In a damning article in the Independent over the weekend Simon Calder told of his torment in passing through the hell that is otherwise known as the Stansted security procedure. That he was at Stansted and flying Ryanair probably didn’t help his experience. The same procedures apply across UK airports and, barring small local variations, many of those who fly from other airports will have shared his pain.
How have we come to this state of affairs? On a recent flight in Belize we were reminded of how flying had once been and how perhaps it still is, if only for the few who criss-cross the world in their own jets.
We had bought our tickets at an agency in Belize City on a whim, less than two hours before the scheduled departure time from the domestic airport. Our taxi pulled up outside what looked more like a flying school than an airport. Had we bought a self-fly ticket by mistake? Perhaps we would be sky-diving from our little plane? Whatever it was, at $35 each I guess we would have no grounds for complaint.
On presenting ourselves to the reception desk a smartly dressed lady greeted us with a smile and asked us which flight we were here for. When we told her it was the 12.30 flight to Dangriga she handed us two red laminated boarding tickets, giving no more than a momentary glance at the printout I’d taken from the agency.
And that was it. We left our backpacks by the terminal door, and at 1225 they were carried the short distance across the tarmac to the waiting plane. We then walked out and onto the plane, leaving our red boarding cards with the same lady who greeted us.
Of course this is an extreme example and could not be replicated on a 737 flying across Europe. Terrorist attacks and attempted attacks have seen to it that we quite rightly expect the airports and airlines to take precautions to prevent those wishing to blow up the aircraft to get anywhere near it.
But in this paranoid frenzy to impose the robotic, unemotional, uncompromising procedures that are now in place in so much of the world, have the authorities lost the ability to deal with people on a human level? Has this been drummed out of them in the name of consistency? What a way to start what for many is a journey for which they have saved up for many months.
Perhaps there is something that can be learned from the approach of the little Belize airport, a middle way that allows scrutiny and humanity. Maybe by treating passengers as ordinary people waiting to go on holiday or business rather than as potential terrorists, it will bring out a more human side in everyone concerned.
Oh well, Andy – I couldn’t agree more. The liquids allowance is my personal favourite.
If you care, here’s a piece about my liquids-related experience during airport security at STN: http://www.anjci.com/2011/02/my-most-embarrassing-airport-moment.html. Most of my friends found the story outrageously funny, but I was only partly entertained.
I’ve always been impressed with security at Istanbuls Ataturk Airport, you go through the scanners before you even enter the terminal building, the queue’s aren’t unbearably long and the screeners seem to be polite too. They also caught a 7 inch long knife a collegue of mine had forgotten to remove from his backpack (someone needed a knife to cut a birthday cake, he brought the knife, cut the cake, took it home, forgot it was in the bag.)
To be clear, he got the knife through UK securitiy having flown from the UK to Turkey with the knife in his pack and stayed a week there not realising he had a knife in his bag. Ataturk security caught it on his return journey and had the common sense to assume that a terrorist probably wouldn’t try to hold up a plane with cake covered knife and it was most likely a misunderstanding.
Ok Anjči – that is an embarrassing story
Thank you for sharing it though. I guess you will be careful what you carry for your friends in future!
Jim, that just says it all. All the hassle, all the strict procedures, and they miss a 7 in knife? I guess they were too busy looking for the nail clippers… and yes, politeness and doing a good job should not be an either/or.
Hi Andy
Here’s the insanity of it all from my perspective. There is a belief that barriers can screen out bad guys and prevent ugly/dangerous events. But what we don’t seem to notice is that barriers are simply an invitation for people bound and determined to wreak havoc to get more inventive.
When the last big kerfuffle happened in the US and some guy got through the system the response was to build more barriers – at enormous cost both economically and to ‘quality of travel experience’. What amazes me is that the guy who got through the system did so because of human error. Was anybody ‘in the system’ held accountable for not doing their job properly? I sure didn’t hear about it if they did.
