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I arrived in the US on a business trip the day before London Police rounded up 24 suspects for allegedly plotting a terrorist attack based on mixing a bomb or incendiary from liquid components on many flights from London to various US cities.

On Thursday morning I had stumbled in late to breakfast at my hotel and the room was filled with shocked looking business travellers staring at breaking reports of what CNN are now labeling “Terror in the sky.” Yow!

I understand that this causes fear about flying, but I rationalised away the risks and focussed instead on lamenting the inevitable airport delays. It was with foreboding that I arrived the recommended three hours early to catch my flight this morning. I had made sure I was without liquid and gels in my carry-on luggage.

The queue for check-in was long. The queue for security checking was short. Huh?

A tour group of 50 young Pakistanis had arrived before me. The delay wasn’t to do with profiling, racism or security problems. The problem seemed to be more mundane. It was to do with the overweight bags many of the tourists in this group were trying to check in.

Before the ban on carry-on liquids a large proportion of air travelers preferred to operate with carry-on luggage alone. This way they optimise their travel time and minimise the chance of losing their stuff or being delayed by baggage problems. Since the new orange alert the carry-on only travelers are pretty much forced to check their baggage due to the need to carry a toiletries bag.

Airline flight check-in seem to be overwhelmed by an unexpected increase in demand for check-in and baggage service. The TSA seems to have scaled up their security staffing without breaking stride but there seems to be an unanticipated problem with airlines locating extra staff and desks to meet the new demand for check-in service.

Another consequence is that aircraft are running short on space in the hold, so airlines are being careful not to allow any excess baggage through they don’t have to. Today I saw a lot of overweight bags turned away and nobody was offered an opportunity to pay for overweight luggage that I could tell.

So back to the the Pakistani tourists. Over and over they would present their luggage, be told it was overweight. The solution seemed to involve negotiation with other members of the tour group to move items into their lighter-looking bags to share the weight around. I thought later that they would have problems with the “Has anyone asked you to carry anything in your bags” question - but I think that just earns you stickers and stamps entitling you to increased attention from the TSA.

In the end it didn’t take too long to get checked in and through security. The TSA seems to have hired greeters to provide a happy first impression. The first TSA staffer I met today, and traveling into the US, was all charm and a real contrast to the X-ray and security gate operators who talk to each other like they’re herding sheep. “God bless. Thank you for flying. Keep flying or else they’ll win.”

The TSA took advantage of my early arrival to repack my bag more neatly than I had bothered to pack it and insert their “you have been searched” notice right at the bottom. Then my bag must have been put on a flight that was leaving 30 minutes earlier than mine. When I arrived at baggage claim at the far end my bag was already spinning around the carousel. I was second person off the aircraft. I immediately got on the train to baggage collection, walked right up and it was there.

I know it can’t have been the efficient baggage system - this was DIA after all.

An ongoing debate in my house concerns the standard of proof that food has gone off. I have several nasty memories of food poisoning during my adolescence so my motto is “if in doubt, chuck it out.” I’m different than the rest of my family - my mother tells me they used to scape the maggots from the remains of the roast to get sandwich meat during hard times.

I guess “if in doubt, chuck it out” is close to a legal definition of probable cause as a refrigerator is ever likely to experience.

I admit my digestive tract’s conditions of entry are not very “green,” but contrast this with my wife’s family, who are willing to find all manner of excuses to save food from the gallows. I think their standard of proof is more like beyond a reasonable doubt.

While I believe that food deserves to hang if it’s found inedible in the crisper of public opinion, I’m afraid to actually hang it. After all, if my wife found a piece of hanged fruit or veg who know where it might turnip. I prefer to bury my has-bean food where it carrot be found.