Airport security is such a stupid friggen joke sometimes...

[LAJ]

So I'm at the Phoenix airport yesterday on my way home after an AWESOME forum and I'm going thru "security". Whenever possible I always ONLY do carry on. I pull my toiletry bag out of my suitcase and put it on the belt. Gotta make sure my deadly mix of hairgel, deodorant, toothpaste, cologne and shaving cream all fit into a 1-quart baggie, therefore making it physically impossible for me to get to it in-flight. Then I get a lecture from the woman about how I should pull the baggie OUT of the toiletry bag to save everyone time.

"umm... Ma'am... I can appreciate the rules you guys have going on here, but if time is important here, your lecture took a lot longer than the physical act of unzipping the bag and looking at the contents"

So then she asks me if I packed a snow globe in my suitcase to which my reply was "yes... I do this every time I travel home. I buy my son a snow globe from each of the cities I travel to all year long."

Bag check time. No telling what kind of threat I pose NOW.

So the guy rifles thru my very meticulously packed suitcase... which for me is like getting teeth pulled.

"sir... are you looking for anything other than my dangerous snow globe?"

"no... where is it?"

"that black plastic bag right in front with the paper wrapped around it to look like a present."

So of course he unwraps and pulls it out and says I can't take it with me cuz it's more than 3 ounces. NOT because I could have injected it with something... but simply cuz it's more than 3 ounces.

Well that's logical.

My options? Either go all the way back to check in and get my bag checked in... or go to the post office in the airport and mail it.

"all this for a $15 gift for my 4 year old son?... throw the god damned thing away" I told him.

Then I walked 20 feet to the gift store, saw the same exact snowglobe there, bought it, and put it in my suitcase.

Nice.

Upon my return to Austin I see an 80 year old man getting frisked right there in front of everyone COPS style.

"Are you friggen KIDDING ME?"... I shouted out to the guys... "SHAME ON YOU."

I'm probably on everyone's watch list now...

[fatdrunkboy]

I was never travel with airplane before .

[freechess]

next time carry some explosives you would probably be waved right on

through

[paul7]

the airport rules are sometimes so fucking ridiculous

[SykkBoy]

next time, wear your Turban and a silly long beard...

[rvince]

Originally Posted by LAJ

"all this for a $15 gift for my 4 year old son?... throw the god damned thing away" I told him.

Then I walked 20 feet to the gift store, saw the same exact snowglobe there, bought it, and put it in my suitcase.

Priceless!


On the other hand I wouldn't blame him or the lady before because they are just robot employees with a shitty paycheck who are doing what they are paid to do. No more no less. They are not paid to think, they are paid to execute without thinking.

[moxas]

ye it`s really stupid one time i was with snickers and they asked me to take them off! What a fuck these a snickers not fucking shoes with some metal on it :S
and one time per those assholes i miss my plane, because i was on holidays in London and i bought same size like original queen crown and putted it on bag with which i taking to the plane. When i went a security check, they stooped me for half an hour to check isn`t it real and i miss my plane, i was very angry!!!

[Lipshtich Lady]

I fly every week, sometimes with multiple legs (no I am not a flight attendant).

I am a registered traveler and use True Clear at the airports that offer that option. But many times I need to use the regular security lanes in the US and obviously true clear is meaningless outside of the US. I never check a bag and can fit 10days of clothes for multiple weather zones and including a gown for a blacktie event in a roll-aboard.

Honestly - The rules are what they are, choose to follow them or dont fly. The people who work there have to follow them completely and fully, they dont make them they just follow them.

There are signs explaining clearly to place your clear bag on separately and alone - you choose not to follow those instructions. (you probably will the next time) There are also clear warnings that you cannot bring on more than 3oz of liquid - again you choose not to follow those instructions. The old man being frisked probably had some stupid army knife on him that he thought he could sneak through.

You cannot win by arguing, you just hold up the lines and distract the TSA person from watching others.

Last week some idiot, probably flying on a cheap ticket, decided to start an argument in front of me on the merits of taking her shoes off. All she did was hold myself and my colleagues up in the line. Then she got very angry when I said, "Excuse me Maam, you are not going to win the argument, but if you want to continue it, please get the fuck out of my way as I need to make my flight"

Overall - yes the rules are stupid, yes the people seem silly about how they enforce them - but why argue... or if you are going to argue - please get out of my way.

Or you can travel in Mexico - where they hand search every piece of luggage, they dont care if they break things and will hold you up for looking at them the wrong way... at least until you pass over some pesos..

[thebes]

The rules have nothing to do with common sense or making us safer.

The rules are about power and fear.

[mojoman]

Originally Posted by LAJ

I'm probably on everyone's watch list now...

i'm considered a suspected terrorist in my country!

[ScreaM]

Wow, what fucking idiots.

[Auf Mauf]

After the terorist atack airport security is so high that sometime its pretty annoying.

[MountainGoat]

I fly quite regularly to visit my family back home in England. It usually takes me longer to clear through the local airport than it does on the aircraft...

The things I hate about going through security, is they seem to do the most ridiculous stuff...

They make me take my glasses off before I step through the metal detector...

They make me take my shoes off... Response: Don't change the socks for three days or more before travel.

Perhaps they are bored on the night shift, because I always take the red-eye, so it leaves me with this question... "If I mail them with passes to the site, the night before, will I clear customs quicker?"

[Varzi Network]

Originally Posted by MountainGoat

They make me take my shoes off...

Interesting you post that because my step mother who is from England was harassed the same way last year.

[LAJ]

Well, I've heard from a few people here and there that they have had shit ripped off from their checked in luggage so I know things could have been worse for me.

[GerardX]

It all depends on the airport...

[Jethro]

Rules , rules , rules ... they are everywhere , and we have to follow them ...