[nagdu] Guide dogs and airport security

Julie McGinnity kaybaycar at gmail.com
Sat Jul 17 22:17:25 UTC 2010


Hi everyone.  I hope you are having a nice weekend.

I just got back from a week long trip to Philadelphia this morning.
At the airport both going there and coming back something weird
happened in airport security.  I am wondering if there are some
policies I don't know about, or if the people were really doing
something wrong.

Last Sunday I traveled from St. Louis to Philadelphia.  When we got to
airport security, I took the dog's harness off and put it with my
purse and everything on the conveyerbelt.  I made her sit and stay
while I went through and then called her after I was out.  She came
right to me, and of course she made the thing beep because of her
leash and collar.  I just waited at this point because this is what
always happens, and someone always comes to pat the dog down.  The
last 2 times I have traveled it happened this way.  Instead of coming
over to pat the dog down, they asked me if I could take her leash and
collar off and make her go back through.  I said that I would really
prefer not to do that, and I said that I don't mind if they need to
pat her down because that's what usually happens.  They then asked me
again to take off the leash and collar.  I didn't know how to argue
with them further, so I just did what they said.  I took off the leash
and collar and let my mother call her back through.  Thankfully, she
was very good.  I think she thought the whole thing was a game.  She
went through without her stuff on, and it didn't go off, and she came
right to me.  It was very hard to get a handle on her though without
her stuff, and the security people had taken her leash and collar, so
it wasn't like I could just put it back on her.  I had to wait for
them to scan it, which meant I had to hold on to her awkwardly and
walk to where the stuff was going to come out.  Brie was very good,
but the whole process annoyed me.  I don't understand why they
couldn't just pat the dog down.  That's what happened when I flew to
and from Dallas.  It seemed to work fine.  I know how to take my dog
through security.  They tought us at guide dog school.

When I flew back to St. Louis this morning I experienced a similar
thing.  I went through security the way I was taught.  They stopped me
again after the dog had gone through, and again, I expected them to
just pat her down so I could be on my way.  I was very late.  Instead
they took me to the side, said they were not going to pat her down.
When I asked why they weren't just going to pat the dog down, the lady
didn't answer me.  I had to wait around 5 or 10 minutes, and another
lady came.  She basically looked at me and the dog and said we could
go.  I don't understand why, if they weren't going to pat her down,
they made us sit there and wait.  I heard them talking, and it sounded
like they didn't know what to do.  Isn't there procedure for this?  We
were taught to go through security this way for a reason, because it
works out that way.  Why are the security people being so difficult?
Of course it is entirely possible that there is something I don't know
or overlooked in the situation.  Just let me know what I should do
next time in this situation, or even if this situation is something to
think about.  Sorry for the novel length email.  I wanted to tell this
right.

Julie and Brie

-- 
Julie McG
 Lindbergh High School class of 2009, participating member in Opera
Theater's Artist in Training Program, and proud graduate of Guiding
Eyes for the Blind

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that
everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal
life."
John 3:16




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