Those endless airport security checks

Traveling on airlines has become a different experience altogether. While some airlines have wound up and others are facing tough financial times, passengers are obtaining a lesser value for the high amounts they pay for tickets. This comes at a time when many passengers who really do not need to travel are staying away from flying because being on an aircraft is a scary experience considering the number of air crashes that have recently occurred. Accident statistics may show that airlines are very much safer than cars but gruesome images on television of high speed crashes into buildings or to the ground and even worse, into the ocean are enough to put away many from flying.

Those who have overcome aviophobia or who travel with this phobia in any case, now encounter increased security measures in different airports. This is evident also at the Dar es Salaam International Airport where recently I had to identify even my main baggage prior to boarding an aircraft for an international flight.

The hand luggage was checked twice through security scanner machines in Dar es Salaam and twice again during my transit stay in Muscat. These checks were normal but at London’s Heathrow Airport passengers checking in for onward flights experience further extensive checks on their hand luggage. This is despite the fact that disembarking passengers have already had their bags checked at least twice if not more. My computer laptop case was emptied by a security woman who was of the opinion that a small pair of paper scissors that I carried was too dangerous and had to be confiscated. That was fine but I would have expected her to repack my opened case in the way she found it, which she tried to but miserably failed. The pair of scissors she confiscated had passed through the Dar es Salaam or Muscat Airport security scanner machines without a problem. One wonders why the same hand baggage has to go through so many security checks?

However to save time during such checks, passengers are recommended to cooperate with security personnel and are advised to take nothing on themselves or in their bags that have sharp edges or could be construed as a weapon. This includes pocketknives, corkscrews, dinner and carving knives, forks, screwdrivers, pointed pliers, letter openers, scissors and similar items. Even pluckers are not accepted at some airports.

 On flights there are some noticeable changes in different carriers. Business Class passengers who previously received fully stocked pouches to redo themselves on the flight or in transit stops now only get such pouches on some flights. Business Class passengers may enjoy free Internet facilities and bitings or drinks at business class lounges but seats on some aircraft provide only a little extra comfort as compared to economy class passengers. Some airlines give passengers a pyjama/slipper set and an eye band for inflight sleep but these are rarely used. A shaver and shaving foam can sometimes be picked in the plane’s washroom but if on arrival you have to pass through some form of check, security personnel could well confiscate this irrespective of what explanations are put up. Another discomfort that business class passengers face relates to inflight crockery. The previous elegant metal forks and knives are being quickly replaced by plastic crockery that often make it difficult to cut through inflight cuisine.   

At Toronto’s Pearson Airport, hand luggage is weighed with the limit being 10 kgs. If one’s bag exceeds this weight, contents have to be removed from the bag. The only cabbin baggage restriction that was previously being enforced related to dimensions of a bag rather than weight but with security measures being beefed up travellers are being made to expect and accept such arbitrary restrictions.

There are also extra checks for laptop computers. At Toronto’s Pearson Airport, security personnel request passengers to switch their computer on prior to letting this pass through scanners. Security scanners at airports are not a threat to one’s laptop's hard-drive or floppy disks but passengers need to make sure that their battery has enough power left to avoid delays.

I am entirely in favour of increased security at airports but this should not mean that passengers be unduly harassed through checks that are not really necessary. For example business class passengers departing from London’s Heathrow Airport normally pass through duty free shops and through a security check prior to using the business class lounge. This is fine but when these passengers want to return to the duty free shops lounge they have to go through yet another security check on the chance that between one security check and another they may have just found a weapon that they could slip into their pockets. Such checks are rather unnecessary because in any case passengers’ hand luggage has to go through security scanners prior to them boarding an aircraft.

Passengers for international flights are now being told to check-in three hours prior to departure time at most airports to allow for these extra security checks. Agreed, safety and security measures should never be compromised but what passengers want is an increase in quality rather than an increase in the quantity of such checks. The fact that incidents have recently been reported in the United States and some other countries of people boarding aircraft with guns, bullets and the like does not give travelers much of a consolation.