Detained on way to Dublin
Study abroad student chronicles frightening and eye-opening experience of run-in with airport security during European trip
Brandy Gordon
Issue date: 12/12/05 Section: News
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"Is this your purse?" asks the woman at airport security. I tell her that it is and follow her to the counter where, after being given permission, she pulls each item out of my bottomless hand bag.
Each of these items is given careful inspection, as it is removed with an instrument resembling prongs.
I glance around anxiously only to turn back and find my iPod with some sort of sensor being run over it.
Then she thumbs through the pages of the novel I am reading for literature class as I watch people hustle by, wishing I was one of them. But I'm not really concerned.
After all, these bag checks are not really for law-abiding citizens such as myself, but for dangerous people, would-be terrorists, right? Wrong.
It was when my purse was nearly empty that my trouble surfaced. The indifferent look on the woman's face changed instantly to a look of distress, as she let out a light gasp. In her hand is a very small item that would cause me a great deal of trouble: pepper spray. Immediately, I apologize for forgetting to remove the item for the plane ride. I, of course, expect that such items should not be carried onto planes in this age of terrorism.
I think they will take the item away, and perhaps, reprimand me for my negligence, but it is far worse than I expect. "Don't you know that possession of this item is illegal in this country - anywhere!" she says.
"Security!"
I am stunned speechless, but could hear the word "Security!" being shouted across the room. Everyone is staring at me but this is the least of my worries.
I am just standing there as the woman motions me to be calm. Her arms are sort of stretched as if she were preparing to fly across the counter and grab hold of me if needed.
Article last update: 12/11/05 at 2:08 PM CST