Airport Usability: Philadelphia
originally published on Countries Beginning with I, Aug 20, 2006
Our port of entry into the US on this trip was Philadelphia. Once through immigration and customs, we had to change terminals and pass security again. The rules seem to be different in every airport (shoes off or on? computers in or out?), so I looked outside the security area for instructions. No sign, no taped announcement, but when we got right up to the barrier I could hear a guy on the other side of the metal detector, going hoarse saying over and over again: “Shoes off and in a box, laptops out and in a separate box, jackets off and in a box…”
I needed three boxes, which, along with my backpack, made 6 linear feet of stuff to put through the x-ray. I got all this lined up on the table, then realized that there was a gap and a cordon between the table and the x-ray machine - I had to pick up each item and move it over to the conveyor, while holding my ticket in view, and trying to grab another box for Ross’s belt that the metal detector didn’t like - we had to shout back down the line for someone to hand us a box, as other people piled up behind us.
Once on the other side, we had mininal space and time to reassemble our belongings. I said to the hoarse guy: “Do you mind a usability suggestion? How about putting a sign up telling people what to do? And connect the table to the conveyor belt so people can just slide their stuff through.” He looked at me, puzzled, then shrugged.
<sigh> I’m sure he’s sick of shouting the same thing over and over again for hours every day. I’m sure he and the other security agents know what’s needed to make this process easier for passengers and themselves - it’s staring them in the face all day. So why aren’t things better already? Clearly the staff at the gate have no power to make changes, and perhaps don’t feel they can even make suggestions. It’s possible that no one has ever listened to them - the experience of many low-level employees - so they see no point in wasting their breath.
It’s also possible that they just don’t give a damn. But I don’t want to believe that - I prefer to believe that everyone would like to make things better. Okay, maybe I’m hopelessly deluded…
My husband and I went through there in March, 2007. Your feedback did not make it to the powers that be.
In addition to all of the above, we also had to have our ziploc bag of liquids and gels inspected at a table at the beginning of the line, and had to keep the bag visible as we slowly made our way through the line. Moreover, we had to put it in a tray along with, but not inside of, our carry-ons. So, we had to take extra time to repack our carry-on bags as well as put on our shoes.
A few days after our return, we both noticed that our feet itched. We didn’t have athlete’s foot when we left home, and certainly wouldn’t have contracted it from my sister’s obsessively clean house, so we assume it’s from having our shoes off on the airport floor. Yuck.
Our point of entry into the US was also Philadelphia and we had a similar experience although we did not have nearly as much carry on luggage as you and Ross. I thought that yes the employees were making the passengers go through the correct motions when we went through security, but, their hearts weren’t in it. They may feel that there are just too many things to check and too many rules to follow.
Anyway, when we went back through passport control there was a guy, presumably a security guard, who kept singing the same song: “Please get your passports and boarding passes out.” I jokingly suggested that they could make a recording of this to save his voice. I think that he took this a bit too personally, he looked hurt. So I quietly asked one of the two girls who was checking our documents if she got tired of listening to this all day long. She smiled.