A New Era of Air Travel

We've all gotten used to the bulked-up airport security -- arriving extra early to the airport, taking off our shoes, and standing by as blatant descrimination takes place through 'random' searches. We have now reached an entirely new 'normal'. Imagine sitting on a cross-Atlantic flight without a book, a magazine or your computer. 13 hours of staring at the back of someone's head. Maybe all that 'time to reflect' will make the world a better place.

We were caught in the middle of it all yesterday as we flew back from Canada. We were extremely lucky though. Having arrived at the airport super-early to update our new visas (which is a story unto itself -- why do the US customs agents think they run the world?), we were greeted by some confused airport staff who were still trying to figure out the consequences of the new rules.

We were first told very little, but directed to some printouts that prohibited us from bring liquids or gels on the plane. Thankfully we had thought ahead when we were checking in. We checked our bags only because we had a 3 hour layover in Chicago. It probably saved us from having to dump all of our toiletries.

When we reached security we were asked to throw out any liquids we had. They obviously didn't realize at the time that this included hand cream and lip balm because those seemed to make it through in my purse just fine. They had told us at that point that we could purchase more water on the other side of security to take on the plane. By the time we boarded, word had clearly made it through to the airline staff who promptly told us we could not bring any liquids on board, even if we had bought them on the other side of security.

O'Hare airport had its own issues yesterday, blocking hundreds of flight from landing or taking off because of weather issues. When we finally arrived we managed to escape the chaos because we were already on the other side of security. I'm told it got pretty messy for those who were waiting outside.

No one is sure yet what this means going forward. I think we are all happy to make sacrifices for safety but at some point people will start to draw the line. What are you going to do on a 5+ hour flight when they don't serve food anymore and you can't bring your own on board? What about people who have to take medications, or people like me who go through 3 gallons of water on a flight?

The only advice I can give right now is to check your baggage. That will keep you from losing those little things that you wouldn't expect to be a problem -- like contact lense solution.