I don't care if immigration/customs people carry guns. H*ll, in Alaska you don't even have to have a permit to carry a concealed firearm anymore. As long as people behave responsibly with them (and I would assume that most sworn law enforcement officers would behave responsibly) guns are great to have around.

I'd rather have armed folks around and not need their assistance than be in a bad situation with no one having a gun handy!

While I disagree with your statement about guns being great to have around, I would point out that airports have law enforcement officers who do carry guns, the police. Is there really a need for everyone to be armed?

An escalator or moving walkway offers two possible benefits; saving time or saving exertion. I completely agree with stand right and walk left but sometimes the escalator or walkway is too narrow to allow this. I almost never walk up an escalator because I have a roller bag with my flight bag hooked on the back of it. There is no way I'm going to stop, separate the two bags and carry the 50 lbs. up an escalator! Unfortunately the width of my flight bag effectively blocks the left side of the escalator so all I can say is, "too bad". I don't mean that in a rude way but it's as if you got to an elevator in a big rush to go up but I had already pushed the button to go down, "too bad".

I hope for your sake that you are never injured or disabled.

I totally agree with those who get really annoyed when people block the walkway or escalator, or walk three or more abreast through the concourse. I think the Metro system in D.C. (where I lived until six months ago) may have finally broken down and installed "Stand Right, Walk Left" stickers on the escalators -- they resisted for a long time because "we don't want people to walk on the escalators at all because they might trip and fall and die," but in prime tourist season, I think the risk is much greater that a commuter will snap and throw some hapless visitor down to his death.

Ahem. Anyway, as a fast walker, even if I'm not technically in a hurry, I hate being subject to someone else's pace. It really frustrates me. I should probably get help for that...

1 - why not have immigration armed with handguns? US airport security is actually less armed than european countries, like UK,FR,DE,NL,IT

2 - thats like asking why do people stand on escalators.. or walk really slowly..

I ask this with no pun intended whatsoever: Is that how it is all over the world or just in the US?

Stand left, Walk right. Applies to a majority of Asian countries, Japan included. Had a hard time getting used to that one!

Sanosuke!

It's all in the timing of things for me. Sometimes I've got a connection with only minutes to spare and it seems like the whole world can't move fast enough. During times like these I generally push my way past people blocking the moving walkways or anywhere else without saying a word.

When my connection time is short but there's no hurry I often say "excuse me" or "behind you" or something like that. Usually gets the job done no problems.

Only once have I had to put anyone in thier place, some heavy set women standing in the middle of the walkway resting her weight on the hand rails. Said, "excuse me" a couple of times she glared at me but didn't move. Then said, "excuse me, do you understand english? Can you read that sign? Or do you just think you own this walkway?" Just happened to be good timing with the walk left stand right signage she just snorted and moved over.

Other times I've had so much time between flights I try to take as long as I can getting from point A to point B just to kill the time, no need to hurry up and wait. As a result I've recieved a few bumps from passangers who could benefit from a little of my extra time. Though I'm always aware of others on the moving walkways and escilators and stand to the side if I can.

I think the best thing to realize is that not everyone is in a hurry and to remember that just because you're not in a hurry doesn't mean no one else is in a hurry or vise versa.

You might be surprised, but a lot of people are actually afraid of the moving walkways, escalators, moving stairs, etc. For some reason I see lots of 'em whenever I land in Atlanta; there's a set of escalators that you have to take up to the terminal proper, once you've gotten off the little gate-train, and there's often someone who's gotten in the queue then had to stop a minute before actually getting on the escalator. You can watch them almost counting the steps as they go by and working up the nerve to step on.

I seriously doubt that any of these folks will be walking on the moving steps!

If you're not used to people-moving-technology and don't have a lot of experience getting around airports (they're crowded and can be confusing), I'd imagine the moving walkways are the perfect place to catch your breath and gather your thoughts.

As long as you stand to the right!

So i don't feel like walking. You can move if you like,and don't call me lazy

just use the magic words: "excuse me"

Nah, he's talking about the ones that are horizontal, not escaltors.

Someone who's used to using the escalators doesn't realize anymore that it actually takes some adaptation to get on and off. Did you ever step onto an escalator that is not moving? Every time I do I slightly fall forward when stepping on and backward when stepping off, even though I tell myself that I should handle the escalator like an ordinary stairway... Anyone else with the same problem?

HTB.

In the West, we can choose whether to stand on the escalator, run up the down escalator (something I've always wanted to do) etc. As long as people don't block the escalator then I think it's fair enough, people can do what they like and it's not up to us to tell them to do anything other than that. We are already told to do so much in life, why can't we stand and think about how we are going to get from the airport to our hotel, etc. on the escaltor. The thing that annoys me are kids who'se parents let them sit on the baggage carousel and run around the arrivals area so you can't get to the front of the crowd to get your bag, without knocking over/walking on the kid however tempting that might be...I don't do.