B2 – Upper Intermediate
There’s no denying that practically everyone aspires to travel as much as possible.
An airport bomb threat is a grave concern that poses a significant risk to the safety and security of air travel. With the increasing number of terrorist activities around the world, airports have become prime targets for such threats. The consequences of an airport bomb threat are far-reaching, not only causing panic and chaos among passengers, but also disrupting the entire aviation industry.
Read the article to see how airport security procedures are impacted by bomb threats.
Vocabulary Questions:
- What is the meaning of the idiom “to beef up”? “On Friday the aviation regulator released to media a Wednesday memo of the order given to airport security managers to beef up security, thoroughly inspect baggage and conduct round-the-clock surveillance after receiving the email threat.” Give 2 similar expressions and use “to beef up” in a sentence.
- What is the meaning of the idiom “round-the-clock”? “On Friday the aviation regulator released to media a Wednesday memo of the order given to airport security managers to beef up security, thoroughly inspect baggage and conduct round-the-clock surveillance after receiving the email threat.” Give 2 similar expressions and use “round-the-clock” in a sentence.
- What does “flag carrier” mean in aviation, “A source at Philippines Airlines, who declined to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to media, said the flag carrier was operating “business as usual.“? Make a sentence using this phrase.
Discussion Questions:
- What happened after the airports received a bomb threat?
- If you are an avid traveler yourself, how does this news make you feel?
- When you are at an airport, do you always feel safe? Why or Why not?
- How do airports in your country handle safety and security?
- Talk about any untoward incident you’ve encountered while at an airport..
8 replies on “Airports on High Alert after Bomb Warning”
Vocabulary Questions:
1. to reinforce or to increase. we need to beef up our advertising to get more customers
2. the 24 hours of the day, 24/7. you can’t be thinking about that game around the clock.
What is the meaning of the idiom “round-the-clock”? “On Friday the aviation regulator released to media a Wednesday memo of the order given to airport security managers to beef up security, thoroughly inspect baggage and conduct round-the-clock surveillance after receiving the email threat.” Give 2 similar expressions and use “round-the-clock” in a sentence.
3. airlines owned by the government of their home country and associated with the national identity of that country. iberia is the largest Spanish airline and is also the flag carrier of Spain.
Discussion Questions:
1. enhanced security measures were immediately implemented at all airports in the country.
2. It doesn’t make me any more stressed than normal, aviation is always a possible target, but it’s not going to stop me from traveling by plane.
3. Yes, I feel safe, because in the end they are very well guarded places where a lot of checks are made, and in fact, anything can happen to you in any place.
4. As in all European countries, with many security controls, scanners, police dogs…
5. I once missed a connection flight because there were too few security people and too many people to travel, so the queue would not move forward. It took me over an hour to get through security and I missed the plane.
Good work answering the questions in this lesson! That was an awful experience for sure.
Take a look at how you can improve this sentence a bit:
Keep going with this exercise to improve your writing more and more.
After the airports had received the threats, the security system checked those emails. In addition, the security services beefed up the safe and security protocols and vigilance.
On the other hand, if you are an avid traveler, you should keep the anxiety. If it is your case, my advice is to practice some breath exercises to keep your calm.
Let’s talk about how we feel in an aeroport. For my kind of job, I need travel by airplane lots of times every year. Some months, I travel by airplane every week! So, you can figure that I can’t feel unsafe in the aeroports. The main reason it is because if I would feel unsafe, I couldn’t work on my job. The threats are real but we should trust in security services.
By the way, to keep our security the police and security services made protocols that we suffer. All security controls that you can find in an aeroport are not pleasants. To be honest, in my leausure time I hate taking flights because I feel unpleasant the security and passport controls.
Good work sharing your insights about this topic.
See some revisions you can make in these the following sentences to improve them:
Keep writing!
As soon as the Philippines airports received the bomb threat, security measures were implemented. On one hand, the news was evaluated to check its veracity. On the other hand, there was more inspection of people’s luggage and security patrols were reinforced.
I’m not an avid traveler but I suppose that anyone who hears this type of news can feel unsafe. I remember when there was the 11th September plane crash, the number of people taking a flight dropped dramatically since they thought that the plane was no longer a safe means of transport. After these incidents, the security measures have changed in almost all the countries around the world and people have confided in planes again.
When I am at an airport, I feel safe since I notice that they have many security measures: there are Cctv cameras which are monitoring all our movements, all the luggage is scanned and there are many police around.
Depending on the type of flight the security measures change. In local and UE countries flights, there are scanners where everyone has to pass all their baggage through a conveyor belt and people need to walk under a metal arc to check that they do not carry weapons or forbidden products. In case of international flights, there is another checkpoint in which the policeman checks the passport to verify that this person is not wanted by law.
An untoward incident I remember was once when we were on the point of boarding the plane and we had to go back to the terminal since the pilot’s window was crashed. After more than 3 hours, we boarded the plane, even though the window was not repaired yet.
You were able to express ideas well through writing.
Take a look at how to express these sentences better:
Note that ‘on one hand’ and ‘on the other hand’ are used for two contrasting thoughts/sentences.
Keep going with your writing practice.
Discussion Questions:
1. What happened after the airports received a bomb threat?
All the security means were put in place in all the Philippine’s Airports.
2. If you are an avid traveler yourself, how does this news make you feel?
Of course, uneasy, uncomfortable, worried. It is difficult to travel in an airplane knowing there are security alerts, and terrorists’ threats.
3. When you are at an airport, do you always feel safe? Why or Why not?
I don’t feel comfortable in crowded places because usually they are the targets for terrorist attacks.
4. How do airports in your country handle safety and security?
Well in 11th march 2004, Madrid (Spain) suffered one of the most terrible terrorist attacks that killed 193 people. They attacked the main train and metro station in Madrid… After that, all the security measures were beefed up, above all, in Airport and Train Stations. The use technical devices, X-ray, dogs, and security personal search passenger one by one.
5. Talk about any untoward incident you’ve encountered while at an airport…
None untoward incident I have suffered in airports, fortunately, but I suffered an airplane accident 30 year ago.
Good work with your writing practice so far.
Here is a sentence you can improve:
You could also write a bit about what happened to elaborate.
Take any opportunity to express yourself through writing.