COVID, 9/11 did nothing to change airport profiling

• Author: ROBERT HERSOWITZ
• Published date: 27 September 2021
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Once at the airport, the contemporary traveler has to navigate the queues for both check-in, security, and the additional health checks that go with it. The whole procedure is extremely stressful. Once onboard the aircraft, there is also the challenge of how to stay safe during the flight. For years medical professionals have been sharing advice about ways to keep healthy while in the air. Long before coronavirus, it was well known that aircraft cabins are great incubators for germs and bacteria which circulate in the constantly recycled air. Since Covid started last year, almost all airlines now insist that passengers keep their masks on throughout the flight, except while eating. The idea of sitting on a long-haul flight for eleven or more hours with a mask on does not appeal to me at all and yet thousands of people are doing this every week.

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"It's not so terrible," a friend tells me. "As long as you're wearing one that is comfortable and not too tight, you'll be OK."

There is a part of me that is very cynical about all the rules and regulations that abound these days. Health specialists have confirmed that wearing masks definitely protects us as does social distancing, however it is almost impossible to be socially distanced on an airplane. Many individuals, even before the vaccinations, did not wear their masks properly. They were sarcastically referred to as "chin warmers" and here in Israel, the Ministry of Health had to keep putting out health warnings such as the slogan: "Tishim achuz nidbakim derech ha'af" – 90% are infected through the nose.

For a while, this became my own mantra and I used it regularly, at the top of my voice in stores and in the streets. By all accounts, there are still many "chin-warmer" passengers flying around these days. There are numerous accounts of how harassed flight attendants have to chase after uncooperative passengers who simply refuse to wear their masks.

But there is another aspect of air travel that seems to have been put on the back burner while we still grapple with COVID. It came to the fore when news reports from Belgium told of an alarming incident at Brussels airport. On July 8, El Al security staff reported an unidentified blue bag that was left near their check-in area. As one who frequently travels to Brussels on business, I was a little shocked to learn that the Brussels airport authority decided to evacuate two departure halls. This lasted for three hours. They traced the owner of the bag...