A Stitch in Haste

Some minor items:

Fortunately I wasn't flying to Atlanta:

Seems that international arrivals get their bags in Concourse E — Hartsfield-Atlanta's international concourse — go through customs, and then have their bags sent to the main baggage retrieval area. But since there's no way to leave the airport from Concourse E without getting on the train or walkway that takes you past all the other concourses and passengers who got access to their packed luggage[,] all international passengers — whether connecting to a flight or headed to their destination in Atlanta — have to go through a TSA screening.

Going through security to leave the airport? Because if we don't, then the terrorists win.

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On the other hand, you don't need to visit Atlanta to experience TSA nonsense:

1. Remove my backpack; 2. Remove my jacket; 3. Remove my shoes; 4. Remove my iBook from the backpack, and from its case; 5. Remove my approved, one-quart sized Ziploc bag containing its legal allotment of three-ounce containers of liquids and gels from the backpack. Item 4 must be placed in separate tray, alone; Item 5 goes in a round plastic dish, also by itself; Items 1, 2, and 3 are piled together in a third tray. But not so fast, as a guard warns me not bury my shoes beneath the other items. He recommends I place them separately on the belt, or in yet another tray. So there I am, one person with four separate trays of belongings. And after those belongings are x-rayed, it's time to:

1. put my coat back on; 2. put my shoes back on; 3. re-pack the computer; 4. re-pack the approved, one-quart sized Ziploc bag; 5. Strap on my backpack. All of this with no chair or table, elbow to elbow with a dozen other people all doing the same thing.

It seems to me that the low-hanging fruit here is removing laptops from bags: most other countries not only don't require but actually frown upon the practice, and the cost-benefit analysis certainly strikes most reasonable people as a losing proposition. But I guess if we don't do it, then the terrorists win.

Next up would be freedom baggies — that simply must be scrapped eventually. I refuse to participate at all, and opt instead for buying trial size toiletries upon arrival. Finally, one would-be shoe-bomber should not automatically condemn the entire United States commercial air travel sector to perpetual de-shoeing forevermore. It's time to return to something remotely resembling normalcy on that front.

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Of course, not only do we endure this nonsense, we also pay for it:

The airfare you paid on this itinerary totals: XXX.XX USD

The taxes you paid on this itinerary total: yy.yy USD
That's how Continental Airlines formats its receipts, complete with putting the taxes paid in bold. I like that. I wish more merchants would do that. It reminds me of a story I once heard years ago (sorry, no links) that some jurisdiction, probably New York City, had contemplated enacting a law that would have prohibited hotels from breaking out taxes on its receipts (a significant line item considering New York City's 13.375% + $4/night hotel tax). The idea was that convention planners might reconsider bringing conventions to the city if they realized that participants weren't paying for four-star luxuries but for politicians' profligacy.

Continental is still on my naughty list, but I liked that gesture. Bravo.