Vicky

Just returned from first trip to Edinburgh. The good: flights on time,two seats to spread out and sleep thanks to Ativan. Weather beautiful and sunny. Hotel - basic but cheap, 10 min walk to Princes St, about 20 to Royal Mile. Toured Castle, Whiskey Tour, Weaving Exhibit. Had Chocolate Buffet tea at the Balmoral. Toured the Royal yacht Britannia which I found very interesting (took a city bus to Ocean Terminal - very easy) and found French Connection skirts for 70% off in the shopping complex!! They are rare in Sarasota, FL; have only seen a few in TJ Maxx and then still very expensive but these wree 25 and 15 pounds respectively. The Tattoo was wonderful. The highland dancers were my favorite along with huge band playing and soloist singing Anthem from my very favorite musical Chess (my community theatre had performed it and my best friend played the lead). projected on the floor were revolving chess boards. Great fireworks afterwards. I spent the last night at Dalhousie Castle in a beautiful bedroom - and witnessed a Scottish wedding held there in the chapel with reception in the hotel. The piper in Scottish dress posed for a pic and I saw men in full kilts and a beautiful bride. The bad: no hot water in shower at hotel hotel Cairn in Edinburgh- freezing cold. WHAT DO THEY DO TO THEIR EGGS OVER THERE? Cooked breakfast was included but scrambled eggs taste funny? Why? After first day i stuck with toast, cereal, juice and coffee. Other low points: MOBS pushing and inching to get into and out of Tattoo. Need a better system! Also, there was NOTHING to do at the Castle hotel. I thought that was what I wanted, to decompress my last day so I wouldn't be so exhausted coming home - but there was NOTHING to do. I had lunch, wandered the grounds, sat watching the wedding goings on - and that was IT. I retired to the royal bedchamber to read, nap and pack. The UGLY: BA check in Nazi refused to let me take roll on as carry on - even tho I had brought it on BA from Gatwick to Edinburgh with no problems. Too heavy she said. She did tag it priority and gave me a seat in front so I could quickly get it in Gatwick. I had no problem carrying it onboard Delta. What is with BA's stupid rules? Going thru Gatwick security they wanted to go thru my bag. While not happy with the delay and my perfectly packed things disturbed, I was willing to do my fit for safety - even tho I am 4'10" 50 year old female with long red hair, decently dressed, and as fragile looking as a child. BUT the man did NOT wear gloves; pawed thru my dirty underwear, was SO SLOW, took EVERY SINGLE thing out and went thru my hair ribbons, my journal. The culprit - my 2 Scottish kilt pins - one for me to wear with my new Scottish kilt and another as a birthday gift. They were taken because of the pin on the back to pin them onto the kilt. Like I'm going to stab someone with a kilt pin? How ridiculous. Three is no mention of jewelry or brooches in the forbidden list/ $26 wasted plus I LOVED those pins. They offered to mail them - but had taken up so much time moving SO slow that I feared I would miss my flight, feared even more a hypoglycemic episode if I did not get food quickly. So I said there was no tiem to make those arrangements. THEN instead of neatly repacking the case the way they found it, the man started throwing my clothes into it in a ball - that's when I lost it. I didnt' want to repack myself - but they were SO slow and sloppy I said if not put back just right they wouldnt' all fit so I started doing it myself but was SO upset I started hyperventilating, gasping for breathe - and then they just harassed me, saying. "Are you doing this on purpose?" and "A bit over the top.quot; Well it wasn't their panties being pawed over with dirty hands or THEIR property being taken or THEIR flight about to be missed. They were all over me with their stupid questions and I finally said, 'I just want to go home. I'm never coming back here." Imeant it. I loved London so much and had visited 5 times but this just killed it. After being treated so calously, I WILL not return. I'll take my tourist dollars to a country who treats its visitors with respect and decency. They did not respect my personal belongings or show any compassion over my distress, just telling me TO STOP IT (hyperventilating). If anyone has an idea who to write to at Gatwick to complain, pleae let me know. I can't find any info on Gatwick Airport management on the website. I finally zipped up my case, not even knowing if I had everything, and escaped the security area. maybe i can order a kilt pin online.

LisainSA

Hello Vicky. I've no idea who you can address your complaint to, but please do complain. I was appalled to hear how you were treated. It sounds like someone taking advantage of legitimate security measures in order to bully people. A little bit of power and some people turn into lunatics.
And I can't believe your kilt pin was considered a lethal weapon.
Were you alone? Do you think maybe that's why you were picked on?
I think it's outrageous and look at the public relations nightmare that they have created.
I hope you get to complain and a chance at some satisfaction.
Another idea is to write a letter to the newspapers about how you were treated, to be published on their letters page. You could email it.
Good luck and I'm so sorry you had to endure that.
Lisa.

