Barry Rubin: Escape from the Planet of the Airlines

Escape from the Planet of the Airlines

With four suitcases, a guitar, three carry-ons and three cats (snarling at each other, well, Josie wasn’t snarling but the other two were) we were about to set off for Reagan Airport on the way back to Israel. The taxi was already outside.

Suddenly our wonderful travel agent, Ruth Sopher–if there is a travel agent medal of honor she earned it– called to warn us that our flight had been cancelled to NY. She pondered sending us through Atlanta to Tel Aviv but finally I asked about Baltimore airport and she found a flight.

So after a two-hour delay we set off–being sure to leave early–and went the 30 miles or so to the airport in a hard rain and heavy traffic. We got three trolleys (cost $15), packed everyone and everything aboard, stood in a long line (one woman who had apparently been on the same original flight flipped out and started screaming at the poor employee who was trying to explain to her that he’d moved her ahead of 30 other people). We got to the front–one of our bags was too heavy and we had to move stuff around and then pay $70 extra and got our ticket and advanced.

Coming to the security we took off shoes, belts, and jackets, and I made a deal with the TSA employee to follow this procedure:

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Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan). His latest book is Israel: An Introduction, to be published by Yale University Press later this year. You can read more of Barry Rubin's posts at Rubin Reports, and now on his new blog, Rubin Reports, on Pajamas Media

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