Peregrine

As I am sure everyone has heard by now, on Monday, Brittish authorities arrested nearly 2 dozen suspected terrorists and raided their homes. It is believed that this action foiled an Al Qaeda plot to blow up as many as 6-12 trans-Atlantic airliners as they reached U.S. soil.

Because of the methods these individuals planned to use for smuggling explosives aboard, security restrictions on what passengers may carry-on commercial airlines in England are very stringent. Basically, you get to keep your wallet, keys, some money and the clothes you are wearing. No cell phones, computers, DVD players, audio devices or any other electrical apparatus are allowed.

I happened to be in Los Angeles at the time this happened. As the week wore on, I read and heard that some U.S. airports had adopted the same extra security restrictions now found at London Heathrow & Gatwick. On Thursday & Friday, I was told by several people that they had heard that LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) was not permitting any carry-on luggage at all. This worried me only because I have no desire to find out just how well this notebook would survive the tender, caring baggage handlers’ grasp. In other words, I never check my computer bag or the computer.

However, there was nothing to fear. When I arrived at the airport, it turned out to take longer to walk from the ticket counter to the security checkpoint leading to my gate than it took to get my boarding pass, check my 1 bag (suitcase with a week’s worth of clothes) and get through security, combined. I’m sure the fact that I have nearly three hundred thousand miles of flights with Delta didn’t hurt either. As it turned out, if I had been willing to throw away my deodorant and the little traveling tube of toothpaste I was carrying in my suitcase, I wouldn’t have had to check that bag, either.

For me, the “extra” security measures only amounted to my having to wait for my bag when I got to Salt Lake.

As I was at the airport at 3:45pm for a 6:08pm flight, I ended up standing around at my gate for just over 2 hours before boarding. I try to not spend too much time sitting in airports, since I’m going to be spending so much time sitting on the planes.

But that wasn’t the worst part.

The worst part was that there was a 4:50pm flight and they “couldn’t” put me on it. Was I there in plenty of time to switch to the earlier flight? Yes. Were there seats available? Yes. But only in First Class, there were no Coach seats left, so she couldn’t switch me to that flight. Given as much as I travel, I almost always get upgraded for free to First Class. In fact, I was upgraded for the flight there this trip. The agent was kind, she said they really should have a way to let me take one of those seats, which I would have gotten anyway (she could already tell by looking at her screen that no one else was going to get upgraded).

How ironic is that? Oh, well; I made it home that night and to me, that’s the most important part of these travels.