Jocelyn_P

Vicky, I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. Something like that can taint a whole vacation. As do many of the European carriers, BA has very strict rules regarding carryon weight, but in my experience the employees are inconsistent with reinforcement. Perhaps it has something to do with how full the plane is? Not sure.

Please don't refrain from going back to a place you love because of one bad experience at the airport...that could happen anywhere.

highledge

so sorry that you had such a bad experience, but if blunt knitting needles are not allowed nor nail clippers, why would sharp kilt pins? Perhaps the security thought you were over reacting and couldn't understand why you were so upset. They were simply doing their job! Your bag was put through security and a possibly dangerous item was detected. How else would security discover what it was but go through your bag? Did the fact that security has gotten tighter in the past few years surprise you? (I did find it funny that you were worried abouththe "dirty hands" touching your "dirty underwear." Yuck.)
Sounds as if the opening of your lugage was rather routine and you took it as a personal attack.
I don't think that I look all that dangerous either, but if I packing an item in my bag that was flagged at security, I wouldn't be surprised to find my bags being searched!
Yes it is a pain. I can totally understand the frustration of having to repack a tightly packed bag and the loss of your pins too. But slow down and take a bit of responsibility too!
By the way I find that security in the UK uses more common sense than in the US. Last flight out of Chicago there was an arguement over whether or not I should take my shoes off. I kept saying that I'd just remove them while one guard said no the other kept saying yes. My advice, move quickly, smile and keep out of the way!!

wombat7

Vicky
Sorry you are so upset.

A few thoughts:
Perhaps your bag was under the weight limit when you went to Edinburgh but those skirts, pins and other shopping put you over the limit. Alternatively perhapsyou were just lucky going up to Edinburgh.

A quick Google for Gatwick airport found the folliwng Email- [email protected]
Quite easy to find.

I concur with the thoughts of other posters - you were trying to take on a restricted item - this probably came up on the X-ray - so you got searched. Unfortunately long red hair is not a "pass through security without searching card".

If this one experience puts you off visiting a place that you love so much - well that is your loss.

Dave_

You're certainly not the only one but why do people think should take everything as carry-on? I've seen people take enormous bags onto the plane, holding up the boarding process as they drag it up the aisle and find a place for it.

I think people have commented enough on the other points.

Perhaps someone that gets in such a state about the list of things that seemed to ruin your trip is better off staying at home where there's less chance of being distressed and getting upset if these things happen. I do hope you have good memories of your trip once you put aside the things that you've mentioned here.

Jen

BA's carry-on policy states that each piece can weigh no more than 9kg-- is it possible that your roll-aboard exceeded this limit? Simply because previous personnell were lax in checking does not mean that they all should let you slide.

With regards to your issues with security, I am a 5'4" blonde woman, and was pulled out of line in Madrid to have my luggage painstakingly searched--yes it was a pain, but it happens all of the time, as neccessitated by today's security concerns. Next time you should ensure that you have more time to make international connections so the situation is not as traumatic.

Finally, it seems plausible that your conduct ("hyperventilating," then becoming hostile "I'm never coming back here&quot probably did not help to expedite this process, nor did it warrant more respectful treatment. Your actions upon being stopped (apprehension and antagonism) fit a behavioral profile that may have led to further scrutiny.

Vicky

The kilt pin (the actual pin parton theback) was a mere inch long - aregular brooch backing like any piece of jewelry. And yes I understand them looking thru my bag. But I think the guy was new and so took 3 times aas long as was necessary.And then because of that, i had no time left to arrange to have the pins mailed back tome. What upsetme was how carelessly they started throwing my stuff back in. And how they harassed me when I couldn't breathe. Yes i wa alone. I have a heart condition and getting stressed gives me chest pains and I can't breathe. I was afraid I would miss my flight because they were taking excessively long. when I couldn't breathe, all they did was badger me. I cooperated with them fully and never even raisedmy voice when they insisted on taking my pins - but when I was treated so badly, THEN I told them to STOP throwing my clothes in my bag and I began blindly to repack itmyself. I was so upset I didnt' even know what I was doing there for a few minutes.

wombat7

Perhaps time will help as you once said "I have a low tolerance for 'annoyance.'"

