpower is not equal to the skill and experience needed to adequately identify dangerous material as opposed to a harmless tube of Crest.
And finally, in my opinion, more than airport security itself more thorough screening processes for passengers, especially those coming in from European and other areas where they’ll be initially checked by non-American sources is vital. The most recent attack attempt, from the Nigerian underwear bomber, is due to faulty passenger screening – the guy’s Visa application had been rejected multiple times and somehow he wound up on a flight that would enter American soil.
Some simple common sense and our flyin’ could be a lot easier. But hey, at least we can buy beer and cheeseburgers before we get on the plane itself. Cheers.
This was wonderful! I recently flew back into the U.S. from another country and security is always so crazy and frightening for me. This is especially since I am a technophobic but anyway, this was an awesome blog piece. My only recommendation would be to substitute the word “American” for “United Statesian,” which will someday be in the dictionary. What does it mean to be an “American?” I mean there is North and South America considering geography. Great job nevertheless. Keep writing!