New Airport Security Measures

[Jodie]

Bloody hell! Am I the only one who thinks the new security measures are a tad excessive? Yes, I know all about the busted terror plot (just how real of a threat it truly was remains to be seen), but I can't shake the feeling that the new carry-on restrictions are designed more to instill fear in the masses than to prevent terror attacks.

The last half a dozen times I've flown, I've been made to take a sip of any liquids in open containers (i.e. my Nalgene bottle) prior to passing through security. Between the security agent's sense of smell and my willingness to consume the liquid, I think it can be pretty well established that what I have in my Nalgene is indeed a consumable beverage. Now, not only are we not allowed to bring open containers of liquids aboard, we are not even permitted to carry on sealed beverages with recognizable brand labelling. To me, that's just overkill.

And to top it all off, we can also no longer carry even the most basic of toiletries, such as toothpaste or hand cream, two things I never travel without. I am definitely not looking forward to the new days of arriving at my destination dehydrated, with dry skin, chapped lips and dragon breath

Anybody else sense that the days of free beverage service aboard aircraft are fast coming to an end? The airlines are going to be all over this new profit-generating opportunity.

Passengers are not permitted to carry any liquids or gels in their carry-on baggage or through security, including canned or bottled beverages, creams, lotions, toothpaste, hair gel, perfume, and similar items. Exceptions include: baby formula or juice (infant must be accompanying the adult) and prescription medications.

Retailers located past security are only permitted to sell beverages (such as water, pop, juice, etc.) in an open cup or bowl. These must be consumed prior to boarding an aircraft.

 

[georgebushmoron]

These measures are unworkable in the long run.... they can't possibly maintain so much strictness and will relax it in time. Terrorists of course are counting on this too. The threat is real though, and the measures are necessary at this time until better methods are found. Probably in the future, you have to check in your luggage a week ahead of your flight. While this is still inconvenient, it's a little more workable than what they are doing now.

It's too bad the world has wound up this way, but security will be more and more a phenomenon of modern life as technology becomes more powerful. Powerful technology allows people to do more harm easily, and also allows authorities the ability to control more easily. All this would have happened regardless of any terrorist event anyway.

 

[James]

The terrorists only need to get it right once.

The good guys need to get it right every time.

Deal with it.

There were no news reports about the hundreds of aircraft that landed safely at YVR today.

 

[gravitas]

The next step is we're all going to have to show up to the airport 10 hours before our flight, get an enema, full body MRI, fully scrubbed from head to toe and then get provided a hospital gown to insure nothing can be brought on board.

 

[aznboi9]

whole thing makes no sense.
premise is that liquid explosive can be hidden to look like drink, hair gel, etc.
and then detonate remotely.
so how does banning them from carry-on baggage but allowing in regular luggage prevent anything!

From what I saw on the news, the premise is that the would-be terrorist carries the liquid components necessary to make the bomb in his carry-on luggage, disquised as everyday items like contact solution, toothpaste etc. He then can take said components to someplace quiet, like the bathroom, to mix the liquids into their more combustive form and then carry out his diabolical intentions as planned.

I would strip search Jodie....real slow.

Here, here!

 

[Chrisinda]

Guess if I travel, I will have to take my personal fun out of my bag... I can't imagine traveling without my slippery stuff!

The toothpaste thing, that slays me! Next thing you know, we won't be able to take excercise shoes onboard, in case the rubber is actually plastic explosives!

Ya never know... the hospital gown thing may come to pass, if GWB gets his way!

 

[LonelyGhost]

Bloody hell! Am I the only one who thinks the new security measures are a tad excessive?

and if one plane went down it would be a lot of screaming
that security wasn't good enough!

and the price of 'feeling good' that we're not a bunch of raving
racists who would target people from the Middle East for enhanced
security, we consider everybody a potential terrorist instead.

I don't doubt that eventually it will be 'show up 12 hours early, one bag,
unpack it all, and then have it sealed and stowed' ...

But isn't it ironic that in order to keep all those planes flying the US
has to invade a country for oil and put up with terrorists who want to
make all those planes crash???

 

[Ilovethemall]

frequent flyer

I will put my frequent flyer miles up against just about anybody....and I support the new restrictions. These assholes have to get it right once - good quote - the good guys need to be right every single time!

Deal with the restrictions....Jodie, with the money you make....buy on board baby!

Here's a thought - no where in the Charter of Rights does it say we have a god given right to fly - so if you don't like the new restrictions, don't fly.

 

[totravel]

Good article on the method of the plot.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/ussecurity/airplane-bombplot.html
As you can see, this isn't a new idea, it was actually tested back in '94.

 

[Cock Throppled]

These measures are unworkable in the long run.... they can't possibly maintain so much strictness and will relax it in time. Terrorists of course are counting on this too. The threat is real though, and the measures are necessary at this time until better methods are found. Probably in the future, you have to check in your luggage a week ahead of your flight. While this is still inconvenient, it's a little more workable than what they are doing now.

It's a total over-reaction, of course, but that's about the only thing the authorities can do to make it seem like they are really doing anything to make us safe. Making the traveller test the material on themselves should be enough. I'd have liked to have seen one of those Mofo's be required to "test" his contact lens solution of battery acid on his eyes. Hell, I'd pay to see that.
I've always thought checking in bags a day or so early and having everything searched well would help, but then of course, there would be increased theft, etc. Most people travel with way, way too much stuff anyway, so hopefully it will cut down of the pianos, freight-sized luggage, etc. Only prob for me is _ I only travel with carry-on. Guess that stops.
And how are they going to shoot The Amazing Race. I think that show is doomed.

