Airport Security

[Rapscallion]

Well, she nearly got a business card from me, which is pretty much the same thing...

Rapscallion

[dragonflygrrl]

Thanks for the info, Mikkel! One article I read had listed books as a "banned" item from the UK, and I really don't know if I could go seven hours with no reading.

Raps, originally the plan was to train from the borders up to Orkney and back again, but time and money constraints have forced us to narrow the parameters of the trip. So now we're thinking maybe sticking with a week in Edinburgh, which is one of my all time favorite cities. We're still not sure if we can effectively avoid Perth without causing an international incident, since that is where most of my family is located (Dad was born on the boat from the "Auld Country"). We're hoping we can claim honeymoon immunity and avoid having to stay at 5000 relative's houses, but I have a terrifying mental image of all my aunties gathering around to pinch my cheeks off! LOL

[Rapscallion]

Feel free to PM me with dates etc if you feel like meeting up - I intend having a little time off during October, perhaps even going up to see the wall again.

Rapscallion

[Dreamstalker]

...I just fear that what will eventually happen is the loss of the ability to have carry-on luggage at all.

Hell yes. I'd be willing to concede to having to use clear plastic backpacks if I could keep a book or two, MP3 player, etc. As long as I know where my valuable stuff is.

If this no carryon rule is enforced, business travelers are going to go nuts. Think about it: you're told constantly to never put valuables like laptops in checked baggage--I would never trust my laptop to baggage handlers anyway. I've seen how suitcases get thrown around.

[Gurndigarn]

..I just fear that what will eventually happen is the loss of the ability to have carry-on luggage at all...

Well, I for sure wouldn't mind them enforcing smaller carry-ons. I saw people bringing practically full-sized suitcases, then spending minutes trying to wiggle the things (in the end, using force) into the overhead bin. While I was behind them, waiting patiently to get to my seat.

[trunks2k]

Well, I for sure wouldn't mind them enforcing smaller carry-ons.

For airplanes flying out of Heathrow they're starting to do that. When I was on my way home the other week from my trip to Europe, when we were going through the security line, they had two people standing there warning everyone that in a couple weeks, NO carryons that couldn't easily fit into the test box thingies will be allowed passed the security check point.

[Tito]

I heard on the news yesterday that for the most part, people are very understanding & are actually happy that security is taking matters to the extreme that they are. Still, I'm sure that doesn't mean they don't get the occasional crybaby.

[trunks2k]

I heard on the news yesterday that for the most part, people are very understanding & are actually happy that security is taking matters to the extreme that they are.

Give them all a few weeks. In a little while, people are going to completely forget why they measure was instituted in the first place, and are going to bitch and moan.

[66biscuits]

I work in a domestic terminal in Australia, in fact I recently joined CS to vent about all the SCs we get on the post titled Airport Fun. Anyway, in recent days the airline I do check-in for has been audited by Civil Aviation Safety Authority which is issuing severe warnings about carry-on bags. The aircraft are small and the cabin baggage limit is only 4kg, far smaller than most want to carry on. So when Mr business man wants to take a 15kg briefcase into the cabin, puts it in the overhead locker after a struggle, then in flight the thing falls out during turbulence (it has happened) and it falls on a baby in someones lap (ditto) and injures the baby (unfortunately ditto) I feel bad for letting them through with their huge briefcase. I'd be very happy if these jerks were just banned from taking stuff onboard. A UK passenger told me they were allowing only passports and travel documents on-board. Sorry guys, no laptops full of porn for your long flight.

[skeptic53]

For years I have wished they would routinely run 100% of carry-on bags through the little size-test frames or templates. It would make loading/unloading so much quicker. I'm amazed that the improvement in turnaround time that would ensue has not tempted at least one airline to do this.

I read that some airlines are FINALLY experimenting with loading window seats first, then middle, then aisle, or some modified versions of this.

I once witnessed a near fist-fight on a plane between two road warriors. RW #1 was seated, RW #2 was trying to cram his huge garment bag into the overhead. RW #1 hollered "Watch what you're doing, I've got a $900 suit in there!" RW #2 replied "Well I've got a $1200 suit in my bag!" "I was here first!" "So what!" and on and on, in finest 4th grade playground spat fashion. The attendants had to separate them and reseat RW #2.

