There's a couple of things you can't do indiscriminately in planes and airports post 9/11, and at the top of that list is scream.
It might sound funny, but if you try it for fun just to create a false alarm and see people's reaction, you could get arrested. Not to pick on Nigeria, but thinking about it now, you could probably scream for no reason in Murtala Muhammed airport and you'd get little to no attention, they'll probably dismiss it as "this one is mad" or "awon aye ti'n she'leyi" (you're being disturbed by the forces of the world) - but then again, it really depends on where you are in the airport, I submit to you that if you are in the jetway/loading bridge (the tunnel into the plane) in any airport and you scream (for whatever reason) you'd get anything from angry responses to very rough treatment.
People hate to be alarmed generally, and there is a heightened feeling of worry/insecurity when you're traveling, no matter how many times you have traveled, how hard you try to suppress or how secure you think the airport or plane is.
Doing it inside of the plane is even worse - people could literally die from panic attacks, and the herd mentality from seeing one person running away from the screamer (even though they have no idea why the person is screaming) can cause a frenzy.
On the list of things you can't do in an airport post 9/11 there's:
1. Drop a bag or container randomly - if you're in a waiting area you'd be surprised at how many people will prompt you to take your stuff with you if you are leaving the area altogether or even just their line of sight; and if there's security around, you will definitely be asked to not drop things and move far away from them.
2. Maintain weird eye-contact with security personnel - this one might raise a few eye-brows, but I've heard people talk about it, seen it in movies, and it happened to me in Hamad airport in Doha, Qatar. My friend and I had a 13 hour stop-over in Doha and we were loitering around the airport when this security guy on a scooter passed by us - he looked at us and I looked right back at him and didn't look away, then he turned his scooter around and came to meet us. He asked us who we were (which honestly was a weird question) and for almost 10 minutes he stood there with us trying to verify our identity. Needless to say people started to stare at "the two black guys people accosted by security". After a few minutes he left, my friend was pretty pissed by it all but I saw the funny side of it.
3. Say a certain Arabic phrase - I have to be really careful with this one, so I don't offend people, but yes, you probably know the phrase I'm talking about - it has been used by terrorists as some sort of mantric incantation before they detonate some explosive device. So yes, especially if you're in a western or specifically an American airport, you just can't say it out loud.
I've been to a couple of airports in my lifetime - Schiphol in Amsterdam, Sherometovo in Moscow, Kotoka International in Accra, Leonardo da Vinci in Rome, Letishte Sofiya in Sofia and a few others - but the one time I had a screaming experience was in JFK New York, but here's the thing, it was such a nice thing to see. I once wrote an account of it, here's that account...
"...and that’s when I hear it, the scream.
It was a female voice, it was loud and filled with emotion, I couldn’t figure out why she was screaming, was it a good scream? Bad? Was she elated or petrified? I hadn’t yet turned to look at who was screaming, I hesitated for a second or two before I moved my head…as you can imagine, a lot flashed through my mind within those few seconds. I mean, abrupt screaming in an American airport is at the top of the list of things you can’t do post 9/11. So yes, I was scared for a bit.
Then I turned and saw this dark-haired young lady, what you might call a babe, probably Latina or Arab (going by the colour of her hair), screaming out of excitement – her hands were on her face as she turned around in disbelief and excitement – she did that for a few seconds then the turned back and gestured towards this guy that was walking towards her, then she intensifies the screaming and starts stomping her feet in a semi-circular motion – the guy, also dark-haired and over six feet, walked briskly up to her, hugged her and picked her up."
So yes, that happened - she screamed like a crazy person because she just saw someone she clearly cared about a lot - everyone around that area was momentarily petrified, till we turned and saw what was really happened - alarm quickly turned into admiration.
Have you had an interesting screaming experience in an airport (or plane) before?
Let me know in the comments!
Thanks for reading, have an amazing week ahead.
The Luxury of being able to scream
By
Cyrus Majebi