Did anybody think for a second about increasing the training these front line folks got? Did anybody think for a second about paying front line folks a decent wage so that they are incented to be more proficient? Has anybody thought that if they paid more than marginal wages for these front line folks that they could get a different calibre of people?
No, it is easier to buy bigger, more invasive machinery. You curry more favour with the business elite when you keep buying new technology, whether it negatively impacts travelers or not.
I’m afraid I am getting into a rant so will stop! Needless to say, I believe absolutely that our humanity has been forgotten. We are as sheep to the slaughter! And considering that I’m heading for Portugal tomorrow – - – baaaaa! – - – humbug!
There is a human face to security checking and it is called “fast track”. Most regular flyers, business class and first class flyers are allowed into a “fast track” security screening queue in which the security staff are more polite, rarely ask you to take your shoes off and understand that a belt buckle that looks like a gun is not actually a gun (as seen at Heathrow 2 weeks ago).
At Frankfurt i was late for a flight recently and was sent through the very civilised fast track security route.
I don’t have a problem with better service costing more money but who decided that terrorists only travel economy?
Thank you Gwen and James for sharing your stories. As you both suggest, it doesn’t have to be the way it is – better training, better selection of staff and better working conditions might help to create a more dignified environment. We’ll see if it ever happens.
Would be interested to hear from those flying into/out of Israel as to their experiences with security there.
Ok Andy, sorry to bombard you with my stories, but indeed I have once had to fly out of Israel in a rush: http://www.anjci.com/2010/04/bon-voyage-or-some-travel-drama-leaving.html. The airport security staff showed a SPECTACULAR example of efficiency i never to be forgotten!
Funny. I had a very ‘human’ experience flying out of Rome FOC on Wednesday. My partner and I had drunk a bottle of wine in the Villa Borghese and to get the bottle of red open, we’d bought a cheap and nasty bottle opener with serrated knife on the side, which I of course forgot I had in my handbag and was pulled up for when going through security.
The female security guard pulled it out and flipped open the knife part (which was still covered in flakes pecorino romano cheese) and ran her gloved thumb over it (it was sharp enough to tear the glove). I thought she’d take it, which would be fair but instead she popped it back in my handbag and sent us on our way, onto the plane with a knife.
I appreciated her discretion and ‘human’ treatment- with a bag full of maps of Rome and camcorders and cameras and cords and guidebooks and metro tickets and cheese still on the knife, it was clear I was a tourist. But seriously, as much as i appreciated her discretion, I would have preferred she confiscate it from me- I’d hate to think that this was a standard thing for all flights, and it was a major security lapse from my point of view.
Thanks for sharing again Anjči. Exactly as I’ve heard from others; that passing through security in Israel is a model in thoroughness and extreme efficiency.
Shaney, I reckon I’m with you. While it’s a relief that they didn’t take your little purchase, it makes a bit of a mockery of the security system. While I don’t imagine you would ever fit the profile of a terrorist, the point is that those who are going to cause trouble will often go to great lengths to look ‘normal’.
Ushuaia, Argentina. The woman in front of me starts taking off her shoes, scrambling for her bag of toiletries… and I say to her, “Yeah, they don’t do that here, you’re fine.” The guy working the X-ray machine smiles at me. “We’re out of our minds,” I said to him. He shakes his head, still smiling. “I don’t know what you people are doing,” he says.
Somehow, our plane made it to Buenos Aires, you know?
I’ve spent the past decade living in the Middle East and China and can personally vouch for the kindness, efficiency and sanity of airport security in Istanbul, Dubai, Doha, Mumbai, Yangon, Shanghai, Beijing, Phnom Penh, Jakarta and (in 2006) Cairo… I can also vouch for the bizarre, irrational crankiness and invasiveness of Vancouver (arrivals more than departures, oddly enough– and I’m Canadian!), New York, London, Minneapolis, Denver. I dread flying home because I’m treated with far more suspicion entering my own country than I am entering, say, China.
Goes to show it can be done. I agree with you MaryAnne (and Pam) – it seems our respective countries have lost all perspective on this and seem to take advantage of the sense of fear that they’ve fostered.