View from the rear
Dear Captains, et.al.
I may not be in the air as much as you, and the view is much worse where I usually have to sit. However, just 38,000 more frequent flyer miles and a major American carrier is awarding me my own 747-400, so I speak with the benefit of some experience.
I guarantee you that the rank and file of Economy class passengers who travel through American airports do not share some of your relatively fond memories of the trip through security. For you who arrive at the field with flight bag in hand the security checkpoint is but one minor deviation on an otherwise unobscured course to the relative comfort and serenity of the cockpit. I arrive only after organizing my family, gear, and home for a trip lasting perhaps 3 weeks. After waiting in line up to 2 hours to get a boarding pass, toting aforementioned gear through a maze of rope barriers, corraling my 5 year old son any number of times; in short, a family on vacation.
I'm not complaining about any of that, it comes with the territory. But I hope you can see that you and I might be in a different state of mind when we hit the checkpoint.
What's on your mind, then? No doubt the flight, of course, the wind and the machine and who you'll be flying with, any of a million things. Maybe you're thinking of the port you're headed to, that great hotel and night spot, just a taxi ride away. You're flying the thing of course, and if push comes to shove you KNOW that in the end you will be above suspicion and on your way shortly.
My own course at arrival is slightly more complicated, not to mention the ammenities enroute. And I have no Company prepared defense with with to erase all doubt or predetermination on my way to the assigned seat.
I've seen you breeze by on the inside lane many a time, while I and my brood stand guilty until proven innocent, trying desperately to enjoy our holiday while at the same time feeling violated, not by the security check itself but by the unspoken threat that seems to hang in the air..."one false move buddy, and you're not flying anywhere"...never have I been made to feel so small and so despised. Less than "just another number" my status is reduced because I, who love the air as much as you, have chosen to travel through it.
I understand the need for increased security and am more than willing to have any and all items, including my person, thoroughly searched in the interest of safer air travel. I am NOT willing to be treated as some sort of inferior class citizen because I fly. "Don't be so cooperative," said the guard, pretty clearly an off-duty cop, for whom I had raised my arms, he having made it apparent that he was going to pat me down, "we'll think you're trying to hide something." This, along with his demeanor and entire posture said to me quite clearly "I'll bust you if I want to and ask questions later.". Or perhaps he was just trying to offer some friendly advice.
I might add that I am a caucasian American, clean cut, 36; my wife is a beautiful, petite 40 kgs. My son could charm the world. We have been through several non-American airports this year, some with quite a bit more security than found Stateside, and were never apparently viewed as a security threat or singled out for special attention. We were certainly never offered snide remarks.
To wrap it up, it is this type of heavy handedness and lack of taste, more than the threat of any terrorist attack, that has caused us to take only one trip to the States this year, when we usually go every other month or so. And I'll bet dollars to doghnuts that's why a good deal of the passengers who haven't done much flying to the USA this year stayed away. The skies are still friendly, but getting there is not. Consistent courteous and professional treatment at the security checkpoint would go a long way to making the entire experience of flying pleasant again, and probably a h@ll of a lot safer. With more passengers to enjoy it all, on top.
IMHO