Plot averted. Is this the end of carry-on luggage -- even a purse? -- and and bringing your own drink onto an airplane?
UPDATE: Gawker has fun with it. One more reason to love America.
IN THE COMMENTS: A cry of pain: "Unboxed sanitary napkins in a clear plastic bag???? Ugghhhh!!!"
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Instead of checking luggage or dealing with a carry on, I've wondered if Fedexing everything to your destination might be worth the expense.
Doesn't solve the issue with banning bottled water. And if liquids are being banned, how long until all electronics--phones, laptops, iPods--are banned.
Even without planes blowing up the security restrictions are making flying such a pain that it isn't worth the hassle.
The unfortunate, but true fact is that the security has to target everyone ("Grandma, no bottled water.") not just the obvious threats.
Everyone has to take off their shoes, so everyone uses sandels or flip flops since they are easier to take off and put on, now everyone's running around the security area in bare feet. Its a fungal jungle.
Banning carry-ons would be the death of the airlines, considering that the business traveler is their most lucrative customer, and the least likely to want to risk the loss of a lap-top or other business related materials, not to mention that this is the type of traveller least likely to want to deal with baggage claim delays.
I just don't know how they can take away women's purses. This is just a freak out point for women I think. Have your belongings in a clear plastic bag? Can you have opaque containers inside the bag? Some stuff is really personal! This is getting too close to that old 9/11 joke about how everyone will have to fly naked.
What would women with diaper bags do? A bunch of soiled babies in a confined space...
What about people with medicine? Or CPAP machines or other health equipment?
I think it is great that the federal government and our allies is catching these guys. We should be willing to fly with clear plastic bags and without our ipods. It's only for a few hours.
Soon, nude flying will become pro forma...
A plane full of naked people is a terrifying thought, so I guess they will have won.
I don't see how Feingold's chances took a hit. The British caught these people. There haven't been any terrorist attacks on American soild since 9/11, but then how many terrorist attacks were there on American soild BEFORE 9/11? WTC 1, which didn't cause that much damage, relatively speaking; and Oklahoma City. Like the pre-9/11 years, most of the big terrorist attacks against Americans have occurred in the middle east.
I wouldn't mind foregoing my ipod when I fly, and I don't think women should get too touchy about their purses -- I mean, come on. They're personal, but no moreso than a backpack or anything else of that sort. But having said that, if they get too invasive at the airport, I will start driving a lot more, unless I'm flying to the west coast or to a foreign country.
I notice that this article appeared in the NY Times. For confirmation, has anyone seen if the story also appeared in a reputable news source?
Well at least they weren't intending to hijack the planes - hope floats. Sorry for being deranged - don't you just hate being forced to the realization they want us, our kids and our way of life dead, dead, dead, dead?
The Independent reports:-
Passengers may take through the airport security search point, in a single (ideally transparent) plastic carrier bag, only the following items. Nothing may be carried in pockets:
* Pocket size wallets and pocket size purses plus contents (for example money, credit cards, identity cards etc - not handbags); [British "handbag" = American "purse"]
* Travel documents essential for the journey (for example passports and travel tickets);
* Prescription medicines and medical items sufficient and essential for the flight (eg, diabetic kit), except in liquid form unless verified as authentic;
* Spectacles and sunglasses, without cases;
* Contact lens holders, without bottles of solution;
* For those travelling with an infant: baby food, milk (the contents of each bottle must be tasted by the accompanying passenger) and sanitary items sufficient and essential for the flight (nappies, wipes, creams and nappy disposal bags); ["nappy" = "diaper"]
* Female sanitary items sufficient and essential for the flight, if unboxed (eg tampons, pads, towels and wipes);
* Tissues (unboxed) and/or handkerchiefs;
Re: "The unfortunate, but true fact is that the security has to target everyone ("Grandma, no bottled water.") not just the obvious threats."
Bullocks. As long as the repeat offenders here are middle eastern, targetting them is irrefutably warranted.
