Domestic air travel has become more turbulent with customers now having to flash a photocopy of the credit card used to buy the ticket at the check-in counter, failing which fliers have in recent times found their wings clipped. Credit card con men have been given a shot in the arm since all they need is the credit card, no secret pin or password. If scams are popping up all over, credit card security could be slightly improved, but instead customers have to carry photocopies of their credit cards as well.
While flying once, I lost the all-important credit card photocopy. On landing, an SMS told me I used Rs 2 lakh from my card in the last one hour, ‘thanks for using our bank.’ I now fly with a Rs 4 lakh worth finger-print analyser, retina scanner, DNA tester security folder (available in gloss and suede), in which I securely keep the credit card photocopy.
It started with the E-Ticket. Book it online, take a photocopy, memorize the PIN number of the booking and of course, photo identification. Now, all airlines advise passengers in bold and italics to carry valid photo identification. I guess that means I can’t use my Wimbledon Club Card to get on board the plane, I might lob a few tennis balls in the cabin, thus a security hazard. So In my case I use a driver’s license, which was made 15 years ago. The card and I have become older though.
Check-in counter lady: “Sir, who is this in the photograph? We ask for valid photo id.”
Me: “But that is me albeit 15 years ago and no regional transport office would like to work hard to update my photograph.”
“You could be impersonating the customer and a threat to flight security.”
“But I’m eighty years old and need two assistants to help me to the bathroom.”
“You could have sleeping gas in your ventilator, maybe even Sarin nerve gas. Security get this man out of here.”
“No No…I have an appointment with my heart surgeon and my 18-year-old wife waits for me…”
Soon airports might become a nation’s security hub.
At the kennel: “Oh you bought a Doberman you say, have you registered it with the airport’s special dog cell?
At the octroi: “Ah! Are you transporting thirty tonnes of fertilizer? It could be used to make a bomb. Get it scanned at the Airport secure manure department.”
At the toy store: “Hey you with the baby rattle! Take that contraption to the Airport’s hidden-in-what-you-least-expected division and get it registered.”
Happy flying.
