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Posted on 10/08/2006 9:42:57 PM PDT by Stoat
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Home Office rules say the eyes, nose and mouth must be clearly visible in passports and that ALL travellers will be asked to lift their veils — if they wish in a private room in front of a female official.
But that wasn’t the case on my trip.
I wore a niqab — with just a slit for my eyes — to test security when I flew from Britain to Paris.
I used to wear a scarf covering my hair but I’d never worn the niqab.
I trooped to the local Islamic shop and bought one.
They are meant to be a symbol of modesty but the only one I could find bore a designer logo — oh well!
 Jack Straw ... wants veils lifted |
At the airport I held open my passport and the man looked at the picture (no veil in sight and I was lipsticked with hair tied back) and handed it back to me smiling.
I joined the line dreading my turn at the security check. My ten-year-old son went first and I followed.
A female security official patted me. I asked her if I needed to take my veil off but she said it was fine.
I was free to board a plane to Paris.
The final hurdle was the gate before boarding the BMI flight to Charles de Gaulle airport. I was still not asked to lift the veil.
At first I felt pleased airport officials had been so considerate. They’d obviously had their diversity training. But then I thought: “What if someone had stolen my passport?”
Paris was a different story. After a night in the romantic capital, I returned to the airport. I approached the BMI desk and a very courteous woman told me she would have to check my face against my passport.
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She asked if I minded going to a more private place with her, the toilets — and I agreed.
At the next set of security checks another policewoman asked me to again quickly lift my veil. I did not feel threatened — only vastly reassured.
I had no objections to being checked in Paris and I would feel much happier if Bradford did the same.
Last night aviation expert David Learmount said: “This is an area that can be exploited and has been in the past. In 1994 two Chechen women wearing full Muslim dress were able to board planes out of Moscow with bombs strapped under their clothing. I am sure airport staff in the UK don’t want to wait until two planes are blown out of the sky to get over their embarrassment.”
Tory MP Mike Penning said: “I hope this is an oversight rather than political correctness.”
It's 2 Hijabs! DEPUTY PM John Prescott yesterday insisted women should keep their veils on if they wish. He said: “It is the woman’s choice.”
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Mr Prescott, known as Two Jags, said Jack Straw was right to raise the issue of veils like the hijab but said it could harm community relations.
He added: “I fear people might use it in a more prejudiced way.” Burka Dodge A MALE terror suspect evaded capture by dressing as a Muslim woman with his face veiled, it was claimed last night. The man — wanted in connection with serious terrorist offences — was on the run for days wearing the head to toe burka, The Times reported. He was eventually captured and is now one of more than 90 suspects in custody awaiting trial on terror charges.
Nothing could be further from the truth; in fact, I have no reason to believe that our airports here in the USA would be any better. ...my guess is that it might even be worse over here in terms of screeners being terrified of appearing politically incorrect and "gasp" raising the ire of endlessly-offended Muzzies.
Agree with your take on what we would have done over here. This story gives you the warm-n-fuzzies, doesn't it?
Well, it makes me more likely to consider the stoatmobile as opposed to commercial airlines for domestic travel and perhaps a stylish freighter or cruise ship for international destinations :-)
Here we have an industry that is failing to do the job that I demand from it, and so I will consider taking my travel business elsewhere.
Security at British airports?! Hmmmmmmmmm....
Again, agree with your options. My last two trips have been via rental car at 7hrs each way.
I have to consider travel to the airport, parking, "screening" lines, psychotic boarding processes, inevitable delays (with a better than 50-50 chance of a stay at the tarmac parking lot), scary-@ss turbulence, crappy food options at the terminals.
vs.
Get the car when it's convenient for me (dealing with a small, local office is great when you get to know the people working there), pack up a cooler of water, Gatorade, Diet Coke, Mountain Dew, Amp, all of which are packed with ice, not having to deal with waiting for a softdrink on the airline, homemade sandwiches, no waiting line for the latrine, working my own timetable, keeping in touch with my team via unlimited cell phone time and the list goes on.
When all is said and done, the difference in time is about 1/2 hour to 1 hour. Well worth the price of admission. Oh, and did I mention I don't have to worry as much about my rental exploding?
There's also the very basic matter of being able to choose your traveling companions. I don't appreciate it and I don't feel comfortable when I am forced into a situation of having to share occupancy of a closed, locked metal cylinder with anyone who can 'find' $200. for a plane ticket ( or someone who simply knows the right sheik or imam) particularly when any 'screening' is spotty at best and which is overseen by operative parameters that are dictated by the fickle winds of political correctness.
Most of us have put some degree of effort into becoming the individuals that we are and .this is an investment of the very most valuable kind....one's time and life energies. I simply feel uncomfortable knowing that the investment I have made in myself is being treated with such a cavalier disregard by those whose wages I am helping to pay. It makes absolutely no sense, but most people, I would guess, don't even give it a thought.
Having my life forcibly and painfully cut short by a muzzie who got onto 'my' plane because his ethnic background triggered the Affirmative Action twits to let him onboard with only superficial checks or none at all because doing a proper job in screening him was too much trouble and wasn't supported by the screener's supervisors anyway is not the way that I want my life to end..I've worked too hard at things for me to allow it all to be brought to a screeching halt for a reason like that.
Other benefits of auto or train travel to add to your excellent list:
Her appearance was so ghastly in that outfit from Hell that two little children who ran across her started to cry.
She freaked out when they asked her to remove her death mask so they could take her picture. She caused such a scene that security had to be called.
After she wailed, screamed, and aggressively waved her arms for 20 mins, they gave her an ID card - and her picture was of her dressed as a KKK Grand Wizard.
No idiots trying to cram a steamer trunk in the overhead bin.
Note to self. Buy veil before traveling for the holidays.
The one second on the right is a real babe.
Is that from Monty Python? :)
OK...Smile!!!
An important and unsettling event which likely has been duplicated many times; thanks for posting.
That woman (notice I don't use the term 'lady') then most likely went home and told her husband, family, and huge extended family all about it, embellishing it at every step. The family and circle of friends got from this event not only an enhanced hatred of the Great Satan but the idea that Americans are weak and will buckle under the slightest amount of heat and pressure. They are all laughing at us, and it's long past time to wipe those smiles off their faces.
Man hands. I see man hands.
That's very saddening (and frightening) to hear. When you consider that the efforts being directed toward folks like you as being a potential security risk are duplicated millions of times daily, it naturally makes us think of how much better airline security would be if it were targeted toward those populations who are statistically most likely to actually be a security risk.
More reasons to get back in touch with the Great American Superhighway System and revel in your own independence, freedom, and self-determination.
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We just did:) AMD and I Vacationed this year was driving from Maine to Texas. We saw more of our great Nation and had more freedom to just talk to each other as a couple.
That sounds like an absolutely wonderful trip and a great experience!. If more folks would do that instead of flying, the airlines might wake up to the fact that their customers are embracing alternatives to flying, and they need to do something real and substantive about it, rather than the politically-correct idiocy that they are mired in.. (HINT: racial profiling WORKS, particularly in the context of a terror threat that's being inflicted upon us entirely by one racial/ethnic group)
My biggest concern over taking a trip such as yours would be in gaining weight :-)
The last time I visited Louisiana I decided that I could never live there because the food is too good...I think that I would inflate into a blimp in no time! :-)
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