THE EDITOR, Sir:
I HAVE read the recent letters on baggage searches at Jamaican airports with great interest. As a frequent traveller in and out of Kingston, I have had my share of experiences with disrespectful and unprofessional conduct by security officers. On one recent occasion, I was pulled out of the check-in line for a search at the very moment the Air Jamaica check-in clerk called me to her desk although I had been waiting in line for more than an hour.
Because of this late (and painstakingly slow) search by a security guard I can only describe as uncouth, boarding of my flight had started by the time I reached the departure hall. Never mind that I had dutifully arrived at the airport more than two hours before departure. And this was just a minor example of my many frustrations with baggage searches.
As for profiling, I am a white expatriate woman and usually travel alone, dressed for comfort rather than 'for success.' Although I am a professional and academic, my appearance always seems to raise a red flag when I leave Jamaica and I cannot remember departing without at least one baggage search in recent years. There was an instance, travelling with American Airlines, where my checked-in luggage was searched twice and my cabin luggage an amazing three times. In other words, several profiles are used to decide on searches and it would be helpful if we could be told exactly what those are and why.
For the sake of security, I have no problem with being subjected to occasional random searches, in Jamaica or elsewhere, but it must be done in a reasonable and courteous manner. Sure enough, I have also had frustrations arriving in the US. On one occasion, I reached my destination with my locked and apparently undisturbed baggage only to find that a Blue Mountain coffee bag inside had been cut open and resealed by US customs. Scary, in this day and age, that my luggage could have been opened and searched without my even being aware of it!
But that things are bad for travellers from Jamaica on arrival in the US, is simply not a good enough excuse for the lack of professionalism and disorder that reigns at Norman Manley Airport. While on that subject, something needs to be done about the increasingly chaotic customs hall at Norman Manley, especially that ridiculously long 'nothing to declare line,' which invariably includes people with at least half a dozen suitcases. Of course, this is not just the responsibility of the airport authority and customs, who could organise the movement of people through the hall much better, but also requires greater discipline on the part of travellers.
And then there is the institutionalisation of delayed luggage by Air Jamaica which would be a bit easier to stomach if there were any semblance of organisation at their very, very busy lost luggage desk. If we want to travel well, and let's face it, air travel is increasingly stressful, we may all want to make an effort.
I am etc.,
"Wary Traveller"
Kingston 6
Via Go-Jamaica
