Tired
I never thought I’d be tired of travelling. Sure, I’m wiped and tired of travelling after taking the red-eye, train, then cab to get to work. But right now, I’m actually tired of being on the road. 18 of the past 21 days. Ugh.
Definitions
Today, the ‘threat level’ at the airport was Orange: High Risk of Terrorist Attacks. I get the feeling that the ****s at Homeland Security have a different definition of “High” and “Risk” than I do. In fact, the thing I’m most worried about at the airport is…
TSA = Terrorists
What strikes the most terror in me when I fly? Getting killed by terrorists? No. The thing I fear more is getting a cavity search from a TSA officer. The terrorists have won… we are now paranoid and fear each other.
Electronics
What’s the deal with disallowing iPods / headphones in ears / noise cancelling headphones during takeoff and landing? C’mon. Seriously?
I’m pretty sure noise-canceling headphones are always allowed. I’ve seen them marked in the in-flight magazine as such on more than one airline.
JB:
* The flight attendants now explicitly call out noise-cancelling headphones in their announcement.
* I looked in the magazines (for NorthWest, Delta, and United). They also explicitly mention noise-cancelling headphones.
Sad.
Take-off and landing are the times when the plane is most likely to crash. If the plane is crashing, the flight attendants want to be able to give you directions without any complications. Also, they like to be able to get your attention easily if they have to tell you to move your seat/tray or buckle your seatbelt.
James:
One would think that noise cancelling headphones would be allowed because they make it easier to hear voices over the drone of the engines (though, I guess enforcement would be hard.
Mind you, I’d be willing to trade off what safety I get from having the headphones off for the comfort of reduced noise / pleasant music. I’m pretty much of the opinion that if the plane crashes, I’m pretty much screwed anyway.