by teenyuck 78 Replies latest jw friends
Reborn,
Sorry dude, I'm having a hard time feeling sorry for you and your "random" search. Fact is we've seen little old ladies, middle aged men, and the former vice President of the United States subjected to this too. Personally, I have no problem with targeting those who most fit the profile of a terrorist. That would be foriegn looking men below the age of 30. Better that than another aircraft into a building. I think the US could take a lesson from German screening procedures at Airports.
Wow, I missed all the fireworks!
Just a few things:
Being frisked--I flew Sept. 15 to go on vacation. They frisked everyone. I got to be the lucky soul who had her carry on, with essentials (makeup, fresh undies, meds, magazines, tampons and passport) in it gone through. In full site of everyone. By a muslim, named Mohammed. In Columbus, Ohio. Mohammed did not speak english.
To say the least I was annoyed. To have a man (about 5', I am 5'9") who cannot speak english go through my stuff, pull it out, distrupt the distribution, pull out my underwear and hold them up....well let's just say in the interest of getting on the plane and not being arrested, I did not say anything, except....."That sir, is a pair of women's panties...are they banned? That sir is a tampon...are they banned....That sir is mascara...is that banned?" I said this loud so everyone could hear....if they are going to take away my dignity, I wanted everyone to know why.
The stupid little man could not understand what I was saying. Finally a Ohio National Guard came up and pointed to him to put it all back and let me go. DICKHEAD. If you cannot speak english and your name is Mohammed, you should not be frisking white, almost middle aged women.
Frisked again....I have flown 7 times since and every time I have been frisked, asked to pull off my shoes (after the idiot w/C5 in his shoe), felt up and down by security and had my carryon gone through. Each time. I am white, female and don't fit any profile.
In Columbus, on a recent trip, my husband and I were in the ticket line of America West, going to Orlando. In front of us was a family.....of dark, hairy and middle eastern descent. They spoke in their language the whole time in line. The young son (approximately 19, wearing adidas sneakers and soccer attire) was the most disturbing....he kept pointing to his bag and talking in their language. His father was getting mad at him and they started to argue.
BTW, behind us in line were either Pakistani's or Indian's....woman in full head covering....not speaking.
As we got our tickets, we estimated the likelyhood of the muslim types being on our plane...slim...its a big world.
Going through security, Columbus has a separate line for airline personnel and for anyone dark....literally. They pointed us through one line, where all the white, non-airline personnel were, and anyone dark (not black) had to go through the line airline personnel went through.
I got the full rub down, felt up, bag went through, camera examined, makeup bag emptied (no undies this time...I learned), and I had to take off my shoes so they could examine them...same with my husband. White guy, 6'2", Big....yeah he looks like a hijacker.
Oh, the middle eastern folk...they went right through. The airline security people also stopped a pilot and emptied his stuff.
Guess who was on the plane to Orlando? You guessed it the muslims and the man and woman with head covering. They were not frisked either. My husband sat on the aisle and watched them in case he had C5 in his shoe.
Again, all done by non-english speaking Somali refugees. They seem to have all the airline security jobs in Columbus, Ohio.
I am happy they are trying to do the right thing. However, when a man, who has never seen a tampon, because he is from Somalia, takes my tampons out and looks at them and at me, like they are weapons, I lose my patience.
Get people who are natural born citizens who speak english to do the job. Giving these idiots the authority and power to hold people up is ridiculous.
As for tight seating, I had to fly to Germany in 1999. From Witchita, Kansas. First stop Chicago to get on the international flight to Frankfurt.
I got an aisle seat, on a 747, in the middle aisle. I had to turn my butt to fit it into the seat. I wear a size 10. The seat was the smallest I was ever on. Next to me was a Pakistani family....with a kid. Who sat on Dad's lap, next to me the whole time. The child cried, ate while throwing food (grapes) and kept kicking me through the seats. The man and wife had seats, the kid did not.
Later, I found out that Frankfort is a major hub for people flying from the states to the middle east.
To say the least, it was the most miserable flight I have ever been on. No fat person could be as bad as a stinky man and a kid. The flight was literally full....not one empty seat. Since it was a business trip, I had to fly coach. UGH!
lol at Simon, love the whohooo moment. I've heard the grumbles when I get on with my two. People who freak out over a baby crying on an airplane should spring for first class, maybe the babies are quieter there. I always feel bad for the parents of infants that are crying.
