Hats off to Justina - a member of the security team at the Calgary International Airport. I had the privilege of meeting her this week, and I must say that she made pretty darn sure she followed every single rule in the book, and then some, when it was my turn to pass through her little kingdom. Too bad other security officers don't do the same.
Justina confiscated my half-used tube of expensive hand cream, and my nearly empty jar of Vicks Vapo Rub. When I indicated my ticked-offedness, she proceeded to search my carry-on bag and my purse as if she were looking for gold. She was rude, unprofessional, refused to answer my questions, and I think she was disappointed that she did not find anything in my bags other than the usual female stuff.
I felt totally violated.
Now don't misunderstand. I am not in disagreement with Transport Canada's rules and regulations when it comes to what can or cannot be taken on board an aircraft. But, I have traveled through airports all over Canada and the US with those very same confiscated items for years. As a matter of fact, just two days before said incident with Justina, I had cleared security in another Canadian airport with no problems. The security officer there even pulled out my hand cream, looked at it, and put it back in my bag.
My issue is with Transport Canada's lack of consistency in this matter.
So why is it that some officers do this and some don't? It's obvious why all officers are not equal in this regard. If every officer were to search carry-on bags as thoroughly as Justina did mine, one would need to arrive at the airport 5 hours before a scheduled flight, because the line-ups at security would be miles long. You can imagine the uproar. So, I figure that airport security has a rotating schedule for their officers. Justina's turn to be the bad guy was on Tuesday, and I just happened to chose her line.
This is hardly an effective way of control.
The rules don't make sense. The rules aren't consistently enforced. And the rules change, depending on who the airport security person is.
I've fired off a nice little email (well, maybe not so nice) to Transport Canada about this. We'll see if they respond.
Oh yeah, almost forgot. Why didn't Justina say a word about my six-inch long metal nail file?
Justina confiscated my half-used tube of expensive hand cream, and my nearly empty jar of Vicks Vapo Rub. When I indicated my ticked-offedness, she proceeded to search my carry-on bag and my purse as if she were looking for gold. She was rude, unprofessional, refused to answer my questions, and I think she was disappointed that she did not find anything in my bags other than the usual female stuff.
I felt totally violated.
Now don't misunderstand. I am not in disagreement with Transport Canada's rules and regulations when it comes to what can or cannot be taken on board an aircraft. But, I have traveled through airports all over Canada and the US with those very same confiscated items for years. As a matter of fact, just two days before said incident with Justina, I had cleared security in another Canadian airport with no problems. The security officer there even pulled out my hand cream, looked at it, and put it back in my bag.
My issue is with Transport Canada's lack of consistency in this matter.
So why is it that some officers do this and some don't? It's obvious why all officers are not equal in this regard. If every officer were to search carry-on bags as thoroughly as Justina did mine, one would need to arrive at the airport 5 hours before a scheduled flight, because the line-ups at security would be miles long. You can imagine the uproar. So, I figure that airport security has a rotating schedule for their officers. Justina's turn to be the bad guy was on Tuesday, and I just happened to chose her line.
This is hardly an effective way of control.
The rules don't make sense. The rules aren't consistently enforced. And the rules change, depending on who the airport security person is.
I've fired off a nice little email (well, maybe not so nice) to Transport Canada about this. We'll see if they respond.
Oh yeah, almost forgot. Why didn't Justina say a word about my six-inch long metal nail file?
They won't respond. But you're right, they should be consistent. I've been in similar situations, and it's ridiculous. Either follow the rules, or don't, but everyone needs to be doing the same thing.
ReplyDelete