But no, we mustn't offend the people that want to blow up our planes. They might get mad and....
Have you looked at what some people try to pass off as "carry-on"???
As far as I'm concered, a purse---constitutes one of those credit-card thin clutch purses, or a Faberge egg bag...nothing larger.
Oh, and ....
Abolish Student VISAs at once.
No more "Exchange Students"---what a racket!
Peace, Maxine
Unboxed sanitary napkins in a clear plastic bag???? Ugghhhh!!!
iIn seeing the photos of those 8 Egyptian students still on the lam, I keep hearing in my mind that lyric from the Kim Carnes song Betty Davis Eyes but with a deranged twist.. 'they've got Mohammed Atta eyes'. Look at that one guy in particular. One can't help but wonder if the absent students are part of this?
I can just imagine the speaker phone conference call: "Ayman, Ayman, baby, we need a big late summer opening! There's points off the back end for you, Ayman.."
aaargh! Blogger is hacking me off, sorry for the double (triple) posting that it won't let me delete
The Stewardesses have personal items already stocked in the plane's restrooms.
Purses are not sacrosanct.
Remember that one episode of Bionic Woman, or was it Wonder Woman... where some gal put a bomb in a tube of lipstick ???
What about men who carry purses ???
That is so wrong.
Peace, Maxine
"Unboxed sanitary napkins in a clear plastic bag???? Ugghhhh!!!"---Ann
No disrespect, really, but....
Ann, you are over 45 years of age, right?
I mean, I know that, sometimes....
..but still
Nevermind.
Peace, Maxine
Things I always carry on to the plane and always will, for fear that they will be stolen by the people who are supposed to be searching our luggage for contraband, or will be damaged by the not so gentle treatment our luggage gets from the baggage handlers:
Jewelry
Laptop
Camera
Wallet with money and credit cards
Things I have had stolen from my so called secured luggage in the cargo hold. Things that I was NOT bringing onto the plane.
Jewelry
Camera
CDs and DVDs
Perfume
Hair gel
Prescription drugs
Books
Nail clippers
Corkscrew/can opener/knife combination that I use to serve myself wine and cheese in my room.
A sweater knitting project, knitting needles AND the yarn
A pair of expensive shoes.
I know, I know. Better safe than sorry. We don't want to see another disaster and thankfully this most recent one was averted...we think. But is it any wonder that people don't want to fly any more. I'd rather drive 5 days to get to my destination than spend one more hour in an airport. At least I know my "stuff" is going to arrive at my destination and in one piece.
Mike said...
If I can't bring reading and writing material onboard I'll be stark, raving mad by the end of the flight.
Yeah, nothing makes me panic like the idea of being stuck on a plane, in a waiting room, or the like, without either something to read or my ipod. I wouldn't want to fly if I couldn't at least have a book!
This is a conspiracy to force us to read SkyMall.
In the socalist utopia there is no need for clothes:
http://www.naked-air.com/03flight.htm
CAUTION NUDE OLD PEOPLE
Better hope those seats have plastic seat covers on 'em
Personally, I toy around with the fantasy that airlines would sedate passengers - airborne gas or whatnot - the moment the plane leaves the runway. That has obvious security benefits,but it's also a posivite selling point for people who either become bored on lengthy flights (imagine: you get on board, and wake up as the plane reaches the terminal. Superb!), or those like me who are deathly afraid to fly, terrorists or no terrorists.
Last week I survived my annual flight home with my husband and three kids. In June, the four of us fly out to MA while my husband dutifully slaves away, and he joins us for the last few weeks of our summer.
The only thing that makes that 5-hour flight bearable is the portable DVD player and the iPod, both of which are invaluable in entertaining the offspring. Additionally, I have to bring food, because the airline doesn't serve any, and my kids probably wouldn't eat it if they did, anyway. You may have some idea of how crankiness can be magnified by hunger. I try to avoid that whenever I can.
I also have a bag with all my meds in it. I won't check them, because if they were to get lost I would be in real trouble.
