I woke up during the night and sat down with my laptop. I saw that a major terrorist plot had been thwarted in England and that new security procedures were in effect.

I thought back to my own experiences as an airline Customer Service Manager on 9/11 and immediately after. I remembered how patient Customers were with ever-evolving security procedures. We (employees and Customers) were a lot nicer to each other than we’d been in a long time. I then thought about how that civility has deteriorated in the years since 9/11/2001.

If you are flying today, take your patience hat with you to the airport. You ARE going to need it. I suspect that the worst of these new procedures (no liquids, etc.) will be eased over the next week, but I don’t KNOW that. In the meantime, be thankful that the system worked this time, be as patient as you can possibly be, pack lite (and be prepared to check it anyway), and have a backup plan in case your flight suddenly gets axed or you don’t clear the checkpoint in time to make the flight.

Edited to add:

After having 48 hours to read and think about what’s going on, I’ve come to think that my original hopes of the latest TSA restrictions being eased in the next week may have been too optimistic. I continue to think that they will be reduced over time, but we may be in for several weeks of tossing your Evian at the checkpoint unless something changes.