Thursday, June 30, 2011

How secure are airport security checks?

Although I was blessed to get through the various airport security checks without mishap on my vacation, I did see people who were not so lucky. The one that really got to me was an elderly lady in a wheelchair. I had just gone through the metal detector and was home free. As I walked past the exit area, they pulled aside this woman and were giving her a pat down to end all pat downs. No, she wasn't taken to a private area. I walked by within a foot of the woman as the security probed and patted her down. I had to wonder how this woman signaled such invasive treatment.

Today, I read in the news that some guy managed to sneak on one flight with NO matching ID to go with his boarding pass . . . which was a day old. From what I understand, he wasn't held. He claimed he had found the boarding pass and decided to try and see if he could catch the flight. Later, guess what? He was found, AGAIN, trying to board a plane with mismatched identification. A more thorough search found ten, more such phony/used boarding passes in his carry-on bag. Why wasn't he checked more thoroughly when he was caught the first time?

It just seems so wrong and unnecessary to put that elderly woman to such personal invasion while letting someone with obvious mild to serious criminal intent get through at least once . . . that we know about.

Just my thankful rant for the day that I wasn't the security target on my flights!

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