A WOMAN MISSED HER FLIGHT AT THE BOARDING GATE

On the morning of Thursday, August 10, 2006 I woke up early, as I needed to get to LAX to take a morning flight to San Jose to attend meetings at Yahoo!s main office up in Sunnyvale. I had a very tight schedule and as I listened to the news on the radio about the just-foiled London terror plot, I worried about how the airport would be affected by this breaking news.

If I didn't make it through the security lines in time, I would risk missing my flight, and consequently miss all of the fairly important back-to-back meetings I had scheduled. Also, I don't know about you, but it sort of just makes me a tiny bit nervous to get on a plane when I think about bombs going off inside planes filled with people. I tried not to think about that and instead worried about whether or not I would be able to get my toothpaste and deoderant through the security clearance. I only had one bag with me (an beautiful oversized cream-colored Marc Jacobs purse that I use as my overnight bag and that certainly would not have survived being checked through underneath the plane), and I was going on an overnight business trip. I don't know about you, but deodorant and toothpaste rank pretty high on my list of overnight necessities for overnight trips.

At LAX haggared travelers were not sure about what they could and could not take onto the airplanes. There was a lot of confusion, because not everyone had had a chance to read the news yet and familiarize themselves with the list of things that were banned. At the security chckpoint, I removed my shoes and put my bag on the x-ray belt and held my breathe as I walked through the metal detector. Luckily, the screeners let my toothpaste and deodorant through. (I had a tiny travel-sized Crest toothpaste, and solid Secret deodorant, so these may have been deemed acceptable. It's hard to say. I didn't ask for clarification, because I didn't want to call attention to these contraband products, lest I risk them being taken away!)

Water and drinks were the #1 thing they were taking away from people at LAX. The grown woman in front of me in the security line was brought to tears when her brand new bottle of sparkling Calistoga water was grabbed and pulled out of her bag. "But I just bought this in the airport!" she demanded to the security screener guy. The guy told her that that didn't matter. "You can't take any liquids through to the gates," he said. He told her she had to give it to them. She started to cry, "But can I just have a sip first, please, before you take it away?" People were stressed and it was making everyone thirsty. (It's very dry and warm in Los Angeles, and this adds to the thirsty-factor.)

When we landed in San Jose (a much smaller airport in Northern California at the bottom of Silicon Valley), I noticed bins filled with banned items taken away from passengers. I snapped a photo of this one with my cameraphone. At San Jose airport, they were taking away deodorant and toothpaste, in addition to water and beverages. Also, I thought it was interesting that they were taking away chapstick too! I felt so thankful that they didn't take away my lipstick and moisturizer. It's very very dry in California, and it's not recommended to give a presentation with dry skin and chapped lips.

Does the foiled London terror plot make you more afraid to fly? Or does it make you more confident about flying? Also, how do you feel about the increase security checks and increased list of banned items to take on planes? Have you had anything weird taken away from you before boarding a plane?

This is the boarding gate used by Lufthansa's A380 to Frankfurt, as well as A340 to Munich later in the morning. Many passengers stop just inside the gate to take photographs of the nose of the plane.