American Views Abroad

 
Trip to Cincinnati, USA - Part 2

Every journey begins with a departure, and ours was no different. We left for Cincinnati from Hamburg International Airport with changing in Paris and in Atlanta. The security at German (European?) airports seemed reasonable. As you go to check in and before you give up your luggage bags are x-rayed and marked with a sticker. We checked one suitcase for each of us and we each had one carry one (a back pack).

A little while later we had to go through the security check to get to the boarding area. All was well except for one thing. We had one of the forbidden items. I knew enough to leave my Swiss Army knife at home. There was no way I wanted to lose that, although I anticpated problems in America and not on the European side. My wife, however, had packed some paper, crayons, and a pair of child's safety scissors to cut things out, for our son (age 7 going on 8). They confiscated those. The man was very friendly and asked if we could give the scissors to someone waiting outside, or check them. Unfortunately no one was waiting outside, and I never yet tried to recover a piece of luggage I had checked.

So we had to give up the scissors. The gentleman told us we could reclaim it within 5 weeks at the luggage office. There would be a fee of 2.50 Euro, but we could get it back. These were special left-handed scissors and we did want to get them back, as they cost more than 2.50 Euro.

I got to thinking about this. These were safety scissors. There are no points. The edge is rounded. I don't think it's possible for children to hurt themselves with one of these scissors, even if they tried. In fact, I never heard of such a thing happen. I've heard of children throwing pencils in the classroom and poking out someone's eye, but scissors are not the problem. They perform tracheotomies with pens or Swiss Army knives, but I have yet to hear of a pair child's safety scissors as the instrument of choice. I had a few ball point pens in my jacket pocket with extremely sharp, metal points. These were certainly more dangerous than those scissors would have been.

Child's safety scissors would also not be a practical choice for a terrorist for the simple reason that they are not terrifying. It would look rather ridiculous to see a grown man trying to hijack a plane with child's safety scissors. They'd take the thing away from him, put him in a straitjacket and give him crayons to play with. On the other hand, maybe we looked suspicious, though I doubt whether a man and woman traveling with a child, and a pair of safety scissors packed in with the crayons should be expected to arouse more suspicion in this circumstance than three Arab businessmen found with Kindergarden paraphernalia. But terrorism is no joke. The security people have their rules, and they don't make exceptions, which is fair in a way. It's just a shame we didn't think of it earlier.

The security coming into America was much more thorough but they had it down to an assembly line thing with lots of signs to tell everyone what to do to make things go faster. Keys and wallets and other metal items go into the carry-on cases, laptops and video camera go through separately, as do jackets and sometimes belts and shoes, depending on how strict they are that day. They did not ask us to take our shoes or belts off going through the Atlanta check, but many people already had. I asked them if our son's scissors would have been confiscated be U.S. security, and he assured me they would have been.

These people were just doing their jobs, and everybody was very good about it. I think the line moved faster than it used to in the old days. Yes, it's an added nuisance, all these checks, but one does feel safe afterwards. Security before 9/11 was certainly a joke in many aspects, but now it is taken very seriously, and it should be. But we should never forget, a terrorist trained in martial arts can be just as deadly as a fanatic with a ball point pen or child's safety scissors.

So now we were in America and soon we would be in Cincinnati. I'll continue my report in a few days. Incidentally, we never saw the scissors again. When we inquired upon our return at the luggage office in Hamburg they told us the objects that are collected in that manner are destroyed. But we picked up a new pair in Cincinatti, and brought it back in one of the checked suitcases.
- posted by Fred @ 12:51 PM