I made a brief trip to the UK for a week, flying with Aegean. I found it to be a step back in time, in the best possible way. Hand luggage is no problem. Some had two small suitcases as hand luggage, not I! The aircraft were Airbus 320 & 321, new, and with a bit of room for the legs. They even served a meal! I thoroughly recommend them.
As a Fortean, I love anomalies, and asking of the authorities questions that others fear to ask; not wishing to appear stupid.
Air travel is a rich vein of bizarre practises.
I booked on the internet Diagoras to Heathrow via Athens. 48 hours before the flight Aegean emailed me to tell me that I could check-in online. That surprised me a little. I checked-in and received a dire warning that I had to print out my boarding pass, or else… What you are not told is that there is no second chance to do this. If your printer fails (out of ink), you will get no boarding pass! The other option is to accept the pass by email. My advice is to press that button. Once you have the pass safe, you can print it at your leisure as many times as you like.
I arrived at Diagoras and I was greeted by “Oh you checked-in on-line”. She then printed out two boarding passes! I left my printed ones with her for disposal!
For the return trip I got no email. However, I still checked-in on-line and printed the passes. This time they were required!
Then there are the security anomalies.
There was no one else about so I asked at the preliminary security check, what happened to the confiscated water bottles; analysis, controlled explosion? I was told that they were “recycled”. I then asked how this could be, if they were being confiscated on the grounds of them being putative explosives. This time I got a chuckle, and the suggestion that the airport wanted us to buy more once through security.
Surely, this can’t be true?
It is true, and don’t call me Shirley!
Why are my shoes dangerous when leaving Heathrow, but not when leaving Diagoras or Athens? Why take security measures as a reaction to the actions of Richard Reid, and not because of the actions of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab whose bomb was potentially more powerful?
We await, with dread, “The Suppository Bomber”!
I have always had problems removing those tough luggage ID tags. It seems I should ask the assistance of Heathrow luggage handlers.
On both trips, my luggage was booked through to the destination. On the return trip my route from the international flight to domestic at Athens luckily took me through baggage reclaim. Imagine my surprise to see my easily identifiable suitcase going round on the carrousel!
Further examination revealed that the ID tag had been ripped off. The only information remaining was “Aegean” and my name. I considered myself very lucky to have seen it. Had I not done so I am sure that I would never have seen it again.
The picture shows the luggage, with tag remnant, and the corresponding ID that they stick on the boarding pass.
Finally, I advise those of a delicate disposition to stop reading NOW!
In the event of an air crash:
What is the purpose of the “brace position”?
It preserves the dentition for the purposes of identifying the bodies.
What is the purpose of the life jackets?
They enable the recovery of the bodies.
The above was published on the “Feedback” page of New Scientist some time ago. A trainee aircraft engineer, the son of my friends where I was staying on this trip, repeated it verbally to me!
