Sir, – As one who does an amount of overseas travel, I find myself increasingly bewildered by the differing standards of security checks at airports throughout different countries and continents.
I am totally in agreement with the absolute necessity for rigorous checks on all persons boarding planes and also on all their luggage and belongings. Airport and airline staff bear a heavy burden of responsibility to ensure the safety of their passengers and their airlines’ property, not to mention their own survival. It is clearly in everyone’s interest that security checks are carried out efficiently and thoroughly.
However, there is a huge divergence of standards worldwide in how necessary security checks are carried out.
In some airports there is one screening prior to reaching the boarding gate while in others there are two. I do not understand why this should be so. Surely one methodical and meticulous operation should be sufficient.
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Some security personnel allow bottles of liquid to pass through while others confiscate them. Then in another airport the passenger is obliged to remove shoes and braces while in others this is not such a requirement. Some allow small sprays and other toiletries through without question while others do not. Boxes of matches and nail-files have met different fates at different times on my travels.
Surely an International Air Transport Association has a strict set of rules and regulations to be enforced rigorously by all airlines and airports worldwide? Common sense demands this type of universal vigilance on our dangerous planet where life gets cheaper by the day. – Yours, etc,
GEAROID KILGALLEN,
Dun Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.