Flying with Northwest

Flying with Northwest

On July 15, 2003, I flew by Garuda from Jakarta to Singapore,
where I spent the night. The next day I proceeded to fly to
Washington DC on board Northwest Airlines. My boarding pass was
No. 667717 and I'm also a WorldPerks holder, No. 036024660.

Before the flight, Northwest gave me flight information,
including the permissible quantity of baggage. I arrived at
Changi airport at 3 a.m. and queued up to have my luggage
checked. I took with me a bag containing what I would need to
spend a night in Singapore. I waited to be checked by Singapore
police about my destination and my luggage. I saw other
passengers carry more than one bag.

After I checked in, my bag was again examined manually and
through a machine. The officer in charge did not allow me to take
toothpaste, shampoo, soap, deodorant, powder and other things,
including lipstick, that I would need for a bath. He said they
were liquid and that U.S. regulation did not allow these things
to be carried into the place. They had to be included in my
baggage. I was also told not to take my Aqua bottle into the
plane.

Before boarding, I had another check and was again asked about
my purpose going to the U.S. On board the plane I saw a man in
front of me carrying a large Aqua bottle. There was also someone
carrying two bottles of wine. A woman sitting next to me had her
perfume and some people walked about carrying toothpaste.

When I arrived in the U.S., the immigration officers checked
my visa and other papers and found no problem with them. They
were quite hospitable. When I was going to collect my luggage, I
found it in a mess.

I found myself to have been treated with discrimination. The
information that Northwest gave me did not say anything about the
tight examination and also about the things I was not allowed to
take with me onto the plane. Besides, I was told to have only one
bag, a condition that forced me to rack my brains arranging what
I should take with me. In fact, this stipulation did not apply to
other passengers. Why should you check the originality of my
visa, because in my opinion it is the U.S. government that has
the right to do the checking? I don't know whether this is your
internal regulation or that of the U.S. government.

CARLA JUNE NATAN, Washington DC