Hand Luggage

[mstrunck]

I think the problem is that the rules for what you can and can't carry are not sensible, nor do they give any sense of added security.

I know an elite soldier (danish equivalent to SAS) who told me he has been trained in seven different ways to kill using a pencil. :shock: What good is it then to ban medical wipes? I assume most of us could imagine at least a few of these methods, so can any terrorist. :x

The people who enforce the rules are just doing their jobs, and enforce the rules they are employed to enforce.

/Max

Ohh, I think 100 ml of alcohol based AS will produce a much better fire than a doze medical wipes, though i have not tested it

 

[Dandy Highwayman]

To put the record straight, I have no problem with people who do their job and do it properly however much them doing it may upset us. A prime example of this is traffic wardens. If you commit a parking violation and get caught you just have to put your hands up and take it on the chin. As for Airport Security, I'm all for them doing their best to stop terrorism on aircraft.

However, over the years I have flown quite a bit and have met my share of what I, maybe unfairly, refer to as jobsworths. Most of them people who almost seemed to take pleasure in twisting the rules to make your life just that little bit more difficult that it needs to be.

I don't fly that often now which was why I posted the original question, and I would like to hope that the standard of Airport Security staff reflects the need for increased security.

I had the misfortune to be flying out of Gatwick the morning of the 'liquid bomb' incident. It was understandably chaos and security were overseeing the checkin desks and what appeared to be making the rules up as they went along.
A chap in the queue next to me was told that he couldn't take his laptop on board and had to fit it into a suit case. This meant him decanting some of his possessions out of one suitcase into a second so that he could fit the laptop into the first. After he'd done this they weighed his luggage again, told him the 2 cases were overweight and tried to charge him excess baggage.
I was told I had to lock my house and car keys into a suit case. I wasn't entirely happy with this as luggage does go missing, but aware of a frustrated queue behind me complied. The security person then noticed a tiny bunch of keys in my hand and said I'd have to lock them in as well.
I explained that they were the keys to the suitcases and if I locked them in I wouldn't be able to open the cases at the other end, but volunteered locking all but one in a case so I could open it and get at the others. That wasn't enough I had to lock them all in. I asked to speak to a supervisor who just repeated what the guard had told me so I asked to speak to a Manager. They phoned him and he instantly agreed with me.

I realise that it is unfair to relate that particular morning as the people in charge were under huge pressure, but I would hate to lose one of my favourite DEs because of someones interpretation of the rules. So all I was saying was stay on the safe side.