Airlines have to treat you as a special individual when they’re encouraging you to book your seats.
But the minute you get to the airport you are one of 30 million others. You are no longer a potential customer, but just a small parcel in the constant flow of objects through these depressing and hard-working buildings.
So how they treat you is quite different.
In fact the technology has moved on huge amount.
You no longer have to pull things out of your suitcase to go through the security scanners. Something about what I was wearing made the X-ray archway beep so they searched me. The woman said 'What have you got in your back pocket?' I produced a small piece of tissue paper that I had with me.
The scanner could detect a piece of tissue paper - right through my body.
Then in the loo I was glad to see that the sanitary-towel disposal system has been improved. It’s now a small black tower with a dome top. It stands in the corner behind the pan, right out of the way. To open it you wave your hand over the top of the dome, which slowly rises, leaving an aperture for you to deposit whatever it is you want to leave there. You don’t have to touch anything to open it.
However the hand-washing facilities leave something to be desired. The water comes dosed with soap, and the dryers (one per basin) don’t work. So you walk away from the loo with sticky fingers, still wet.
