Wednesday, July 20, 2005
An Eye For A Ride
OK – The Gvt has done something right!
If any of you are frequent travelers, you probably have to endure long lines at the airport to get through security. I know I do every week. Fortunately, I fly enough to get in the 1st Class or Business Cls line. But there are many airports the still do not have frequent traveler lines or queues for those who have a frequent flier status with an airline.
The Gvt has a program for frequent travelers so you can skip waiting in line with the great unwashed and glide through the insidious inspection of your luggage and personal affects. All you need to do is cough-up eighty dollars and subject yourself to a background check, retina image and finger printing of your left or right hand. It’s pretty simple and it works wonders. The first time you get through the security line in a few minutes that eighty dollars is well spent.
Now critics of this program bemoan that it’s an invasion of privacy, another money-maker for the Gvt, its Big Brother, violates civil rights, and is the nose in the tent for the Gvt to get into your personal life, yadda, yadda, yadda. Well, good! If that is what it takes to avoid standing in lines with people who have never sat on chairs before, fine.
I still think that traveling is not as safe as it needs to be. But how would our economy suffer if we had to endure the kind of security the Israeli’s have to go through when they travel in and out of that country…several hours before the flight you have to arrive, show multiple forms of identity, and undergo the kind of questions that US Census takers don’t ask. (I think that is necessary in any terror hot-spot, but here in the US, that kind of scrutiny is not needed and I hope we never get to that point).
Bravo, TSA, look into my eye and let me through!
If any of you are frequent travelers, you probably have to endure long lines at the airport to get through security. I know I do every week. Fortunately, I fly enough to get in the 1st Class or Business Cls line. But there are many airports the still do not have frequent traveler lines or queues for those who have a frequent flier status with an airline.
The Gvt has a program for frequent travelers so you can skip waiting in line with the great unwashed and glide through the insidious inspection of your luggage and personal affects. All you need to do is cough-up eighty dollars and subject yourself to a background check, retina image and finger printing of your left or right hand. It’s pretty simple and it works wonders. The first time you get through the security line in a few minutes that eighty dollars is well spent.
Now critics of this program bemoan that it’s an invasion of privacy, another money-maker for the Gvt, its Big Brother, violates civil rights, and is the nose in the tent for the Gvt to get into your personal life, yadda, yadda, yadda. Well, good! If that is what it takes to avoid standing in lines with people who have never sat on chairs before, fine.
I still think that traveling is not as safe as it needs to be. But how would our economy suffer if we had to endure the kind of security the Israeli’s have to go through when they travel in and out of that country…several hours before the flight you have to arrive, show multiple forms of identity, and undergo the kind of questions that US Census takers don’t ask. (I think that is necessary in any terror hot-spot, but here in the US, that kind of scrutiny is not needed and I hope we never get to that point).
Bravo, TSA, look into my eye and let me through!
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