Its back to my current hobby horse - we don't deal with problems we make rules. Never mind that the rules are a farce, never mind that they bear no relation to the risk or the threat. Complain or behave in any way contrary to these rules at your peril.

The greatest single political right we have is the right to dissent - to say NO. We are losing that right on both sides of the Atlantic and it terrifies me.

Why does none of this surprise me? I realized long ago that the words, "I'm from the government & I'm here to help you." are dangerous as hell! And Customer Service is an oxymoron in any industry. Unfortunately, the root causes of all this go deep & that's another blog. I'm sorry you had to deal with all this, Ronni. And they wonder why a lot of us elders hate to fly. Duh?

I too traveled on a 3rd party ticket to NYC. My credit card wouldn't work of course since I didn't pay for the ticket. So I had to get the ticket purchaser on the phone. Unfortunately, the ticket was purchased for me from someone from England and my cellphone can't call Europe. ( just figured that out )

So I pulled out a bunch of emails that documented the transaction, and after a while the people at the ticket counter just gave up and printed a boarding pass for me.

I'm going to pay for all my tickets from now on and then get a reimbursment later on.

My wife and daughter and I will flying out of Portland two days before Christmas in order to celebrate the holiday with our older daughter in NYC. We'll be leaving plenty of time for half-witted assaults on common sense (and our dignity). I refuse, without putting up a helluva fight, to allow the dimbulb policies of the current gang in Washington to ruin our holiday. I expect, however, to have this resolve tested at every turn. Truth be told, I think air travel was better four years ago when everybody was scared to death and security people were making it up as they went along.

Maybe all these hassles will in the end have a positive result. Everyone in the US will get so fed up they will quit FLYING then fast trains like they have in Europe will make an appearance.

I can dream can't I?

A few years ago I decided to swallow my pride and arranged for a wheelchair to take me to my gate at the airlines. That first year I felt uncomfortable and self-conscious but it didn't take to long to get used to the idea of not having to walk a mile while shlepping luggage and not having to wait in the long security lines.

That's one good thing about being a " wise elder", taking advantage of anything that makes life easier.

The terrorists are winning by putting us to the expense of trying to guard against attack--no matter the remoteness of the possibility. Somewhere, somehow, our government has become (or thinks that we have become) too timid to accept that life is not certain. We/they demand perfect safety. As our statistics on accidental shootings, accidental over-doses, and automobile smashups can attest: there is no life certain!!!!!

I travel the Australia/US route fairly regularly, and also domestic within Australia and the US. The situation in the US is particularly bad as the 'rules' at one airport (and even at one end of a line to the other) are VERY inconsistent (it's not a lot better in Australia). Then there's the matter of 'security' on planes - I ranted about this in my travel blog (April 26, 2004 entry).

I travel frequently, and overseas is easy compared to domestic flights in US. When possible in US I take Amtrak; it may run late and the food is lousy, but what relative civility and comfort! England is almost as bad as we are; I'm surprised at the comments about Charles De Gaulle; I've had good treatment there and everywhere else in Europe and Central Asia, including free food and even wine in economy class. Thanks for dealing with this subject, but does anyone have a corrective to suggest besides not flying?

Hello Crabby - I feel your pain. I just returned from my air travel security experiences too. At Phoenix Airport, prior to going through security, I duly put my little bottles of liquids, including my dangerous lip gloss, into a little plastic baggie. I wore slip off shoes and no jewelry to make the passage through security easier. Then, my handbag was singled out for personal inspection. I went over to the special table with scientific sniffing gear, and before examining my bag, the TSA employee asked me if there were any shop objects or anything in my handbag that would harm her, and of course I said NO. I told her I am retired after 32 years with the US Customs Service, and worked many years at LAX as a Customs Inspector. She said, "Oh so you know what we go through!" as she started examining my handbag with a brush type instrument. Ahhh... lo and behold she then pulled out the dangerous substance! I had inadvertently forgot to put a tiny 1 oz. container of Crabree and Evelyn's body lotion in my little plastic bag! Oh my!! She pulled out the incriminating evidence, and I apologized for forgetting it, and I was on my way...thinking...geeze...when I was a Customs Inspector at LAX, we were looking for real CONTRABAND... you know, like ILLEGAL DRUGS like COCAINE and other prohibited substances, smuggled undeclared ROLEX watches and the like, and documents like FAKE PASSPORTS which would indicate criminal or terrorist activity... we weren't concerned with little 1 oz. bottles of lotion or shampoo... my how times have CHANGED!

I do understand that these TSA employees are just doing what they are hired to do - but I think some of these security regulations are just downright dumb. The concessions AFTER security clearance are making a killing on $3 bottles of water, that's for sure.

Enough said.

I think the governing philosophy is simply "It's better to do something than nothing at all" so the security forces and politicians can claim they're doing something. The prevailing attitude seems to be that "the people" aren't too smart anyway, the officials know better than we do what's best for us, that we won't notice the incompetency in idea and action as long as they just "do something."