A couple of nights ago, Big A and I were chatting as he was preparing dinner about my brother and nephew's visit from Texas this weekend. I then lamented about how much I missed going to the gate to greet people or to see them off. I miss seeing other people anxiously scanning the crowd for their loved ones and then the huge smile that usually comes as soon as they are spotted. I miss seeing the tears shed when someone has to leave. Now, all we have is the ability to greet people in baggage claim and it seems in the last 6 years, not a lot of people do that other than the chauffeurs with their name signs. Instead, people sit in the small areas that airports are creating for people to park and wait or they are in a Big Boy parking lot up the street from the airport. In either case, they are waiting for "the call" before they head to pick them up in arrivals where typically, thanks to the airport nazis, you have about 6.5 seconds to pick them up or you get ticketed. There's very little time for eye contact before the driver has to wiggle their way out of the triple parked waiting area and into the flow of traffic muchless time for a proper greeting (read: hug) and I doubt they do a belated hug once they arrive at their destination. All there is is the "How was your flight?" first question which, since they obviously arrived in one piece, is a useless question.
Once I was done, Big A asked "So whose fault is it?" For about 3 minutes, there was nothing but quiet as I pondered this. It seems to be three-fold: It's the fault of the guys who hijacked the planes, it's the fault of the government for choosing these restrictions and it's the fault of the people for just bending over when the government imposes such restrictions (such as lighters are now o.k but not shampoo?!?) and taking it. While I may want to change these restrictions so that I can greet people at the gate, I know that one person cannot make a difference. All I can do is pay the 2 bucks for short term parking and hang out with the chauffeurs in baggage claim which is what I will be doing tomorrow night.
1 comment:
I never understood what they were trying to accomplish by restricting people from the gate section, especially since you almost have to strip to get in there. It also has made the entrance area to the gates hughly crowded of people waiting for their loved ones to arrive on twenty different planes at once. The only good thing that comes from all this is that the gate area is now cleared of people which means I can almost always find a seat now where in the old days, I was lucky to find floor space to sit.
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