In and out of Buenos Aires

I agree 100% with the subscriber’s comment in the letter “Security Absurdity” (March ’11, pg. 29): EZE Airport in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is inconsistent with security.

I have traveled to many countries with my small, nurse’s bandage scissors with blunt tips, part of my first-aid kit. Before I boarded our Nov. 27, 2010, Continental Airlines flight to Houston, EZE confiscated them, even after I tried to show the screener my RN license.

To add to the unfairness, the flight leaving from the gate next to ours for the US did not have an added gate security inspection, as ours did. That flight’s passengers just went on the plane.

Passengers for our flight had every handbag searched at the gate. The people who had just purchased bottled water were particularly upset, since the passengers on the flight right before us did not have to surrender their water at the gate.*

I’d like to add that we had flown out of the US from Washington Dulles on United Airlines on Nov. 23, and the dinner was horrible — pasta with a teaspoon of sauce, lettuce garnish, a tasteless roll and a bite-sized oatmeal cookie.

Returning on Continental, the dinner was fabulous — Argentine beef, sautéed mushrooms, carrots, mashed potatoes, a large salad, a roll and a cookie specialty of Buenos Aires. It was one of the best meals I ever had in economy class. Continental’s breakfast also surpassed United’s.

My question — with the merger of United and Continental, will there be an improvement in the food quality with the new United Airlines?

NANCI SCHEITHAUER
Santa Fe, NM

*Note: airport security officials keep certain procedures unpredictable to throw off the plans of potential wrongdoers. — Editor