Ever since 9/11, airline travel has become quite a hassle. Just 69 days after the horrible attack against the United States by Islamic terrorists, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was created. Not long after that, we found security checkpoints showing up at airports across the country.

If you are flying out from a major airport in the US, you are advised to arrive at least 2-hours in advance, to allow you enough time to get through security and make your flight. Many business men and women who have to take early flights for their jobs, are forced to arrive at airports in the wee hours of the morning.

They stand in lines that snake back and forth like a huge serpent. When they get close, they are forced to take off their shoes, place the shoes, their coats and everything in their pockets into a plastic bin. If you have a laptop computer or tablet, it also has to go into a plastic bin. The bins and your carryon bags are then placed on a conveyor belt that takes them through a scanner.

Then each traveler has to go through a scanner and after that, may still have to be scanned with a handheld wand and in too many cases, TSA agents pat the traveler down in front of everyone else. There have been a number of complaints by passengers, mostly female, of being inappropriately touched and groped during these pat downs.

AND then, some travelers find themselves in a small room and having to go through the indignity of a strip search. A good friend of mine has metal plates in his head and metal rods in his legs and back and even with his documentation, has had to undergo more than one strip search.

After all this, travelers collect their belongings, put their shoes back on, put their computers back in their luggage, and retrieve all of the items from the pockets and put their coats or sweaters back on. And then trudge to the appropriate gate for their flight.

An acquaintance who often goes to jails and prisons for ministry work, told me once that the airport security is more involved and time consuming than what he gets for entering the jails and prisons.

Did you know that a recent study conducted by the University of Nottingham and Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare, found a huge health risk with the airline screening process.

According to the report:

“Researchers swabbed a variety of surfaces at Helsinki-Vantaa airport in the winter of 2016 that are frequently touched by passengers. Viruses were found on 10 percent of everything swabbed — and most commonly on the plastic trays at security.”

“Bacteria that could cause sickness was also found on card readers in shops, passport-checking counters, staircase rails and in the children’s play areas, as well as in the air.”

In fact, they said that more viruses were found on those plastic bins/trays than found on the toilets.

Guess what the most common virus found was???

Rhinovirus. No, it doesn’t turn you into a rhino and it’s not from rhinos, rather, this is the virus that causes the common cold. They also found flu viruses in addition to other disease-causing viruses.

The main culprit is when people cough and sneeze into their hands out of courtesy and to prevent spreading anything, but then they, without thinking, touch the bins and other items, contaminating them with their germs.

The only solution the report had was to wash your hands before and immediately after touching the plastic bins and other items in the airport. People