Modern airport measures are holding travellers hostage to fortune

In the distant past you went to a bus station to catch a bus, a train station to catch a train and an airport to catch a plane. Then 9/11 shattered our concept of relative safety.

In the immediate aftermath, a two hour pre-flight arrival became the norm as the authorities struggled to upgrade security procedures at airports.

Sixteen years on and it is time to have a calm and collected look at the situation.

In 2016, there were 12.3 million passenger movements through Edinburgh Airport and 9.4 million through Glasgow. A total of 21.7 million people arrived or departed from the two main Scottish airports. While there might have been some net immigration, roughly 11 million people departed from both airports.

Eleven million people were asked to arrive at the airport two hours before the scheduled departure time.

Since 9/11, security procedures have been improved and it now takes ten to 15 minutes to clear security and go to the departure gate. In 2017, one hour arrival before flight time would be adequate.

A recent passage through Edinburgh Airport shows that the authorities have not been blind to the marketing opportunities of 11 million people waiting for the extra hour. Through security and you enter the world of upmarket discount selling.

The Scottish Government andtheairportauthorityhave created a large tax free zone where departing passengers are encouraged to avoid taxes on luxury goods. They have joined Amazon, Starbucks and Google in inventive ways to cheat the tax man.

The space and the employees should be better used to fulfil the function of an airport which is to get passengers onto and off aeroplanes.

In 2016 at Scottish airports, 11,000,000 hours of people’s time was wasted on luxury shopping. Many of these peoplewerebusinesspersonsand this wasted time contributes to the low productivity in the Scottish economy. Are you getting a bargain? These are high rent luxury stores which can pay the rent and make a handsome profit from selling you duty free goods.

As a taxpayer, you are avoiding tax on the items you buy. Somebody has to pay the bills and that somebody is you. Yourtaxeswillgouptobalance the government books, you are paying the rent for these luxury stores and you are the source of their profits.

It is time for the Scottish Government to hold the airport authorities to account. When you drop someone off at either airport you are now a hostage subject to payment of afeebeforeyoucanbereleased back into society.

This is the worst sort of intrusion into the free movement of people going about their lawful business.

It is time to re-examine the need for a two hour pre-flight check in and the payment barriers to exit an airport.

In 2017, neither are necessary.