the stick, the stone and the puddle

recently i had the pleasure of traveling north-bound on vacation in order to visit some old friends and enjoy what nature has to offer at footsteps from the north pole. anyhow, the decision was to travel by plane, after-all driving 2000 kms is not always a desired thing to do. by this point i am assuming you all know where this is heading, yes something to do with a company that managed to annoy me. well in this case i decided to travel with air canada. the only reason as to why, was because due to some parental help i had a code for 5% discount for the flight. at the time, air canada was trying to fight back west jet (and west jet’s offer of matching the price of a discounted fare if purchased earlier). thinking i am somewhat covered, i figured why not. well i purchased two tickets (round-trip) from vancouver to yellowknife.

about 3 weeks later i noticed the price decreased in total about $250. well, quite a big decrease. so, i decided to see if they were true to their word and if they will match the new price. i called them and left a voice-mail, as it was quite hard to get a customer rep. anyhow, they did eventually call back (about 2 days later), to inform me that the ticket is non-refundable, which means i can’t even try to get a re-fund, lose some part of the ticket and buy the new ones. essentially, i got told tough luck. i tried arguing, and telling that west jet offers this thing, but of course they had the clause ‘non-refundable’. so be it, i figured it doesn’t matter, so might as well fly with them. after all, it’s likely it will be the last time given west jet does seem to at least pretend they take better care for their customers. thus, they did essentially lose a customer that actually flies a few times a year.

anyhow, long story shorter…on the day of the flight we leave for the airport by bus/sky-train (yes, we decided to try the new crappy line). overall, the crappy line did impress, given it was direct to the airport and made it quite easy. no major complains about it (except the dumb rationale used to design the stations, especially the one at yvr – given the order of ticket machines do not make sense). overall, good idea, but dumb way of managing the project. anyhow, we get to yvr quite rapidly and get in line to get our tickets. all goes well, and we get to the security check point. put the carry-ons through the x-ray machine, and walk through the metal detector. my significant other passes first, and the metal detector beeps. the guys with his portable metal detector decides to check her over, and around the hips the detector beeps. she was wearing a pair of jeans (and you all know the jeans have the metal parts that might beep). anyhow, beeps once and the security guy calls for help from a female guard who confirms my significant other is only wearing jeans. well, the guy checks again on the other hip with his metal detector, which beeps again. and again he asks for help. overall the thing beeped 3 times, around the same area…and he wasn’t bright enough to realize it’s the jeans (given they were tight on the legs). kind of makes you wonder what kind of test these puppets in uniform have to go through prior to getting hired (given they are allowed in restricted and secure areas). anyhow, we get on the first plane, the second…and we arrive in yellowknife.

after a week and a half, we get to the yellowknife airport and go directly to the ticket desk. hand in our passports, at which point i notice the young lady across the counter turn to her fellow employee and whisper something to her. essentially on her lips i noticed ‘it’s expired’, and seeing how she had my passport in hand…i quickly interrupt. as it turns out i took the wrong passport (the old one) with me to fly. not quite something smart on my part, but overall given it was in canada i would have been ok. anyhow, essentially i passed through five different points where my passport was checked and was allowed to proceed, until the sixth where a young 20 some girl noticed. give her credit, she was new at the job…perhaps that’s why she paid attention. the woman at the air canada desk at yvr did not notice the expire date on my passport was 2007, she gave me the ticket…did not warn me, notice me or tell me to present another piece of id. the pre-security screen check took a look at the boarding passes and the passport and let me proceed to the security point at yvr. the horny puppet at the security point was causing so much of a scene with the beeps and request for help that nobody bothered to check the details on my passport…so i was allowed to proceed. the girl at the entry to the plane did not notice and neither did the one in calgary. so, overall i passed through 5 points where my passport was checked and nobody noticed i was traveling with an expired passport.

well it’s good to know that the girl that noticed the expire date was extremely enthusiastic and essentially proceeded to state that this ‘made her day’, but that got me wondering…yvr is an international airport. the same airport where security did not notice that a man was hanging around aimlessly for almost 10 hours two years ago, prior to calling the cops who proceed to kill him through electrocution within 60 seconds from arriving. makes you wonder the level of security in the airport that is supposed to protect the travels coming to the next olympiad. given the winter olympics are coming to this boring city, i was hoping for a higher sense of security from the airport hosting the games and from the ‘official’ airline of the 2010 olympics. overall, it was 7am so i guess the customer rep at the counter was too tired…then again seems quite easy to obtain a ticket with a ‘fake’ (fake since it was expired for 2 years) piece of id and proceed to the security check. not to mention that the security puppets at the security check where things are supposed to be caught in case they are not proper, are more interested in staring at an ass and holding back a girl, make her spin a few times…so that their security cameras can get a good view every part of her body…given she had her sweater raised so that her jeans were visible. that to me seems more or less like sexual harassment, but if one complains…one will only label oneself for further detail checks when traveling through this secure airport. can one blame a horny security puppet, or perhaps should one question the ones responsible for hiring these lack for professionalism security guards. if this is how they secure the airport, i wonder what other things they have missed.

the other check points, well it’s clear they only check the name…not anything else. after-all if the main security check allowed the person to pass…then they must be in order. level of security at the yvr, quite poor. level of shameless acts, quite high. it was quite surprising to see that security misses a person hanging around for hours in an apparent secure area, but after the latest trip through yvr…makes you wonder what caught the attention of the security puppets. one can only hope they will raise their level within the next 4 months, if not…we’re in for perhaps a few ugly surprises…