Airport security workers - is anyone actually trying to bring anything dangerous through airports these days??

[CassandraBarrett]

Perhaps I have the job title wrong - I mean the people that check your hand luggage to make sure there's no contraband.

I can understand scanning for knives/guns. Though from reading Jack Reacher I think ceramic weapons are a thing and won't set off the beeper?

But to have so many people wait for so long while customs checks the half centimetre of warm water that lies forgotten in a bottle. Or re-scans the lip balm in a hand bag (not a liquid, a solid!) Or the last little inch of nappy cream in a banjaxed tube.

What's the point?? Are these things genuinely potentially dangerous (or could dangerous things be disguised thus)?

How many attempts have airport security fended off in the last 20+ years?

I would love to know if it's a massive waste of time or if there have been more terrorist attempts that the general public are blissfully unaware of....

I fly from London to Glasgow quite a lot and have had the same thought. No ID checks at all so it could be anyone using a boarding pass booked in my name.

FWIW ex UK- 6 cm if sharp/sharp ended.

www.gov.uk/hand-luggage-restrictions/personal-items

I had a tiny, rusty penknife taken off me a while ago. It was on my key ring with my car keys and in a separate pocket in my bag so I could find them easily when I got home.
It wasn't picked up on the outward flighty but it was on the way home. Honestly, it was so small I could have done more damage with the actual keys, but rulz is rulz.

@notimagain oops, I meant 6cm!

Lipstick taser

I'm learning a lot! It's really interesting to find out why these innocuous items are searched. Like my tube of concealer. Never thought of a taser.

That's interesting because I thought the rules were worldwide. Lets hope the UK airports get with the trend, then. Glad to hear that Gatwick is trialling it.

At work we were given chargers that have various mini plugs on, eg for Apple, USB C, other USB etc. So you only need to take one charger with you for different devices if you eg have an Apple phone and a Android tablet. But the security at Heathrow don't like it! Two different colleagues have been pulled over and given quite a stern talking to!

I won't take it with me next time I fly ;)

Wow. Both frustrating and scary!

That's just from Despicable Me 2, DS was obsessed for a while so lipstick taser stuck in my head

Yes, but that’s what I want to know. Has it ever happened? I’m dubious.

Even if someone managed to conceal a blade that didn’t get picked up by the scanners I’m not sure it could do more damage than a pen or pencil in the wrong hands.

I recently flew with Ryanair. I had a couple of travel sized toiletry items in a clear resealable plastic bag that they gave me the last time I flew.
The security lady told me that the bag wasn't suitable and gave me a replacement for my items .....which was the exact same bag! Barmy.

That's another annoying thing. On the one hand we have to reduce single use plastic to save the planet. But then there's a gazillion people putting their toiletries in plastic bags for no GOOD reason. Yes as a PP said, to make it easier for staff to check we don't have more than 10 things.
But all those bags being thrown away. So useless and wasteful.
(I know air travel is environmentally unfriendly anyway)

I dont think he was asking to go in, he just was curious and asking questions, but yes it's unimaginable nowadays.

As a child I was sent on 24 hours flights as an unaccompanied minor and nearly always got to sit in the cockpit. In the 80s. All sorts of random stuff happened in the 80s, like the air hostess who was looking after me walking off at Moscow airport and telling me to get in the queue when the connecting flight opened. I was 8!

Even if someone managed to conceal a blade that didn’t get picked up by the scanners I’m not sure it could do more damage than a pen or pencil in the wrong hands.

You might want to ( or perhaps not) look at what blade size the 9-11 high jackers used..

Those high jackers were clued in enough to know not just what would probably get through security but then also clued up enough to use the (then) existing crew protocols, which were mentioned upthread, to their advantage.

The last flight I took the cockpit was totally open before takeoff and after landing, so anybody who wanted to look in could. I don't think that's so unreasonable. Or did it used to be the case that you could go in during the flight? That would be so amazing to see, but understandable why they would not allow it!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a sucker for a cute, curious toddler But as I’m late 30s, the whole pre-1999 flying stuff (or lack of) blows my mind!

Lots of things to do with air safety didn’t happen until they happened - such as United Airlines Flight 232 where they lost all hydraulic controls and the odds for that ever happening were so insane due to the amount of redundancy built in, that nobody knew how to help the pilots.

