Airport security

We have always had some sort of security or the other at the airports. Post 9/11, securities were tightened everywhere, especially at the airports throughout. The routine that any traveler would experience would be as follows: Put the carry-on on the conveyor for screening, put all your keys, metals, shoes, wallets, handbags in a tray and send it for screening, take the laptop out of the bag and put it in a tray for screening, go through a metal detector and get your self scanned as well. If you look wary or draw the attention of the security guards there, you will get a personalized inspection as well. Once cleared, you are free to move on to your gates for boarding.

Lately, you are not even allowed to carry any drinks or liquids with you beyond the security checkpoint. These are all the security measures that they carry out, so you could travel safely with the state of the world we are in today. I personally think it is a good thing to have these measures, because at the end of this trying experience you could board that plane with a sigh of relief that it is all going to be safe; safe from what? Oh, from the things others carry with them. You really think you are safe now?

With the added security and scanning that they have, how anything could pass beyond the security points, one might awe. But there have been incidences lately where a scorpion had gotten in the plane and stung Mr. Sullivan; a terrier dog managed to dodge security personnel; a stowaway squirrel on the no fly list in an American Airlines flight – So much for security. When the movie ‘Snakes on a Plane’ came out, I was dumbfounded with the idea. I was speculating how snakes could get on a plane, surpassing all the tight securities we have in place today. But I let it go thinking that anything could happen in a movie.

All these incidences only prove the fact that the security is not all that tight. They can check the deep recesses of our baggage; they can strip us out and scan all they want but still, animals can still make their way onto the plane. Of course, some animals are allowed to travel with their owners but in the cargo section, secured in a cage. What about the other animals that made their way on the passenger side? How did they pass the security? Maybe the security agency has got something to learn from these animals so they can be better at their job. I am just hoping that the bad people out there don’t learn anything from these animals, as to how to sneak in what they want. Maybe it is time to appoint Ace Ventura, our good old pet detective at the security checkpoints at the airport!