Airport odyssey reveals how awful and annoying we are

[n2doc]

By Jessica Ravitz, CNN
November 22, 2010 4:16 p.m. EST

Across America (CNN) -- A family tried to sneak a dead man, propped up in a wheelchair, through airport security in New York. A couple had to be stopped while having sex in the corner of a Phoenix, Arizona, airport terminal. A man flying out of Chicago, Illinois, set a rat free, insisting he had to do this for religious purposes.

These are just some of the tales gathered last week as I traveled 5,900 miles through six American airports just days before millions of travelers started the annual Thanksgiving pilgrimage, making this the busiest air travel week of the year.

What I saw wasn't very pretty. For all our bellyaching about airline and airport employees, watching us through their eyes was, well, eye-opening. And kind of embarrassing.

But before we go there, know this: I'm not here to defend the industry of air travel. I can gripe with the best of you.

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http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/11/22/airports.holiday.travel/index.html?iref=obnetwork

[T Wolf]

1. Well, they do hire the TSA'ers from the (cess)pool of the American population. Add in the type of

person who would be attracted to an authoritarian position (just like cops) and you have a perfect formula for "bad actors" and abusive behavior.

WE do get what we deserve IF we do not resist it strongly enough.

[jaxx]

3. I'm not getting who you are putting into that (cess)pool.

Care to expand on that theory?

[T Wolf]

5. All of us. Look at the population of this country and not be embarassed - I think that is

impossible.

The lack of quality persons who could/should be trusted with power over others is the starting point.

Then, you add the fact that undesirable types who get off on brutalizing others are drawn to positions where they can fulfill their fantasies of superiority and control.

The result is, as with cops and other "security" types, the worst of the worst wind up armed and uncontrollable.

Similar to catholic priests and their predilection for paedophelia.

[uppityperson]

6. Your complaint is TSA workers are USAnians? You rather broad brush a lot of groups there

don't you?

[T Wolf]

10. What is a USAnian? And yes, I can broad-brush a population that did put Raygun, two moronic & evil

bushes and a load of cretins in control of our lives. And accepted their criminal actions without much more than a weak complaint, if that.

We may want to avoid responsibility for the way this country is going, blaming it all on a few "bad people" who are rethugs, rich, and racist. But the reality is that we did get what we deserve because we did not stop them.

That, by itself, is enough to condemn us for our actions and inactions.

The goons that go into "security" of all forms are drawn to the power and invulnerability. And we suffer for it. Again, because we did not stop them.

As Billy said long ago, "The fault, ... lies not in our stars, but in ourselves."

[uppityperson]

11. Since "America" covers Canada and Mexican, have taken to calling us USAnians

Belonging to the USA. There are a lot of ignorant and fearful people in this country indeed. As most places, but very true here since we have the numbers.

[jaxx]

8. No way am I embarrassed by the people in this country.

That would assume I'm better than everyone else. What I do see is a broad brush brutalizing the citizens of the USA with nasty labels. And what is a 'quality person'? This is very elitist language to put down the people in this country as a block of undesirable types.

No sale.

[drm604]

7. The type attracted to an authoritarian position that allows groping...

groping of people of all ages. Think about that.

[avaistheone1]

2. People are in an especially nasty mood when

they are forced to be radiated, or get genitally groped in order that they can get on a plane to conduct the rest of their lives.

No wonder hell breaks loose at the airport and especially on the plane.

[uppityperson]

4. Did they frisk/grope the dead guy? "yeah, he's ok, next!"

[iamjoy]

9. They Bring Some It On Themselves

chasing cats through airports? That's because one must *remove* the pet from the carrier. Cats are not the calmest of creatures, and what do you think is going to happen when you remove on in the midst of that chaos? Logically, it makes sense because the carrier can't go through the walk-thru (it may contain metal) and the pet can't go through the x-ray machine. But, try explaining that to the cat.

As for the fights for space in overhead bin - that's the fault of the airlines. It doesn't matter how cheap the ticket is, tell some one they have to pay to check a bag (even if the total fare is still a bargain) and they are going to try to cram everything into carry-ons to avoid the fee. It's human nature. not, of course, the fault of the flight attendants, they just bear the brunt of their employer's bad policy.

We're herded from place to place. We're subject to rules we don't understand, rules that seem to change constantly or be enforced so inconsistently so that none of it makes any sense to us. We're crammed into tiny spaces and not fed, no wonder we get cranky. The thing is, we blame the wrong people. We blame the ticket agents who have no control over the fares and fees, the TSA agents who are poorly trained and the flight attendants who don't control policy either. But they all bear the brunt of our anger, when the best thing to do if you don't like the policies is to not fly. Instead we pay $200 for a flight from Washington DC to Chicago and think we still ought to be treated like passengers in the "golden age" of air travel (our ideas of which are mostly apocryphal).

[Hannah Bell]

12. another prole-bashing article from the ruling class.

[liberalmuse]

13. Amen.

This is transparent and disgraceful.