Security

Getting on an international flight at Sydney airport has become a truly tedious process. Why is it that customs officers always mistake something in my bag for a sharp object?

OK, so maybe I’m just annoyed that I had to leave my quarter-full tube of Jurlique hand cream with them because the tube once held 125mls rather than the max of 100ml that is now allowed. It’s a squashed-up almost empty metal tube – what could I have possibly filled it with!? I know they need to have well defined rules, but I’m sure the customs officials are smart enough people to be given some discretion in judging if a tube is less than half-full…. or do I mean half empty?

Anyway, I walked away with my hands covered in lavendar scented goodness for one last time, but that’s not where it stopped. Before our gate there was yet another check point and of course I was randomly selected to be done over with a metal detector and then have my carefully packed carry-on bag rumaged through by a man in white gloves.

It all makes me think that the two big problems the world is focusing on – terrorism and climate change – seem to be at odds with each other. To make the planes safer we all need to have a little plastic bag to go around our little plastic tubes, and we throw out our water bottles on the way in only to be given more little plastic bottles of water on the plane. I’ll just overlook the little environmental problem of jet fuel for now, but I wonder if the harm of this excess plastic consumption is more of a threat than terrorism on a plane.