 

[LonelyGhost]

I've always thought checking in bags a day or so early and having everything searched well would help, but then of course, there would be increased theft, etc. Most people travel with way, way too much stuff anyway, so hopefully it will cut down of the pianos, freight-sized luggage, etc.

i think the next step is to 'lock-down' airports ... no one gets in without
a ticket and family/friends/pets just have to stay home.

and the one-case rule will be eventually put in place ... show up with five
bags and a goat and you won't even get into the airport anymore.

but scarier than a bomb is some nutbar who self-infects with some virus
and gets on a plane, lands in some 'hub' like Chicago or Dallas and 200+
more infected people take off for other parts! that it hasn't happened yet
is a bit of a miracle ... but i suspect that such a move would incur an all-out
'nuke-em' response ...

 

[bernini]

The funniest part about rednecks, is that they don't even know that they're rednecks.

 

[Maury Beniowski]

I don't doubt that eventually it will be 'show up 12 hours early, one bag, unpack it all, and then have it sealed and stowed' ...

And sent by truck...

Folks, no one said you couldn't take any of those items with you onboard. Just make sure they're in your checked luggage. What could be so hard about that? Amazing how some get all in a knot over minor inconveniences...

Reminds me of the passport kerfuffle beginning next year... So what?

 

[sirlickheralot]

And sent by truck...

Folks, no one said you couldn't take any of those items with you onboard. Just make sure they're in your checked luggage. What could be so hard about that? Amazing how some get all in a knot over minor inconveniences...

Reminds me of the passport kerfuffle beginning next year... So what?

Not everyone likes to check baggage, especially on shorter trips. Some people like to pack light and carry everything with them. It's a pain in the ass when you check your baggage then have to wait an hour or more at the luggage carousel. It's a huge pain in the ass when they go and lose the luggage you didn't want to check in the first place.

As for the passport kerfuffle, Tourism is important for the economy, especially here in BC, many Americans don't have passports and won't bother getting one just to take a trip to Canada. Therefore this legislation hurts our economy, that's the so what.

 

[bernini]

Getting a passport is hardly an inconveniece. It just takes a bit of patience. Photos are taken and processed in under 20 minutes and a wait at the Passport office has never taken me more than 15 minutes. About the same amount of effort as renewing your Drivers License or Automobile insurance. Or the same amount of time you might end up waiting for your Dentist appointment.

 

[JustAGuy]

Folks, no one said you couldn't take any of those items with you onboard. Just make sure they're in your checked luggage. What could be so hard about that? Amazing how some get all in a knot over minor inconveniences...

And with their impeccable record of not losing checked luggage, the airlines certainly don't need to be a concern, do they? I have travelled with nothing but two carry on bags ever since travelling from Costa Rica to Halifax in 1994 with same day stops and change of plane in Miami, Newark and Boston. I shook my head in sympathy for the disabled guy who was arriving in Boston to compete in the Boston Marathon only to be told by an apologetic Continental Airlines staffer that his special "racing" wheelchair was (she thought) in Kansas City but they'd do their best to try and get it to him before the race started (in twelve hours). Good luck with that, I thought to myself. I then arrived in Halifax to discover that my checked luggage had been sent to Winnipeg, where my flight had originated eight weeks earlier. The idea of having them forward that luggage to Halifax, where I'd be staying for two weeks, briefly crossed my mind until I realized it would likely wind up back in San Jose, Costa Rica.

 

[BC visitor]

Some of the airlines are going to go under...

I think that business travelers will not put up with this. Bags with basic toiletries will have to be checked, making even overnight trips a pain in the ass. The baggage handling systems will not keep up. If people are forced to check bags they will pack more, putting even more strain on the system. Bags will get lost even more. No more walking off a plan straight to the rental car bus. Why pre-print your boarding pass if you have to check your bag anyway? More ticket counter personnel & baggage handlers for the airlines = more costs. More unhappy customers = more business travelers not traveling and doing video conferences or webex. Look at what happened after 9/11. Considering fuel costs, it is only a matter of time until ticket prices skyrocket and then the airlines start dropping like flies.

It is funny, no one died or was hurt, but we all lost in the end and it is a blow to our economy.

It is even better that the plot was foiled. We all are happy that we are safer and fighting terrorism, but the restrictions and economic impact is the same in the end.

 

[wolverine]

The future of airline travel:

Before boarding, each of us are cryogenically frozen and placed into a hermetically-sealed tube along with your luggage. All passenger tubes are stacked up like sardines in a plane that is now one large cold-storage cargo bay (no seats, no waitresses) and flown to our destination. Upon landing, each of us are thawed out with our luggage and sent on our way.

It's either that, or planes fly without luggage or passengers.

 

[afterplay]

The future of airline travel:

Before boarding, each of us are cryogenically frozen and placed into a hermetically-sealed tube along with your luggage. All passenger tubes are stacked up like sardines in a plane that is now one large cold-storage cargo bay (no seats, no waitresses) and flown to our destination. Upon landing, each of us are thawed out with our luggage and sent on our way.

F*ckin' A! That'd be so awesome.

Think about it... you wouldn't have to deal with:
* the fat person spilling their rolls into your seat
* all the stinky noisy babies onboard
* delays on the tarmac and in holding pattern
* crappy airline snacks
* the jackass hitting you in the head trying to stuff a f*ckin' steamer trunk into the overheads
* flight attendants who need a smack upside the head to teach them manners (this means you, air canada)

Pipe a matrix-style porn scene into my head while I'm in the tube and I'm so there!

 

[aznboi9]

the way things are going, soon everyone won't be allowed any carry on bags, and we'll all have to fly naked.

That's already available! Whatever floats your boat!

http://www.naked-air.com/