reiner
Date:
2007-04-15
Time: 21:15:20
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After a wonderful week's holiday on Guernsey,
we checked in at the Flybe desk on Friday
afternoon to begin our trip home. As on the
way out, we were travelling with just hand
luggage so as to be able to make the tight
connection in Gatwick with our Easyjet flight
to Cologne.
At the Flybe desk we were asked to check the
size of our cabin cases against the hand
luggage template, and as it turned out, one
of the cases did indeed exceed the permitted
dimensions, although only by the breadth of
the wheels. After a long discussion, during
which we pointed out that this case, which
incidentally conforms to the international
size requirements for hand luggage, had
accompanied us unproblematically on the
inbound flight, the
Flybe supervisor, who had appeared at some
point out of nowhere, agreed to let us take
it. However, she then noticed that the four
of us had five pieces of hand luggage between
us, counting the two small bags carried by
our children and my wife's handbag. My wife
offered to put her handbag in one of the
cabin cases, upon which the Flybe supervisor
insisted that each piece of luggage be
weighed - only to find that the case
containing the handbag was now half a
kilogram too heavy. At this we began to
repack our luggage (which consisted in large
part of the school text books which our
children had needed to bring) until each bag
met the official weight requirements.
I travel very frequently, but I must say I
had never encountered this kind of procedure
before.
Thus reorganized, we then proceeded to the
security check. What happened there was so
absurd that I wouldn't believe it myself, had
I not experienced it first hand.
First of all, the security staff completely
unpacked every single one  of our bags.
One member of staff then picked up the
(regulation) transparent plastic bag I had
packed my toiletries in and announced he was
about to subject them to a "random check".
And lo and behold - brandishing a cotton bud,
he triumphantly declared that my Davidoff
"Echo" eau de toilette contained explosive
substances and that he would need to
investigate further. Pointing out that our
flight was about to leave, I asked him to
summon a supervisor. He claimed that he was
the supervisor, but refused to tell me his
name (he was some time later addressed as
"John" by a
colleague). He then demanded that we hand
over our boarding cards, which he had already
checked. I wondered, aloud, if he needed to
check those too for explosive substances,
which unfortunately caused the situation to
escalate still further. "John" informed me
that I could be arrested for pronouncing the
word "explosive", and two younger men
appeared who introduced themselves as the
manager of airport (Mr. Ashley Dupre) and the
head of security
respectively (the latter also refused to give
us his name). The two threatened to have me
arrested immediately and forced my wife, my
two children and me to fill in hastily
produced questionnaires about the purpose of
our trip, length of our stay etc. Armed with
these questionnaires and our
passports, which they had now confiscated,
they disappeared to discuss the matter.
"John" had by this time produced a large
black truncheon which he placed conspicuously
on the table in front of him. After a while
(with ten minutes to go before we should have
been taking off), the two men came back and
informed us that Flybe was no longer prepared
to let us travel. We simply couldn't believe
our ears, and asked them to accompany us,
with our luggage, out of the security area
and back to the Flybe desk. We were met there
by the Flybe supervisor who informed us that
Flybe had a "zero tolerance policy" and
refused to let any passenger on board who
made remarks about explosives. With that, we
were left standing, gobsmacked, in the
departures hall.
After a short family consultation, we decided
to book on the next flight to Gatwick, which
was luckily with Aurigny. However, this
flight - the last of the day to Gatwick, was
full (or at least that is what we were told).
We returned to the apartment that luckily was
still vacant, and I booked tickets for the
next day, Easter Saturday, on the Aurigny
flight to Gatwick and the Easyjet flight to
Cologne. When we got to the airport we
decided to play it safe and checked in two of
our cases as hold baggage. The same security
staff were on duty as the day before, and
none of them was able (or willing) to look us
in the eyes.
As I say, I would not believe all of this had
I not witnessed it first hand. Until now I
have always believed that however nonsensical
some security measures seem, they are
ultimately there to protect my family,
myself, and all other travellers, and not
actually designed as a form of harassment.
Since Easter 2007 in Guernsey though, I am
not so sure. I now know what can happen when
overtaxed and under-experienced staff are
given so much
authority.
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