Vicky

I am not a spoiled brat, just a very serious, intense, sensitive woman who cares very much about everything. i wasn;t trying to 'sneak anything thru' carry on. I never imagined a piece of jewelry sold in every store in Edinburgh could be considered dangerous. I didn't check any bags because of my lasat experience in Atlanta when I returned from italy- waiting for the bag then the bottleneck going back thru security. I only had 1 1/2 hrs in Atlanta so wanted to get through quickly. it wouldn't even occur to me that a brooch would be any more dangerous than the big safety pin looking thing that holds those pleated skirts together - one was hanging off my new skirt and no one even bothered about that. I always carry on the things I buy - usually checking my clothes I brought - after spending all that time shopping I dont' want to lose my souvenirs - and have oftten brought Scottish skirts home from London with the big safety pins attached. I still don't think this should have deterioriated into harassment. But I feel terrible that you all think this is all my fault. i have loved this forum for 10 years - but I won't be bothering you again. It hurts me too much when I always thought we were here to help and support each other.

Ms_Incognito

Now telling someone she is a spoiled brat and needs therapy is mild criticism?

nytraveler

Suggesting to someone that they might benefit from therapy is not criticism - it is trying to be helpful. If one is regularly upset by the tiny problems in life that come up all the time one might be happier - and less regularly upset, more able to cope with things - if one learned a little bit about why one reacted so strongly.

(Travel - and life in general - is not about to get easier - only more complicated - all someone can do is try to learn to cope better - and sometime a little third party perspective can be useful in doing so.)

bettyk

Spygirl, I think you and some of the others went a little overboard here with poor Vicki. Yes, she obviously overreacted to her security check at Gatwick but jeez, you people don't have to be so harsh. It's easy to judge Vicky when you weren't actually there. Maybe she was treated unfairly and had a right to be upset. We all know that security checks are a pain in the behind, but we do have a right to expect them to be carried out in a reasonable manner and with a little civility. Don't be so quick to jump down the poor woman's throat!

Jocelyn_P

Well said, bettyk.

pilgrim

I guess I just got lucky. I flew BMI Dublin-Heathrow-JFK with two 2" kilt pins (sterling) in my purse in June. I did not consider a decorative piece of jewelry a risk. What size is considered a risk? I am taking a group of 20 students back next summer, and these make affordable souvenirs for the celtic dancers.
Thanks.

skatterfly

Initially, I was thinking about posting along the lines of Bettyk, that the response here is a little harsh. It happens online all the time... taking things out of context, anonymity allows you to say whatever you're thinking, and flareups happen.

But then I saw on CNN a few minutes ago that
there were just two planes that have exploded after leaving Moscow within minutes of each other ... smacks of terrorism and of course now the Russian government is scrambling.

This incident, even if it is not terrorism (god help us all if it is again), underscores how critical it is that they check everything and everyone. Even redheads. Even bubbly, slightly chubby blonde suburban mommies like me with absolutely adorable toddlers on their hip. The terrorists will continue to get smart about how they get stuff on a plane.

I'll be flying Virgin in a few weeks, and I'm going over my carryon list again, taking out anything even remotely suspicious, and getting serious about that darned 6kg weight limit so we don't get hassled. And if we do get hassled, I'll be sure not to get antsy and snide and agressive and defensive with the agents. They're just doing their much needed job.

~kat

bob_brown

Sounds to me like the guy did his job.
My pocket knife and other other potentially sharp items go in the checked luggage.
BA is strict with carryon weights
But they are not secrets.

strass

Oh my... I just bought a dragon-fly shaped brooch and planned to put it, along with all my jewelry, in my carry-on. Will my brooch be confiscated? I hate putting jewelry in my checked luggage, but I really like this pin and don't want to lose it! This never occurred to me until I read Vicky's story.

FromAtlanta

Can't we just let this go? I can't believe the board "editors" are allowing this to stay.
Why some innocent comments are deleted while threads like this get to stay is beyond me.

I am sure Vicky gets the point by now! To continue with this is just cruel.
Some people feel she made a big mistake with her attitude

-ok. She has already been addressed quite a few posting ago. The only example I can think of is if she was a dog and peed on your carpet ... would you keep belittling her and rubbing her face in it day after day?



I feel bad that this is going to go to the top now, but I had to say it.

strass

I do think her story raises the issue of whether jewelry with pins can be confiscated in carry-on luggage (or if you're wearing it on your lapel!). I suppose it's better to be safe than sorry--I'll have to put the brooch in my checked bag.