Goddamn terrorists

[Gremlin]

They have a lot to answer for, I tells ya. Here's a crazy example.

A client is flying me down to Christchurch on Monday to sort out a temporary office for some staff, set up computers etc. Fly back the same day.

I need my laptop, portable hard drive, some random cables and tools. Easily less than a backpack, carry on only, yeah? Wait... I said tools. Pocket knife and multi-screwdriver, for anything I encounter.

Suddenly, I can't do carry on only, can I? No way is my laptop going to be checked in. The tools would be donated to airport security's large hoard. I ring Air New Zealand, hoping domestic has different rules (after all, whats the point of crashing a plane into Christchurch aye?).

Nope, no luck. I'm tempted to check in a pencil case (plenty to hold a pocket knife and screwdriver), to highlight the ridiculous nature, but I'm afraid they might lose it. Now I have to carry two bags...

damn terrorists

[jim.cox]

The secuirty - at least at Chch - is much less for the smaller aircraft (ATR etc etc).

Pick your flights to avoid the Boeing or Airbus...

[gijoe1313]

You are a terrorist! Thank god there are such restrictions to stop you from crawling out on the wing and start dismantling it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H841-v8FL2g

[Kickaha]

The secuirty - at least at Chch - is much less for the smaller aircraft (ATR etc etc).

Anytime I've flown out on any domestic from Chch it's always been cabin luggage through the x ray machine and step through the scanner, even have to take my steel cap shoes off or I end up getting a going over with the wand

[Usarka]

Fly business class. They get metal knives.

[EJK]

Terrorists win.

[Gremlin]

Fly business class. They get metal knives.

but I already have my own...

[Little Miss Trouble]

but I already have my own...

I accidentally left a decent sized knife in my carry on luggage instead of transferring it to the checked bag for a flight to Melbourne about 18 months ago, it sailed through the scanner without a problem! Me thinks THAT scanner operator needed more coffee, or an eye exam!

[SPman]

Very little to do with terrorists - everything to do with authoritarian governments screwing you down so you can't take a piss without their permission - and you have to pay for it as well,
A frightened population is a submissive population! - all the easier to milk you dry.

[Buyasta]

I accidentally left a decent sized knife in my carry on luggage instead of transferring it to the checked bag for a flight to Melbourne about 18 months ago, it sailed through the scanner without a problem! Me thinks THAT scanner operator needed more coffee, or an eye exam!

These are the hazards of having security theater as opposed to actual security - those full-body scanners they're installing all over the place in the USA and UK etc miss crap like 30cm long razor blades.

It's also worth noting that the sort of people who actually know about how to secure airports, like the guy who designed the security at Ben Gurion airport, say that procedures like this are a lot less effective than security staff trained to read the behavior and body language of passengers and look out for those acting suspiciously, and that these enhanced screening procedures actually result in worse security by creating a large queue of people that presents a target rich environment, and because they're on the wrong side of security, a terrorist wouldn't even need to get through a security checkpoint to attack those queues.

It's pretty amazing how much of a psychological effect this stuff has - if they introduced effective security, people wouldn't actually feel any safer, because it'd be low-key, and hopefully no one would really notice, but when they introduce big impressive machinery and a more thorough search, everyone feels a lot safer, even though it's made very little difference.

Anywho, the upshot is that these procedures exist more to make people feel safer than to actually make them safer, so don't be too surprised when they miss stuff.

[Oakie]

Very little to do with terrorists - everything to do with authoritarian governments screwing you down so you can't take a piss without their permission - and you have to pay for it as well,
A frightened population is a submissive population! - all the easier to milk you dry.

And yet it didn't happen until the most significant terrorist attack had happened...

[Gremlin]

Bearing in mind I barely ever fly, wow, check-in for domestic is bloody fast. Get your boarding pass yourself, tag your bag, chuck on bag drop, and you're through in under 10min.

Now I'm waiting to board the plane, which has just turned up. This is the way to fly

[Elysium]

Very little to do with terrorists - everything to do with authoritarian governments screwing you down so you can't take a piss without their permission - and you have to pay for it as well,
A frightened population is a submissive population! - all the easier to milk you dry.

Whoa there matey! That's very dangerous talk right there! You best stick to doing what you're told.

[shrub]

There's an easy solution - carry a ceramic knife. Zirconium Carbide knives are razor sharp, harder than steel and don't get picked up by metal detectors. I have a friend who is a commercial diver and inadvertantly carried a 10 inch ceramic diving knife on board in his carry on luggage. I have a titanium hip and buzz the machine every time I go through. All I do is show the little man with the wand my card saying I have a fake hip and I'm through. I've often thought I could carry a knife in the pocket that side and get on the plane, or someone could fake the card.

The current law is supposed to stop Al Qaeda from hijacking planes with box cutters and flying them into buildings, but if a terrorist wants to hijack or destroy a plane there are plenty of ways to do it, so all they're doing is creating an enemy to fear - something the sociologists call othering. Makes it easier for the political elites to impose their will on the dumb masses.

[oneofsix]

There's an easy solution - carry a ceramic knife. Zirconium Carbide knives are razor sharp, harder than steel and don't get picked up by metal detectors. I have a friend who is a commercial diver and inadvertantly carried a 10 inch ceramic diving knife on board. I have a titanium hip and buzz the machine every time I go through. All I do is show the little man with the wand my card saying I have a fake hip and I'm through. I've often thought I could carry a knife in the pocket that side and get on the plane.

The current law is supposed to stop Al Qaeda from hijacking planes with box cutters and flying them into buildings, but if a terrorist wants to hijack or destroy a plane there are plenty of ways to do it, so all they're doing is creating an enemy to fear - something the sociologists call othering. Makes it easier for the political elites to impose their will on the dumb masses.

you've just made the argument for the strip search scanners, you know the ones where they don't store the images even though the machines are capable of it.