Airport Security – Again
Twice I flew from Heathrow’s terminal 1 this week. Twice I had breakfast as I was on early flights. On each occasion I had breakfast, it was after I had cleared security since you’re never quite sure how long it might take. And I had breakfast in two different restaurants, neither of which would set your gastronomic juices on fire. But that rumbling is for another day.
In both restaurants, I was given stainless steel cutlery.
For some time you only had plastic or wooden cutlery after you had gone through security. After all, we were trying to reduce any terrorism possibilities. So when did we, or at least terminal 1, allow metal cutlery back into use? The attempted terrorist attack last Christmas Day is only 5 weeks old. We have had arguments over body scanners since then and what else could be done. Not reintroducing metal cutlery wasn’t something I ever heard mentioned.
Can it be any wonder that travellers are confused. Shoes on or off; belts on or off. You can’t take tweezers, nail files or nail clippers through but after you’ve passed security, help yourself to any number of knives you like. On my table in one of the restaurants I even had a vase full of them so I could select the one I preferred!
Passengers are getting a little tired of the double standards that security authorities, governments or whoever it is are imposing. And now the home secretary has said that he has increased the UK terror threat level to “severe” meaning an attack could be likely but there is no intelligence to suggest it is imminent. We are all to be extra vigilant.
Why bother when the authorities can’t even sort the simple things out.
Entries (RSS 2.0)
Your comments remind me of immediately after 9/11. I flew UA business class LHR to IAD. Plasticware for all meals. Then, on the next LHR-IAD trip, stainless spoons and forks but plastic knives. (Not that a metal fork couldn’t do sufficient damage, but I guess the powers-that-be had done a risk assessment on that one.) On the second trip, I connected to UA first class where I was given a full metal service.
I so much wanted to point out that the 9/11 hijackers used domestic flights, not international ones. But I doubt I could have found anyone who would have wanted to listen.
For a while it was shoes off in some and not off in others. At least now in ALL US airports, it is shoes off. Isn’t it?