I.D. Nightmare (A warning)

Parent Cafe
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<p>Don’t have time to read through the thread carefully, so I’m sorry if this has been suggested, but since those under 18 years of age are not required to have ID, why didn’t you just say she was under 18? There’s no proof one way or the other, and if a parent is there to make the claim (and parent and child share a last name) there’s a little bit of corroborating evidence that it -might- be true. This occurred to me when I put 17 year old on a plane 3 years ago - he didn’t have a permit, didn’t want him to lose passport so I just told the curbside checker that he was under 18. I left him at that point, and he got through security all right. I realize things are tightening up (this was post 9-ll, of course) but when you’ve got a crisis in hand, you could try that. </p>

<p>Since then, we all travel with our passports, even state to state (and son has never lost his or license he now has). I think every child should get one even if they’re not anticipating overseas travel</p>

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<p>Another travel story: We were at JFK airport almost 3 years ago when they had the black-out. We had actually gone up to the ticket counter and just then the lights went out. We were about to start the first leg of a two week Meditteranean cruise, with the ship leaving from Barcelona, Spain. Long story short, we ended up getting the flight a day late and having to catch the ship in Cannes. The reason I mention this is that our trip was just a year short of 9/11 and for that reason we expected security to be tight. Because of the black out, there was only a visual inspection of our checked luggage(they looked INSIDE of about one per family) and a very, very quick look over of our carry on’s. Thinking of all the flights that went out like ours, when there was still no power, we’re all lucky that nothing bad happened. I really don’t know how it could have been done any better and still gotten us out. It was very, very frustrating in the airport and we were so happy to get out of there.</p>

<p>My poor mother in law missed one of her suitcases and didn’t get it until a week after they got home.</p>

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<p>" Since son had some valuable work he had produced at the workshop he attended, he wanted to wait."</p>

<p>Never, ever put into a checked bag something that one absolutely needs.</p>

<p>Recently, I was kicking myself over not following that rule. I had put into my checked bag a certificate from a program that I had just completed. Guess which bag got lost? Fortunately, the airlines found it several hours later, but for a while, I was biting my nails.</p>

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<p>NSM - I think my son learned that lesson this week!</p>

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<p>Anybody happen to see this article by Anne Applebaum on airport security? My mom just came to visit, bringing a newspaper with her, and this article was in it. Hope it opens for you.</p>

<p><a href=“Newsday | Long Island's & NYC's News Source - Newsday”>Newsday | Long Island's & NYC's News Source - Newsday;

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<p>Thanks for the link, binx. I think paragraphs 7-10 of that article say it all.</p>

<p>I don’t want to get into a philosophical argument about the pros & cons of this, but I think it has been demonstrated in many public debates, esp. since 9/11, that Americans overall value privacy & freedom of movement more than they value security. There are no 2 ways about it. Serious security would be much more Israeli in style (more “military,” more invasive), & Americans are not prepared for that. And of course, even Israeli security does not prevent suicide bombs within their own borders.</p>

<p>But in any case, the nursery school approach doesn’t cut it. That is my <em>real</em> issue with all this. If I felt that the 3+hr. lines were targeting, really screening, & really removing actual passengers with terrorist inclinations, I would feel different, & would subscribe to the “better safe than sorry” position that some repliers on this thread have embraced. But it’s all such a pose, and a pose with Attitude, at that.</p>

<p>About 15 yrs. ago I remember several discussions about development of plastique-detecting equipment that more than one country was working on. Well, apparently no one has gotten far enough along in that dep’t, and/or whatever technology is available is not used on London mass transit. </p>

<p>Civil libertarians don’t want profiling, lovers of open borders don’t want real security along our southern borders (Middle Eastern terrorists are being smuggled in via Mexico), people freak out when National I.D. cards are even whispered about, iris scanners are not routinely available, & plastique detection is not available or in-use. One could also argue that all those measures are not universally preventative, either, & that’s probably true. But at the very least, they are more genuine and not “show” and “pretend.”</p>

<p>Costly to the government, the taxpayer, & to business (& not just to airlines).</p>