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#11
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Airport security
Andrew White wrote:
Steve wrote: Some excerpts from a recent NY Times article, maybe food for thought? ===================== For anyone who has flown recently, chances are that the airport security checkpoint didn't provide a very nice experience. Surely there has to be a better way for the paraphernalia on one's person to mesh with instruments and instructions that are supposed to ward off trouble. [moronic drivel deleted] This article must've been written by a 10 year-old who has NEVER traveled on an airplane before last week. Most of the things he describes as new have been around for decades. And most of the things that are new and are criticized by him are perfectly fine. So what that the laptop trays were originally designed for bussing dishes? That doesn't diminish their usability for passing laptops through X-ray! I was in one airport where the laptop "trays" were cat litter pans. The dish trays are a big improvement! Larry -- Larry Finch N 40° 53' 47" W 74° 03' 56" |
#12
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Airport security
S More ambitiously, the whole operation needs systematic analysis - just
S like one that an industrial designer would conduct for a car model or S can opener. The result could be a radically different configuration of S apparatus, queues, and sensibilities. S The personnel also need a rethinking. Probably noone's conscience allows to apply such serious things as systematic analysis to all this paranoia. So, probably, everybody just tries not to think about it at all. |
#13
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Airport security
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#14
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Airport security
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#15
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Airport security
"Steve" wrote in message ... Some excerpts from a recent NY Times article, maybe food for thought? The personnel also need a rethinking. The government employees now on duty have better training and demeanors than the hapless private contract workers they replaced, but they are still set up to control. They engage in a regime of instruction, prohibition, and surveillance. And that is exactly as it should be. The security personnel are not there as helpers. So old people struggle by themselves to get their luggage up, parents herd unruly toddlers through the metal detectors, and novice flyers worry about which of their things go where and just when and how they will be retrieved. Having employees help people with their luggage could have security advantages. The security workers could see the stuff and feel the goods - their heft, sounds and textures. They could observe the faces of the owners and how those faces respond to offers for help. The presence of helpers would also reassure and increase the confidence of those who fumble, causing them to fumble less. And, hardly a small matter, people have a better time. |
#16
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Airport security
Ed wrote:
[quote of my post with differences at various points snipped] Well here's where we differ greatly. When I was a graduate student I used to make this drive several times a year, and I HATED it. To me, it was annoyingly boring. I'm not crazy about driving generally (I can barely tolerate my commute to work), and I detest long-distance driving. I'd much rather sit in an airplane seat and be able to read, sleep, or do a crossword puzzle. If you can sleep in an airplane seat, you're a better sleeper than me. Once on a time, when airline fares were regulated and airlines competed on service instead of price, I would sometimes find myself on a widebody (anyone remember widebodies?) with whole rows in the center that had nobody in them. Then I could put a seat belt loosely around my waist and go to sleep in comparative comfort. When you drove between LA and SF (or SJ) did you drive alone. That _would_ be boring. I'm married, so I have somebody to keep me entertained with conversation while I'm driving. And of course to do half the driving, although driving is a lot easier now that my car has cruise control. And if I need a car in L.A. I just borrow my Dad's! Right here is the biggest difference. If I were going somewhere and staying with relatives or friends, I also wouldn't need a rent-a-car. They would pick me up and maybe even lend me the car -- or drive me around as a way of spending time together. But when I go to SF I'm usually going to a hotel, either for business or for an SF (this time SF = Science Fiction) convention. Then I get a choice: . only eat in the hotel or at places within walking distance (and forget about sightseeing) . take a cab whenever I want to go sightseeing or eat out . rent a car . drive my own car Of those four, I usually choose the last. I hate rental cars. There was the time I had to call them up to find out how to open the trunk (lock was hidden somewhere). And the time I just parked the car with the key in it until I could phone the rental place and find out how to get the key out of the ignition (there's this little hidden lever you have to flick). Not to mention the cars that hurt my shoulder if I have to drive more than 1/2 an hour. Thanks, I'll drive. Of course, some places are just too far to drive to unless you're retired. When I go LA to Boston, I take de plane. And put up with Boston cabdrivers half of whom don't speaka de Engliss so good. (Last time I got two whose native language appeared to be some form of French that isn't the French I learned at UCLA. Haitian maybe?) Oh, and the cab that just stopped running on the way to the airport. Luckily on city streets, so I just paid the fare (no tip for such service!) and caught another cab. I keep taking planes because there's just too much I'd miss out on if I didn't, but I will *always* take another alternative if I can find one that will get me there in a reasonable period of time. AmTrak wins to Albuquerque, frex. -- I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples, promising liberty and justice for all. |
#17
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Airport security
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#18
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Airport security
"Marie Lewis" wrote in message ... "Mark Hewitt" wrote in message ... "Steve" wrote in message ... People slow down the line as they struggle to lift their suitcases onto the conveyor belt and into the scanners. Why does anybody who passes through security have a suitcase which they would be stuggling to lift?! If you can't lift it easily it should be checked baggage. If you can't lift it up easily to place it through a scanner.. then you aren't going to be able to lift it up easily when you get on the plane! Some people are either old or infirm (or both) and need help even in lifting bags which would be nothing to a healthy/young person. They use bags with rollers . In Europe at least, other passengers seem very willing to help at check points and on the plane. It ain't just Europe. I often see and help the proverbial 'little old ladies' (or shorter young women) who can't get their maximum-allowed-size roller bag into the overhead. I always offer to help, and often see others doing the same. Some of it is politeness, and some just to speed up boarding/deboarding, or to get access to/protect one's own stuff that is already up there. Most of the wear on my 20+ year old hard shell briefcase is from getting crushed in overheads. aem sends.... |
#19
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Airport security
Peter L wrote:
Terrible, maybe, but cheap. "Stuff" specifically designed for a purpose means expensive stuff. Shut ... up! Some cash-strapped Pentagon contractors and their lobbyists might be reading! (-; gld |
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