« Airline Food | Main | Exit »
November 26, 2004
Flying to DCA?
In case you didn't know, when you are flying from Canada you "preclear" US customs and immigration at the Canadian airport. That means, particularly if you are flying through Toronto's Pearson International, make sure you leave plenty of time.
And if you happen to be flying to Washington National, well, prepare for the most annoying and repetitive search and security procedures. After you clear customs they ask you to tell them if you are flying to DCA, and tag your bags accordingly. From there, you head off to have your bags x-rayed. That's apparently enough to enable you to fly to Dulles, or any other location, but to DCA you need to get your bags scanned for bombs using the sniffer. Once that is completed, they will hand search your bags. Right, that's three screenings, in addition to the screening at Vancouver.
But, just in case you were starting to feel comfortable and confident, you now have to go through security yourself. Because you go from one terminal to another, you need to clear security again. Metal detector, carry-on x-ray, jacket searched, wand, the works. Whew, glad that's over with.
So you start down the long (385 meter) path to podium "U". On and on down the hallway that won't end. You pass the people at podium "T", comfortable in their area not having been made to take off their shoes as they are headed to IAD. Finally you see the last gate. Before you can get to a seat, your boarding pass and passport are required. Then you are ushered into another room.
You wait your turn and then your bags get searched, again. This time by hand. Same for your jacket. You are made to unbuckle your metal belt buckle. You are wanded from the front and from the back, asked to sit down and the soles of your feet are wanded too. Your shoes are also searched. And you have to give a card with your name on it to the airline for them to turn over to the TSA to do God-knows-what with.
Sounds really good and secure, right? But why go through all this? I think the answer is obvious: you want to make sure no one can jack the CRJ and fly it into the White House or Capitol or someplace else. Not a bad idea, but, again, we have more "security theater".
Sure, this flight is secure. Probably well secure, what with the thirty minute from landing seating regulations and all. But what about that flight to IAD? That's likely a bigger plane than the CRJ, too. Dulles is 22 miles from the Capitol and less from the Pentagon. Why are we risking that? What about other locations? New York City? Boston? Chicago? Why are they not getting the extra security? I hope it isn't because our government cares more about protecting itself than protecting its citizen. Surely, that can't be it, can it?
Posted by Samer at November 26, 2004 12:14 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://farha.com/cgi/mt/mt-tb.cgi/241