StupidStupidStupidStupidStupidStupidStupid

[howeird]

Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid

The alleged "security" precautions at Heathrow. Abysmal. Incompetent. Idiotic. Stupid.

They told us to be there 3 hours before the flight, but the airport "security" would not let us in until 2 hours before. They were not set up to process what turned out to be a normal number of weekend passengers. It took 20 minutes just to get to the boarding pass machine - this part of the trip should have been completely unaffected by the "security" measures, except the idiocy of not allowing us in early meant everyone was jammed in there at once. We all had checked bags, and this did slow things down, but not nearly as much as the ticketing personnel, who are not trained in and should not be part of the screening process, who wasted everyone's time and made the wait longer by giving us a hard time about the meager items we were allowed to bring on board. They need to just do their jobs, and leave the screening crap to the crappy screeners. Took half an hour to get my bags checked, and I was in the express line. What should have taken 2 minutes took 10.

Then there was the idiocy of two pat-down searches. The first one all the passengers went through, done by the usual guards at the passengers-only section of the airport. The second done poorly and slowly by amateurs at the United gate.

The restrictions were Just Plain Stoopid. All we were allowed to bring were:
Wallet
Prescription medicine (in the original container with prescription label)
Keys (but no electronic key fobs like for car alarms)
Coins

No books, newspapers, writing implements, food, candy. Absofuckinglutely ridiculous.

It took all 2 hours to get to the plane.

As a result of this stupidity, the plane was delayed an hour. The flight was completely full.

Other than that, it was fine. Smooth flight, except for having to make a second pass at landing, and a somewhat bumpy landing. The Obligatory Screaming Baby only made a token appearance during the descent, from the rear of the plane, and only for a minute.

Will be doing the photos and filling in the travelogue during the week. Dinner time now. I need some good Thai food, I think. 

Comments

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

All I can say is: never fly El Al.

[howeird]

El Al doesn't have such draconian limits on carry-on, and they only earch you once. But their policy of not maintaining a flight schedule is insane.

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

Hm, they've changed their practices since the last time I read about them. Given that that was a few years ago, though, I'm not surprised that I've got inaccurate info.