Travelling through Heathrow on the way to ACTE Barcelona last week, was probably not the most sensible of ideas. There's nothing new in telling you that security was abysmal. If my flight hadn”t have been delayed by about two hours I would have missed it.
While the industry was kept in the dark over the actions of the Department for Transport after the August 10 foiled terror plots, you'd have thought by now (almost three months later) that a set security policy would have been sorted. But it seemed most delegates to ACTE Barcelona last week noticed a distinct randomness about security policy.
Passengers in one queue were asked to take their shoes off while passengers in the next queue weren”t. If you were a shoe-bomber, which queue would you stand in? Thankfully I”m not a shoe bomber but the no-liquids rule applied to me. Out of my bag went that well-known killer toothpaste, along with a fair amount of cosmetics and perfume that I had been foolish enough to leave in my hand luggage.
Yes, that wasn”t clever. But I repurchased what had been taken from me in Boots in duty-free, got rid of all the bulky packaging and reloaded it into my hand luggage.
But here”s where it gets ridiculous. Lo and behold, there was another security checkpoint at the departure gate. I”m not one of these people who huffs and puffs if I have to pull my passport out for the fifth time in ten minutes. But I am one of those people who resents another bag search when boarding has started. What could I have possibly found to put in my bag that represented a danger to aircraft security, in between one security checkpoint and the duty-free shops? (Suggestions please.) The security staff obviously thought the whole situation was a joke and again out came all the contents of my bag.
Again, the ritual sacrificing of new cosmetics took place. Whatever still had its seal unbroken I was allowed to keep. The new toothpaste happily survived the incident.
According to an airport staffer my hand lotion had to be sacrificed to the god of security. ”I'm taking this, because you didn't buy it here,” she scowled.
”But I did and it's new,” I replied. ”I bought it from Boots just now!”
”Well, do you have the receipt?”
This little known travelling fact is new to me. Bear this in mind; if you travel with hand luggage, you”ll have to leave the liquids at home. If you buy it in duty-free you'll have to keep the receipt or everything liquid you”ve just re-purchased will also be taken away at the departures gate. Airport security staff must be doing very well out of this.