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more on First Hand Experiences at London Gatwick
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 14:20:51 -0400
Begin forwarded message:From: "Synthesis: Law and Technology" <synthesis.law.and.technology () gmail com>
Date: August 11, 2006 1:49:13 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: Re: [IP] First Hand Experiences at London Gatwick Dave,I'm wondering if any IPers hae first hand experience with taking the train either to or from London under the channel? I'm certain security personnel would have considered this to be a prime target - a train in a tunnel under the water? How has the enhanced security afffected train travel and/or the population's willingness to travel via Eurostar?
Dan Steinberg SYNTHESIS:Law & Technology 35, du Ravin phone: (613) 794-5356 Chelsea, Quebec J9B 1N1 On 8/11/06, David Farber <dave () farber net> wrote: Begin forwarded message: From: Date: August 11, 2006 1:55:36 AM EDT To: David Farber < dave () farber net> Subject: First Hand Experiences at London Gatwick Hi Dave, Please share anonymously with IP if you'd like. I was one of the (un)lucky ones who flew from London to the United States today and can confirm all of the experiences being discussed on IP first hand. I flew out of London Gatwick and arrived at the airport just past 8 am for a flight that was scheduled to depart at 11.55 am Gatwick departures was a zoo, and it took about 45 minutes to get from the front door of Gatwick to the check-in counter for my flight with Continental Airlines. The employees at Continental were instructing everyone to check everything, and basically you were only allowed to take onboard a small wallet, passport, and plane ticket. Essential medications and baby products were also being permitted, but everything else -- including books, electrical equipment (laptops, iPod, mobile phones, Blackberry, etc.), eyeglasses cases -- needed to be checked. The security screening lines to get to the departure lounges were lengthy, but were moving quite well given the absence of any luggage. The security personnel were doing quite a thorough search of all passengers, including a pat down search, and scrutinizing fairly closely the now limited belongings that people were trying to bring onto the airplanes. In the departure lounge, the shops were being given specific instructions that no liquid substances of any sort were to be sold to passengers departing for the US, and any beverages purchased needed to be consumed prior to boarding the airplane. Ironically, you were able to purchase books, newspapers, food, and other goods to bring onto the airplane that you were not able to bring through security. WH Smith (a newsagent in the U.K.) was doing rather brisk business as a result. The flight that I was on was Continental 67 from Gatwick to Cleveland, Ohio. Upon arrival at the gate, all passengers were subjected to another thorough pat down search. Boarding for the flight commenced approximately 30 minutes after the scheduled departure time -- at the time I was thinking that the delay was going to be much greater -- but this is when things got interesting. We continued to sit at the gate, and the captain explained that the delay was a result of a check by the UK and US governments of the passenger manifest. As I understand it, flights to the US from the UK were no longer being cleared to depart once the passenger manifest had been transmitted to the US / DHS / TSA; instead, as of today, the passenger manife sts needed to be pre-cleared by the US and UK governments even before the flight was allowed to leave the gate. Two hours into this waiting routine, airport authorities boarded the plane and offloaded a passenger. After the passenger was offloaded, we were all asked to disembark the airplane, so that a full sweep of the aircraft could be performed. Once at the gate area, having checked our mobile phones previously, a rather long queue quickly formed at the single BT public payphone at the gate. We reboarded the plane at about 4 pm, and our flight departed for the States at 6 pm -- a full 6 hours after our scheduled departure time. With the books and magazines I had purchased from WH Smith, I was able to keep myself occupied for the 8 hour flight, but it was a surreal experience traveling on a long international flight without laptop, noise canceling headphones, onboard luggage and other creature comforts that I normally bring with me to make international flights bearable and productive. We arrived at Cleveland at 9 pm, and I had long missed by onward connection to San Francisco. Here's to hoping that the airports tomorrow are a bit less of a zoo than they were today. ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as synthesis.law.and.technology () gmail com To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ipArchives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting- people/
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