Sunday, October 21, 2007
Perhaps the worst airport P.A. announcement ever...
The Key West Airport is really a treat-- kind of a little structure with roosters running around and, intriguingly, a Cubana airplane parked in front of the Customs shed. Hmmm. Anyways, this seemed a model of efficiency and modernity compared to the Miami airport.As we walked along the concourse changing planes, there was a loud announcement blaring over the loudspeakers "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, GET SOME PEOPLE OVER TO GATE 46!"
I'm not an expert on these sort of things, but it seems like in P.A. announcer school they suggest avoiding using any of the following phrases:
"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!"
"AAAAAAAAAGHHH!"
"OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!"
"RUN!"
At any rate, things didn't seem much more secure once we left Miami. We had to circle DFW for about a half-hour before landing. The pilot, in a tense voice, told us that "the airport has been closed due to a situation on the ground." This, of course, didn't assuage many fears.
In the end, we landed, and all seemed normal. Is it "Panic Week" for the National Airport Association or something?
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That is REALLY strange, that both airports would have panic problems . . . glad you're all okay.
# posted by 
: 12:43 AM
: 12:43 AM
Maybe there were roosters on the runway?
In Miami and other parts of FL a lot of people have fenced front yards, and they have chickens in them running around.
I noticed that in the wealthier neighborhoods they did not have REAL chickens but ceramic ones instead.
Which reminds me of a funny story... One time I was driving home from this bank I drove by every day and it had one of those electronic signs. Out of the corner of my eye I read it, It said FREE CHICKEN I was like All the way home I was thinking WHY would they give away chicken at a BANK? that is so weird!!!! What do you have to do to get the chicken, etc things like this. I was wondering about it alllll the next day and then on the way home the next day, I noticed that the sign actually read, FREE CHECKING.
OH.
Well, that is very different.
In Miami and other parts of FL a lot of people have fenced front yards, and they have chickens in them running around.
I noticed that in the wealthier neighborhoods they did not have REAL chickens but ceramic ones instead.
Which reminds me of a funny story... One time I was driving home from this bank I drove by every day and it had one of those electronic signs. Out of the corner of my eye I read it, It said FREE CHICKEN I was like All the way home I was thinking WHY would they give away chicken at a BANK? that is so weird!!!! What do you have to do to get the chicken, etc things like this. I was wondering about it alllll the next day and then on the way home the next day, I noticed that the sign actually read, FREE CHECKING.
OH.
Well, that is very different.
It's my experience that there are two ways airport officials react - over and way, way under. I was once stopped in Ottawa and my violin strings were confiscated. They were "a dangerous weapon" apparently. Oh, but they only confiscated the ones that were loose in their little packets. They left the ones actually ON the violin - because, you know, if I were a terrorist I'd really mind unstringing my instrument for the sake of horror and bloodshed.
Meanwhile, I've seen Kaczynski look-alikes walk through metal detectors with their bulky jackets on and no one's said a word...
Meanwhile, I've seen Kaczynski look-alikes walk through metal detectors with their bulky jackets on and no one's said a word...
I did have an animated discussion with the TSA in Key West (well as animated as any conversation with the TSA at 5 AM is going to be) over the easel I was checking.
See, the TSA guy was upset that I hadn't checked the easel on the trip five days prior even though I was checking the easel for THIS flight.
"You shouldn't have been allowed to carry that on"
"Well, I was."
"But that's against policy."
"I really don't know what to tell you. I'm checking it for this flight if that helps."
"You should have checked it for the last trip."
"I'll work on correcting that."
See, the TSA guy was upset that I hadn't checked the easel on the trip five days prior even though I was checking the easel for THIS flight.
"You shouldn't have been allowed to carry that on"
"Well, I was."
"But that's against policy."
"I really don't know what to tell you. I'm checking it for this flight if that helps."
"You should have checked it for the last trip."
"I'll work on correcting that."
MANY TIMES Bill flies on planes with instruments and they make him take the strings off the guitars.
And this on the heels of the story that NASA is destroying all the records it has for a report on the "true" level of airline safety - or non-safety - today!
And yet... I was once delayed flying from Berlin Tegel to Italy because of a bomb threat at Tegel... the entire airport was evacuated, and the ensuing delay caused me to miss my connection in Munich. This was about 18 months before 9-11, and isn't it both sad and interesting how easy it is to date one's travel stories as either pre- or post-9-11?
The worst part of that story, though, was that it took Lufthansa three full days to get my luggage to me.
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And yet... I was once delayed flying from Berlin Tegel to Italy because of a bomb threat at Tegel... the entire airport was evacuated, and the ensuing delay caused me to miss my connection in Munich. This was about 18 months before 9-11, and isn't it both sad and interesting how easy it is to date one's travel stories as either pre- or post-9-11?
The worst part of that story, though, was that it took Lufthansa three full days to get my luggage to me.
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