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 used to go through Schipol twice a week. When they are very busy they tell.you they have new machines that don't require you to take the plastic bag out of your case. Literally two days later I went through the same machine which suddenly wasn't capable of seeing through a case!

Oh I know, I’ve been in that rabbit hole for a while now, it’s just the stick example is the simplest explanation of pilots being blamed when it’s actually the layout of the cockpit/airline company’s fault/fatigue/etc and why aircraft makers/airline companies should not be considered the authority on air safety.

I haven’t had any incidents with airport security guys. I always make sure everything is in the little bags/no prohibition items in the hand luggage because I don’t have a time and patience to stand there and argue why my lip balm should be there and not here.

2 years ago I went to Dominican Republic and on my way back the book in my hand luggage triggered a security guy. He asked me to open the bag, take it out, show it to him,open it and turn a few pages.

I don’t know why a book would looks suspicious in a scanner. TBH it was quite a heavy book so maybe in the scanner it looked like a block of explosives or something.

Nobody will be allowed to tell you.

I know someone who's just finishing training to become a security officer at the airport, there are lots on incidents where prohibited material is confiscated, not many that the general public will be made aware of though

Ipads in (bag), iPads out, in, out, in, out and shake them all about. 😂

I just wish they would make up their minds.

My dad accidentally took a penknife away on holiday with him a few years ago. One of those small Swiss Army type folding penknives. It had been in the bottom of a pocket in the bag he was packing and he hadn’t realised it was there. He’d gone to Germany IIRC.

The penknife wasn’t detected by the scanners on the way out of the U.K. They spotted it at the airport on the way home. My dad was expecting that they’d confiscate it. Instead, they folded out the knife, measured how long the blade was, and handed the penknife back to him 😮

I don’t know why a book would looks suspicious in a scanner. TBH it was quite a heavy book so maybe in the scanner it looked like a block of explosives or something.

Our electronic boggle flash was inspected in some detail at an airport in France. It does look a bit odd.

Twenty years ago my colleague and I had to audit a Sharwoods factory in the North East. They kindly gave us industrial-sized mango chutney containers which we stuffed in our hold cases. We missed the various tannoy calls to return to security and when we finally arrived, they were muttering about taking serious action in terms of disposing of it (would have been a bit of a travesty without a poppadum to get the full benefit).

Since the likes of 9/11 etc checks have got worse, we can never go back as air travel is a magnet for bad people as of the media cover.

Anything that can hold a mixture, be it empty bottles (even baby bottles), bags the lot can be used. Think of a small blade was fashioned to kill and mame people in 9/11. Security have to now constantly think outside the box. I for one am grateful as I feel safer.

Count on me to set of all the bleeps and alarms. I've been patted down, guided to a cubicle in the care of a female security officier, been rudely frisked by military in Hungary.....and still I never ever had anything on or with me that could potentially be a security risk. You know what? I wouldn't mind for them fixating on how many - if any - liquids I had with me.

Some of the people on here, how can you not see the potential for these items to be used as weapons?! Seriously!

I flew earlier this year with my son and two bottles of liquid antibiotics he was on. The bottles were both 100ml and were in a clear plastic bag so I thought nothing of it. The tray was pulled over though and we had to show my son's passport to the security team to match the name on the medicine bottles. Any ideas why that was? It couldn't be for importing drugs into another country as they wouldn't know where we were travelling...

I have about 100 medical conditions so travel with loads of meds. A security guard in Chile picked up one of my meds but as soon as I showed her the prescription she waived me through.

I suppose they are checking you actually need the meds and not taking someone elses.

Not for security but for customs some drugs that are widely available aren’t in other countries. For example lactulose that you can buy at the pharmacy in the US needs a prescription in USA.

My friends partner takes nitroglycerin on prescription for their heart problem. It's always picked up and tested by security.

We recently travelled with quite a few liquid meds. Security wiped each bottle & checked the doctor's letter (prescription would have done) against the passport. It fell outside the 100ml per bottle etc though.

Ex airline security manager here.

It really doesn't matter if you're not who you say you are. As long as the security screening is thorough you're not going to be a danger to the flight. For domestic travel especially, any ID checks are purely for revenue protection.

It seems so inconsistent to me. I've flown many times to many places and my bag is often selected for a manual search - last time it was the pack of tarot cards that were the "suspicious" item.

Pretty much anything can be a weapon and I've brought home a 10lb granite statue which could easily have been used but as it wasn't sharp or a liquid it went through security without a hitch. The funniest one was the lace pillow - the number of times that piece of fabric covered polystyrene went through the x ray machine...... Once was never enough. It was always scanned multiple times.