I was trying on shoes at Nordstrom a few weeks ago while my kids were in school. A family walked by with a child throwing a huge tantrum. I just smiled, grateful that my kids were in school and not doing the same. I am with you Andee. If it's not my kid it doesn't bother me in the least.
Never been searched or frisked. Of course I haven't flown since 9/11, I'll get back to you next month.
Rachel
Hmmm. No fat people on SW air. I like it. I like it a LOT.
Seriously, It's not fair that a large person encroaches on someone else's space, imho. I don't know what else an airline can do. They assign a seat to a person, then they assign a seat to a large person right next to the other, with their loaf hanging into the other person's space. I wouldn't like that myself.
TR
Edited by - TR on 20 June 2002 11:16:12
Lisa,
you are way cool! I do the same. If some little dweeb is kicking the seat or whatever, especially at a movie, I will stand up, address the parent in a not so soft voice to let them know that I'm annoyed. It works great.
TR
simon on how he got searched because he had grown a beard and looked shifty...
osama bin simon???
Edited by - bakedcanuck on 20 June 2002 12:0:54
I love kids! When a kid is throwing a tantrum and acting like a little beast I don't usually get mad/irritated at them. I get irritated at the folks. The kid typically (especially if their little) don't know to act any differently. Why? Because that is ALL they know. They know those actions are the ones to get attention from their parents. They haven't been taught to behave nicely. The two times I've turned around to "complain" about children, I was VERY polite and spoke directly to the child. I just said, "Would you mind not kicking my chair? You're not in trouble, but I just wanted to see if you could keep your feet REALLY still. Can we do that? I promise to keep mine still too, okay?" Usually, they look at me wide-eyed and nod. LOL! I guess they think it's a game. I tell them thank you and make sure to smile at the parent. Usually, parents love it when you talk to their child with respect. Granted this has only happened twice, but both times the parents smile back and say "thank you". I think they realized I wasn't trying to be a bitch, but still had expectations of my fellow travelers.
We have already discussed my opinion on racial profiling and age discrimination with RANDOM (insert sarcasm here) security checks.
Anyway, this thread went on to another wonderful topic about airplane flights, and being a person who travels rather frequently, I could not resist responding.
TR-
I am inclined to agree.
While I reserve statement on whether it is fair or not to charge someone who is larger more money simply because of their weight, I will say that I do not appreciate being "crunched" in the seat because a heavyset person is assigned to sit next to me.
Case in point.
Last month, when I flew to Atlanta, I took one modestly sized (about 8lbs) carry-on bag (all your allowed anyway) and myself, the rest of my baggage went to check-in The person assigned to sit next to me brought a carry-on bag, but it had to way at least 30 LBS! On top of that, no offense to any person who is overweight, because I am not the type of person to judge someone simply because of their size, but this woman was a minimum of 300 lbs, and proceeded to SQUEEZE into the seat and take up ALL the elbow room.
Now I am a big guy. I am 6ft and 220lbs. Alas, that size is proportioned well enough that I would not INTRUDE upon someone's elses private space. This lady was taking up the entire floor space, the armrest, and the entire general vicinity. (gasp for breath)
I am very happy it was a short flight, but after experiencing that I DO agree that SOMETHING should be done about people who are large who are forced to be confined in small spaces such as airplanes, and how it is detrimental to OTHERS who PAID for the SAME service.
Just my 2c.
Edited by - Reborn2002 on 20 June 2002 16:38:53
Reb, that's a way the government could restore faith in the airlines...after the Afghan conflict if over the US military could take all the left over C-130's and start a service for those in need of three seats....talk about a publice service...
My children are funny on planes...the get excited about going on the plane, the have a few moments of trepidation during take off, then utter awe and comments like "I want to be a flight attendant when I grow up" at the sight of free cokes and peanuts, as well they usually aren't real sure about getting out of their seats, wouldn't want to fall out of the sky......BTW Billygoat...Children's Tylenol work wonders whenever mozz settles down and wants to become a mom......*guilty chuckling*
Sincerely,
District Overbeer
