I wonder whether this practice still goes on?

May 20, 2013 Letters

Dear Editor,
Fascinating, the detailed letter about citizens’ “rights at the U.S. Airport & Port of Entry”. I would never have guessed that such in-depth ‘research’ could ever take place – for bona fide visitors or holidaymakers.
I based my assumption on the practice which applies to visitors from the UK. Up until a few years ago, holidaymakers holding an EU/UK passport enjoyed travel without a US visa, under the Visa Waiver Programme.
Then sometime after 9/11, the practice changed and all visitors are now required to get an electronic authorisation, known as ESTA, before travelling. At first, this online service was free but it now carries a fee, paid by officially-sanctioned credit cards. Long distance travel these days causes more stress than is good for anyone.
Which reminds me of an intriguing experience I had in the mid-1980s in the US while changing planes at Atlanta (as I recall) airport, to another, to take me to New Orleans. The check-in clerk started asking weird questions and requested to see my airline ticket. I presented all my agency-booked travel documents and she dithered over them.
By the time she was through, my connecting plane had left and I was directed by a hovering airline colleague to check in at another desk, which did not belong to the airline I was booked to travel with originally.
I was placed at the bottom of their list and, shortly before take-off, was given the halfway seat on the plane where an air hostess normally sat. Later on I was offered any drink of my choice free.
Just before take-off, a panting chap arrived. He had to attend an urgent meeting in New Orleans and the check-in clerk asked passengers whether anyone could help him.
About three hands shot up. Airline staff and the two passengers then huddled together at the door, whispered among themselves, and the chap came aboard. I missed out on sunlight photo opportunities through this caper.
Back in the UK, I related the incident to the travel agency and they said they could not understand it, as they had not changed my plane travel arrangements.
A few months later I read of something called “plane seat auction” in the US airline industry, where incidents such as mine happened, by collusion among staff.
People already seated agree to sell their seats for a mark-up and the difference is shared among the parties involved.
I concluded that the checking-in clerk’s dawdling plus the other’s direction to a different airline’s desk were probably all part of deliberate delaying tactics, to make extra (weekend) money.
My ‘cut’ was the free on-board whiskey and ginger! It happened on a Saturday, so they made a tidy packet by auctioning two seats, mine and the willing passenger’s on the plane. These women certainly had heads on their shoulders.
One wonders what would have been the position if that plane had crashed and whether the practice still goes on?
Geralda Dennison

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