Neurotic Airlines

2 Planes diverted in the last day. I would really like to know why. The Virgin Blue flight apparantly received a threat "from the Philippines". That's vague. Very vague. And on the flight from LHR to Washington, a 60 year-old woman was under suspucion for (allegedly) having hand cream, matches and a screwdriver on her person. I really didn't know that 60 year old women were considered a security threat, but maybe that's why I'm not a high-ranking government "Security" consultant. According to a United Spokesman, there were no connections to terrorist activity. You don't say! It seems now that if you cause any sort of 'altercation' on board a plane, you'll get diverted, and probably arrested. Maybe she just suffered from chronically dry hands, was worried about getting locked in the bathrooms (hence the screwdriver), and kept a pet slug in the matchbox. I had a pet slug when I was 6, but it crawled off the leaf and my parents wouldn't let me take it home with me.

Airliners are getting neurotic about safety now, and I don't know what I think about it. It seems that every time airline safety is compromised, they put safety proceedures into effect that belong to the "too little, too late" school of thought. I don't know if banning liquids is really going to stop terrorists. If they're determined to blow an airliner up, then they're going to find a way.

My dad is an airline pilot, and he and his colleagues share the same point of view. If "they" want to kill people on a plane, then stopping people bringing hair gel on board is not going to do a damn bit of good. It's best to be fatalistic about this stuff. But the prospect of getting searched at the gate when I go to Florida in November will be fun. I hope I can bring a book. An intellectual book! (See post below).

Also, as a Staff traveller, this is going to make flying a lot more stresful. I mean, the check-in staff make you wait until the last second, before they release seats to staff. And I've done my fair share of running through airports in order to make it to the plane on time. But what am I going to do now? If they give me a ticket and tell me I have 20 minutes to get to the plane, how am I supposed to speed up my luggage/body cavity search at customs? Start yelling "I'm not a terrorist, I'm just staff!" at the customs men? I hope Cathay gives out guidelines, because otherwise I'm screwed. Hopefully, though, everyone will be scared off flying, and I'll actually get a seat! That would be nice...