Worst episode was flying home from Scotland with a bottle of single malt in a round cardboard tube. I put it in the overhead to keep it safe. Sheeeeyeaah right. A 10-year old kid, in the middle of the farking night, goes rummaging in the wrong overhead bin. Down comes the tube. Crash, tinkle, odor of expensive single-malt fills the cabin. We begged a linen napkin from first class and some plastic cups, filtered the whiskey from the cardboard tube through the napkin and shared with anyone who cared to help us drown our sorrow at the loss...

[Crazyredhead]

I don't fly anymore but when I did I took a butcher knife on board for my grandmother. It was a special made one that had a 12 in blade and noone batted an eyelash.

Anyways, can you imagine if they eventually ban cell phones and laptops here in the states. People will go nuts. But it would be a blessing in disguise, no more ringing cell phones and obnoxious talkers.

I hope the airlines will be prepared for the people that had to put there laptops in there checked baggage. I have heard how the handlers throw the baggage around and laptops seems to be kinda fragile. It doesn't seem to take much of a bump to break one.

[Rapscallion]

Anyways, can you imagine if they eventually ban cell phones and laptops here in the states. People will go nuts.

They're customers. Will anyone be able to tell?

Rapscallion

[FastFoodFlunky]

For airport security screeners...when people complain about the rules of not being able to bring something past security...tell them that if you bend the rules for them, you have to bend the rules for everybody, and ask for the name of their next of kin.

This usually strikes people pretty hard..my dad is a police officer and used this line when people would absolutely refuse to obey the mandatory evacuations for the potentially deadly hurricanes we had. It worked for most people.

I have a question. I'm not sure if I have a point or i'm just being idiotically ignorant.

From what I gathered on the news, the terrorists' plan was to blow up about 10 airplanes in mid-air using liquid explosives.

Now, if they were planning on using explosives, they probably would have needed a timer or a detonator to trigger them.

Airport security is not allowing liquids to be brought onboard through carry on luggage, but, from what I saw, they ARE allowing the liquids to be stowed away in checked baggage (I saw footage on my local news of people putting their contact solutions, eyedrops, etc. in their baggage).

It doesn't matter if the liquids are stowed underneath the plane, in the overhead compartments or under a seat..if the explosives go off, the plane is going down and everybody will unfortunately die.

And with technology these days..i'm pretty positive that detonators can be disguised as cellular phones, laptops, pagers, i-Pods, or other common items usually brought onboard through carry on.

Am I the only one that fails to see the logic in this? It kind of struck me as odd as I watched the news and saw the huge signs above the metal detectors saying "No liquids BEYOND THIS POINT." Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.

Chris

[Kiwi]

sigh.... does this make anyone else feel as if the terrorist have won. It sure makes me feel that way.

I bet you they are laughing their asses off at us, scurrying around dumping stuff left and right. This is exactly what they wanted, to change westerns, to uproot their everyday lives.

of course I want everyone to be safe on a plan and would follow every rule but its just so disheartening, the cynical part of me wonders if this is another scaremongering tactic from our governments.... but this isnt a political site so I wont get political about it.

I will happily check everything without fuss, it just makes me sad, flying used to be reguarded as a pleasure, now its dreaded.

Someone on the news quoted that security would be more effective if they were looking for people not items, I dont know if that would be considered racial profiling?

What I dont understand are the reports of waterbottles and the like being confiscated when they are sold PAST the security checkpoints, surely if you have been screened you should be able to buy water/ sweets/magazines in what they consider to be a sterile area?

[Broomjockey]

What I dont understand are the reports of waterbottles and the like being confiscated when they are sold PAST the security checkpoints, surely if you have been screened you should be able to buy water/ sweets/magazines in what they consider to be a sterile area?

You obviously aren't paranoid enough, and don't have a twisted enough thought pattern.
Here's the rationale: Terrorist gets a job at a trucking company that delivers goods to airport shops, tampers with shipment, placing required materials in prearranged places, marking them specifically. His co-conspirator looks for these specially marked items in the store, and take them on the plane, make a bomb from them, and blows up New York again.