Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Adventures in Air Travel Security


So my nieces (age 9 and age 11) took their first flight this past July 4th weekend and I have to say that my brain is rumbling with threat of explosion over the experience. First of all they were minors flying for their first time and the processing of such minors to ride the plane was so thorough and rigorous that they missed their first flight, causing a very convenient extra $200 fee. Second, my sister (their mother) and I could not meet them as they disembarked from the plane due to post-9/11 security procedures and were forced to stand on the other side of a yellow piece of tape while said nieces were put into a holding pen, er... I mean a room to wait for their "escort" to take them from the gate where their plane landed to the other side of the yellow tape where their mother and aunt waited.

Our family understands the threat that terrorists represent to air travel so we were okay, until 45 minutes into our wait for the nieces to be "escorted" from their holding pen, er.. I mean room where they were waiting for an airport employee to walk them from the gate to the yellow tape. We also both suddenly realized that every janitor we'd seen upon entering the airport was fully Islamically burka clad. I'm not talking a nice head scarf. All FOUR janitors that we came across were full-on burka clad but for their face. And not one had been speaking english. So let's recap.... An AMERICAN mother can not cross a yellow piece of tape to walk to the gate to pick up her two little minors who are flying for the first time alone, but the airport can hire a bunch of burka clad janitors who clean and have access to the entire airport facility. What am I missing here? Someone please reason this out for me....

1 comment:

Mike aka Proof said...

Reminds me of the tune the British played after they were defeated by a bunch of rag tag colonials: "The world turned upside down."