What a difference a foiled terror plot makes (thanks UK! can't count in DHS for anything).
My flight to San Francisco on Tuesday was the usual onboarding mess -- taking forever for people to get on the plane and stow their oversized sherpa-esque belongings... bumping into others, slopping their mochaccinos, and generally annoying anyone who packs sensibly.
Thankfully, by Friday, the word was out on the new travel restrictions and few people even bothered to bring more than their backpacks or briefcases onboard (all subject to search)... and amazingly, the plane boarded quickly and we were able to close the doors and take off 10 minutes early.
I, for one, hope that these new rules are kept mostly in place -- if only to make people check their bags and make the onboarding / off-loading process move smoothly.
If they are left in place, then there are some opportunities for the right entrepreneurs out their to set up shop in the airports (and at home) for providing shipping options -- couple of fellow travellers simply Fedex'ed their wine purchases home that they normally carried onboard... ditto with the expensive cosmetics. For about $10 extra bucks, one female coworker felt it was worth it to stick with a small carryon bag, she shipped her make-up bag and toiletries (something about not wanting to throw away Laura Mercier -- don't ask) directly home.
In the end, I didn't feel any safer with the new restrictions, but I did enjoy the trip back home without the usual hassles much better.
(I'll leave it to other diary entries and threads for discussions on the actual nature and response to the terror threat.)