Day Six New York to Tokyo (2005-12-03)
The dark clouds of the previous days finally broke into steady rain on our last day in New York. It didn't affect us 'cause we were leaving early in the morning and the shuttle bus was already waiting for us at the hotel entrance. The ride to JFK was uneventful, our last glimpse of the New York skyline shrouded in rain.
The self check-in at the airport went without a hitch. By this
time, KL was getting quick with the operation of the machines.
The snag came when we checked in our luggage: it was 5 kg (10 lb)
overweight. Since we have always traveled with just one bag
between the two of us, there wasn't another bag we could off load some
of the content to lighten the weight. The check-in woman
mentioned
about
protecting bag handlers and KL was made to pay a $25 fine. Would
she consider the fact that we only had one suitcase when we were
allowed two and give us a
break? Of course she would not.
Our tickets were issued just a week after this penalty policy started-- which was about when Northwest filed for Chapter 11 protection-- otherwise we wouldn't have had to pay the fine. Errr, smells like a ploy to raise revenue to me now that they have promulgated that they are short of dough. The day Northwest starts paying physiotherapy sessions and back care products for their bag handlers is the day I stop bitching about their penalty fees.
Another trouble awaited us when we took our suitcase for security
check after paying the fine. I had in my hand an air pump which
we bought for our bikes. I didn't put it in the luggage fearing
it could get damaged with the way bags are tossed around during
transport. The TSA men converged on the pump like bees on
honey! They x-rayed it, checked it for bomb residues
and decided it was just a plain old boring pump but could NOT
allow it on the plane. The only way they would let the pump leave
New York was for us to put it in our luggage. I complained about
the possibility of damage to the pump in the suitcase without bubble
wrap or other packaging, but did they care? I must have really
frightened them into thinking that a little Asian woman would start
whacking flight
attendants on the head with an air pump while 400 other passengers,
some beefy and stocky, look
on, then ramming it into the cockpit control panel through locked
doors, thus bringing down the entire 747. Yeah, that is just so
about to happen. At the end they
win of course, because they are the authority.
The TSA people are a bunch of pitiful, unreasonable and
paranoid dolts.
After all the security checks were done and we were waiting at the
gate to board
our plane, I found a tweezer and a pair of scissors that I had
forgotten to remove from my makeup bag which were ultimately allowed on
the plane. Says a lot about the effectiveness of the TSA staff,
doesn't it?
The plane landed in Narita safely. Gosh knows if it didn't,
TSA would be certain I had something to do with it. The sense of
relief of homecoming from a tiring journey was huge when I walked into
Narita airport, the familiar bows and smiling courteous Japanese faces
returned.
I miss all the friends, family and nice American strangers we met on
our trip, and I am glad we don't have to deal with some of the rude New
Yorkers, dour subway staff
or cold service people whose only interest is the tips they get
anymore, including those awful TSA people.
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