Op-Ed
Friendly Skies
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Despite increased security, my Thanksgiving flight home was unseasonably pleasant. Normally, disgruntled USAir employees glare at me as I dig through my quagmire-of-a-carry-on for tickets and identification at check-in. This time I got nothing but smiles. The baggage checker even re-routed me through Cleveland without a cat fight. Possibly the airline reception employees have been getting more respect because, since Sept. 11, their job as ID checker has taken on heightened importance.
Typically, the equally disgruntled students in line behind me make a performance of adjusting the weight of their duffel bags, as if to say, "Before Christmas, for the love of God." This time everyone was extremely patient and polite, even in the face of a serpentine check-in line. We all understood why we were delayed.
Leaving the check-in counter, I felt an aura of camaraderie as I schlepped my luggage through Syracuse's Hancock International Airport. Everyone was doing their part to make the flight home safe, even if their part was simply complying with the increased security measures.
For example, the line at the concourse security check stretched about 15 people long. Low and behold, queued travelers exchanged travel small talk rather than forlorn sighs. Never before have the skies truly been so friendly.
The Thanksgiving travelers even dealt with the most obnoxious part of airport security -- the metal detectors -- with understanding. Unlike those tin men who never pass the metal detector before pouring out the contents of five pockets, removing their shoes, belts, glasses, hearing aids, toe rings and nicotine patches, I zipped through the super-scanner. As I breezed past the Tupperware containers brimming with pocket possessions and accessories, two tin men gave me a fatherly smile. At the point where their animosity for airport security should be peaking, they smiled. And I smiled in return.
With that look the tin men and I acknowledged that we're in this war on air terrorism together. Their poise and understanding showed their support to the security guards who, with the goal of universal safety, hunt for box cutters and nail clippers. And given that the security bulldogs have upped the sensitivity of the metal detectors, the smiles were a monumental sign of airport complacency.
If the under wire in my bra had triggered the metal detector, that smile may have been more embarrassed than good willing. But apparently the scanners aren't that sensitive.
As I boarded the plane, security guards pulled passengers aside for random searches. The guy in front of me, inconspicuous in a baseball cap and sweater vest, was selected for a security check. He cooperatively spread 'em while the security guard ran a hand-held metal detector over his body and another searched his bag. The National Guard stood by in camouflage, toting Wegman's bags, of all things, rather than rifles. It was a comparatively peaceful scene, considering the irritation it would have caused pre-Sept. 11.
I appreciated the increased airport security. As a matter of fact, I was more scared driving to the airport in last Tuesday's blizzard than flying thousands of feet in the air. My pilot father always tells me that my chances of dying are much higher in a car than in a plane. On Tuesday that felt true.
Other Thanksgiving travelers were also not bothered by the increased security. If it saves lives, law-abiding citizens actually appreciate minor inconveniences, like being metal-detected or ID checked multiple times. Now that terrorism is a very real possibility in our country, fliers have accepted airport security with open arms. To think that there was a time, just two months ago, when checked bags were not scanned, and airlines did not verify that passengers who checked baggage actually got on their flight, is bewildering. Forget the intricately planned hijacking of planes -- terrorists could have effortlessly checked an explosive laden parcel and skipped out of the airport with their lives. It's clear that our country fell short on airport security, but times are a'changing.
At the gate to my connecting flight in Cleveland, the security checkers chose the same unsuspicious boy who got searched in Syracuse for another random security check. He started laughing and shot a sheepish "why me?" look to the passengers in the boarding line. Then I knew that airport security has been revolutionized but, more importantly, that disgruntled travelers have transformed into a people with a common humanity.
This Thanksgiving, a definite sense of solidarity replaced classic traveler's angst and enmity. And all of this before Christmas, for the love of God.
Archived article by Andrea Forker