I was perusing the internet, reading articles, when I came across a comment on reddit about what it’s like flying outside the US.

I’ve just returned from a two week trip to China and went through Chinese airport security five times and I just wanted to say what a delight it was. The procedure went like this;

-Present your boarding pass and passport to an agent.

-Put you bag through the X-ray, remove your laptop, and keep your shoes on.

-Go through a metal detector.

-Collect your things and be on your way.

This is the way airport security should be. I felt like it was the 90′s again!
This is, indeed, how it felt to fly in the 90s. My experiences were just like this, with the added fact that you could actually walk someone to the gate to see them off.

In the US, you are treated automatically like a criminal. You need to take your laptop out of a bag, take your shoes off, be felt up, be subjected to harmful radiation from full body scanners, and whatever else the TSA can dream up for us to endure. The United Kingdom is strikingly similar to the US in its embracing of security theater.

There is one important thing that we all forget in all of this extra security. Every single supposed attack on the United States since 9/11 has come from outside the United States, yet none of the countries except the USA and UK have instituted ridiculous rules and regulations in order to treat their own citizens as if they are criminals at all times, while inadvertently admitting it’s all unnecessary.

There was no need for the increased security theater. There never was. Yet, we have it while someone is getting rich off of scaring Americans. It sure would be nice if we could return to a time when air travel was nice and people were treated like human beings instead of criminals.