I haven’t flown in the last eight years so it was quite the surprise to see that hug restriction.
Does the airport think that weapons or secret messages could be transmitted? If so, they’re more gullible than a dog chasing a stick that its owner only pretended to throw. Both can be done in seconds.
Does it think passengers will become so wrapped up (pun intended) in their hugging that they’ll miss their flight?
Or do they frown on a three minute five as the potential loss of revenue at an overpriced ‘restaurant’?
I remember once arriving at my destination late in the evening with the luggage crew likely on break - around 11 PM. This was somewhere in the US some time ago. When the luggage finally came down the carousel it was already after midnight. Everyone grumbled and grabbed, whisked away in their cars or in those waiting for them.
I had already missed my connecting flight and, stranded for the night (this was before smartphones), then wandered about. Everything was closed. I finally found a janitor who pointed out the security staff office. They told me there wasn’t anything they could do but I was welcome to sleep on the cold floor.
My love of flying has never been the same since then,
The latter I think. The corporate interests who run these places don’t want us to get distracted away from spending. I noticed in an Irish regional airport that they used to have a viewing platform to look at the planes taking off and landing. Gone. They don’t want people hanging around the airport unless they are spending, or flying.
But the idea that ‘love’ or ‘kindness’ are just individual concerns divorced from the social conditions in which they arise is a very convenient fiction that suits corporate interests very well. It reminds me of the whole ‘carbon footprint’ message that was pushed a few years ago, pushing responsibility onto the consumer , when in practice it is corporate interests who are principally responsible for carbon emissions. But they’d rather we spent our time guilt tripping ourselves than questioning why we’ve got no alternatives….
I haven’t flown in the last eight years so it was quite the surprise to see that hug restriction.
Does the airport think that weapons or secret messages could be transmitted? If so, they’re more gullible than a dog chasing a stick that its owner only pretended to throw. Both can be done in seconds.
Does it think passengers will become so wrapped up (pun intended) in their hugging that they’ll miss their flight?
Or do they frown on a three minute five as the potential loss of revenue at an overpriced ‘restaurant’?
I remember once arriving at my destination late in the evening with the luggage crew likely on break - around 11 PM. This was somewhere in the US some time ago. When the luggage finally came down the carousel it was already after midnight. Everyone grumbled and grabbed, whisked away in their cars or in those waiting for them.
I had already missed my connecting flight and, stranded for the night (this was before smartphones), then wandered about. Everything was closed. I finally found a janitor who pointed out the security staff office. They told me there wasn’t anything they could do but I was welcome to sleep on the cold floor.
My love of flying has never been the same since then,
The latter I think. The corporate interests who run these places don’t want us to get distracted away from spending. I noticed in an Irish regional airport that they used to have a viewing platform to look at the planes taking off and landing. Gone. They don’t want people hanging around the airport unless they are spending, or flying.
But the idea that ‘love’ or ‘kindness’ are just individual concerns divorced from the social conditions in which they arise is a very convenient fiction that suits corporate interests very well. It reminds me of the whole ‘carbon footprint’ message that was pushed a few years ago, pushing responsibility onto the consumer , when in practice it is corporate interests who are principally responsible for carbon emissions. But they’d rather we spent our time guilt tripping ourselves than questioning why we’ve got no alternatives….