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international travel in times like these
It took him two attempts but my brother has
finally arrived from Germany last night. He missed his plane the day before
because of security checks and slow check-in and was visibly shaken by the whole
ordeal...
My brother is not someone that is easily
intimidated. He is 21, has traveled all over the world, just like I did, and
should be more than used to traveling, even to countries that take security to
the next level, like Indonesia or Singapore. But when I picked him up at the
Tampa airport last night he looked pretty
worried.
He had originally booked a flight from Brussels, Belgium (it's about an hour drive from my parent's house in Germany) to Tampa via Newark, for Friday, August 1st. From what he told me he was at the airport 2 hours before the flight, as they suggest you do. But the people at the Continental Airlines check-in counter kept favoring other passengers, even though he was first in line, while giving him strange looks.
Then security checks took longer than expected (it is Europe, they know how to do that and take it serious, other than here) which made him miss his flight.
Theoretically it is possible that this was done on purpose because they did not like the way he looked. Of course it's near impossible to actually prove that, but it was the impression he seemed to be getting.
So he had to pay a fee of about $100 for something that was not really his fault and come back the next day to possibly get a standby flight.
He then came back to the airport early yesterday, which meant he hardly got any sleep and was nervous as it was because he was only on standby. (the next flight would have been Monday) Check-in went faster but the creepy part was the security guys knew who he was even before they checked his passport or ticket. To be greeted by name by security personal that has never met you before is kinda creepy, and understandably made him nervous.
He then got increasingly more nervous as he waited for the boarding to be over and get the word if he would even make the flight. He was the last to board.
Then of course he had to go through customs in Newark, NJ, where people probably have every right to be nervous on both sides of the counter, (you used to be able to see the World Trade Center from the customs hall) and officials took another close look at him again.
I am not so sure what to make of all this.
On one side it is understandable that they want to look closely at people nowadays, especially with the alert to airlines that was issued a mere days ago. But to make you miss the flight and scare the crap out of you should hardly be part of the system.
Do we really need to scare people to death like that? Do we really want the first perception of visitors coming to the United States, the self proclaimed "land of the free," be that it is more of a police state?
It might not be one, (yet) but that is the impression people will get if you make them jump through hoops that no other country in the world requires. As I said, not even Indonesia was such an ordeal and they have had terrorism for far longer than America. But maybe that is where the problem lies as America has yet to figure out how to live with terrorism.
It seems that the balance of necessary security (which is not there yet) and comfortable levels of security checks has yet to be reached.
I for once did not go home to Europe this summer in part because I did not want to deal with this crap. My brother has also said he will not come back to the U.S. before this changes.
He had originally booked a flight from Brussels, Belgium (it's about an hour drive from my parent's house in Germany) to Tampa via Newark, for Friday, August 1st. From what he told me he was at the airport 2 hours before the flight, as they suggest you do. But the people at the Continental Airlines check-in counter kept favoring other passengers, even though he was first in line, while giving him strange looks.
Then security checks took longer than expected (it is Europe, they know how to do that and take it serious, other than here) which made him miss his flight.
Theoretically it is possible that this was done on purpose because they did not like the way he looked. Of course it's near impossible to actually prove that, but it was the impression he seemed to be getting.
So he had to pay a fee of about $100 for something that was not really his fault and come back the next day to possibly get a standby flight.
He then came back to the airport early yesterday, which meant he hardly got any sleep and was nervous as it was because he was only on standby. (the next flight would have been Monday) Check-in went faster but the creepy part was the security guys knew who he was even before they checked his passport or ticket. To be greeted by name by security personal that has never met you before is kinda creepy, and understandably made him nervous.
He then got increasingly more nervous as he waited for the boarding to be over and get the word if he would even make the flight. He was the last to board.
Then of course he had to go through customs in Newark, NJ, where people probably have every right to be nervous on both sides of the counter, (you used to be able to see the World Trade Center from the customs hall) and officials took another close look at him again.
I am not so sure what to make of all this.
On one side it is understandable that they want to look closely at people nowadays, especially with the alert to airlines that was issued a mere days ago. But to make you miss the flight and scare the crap out of you should hardly be part of the system.
Do we really need to scare people to death like that? Do we really want the first perception of visitors coming to the United States, the self proclaimed "land of the free," be that it is more of a police state?
It might not be one, (yet) but that is the impression people will get if you make them jump through hoops that no other country in the world requires. As I said, not even Indonesia was such an ordeal and they have had terrorism for far longer than America. But maybe that is where the problem lies as America has yet to figure out how to live with terrorism.
It seems that the balance of necessary security (which is not there yet) and comfortable levels of security checks has yet to be reached.
I for once did not go home to Europe this summer in part because I did not want to deal with this crap. My brother has also said he will not come back to the U.S. before this changes.
Posted at 08:03 EST Filed under:
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Total entries in this category: 112
Published On: Sep 20, 2003 02:06
Total entries in this category: 112
Published On: Sep 20, 2003 02:06