CrissCross News [Japan]: Travel just changed

Travel just changed

Henry Hilton | August 16, 2006

In the wake of the planned mass liquid bomb attacks on trans-Atlantic planes, mass intercontinental air travel has just changed for good. There can be no return to the earlier era of lax security where the convenience of passengers appeared to dictate the show. After the announcement by the British government that its security forces had foiled a series of suspected mid-air mega-attacks, the world has altered.

The old idea of merely turning up at the airport at the last possible moment with a quickly packed suitcase and an over-weight carry-on bag won't do. No one is going to get away with that kind of psychology any longer and it would be foolish to even imagine of complaining about the new security checks that are being rushed into place at airports everywhere.

Welcome to the world of guaranteed dreary waits and nights spent on cramped airport floors. Since Narita serves as an important regional hub, its passengers must also expect the worse, though the luxurious facilities at Japanese airports compare most favourably with the squalor of far more frequented airports such as London's Heathrow and New York's JFK.

Passengers will have to get used to three-hour queues that snake right outside the airport entrances, more careful baggage and body searches and the increased armed police presence. Over a thousand European flights were immediately canceled after last week's news of terrorist plots and more of the same is inevitable, particularly during the peak holiday seasons.

The authorities are known to be scrambling to install enhanced security devices and the need to rapidly move to far more stringent passports with the United States is seemingly leading the charge. Eight days ago, for example, I was turned back from boarding an American airplane at Narita because my British passport, issued by the embassy here in Tokyo, was not machine readable. I didn't like it but the U.S. carrier explained politely that it was not prepared to take the near certain risk of having to pay a hefty four-figure dollar fine if it agreed to let me on board. Phone calls to the U.S. immigration guys in Hawaii and San Francisco merely confirmed the regulations and I was left to trek back to Shinagawa.

Passenger numbers will almost certainly start to dip if more plots are uncovered and it is probable that airlines will next announce that they are reviewing plans for the purchase of still larger planes. The current mantra of increased globalization through the greater movement of people, goods and ideas has just taken a knock. Instead, more people may reckon there are advantages to staying at home. Overseas tourism will suffer but the skies may be quieter.