However - it’s a good job they didn’t have sterile cockpits back then, because the pilots got help from another pilot/instructor who just happened to be on the flight, and it’s known as The Impossible Landing because they should not have been able to do it (and I think they never managed to replicate it either in simulations) and is the best example of crew resource management that exists.

That’s off the top of my head, when I’m on my long break I’ll see if I can dig out the best (worst?) examples of shit that people have snuck on board to use as a weapon etc and the consequences of that.

I flew with Air Baltic to Riga last week. There were three teenage boys who went into the cockpit once the plane was cruising and remained there the whole time until the descent began when they returned, very excitedly, back to their seats. They'd had a great time!

I've already been scolded this AM but I'm going to risk it again -

anybody who wanted to look in could. I don't think that's so unreasonable.

I think sometimes people forget the flight deck is an office, it's somebody's workplace, not part of the entertainment system......

Sometimes the door get's left open during boarding (usually to help ground crew etc talk to the pilots face to face with regard to fuelling, loading etc) and so passengers can get a sneaky peek whilst boarding but there's actually some important stuff going in that office, even pre-flight. The crew are usually up against the clock, working quite hard and it is very very important for them not to get distracted (it's slightly less pressurised on disembarkation).

And yes, for a long time prior to 9 11 flight deck visits during the flight itself by passengers were allowed if circumstances permitted..

.

The liquid rule was brought in after we nearly had the biggest terrorism disaster in aviation history. Clear bags make the scanning process quicker.

Children were often invited into the cockpit during a flight prior to the Twin Towers atrocity when things were significantly tightened up.

Let's put up with a little inconvenience and stay safe.

I loathe airport security. I understand that there need to be rules but so often the security staff seem to be on some sort of power trip, humiliating people over minor breaches of the rules. I tend to think that people who genuinely want to cause harm will find a way around the rules anyway.

I remember staff at one airport making me go through that wretched body scanner thing when I was in the early stages of pregnancy (IVF pregnancy after multiple losses so absolutely paranoid about losing the baby), after I set off the metal detector for no reason. I had literally nothing metal on my body or clothing and had taken shoes off so I can only assume the machine was faulty. They said I could opt for a pat down search instead but it would take 45 minutes (why?) which would have caused us to miss our flight. It was years ago but I still remember how nasty they were.

The liquid thing also seems pretty arbitrary, why is one 500ml bottle of water banned but you can take 5 x 100ml containers? I have asthma and have to travel with several inhalers which apparently count as liquids, so when they insist that everything has to fit in one bag there's not a lot of room for anything else. I think airports should be legally required to provide free drinking water after security. I hate being made to empty out water bottles before going through security and then have to pay a ridiculous price for a plastic bottle of water on the other side.

@IceandIndigo

after I set off the metal detector for no reason. I had literally nothing metal on my body or clothing and had taken shoes off so I can only assume the machine was faulty.

I believe some archways are set to occasionally trigger the need for a second search (scanner/pat down) at random. I've certainly suffered more than one.......

I think airports should be legally required to provide free drinking water after security

Not sure of the legal situation but quite a few now do, but finding the things often isn't easy.....some airport websites carry details of there location.

@IceandIndigo - A single half litre bottle of liquid can be used to make an explosive. More difficult with smaller bottles. Larger sizes also makes testing more difficult. Science was involved when the rules were introduced.

Some underwired bras can trigger an archway alarm. As can zips, buckles, and other metal items depending on their make up.

I once got stopped, taken aside and asked to open my hand luggage. It was full of exam papers which I was flying somewhere peaceful to mark! The look on the security guys’ faces! Apparently, according to a family member who used to work in airport security, on the screen a packed masss of papers looks just like explosive

^ THIS.

Take off and landing are when the vast majority of accidents occur, cruise flight accidents are rare but they do happen, usually an aircraft issue/pilot error after an aircraft issue. It’s not as “autopilot” as people seem to think it is.

Moaning about seat belts is another one that gets me. Several incidents of severe turbulence/other issues causing an aircraft to drop rapidly a few hundred feet or more feet with zero warning = seriously injured/dead passengers who got thrown around like rag dolls.

Physics, innit.