Giving tourists the finger ... a foreign with a US visa is fingerprinted at JFK airport. Photograph: Stephen Chernin/Getty Images
The post 9/11 security clampdown could have cost the US as much as a billion dollars (£508m) in lost tourism revenue, according to the Discover America Partnership. Concerns over stricter passport and customs controls have led to a 17% drop in tourism to the US over the past five years, according to the Partnership,
an umbrella group of tourism organisations.
"The policies implemented over the past five years appear to have strengthened our security. Lost, however, were the efficiencies and a semblance of customer service," Intercontinental Hotels Group president and chairman of the Partnership, Stevan Porter told a Senate Committee.
Having just flown back from Utah's Salt Lake City via Atlanta, I can vouch for the solemnity with which airport security procedures are undertaken Stateside. It's a world away from the jolly inefficiency of UK airport staff. But what is gained in organisational efficiency is certainly lost in courtesy and travelling experience - a particularly loud lady was deployed to manage the passport control queue at Atlanta's superhub airport and no matter what your age she manhandled you towards the appropriate booth with the bark of "Miss!" or "You lookin' for something?"
When I found myself baffled as to why, when in transit, I had to collect my checked baggage in one hall only to walk through a doorway and check it back in on the other side, another friendly official told me: "This is an international airport. Do not question, just obey!"
But I wonder whether Fortress America's siege-like atmosphere is really any more off-putting than the current cattle-like conditions at the UK's busier airports. Granted, we aren't fingerprinting tourists just yet, but the time-sapping and often chaotic procedures still make air travel a pretty painful affair. And as a recent victim
of the latest single-item-of-hand-baggage rule, I'd advise leaving any of those dangerous leather handbags safely at home to avoid a last-minute squish into your suitcase. Heaven forbid a lady should ever want to use a laptop - and a handbag - on board.
A version of this post first appeared in The Flyer, our weekly Travel email service. Subscribe for free here
