re: #169 Cineaste

Weird- I’ve flown El Al a lot and never dealt with the flying bags from a compression machine myself and the interviews have always been curt but polite. You’re saying they were rude to you?

Rude is probably too tough a word. The woman asked a lot of questions, repeated some of them, then explained people are actively trying to hijack planes and this was no joke, and asked questions again.

I’ve traveled quite a bit in my life, mostly internationally for work (london, paris, boston each leg once a week for 2+ years) and I’ve never complained about the questions asked (save once when I was force to answer the question “did anyone else pack your bags for you” — when I had no bags — I swear, “I have no bags” was not an acceptable answer to that question, for some damn reason).

For whatever reason THIS interviewer didn’t like my answers — maybe there was a language or cultural barrier, although she certainly spoke English well.

In any case, my point:

El Al is serious about protecting their planes and it is obvious at every point in the process — I didn’t feel like the process was inordinate even though it took a while.

That is not my impression about the magical thinking that makes up air travel security in the united states (plus it takes a long time).

This is all coming from a guy that remembers, just a couple decades ago, dropping a friend off at the airport just minutes before his plane was to take off and upon realizing he left a carry-on bag in my car, I parked the car (in the white loading/unloading zone) ran into the airport, through security to the plane, ran on the plane and handed the bag to him in his seat, then left the plane.