Airport Insecurity

SteveDallas · 02-06-2002, 01:52 PM

I took two trips within the space of 10 days in October last year. Coincidentally, I made the plane reservations first thing in the morning on September 11 and finished the reservations right when my boss stuck his head in my door and asked me if I had heard about something happening at the World Trade Center.

Due to the face that I made some connections, I ended up flying out of Philadelphia, Raleigh/Durham, Baltimore/Washington, Denver, Portland (OR), and Dulles on these 2 trips. I'm sad to report that the security at Philadelphia was by far the slackest. In addition, US Air staff just looked at my e-ticket printout and sent me through. At least American had a printout of their records of e-ticket holders, and if you did not have a paper ticket, you got checked off against that list.

While I was having my ID examined by the guy in front of the xray, 3 or 4 maintenance workers went through and waved their badges through the air. The guy checking my ID barely noticed them.

My impression: very few of the changes implemented (including the stationing of National Guard personnel, who provided me with my first up-close look at any firearm more serious than a shotgun) are anything more than window-dressing to reassure a skittish public, and the airports & planes are probably not substantially more secure that they were on September 10.

02-06-2002, 01:52 PM	#1
SteveDallas Your Bartender Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Philly Burbs, PA Posts: 7,651	I took two trips within the space of 10 days in October last year. Coincidentally, I made the plane reservations first thing in the morning on September 11 and finished the reservations right when my boss stuck his head in my door and asked me if I had heard about something happening at the World Trade Center. Due to the face that I made some connections, I ended up flying out of Philadelphia, Raleigh/Durham, Baltimore/Washington, Denver, Portland (OR), and Dulles on these 2 trips. I'm sad to report that the security at Philadelphia was by far the slackest. In addition, US Air staff just looked at my e-ticket printout and sent me through. At least American had a printout of their records of e-ticket holders, and if you did not have a paper ticket, you got checked off against that list. While I was having my ID examined by the guy in front of the xray, 3 or 4 maintenance workers went through and waved their badges through the air. The guy checking my ID barely noticed them. My impression: very few of the changes implemented (including the stationing of National Guard personnel, who provided me with my first up-close look at any firearm more serious than a shotgun) are anything more than window-dressing to reassure a skittish public, and the airports & planes are probably not substantially more secure that they were on September 10.

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