Another reader has beefs about airport security
Editor:
I couldn’t agree more with Dr. Diane McIntosh’s letter in Thursday’s Daily Courier, who described Kelowna Airport Security as the worst she has experienced.
I, too, travel extensively (every six weeks for the last 10 years) and a while back I wrote to complain about two male security personnel at YLW who were extremely inefficient in their work and very rude to boot.
I provided their names; time of event, etc. The response I received was equally as rude. Therefore, I can only assume that their training (or lack of) was the reason they behaved the way they did. If this behaviour is OK with management, then it continues.
Some time later, after travelling on several flights in the United States, I observed that any time I dined in airport restaurants after passing through security, they used plastic cutlery. Obviously this was for safety reasons.
At the same time, I remembered that the White Spot restaurant at YLW was still using regular cutlery including steak knives, which could easily be slipped into someone’s pocket and carried onto the aircraft. Concerned for my own safety, I wrote to Kelowna airport security, who responded that security measures here are consistent with all North American airports (not the case, which was my reason for reporting it). Unsatisfied with that response, I wrote to the Air Transportation Authority, which responded the same way. They followed up with a phone call to say there was no concern on their part. So, in conclusion, it appears Dr. McIntosh’s mascara is a much greater security threat than a metal steak knife or fork.
What is really disturbing to me is that she has been inappropriately screened on more than one occasion, so it is not simply an overzealous employee in a oneoff situation.
For me, it has been four out of six times I go through security at YLW that I am subjected to a so called “random” second level screening. Coincidence?
Lastly, over the past two weeks I have gone through airport security in London, England; Rome, Italy and Toronto. The security threats in those airports is likely at a much higher risk level than YLW, and yet all have been so much easier and way more professional towards the travelling public, who, by the way are the reason they have jobs in the first place.
I find it encouraging that recent incidents reported in the news show that travellers are resisting the bullying of airline and security employees.
Security is very important of course, but it can be done in a more intelligent and less aggressive manner.
M. Holm, Kelowna