02-15-2007, 09:53 AM
Living in a foreign country and going to the airport a few times, you get to witness interesting things and people. You also get the opportunity to see how different airports operate, even how different countries do things.....like security for example.
Coming from the UK we are used to seeing soldiers with dogs and big guns in an airport. We don't think anything of it. But when the US airports started to have soldiers in them too it was new. Great, we think (or at least some of us did roll ), the US are catching up with the rest of the world and showing how security at an airport really needs to be.
But then you notice them, standing around, chatting with each other, laughing joking. Or on their cell phone. Attached to them is a huge gun. Okay, I think, trying to laugh off their unprofessionalism, good job they don't need to keep a watch out incase they need to use those guns. If something happened right now, I'm sure they would end up shooting the wrong person! shock roll And I fly off to London from this airport (JFK) and visit family. On my way back, at Heathrow, two soldiers parading round the airport with huge guns but they don't say more than one or two words to each other at a time as they keep theirs eyes scanning the building and people. What a difference. Professional. I return home and just add it to the pile of other differences.
Then yesterday, my younger two are due to fly home to England and we have a snow storm/ice storm forecast for the day! Their flight is still on and is supposed to be the last BA flight out of JFK. They were originally only given a 1/2 hour delay but when it came to it their 1030pm flight took off at 259am. So we had a heck of a wait at the airport (we have to stay at the airport until 15 minutes after their flight leaves because they are unaccompanied minors). Our trusty two patrol soldiers are occasionally seen and just like clockwork they are either chatting to each other, or chatting on their cell phones. I smile to myself praying that I'm not around when they get those guns out and use them.
Anyway, I'm sure you are all wondering what this is all about grin Well, our wonderful two soldiers approaches the group of people (hubby, eldest and me being in this group sitting on the row of chairs in departure, along with maybe 3ish other families) and ask them if they have left a red suitcase outside. they ask all parties a couple of times and then walk off and go back outside from where they came. Can I believe my ears? Aren't they supposed to be suspicious of left luggage and not just treat it like something someone forgot? They return to near where we are and one says to the other, "Do you think we should call security?" shock I swear I nearly fell off my seat. So off they both go, leaving this suitcase which just so happens to be on ther other side of the windows where we are all sitting.
They come back, go back outside to check it is still there (we can see it from where we are), come back in and tell us all that we mustn't use that side door to leave the building and that the PAPD (Port Authority Police Department) will be coming. Great, I thought, at long last they are going to blow the suitcase up. Well, that's what they tell you at Heathrow they will do with your luggage if you leave it unattended lol
So, due to our long wait, as this suitcase incident began at approximately 10pm, we thought we would actually get to see something interesting happen at the airport. How wrong could I be. roll We left at 315am and the suitcase was still there, the two soldiers had gone home, and there was no sign of any police coming to inspect this suitcase. And yes, there were people still next to the large windows where they could see this little suitcase. There was one security guy, approximately 65 years old weighing at a guess 350lbs who occasionally sat on a stool in the doorway watching the suitcase and chatting with the passengers that were stranded at the airport. He informed me when I asked about the suitcase that he had called the police two hours ago himself, which would make it three hours after the soldiers did, and no one had turned up yet! So he was waiting.
I really didn't know whether to laugh or get angry but if I had got hold of Fox News telephone number right at that minute I would definitely have called them grin
I can't quite make up my mind whether I agree with the idea that they decided the suitcase was not a risk or not. In a lot of ways it was pretty obvious that a passenger had left it behind. But isn't that what you are supposed to think when someone leaves a bomb ???
Coming from the UK we are used to seeing soldiers with dogs and big guns in an airport. We don't think anything of it. But when the US airports started to have soldiers in them too it was new. Great, we think (or at least some of us did roll ), the US are catching up with the rest of the world and showing how security at an airport really needs to be.
But then you notice them, standing around, chatting with each other, laughing joking. Or on their cell phone. Attached to them is a huge gun. Okay, I think, trying to laugh off their unprofessionalism, good job they don't need to keep a watch out incase they need to use those guns. If something happened right now, I'm sure they would end up shooting the wrong person! shock roll And I fly off to London from this airport (JFK) and visit family. On my way back, at Heathrow, two soldiers parading round the airport with huge guns but they don't say more than one or two words to each other at a time as they keep theirs eyes scanning the building and people. What a difference. Professional. I return home and just add it to the pile of other differences.
Then yesterday, my younger two are due to fly home to England and we have a snow storm/ice storm forecast for the day! Their flight is still on and is supposed to be the last BA flight out of JFK. They were originally only given a 1/2 hour delay but when it came to it their 1030pm flight took off at 259am. So we had a heck of a wait at the airport (we have to stay at the airport until 15 minutes after their flight leaves because they are unaccompanied minors). Our trusty two patrol soldiers are occasionally seen and just like clockwork they are either chatting to each other, or chatting on their cell phones. I smile to myself praying that I'm not around when they get those guns out and use them.
Anyway, I'm sure you are all wondering what this is all about grin Well, our wonderful two soldiers approaches the group of people (hubby, eldest and me being in this group sitting on the row of chairs in departure, along with maybe 3ish other families) and ask them if they have left a red suitcase outside. they ask all parties a couple of times and then walk off and go back outside from where they came. Can I believe my ears? Aren't they supposed to be suspicious of left luggage and not just treat it like something someone forgot? They return to near where we are and one says to the other, "Do you think we should call security?" shock I swear I nearly fell off my seat. So off they both go, leaving this suitcase which just so happens to be on ther other side of the windows where we are all sitting.
They come back, go back outside to check it is still there (we can see it from where we are), come back in and tell us all that we mustn't use that side door to leave the building and that the PAPD (Port Authority Police Department) will be coming. Great, I thought, at long last they are going to blow the suitcase up. Well, that's what they tell you at Heathrow they will do with your luggage if you leave it unattended lol
So, due to our long wait, as this suitcase incident began at approximately 10pm, we thought we would actually get to see something interesting happen at the airport. How wrong could I be. roll We left at 315am and the suitcase was still there, the two soldiers had gone home, and there was no sign of any police coming to inspect this suitcase. And yes, there were people still next to the large windows where they could see this little suitcase. There was one security guy, approximately 65 years old weighing at a guess 350lbs who occasionally sat on a stool in the doorway watching the suitcase and chatting with the passengers that were stranded at the airport. He informed me when I asked about the suitcase that he had called the police two hours ago himself, which would make it three hours after the soldiers did, and no one had turned up yet! So he was waiting.
I really didn't know whether to laugh or get angry but if I had got hold of Fox News telephone number right at that minute I would definitely have called them grin
I can't quite make up my mind whether I agree with the idea that they decided the suitcase was not a risk or not. In a lot of ways it was pretty obvious that a passenger had left it behind. But isn't that what you are supposed to think when someone leaves a bomb ???