From the Other Side

Is it possible to write an article about airport customs complaints and remain impartial? After reading “Custom horrors recounted” in the Chronicle Herald on Oct 11, I’m sceptical. By the end of the article, I felt like the customs agents at Halifax Stanfield International Airport were mean, petty, and enjoyed making passengers suffer. But is this a fair assessment?

This article only looked at one side of the issue – from the perspective of the 13 passengers who complained in writing over the past few years. Based on the fact that approximately 438 000 people travel through Halifax customs each year, this seems like a small number. Unfortunately, I have nothing to compare these numbers to because I wasn’t told how other major Canadian airports measure up.

To my knowledge none of my friends or family has experienced problems travelling through customs, and neither have I. Maybe we all got lucky – the ‘offending’ custom agents were not on duty, we never appeared suspicious, or maybe the accounts of those who complained were embellished. Whatever the case, I do not feel that this article gave me an unbiased picture of customs in Halifax.

Why didn’t the reporter, Jeffery Simpson, speak to other passengers when they exited customs to see how their experiences were? Why didn’t he contact other airports? Why didn’t he ask those who complained about what led to customs officials going through their belongings? Why didn’t he find out if any of these encounters were caught on video? This article left me with more questions than answers. The one thing I do know is that I like to make up my own opinions, not have them delivered to me in the morning paper.