I'm hoping they figure out a reasonable way to deal with the fact that people need to carry stuff that they need during the flight and/or can't trust to baggage claim, otherwise my upcoming flight to TX is going to be nerve-wracking in the extreme.
The good news is that AQ seems to be plumb out of new ideas--bombing airplanes is old news. Deadly, but it does not advance the 'art of jihad' an inch.
The bad news is that the airlines will inch by inch are destroying themselves in a CAIR-induced panic, annoying millions of passengers and driving them back into cars, in order to save the feelings of a few Muslims.
So, we will see, we will see. Now that Minetta is (mercifully) retired, perhaps HS will hire the Israelis to teach us how to manage airport security.
Don't expect any compromises to be made regarding airliner security. There is too much at stake.
This issue is just too important to make allowances for potential embarassment or personal discomfort.
The flying public is going to have to endure the regulations in the interest of common safety.
Of course, many will choose to drive if they can. But, if you HAVE to travel abroad what are you going to do? Swim the Atlantic? Or some other scenic body of water?
This "war" is the kind that cannot be won. I am personally more worried about terrorist elements attacking unprotected facilities that are currently being overlooked.
Everything CANNOT be protected 24 hours a day. Expect the terrorists of whatever persuasion to seek out "soft" targets.
I think about the ancient reputed "Chinese" curse. "May you live in interesting times."
And so we do......
PatCA said...
"The good news is that AQ seems to be plumb out of new ideas--bombing airplanes is old news. Deadly, but it does not advance the 'art of jihad' an inch."
Does it have to, though? I mean, if it works - and it is very effective at creating terror and disruption - does it have to be innovative too?
The thought also occurs that cheap, easy global travel facilitated by long-distance airlines is one of the elements that made globalization possible, and as much as they are fighting us, the Jihadis are fighting to turn the clock back. Perhaps there is a symbolic element of targeting airliners that we are overlooking.
One problem with checking luggage is that it is significantly less safe than carry-on. For example, I remember a TV expose awhile back where they hid cameras in the luggage compartments of planes in Miami, and watched the luggage handlers go through bags looking for valuables to steal.
It used to be that you could lock your checked bags. Not really any more. If you do, it has to be a TSA approved locks (where they have a key for it). Not good for your valuables.
Another problem is that the more airports you (and your baggage) route through, the higher the odds that your checked baggage is lost. My parents went to stictly carry-on with their frequent overseas travels, esp. to the U.K., after having at least one bag lost for awhile about 20% of the time. Contrast this my experience with one hop to/from Denver - with nundreds of flights, I have never lost a bag on a one leg trip.
But no surprise that traveling businessmen prefer carrying on their luggage - the last thing they want to face in a distant city is trying to clothe themselves for a meeting on an emergency basis.
Yet, carry-on is abused, as we all know. When I was doing 60-70 segments a year, I was Premier Exec with United - which meant that I got to board with 1st Class, and, thus, always got plenty of room for my both suitcase and briefcase/laptop right above me up front. Often, by the time the plane was half full, the overheads were full all the way back.
Simon,
I agree that their tactics are very effective. Look at how the airlines are responding! Chaos and cancelled flights galore--of course, they had no choice. It does make it easier somewhat to defend against when the enemy's tactics don't change, my only point.
I hope and pray they do get a plan together that makes flying less odious for the innocent and more daunting for the terrorist. I wonder if it's possible. Calling Israel!
Maybe the airlines will have to serve food and drinks to the passengers again.
I hope so. I liked the meals. (Obviously I'm not a picky eater.)
Peanuts and pretzels don't cut it.
As an American still, unfortunately, I just hope that events like these signal the end of the Amerikan way of life, which to me is characterized by:
Uniquely taxing its nationals' income wherever earned on foreign shores.
Serious discrimination against gays, singles and atheists.
Ignorance of foreign language and culture.
Abuse of children by routine circumcision and risk-free upbringing.
Choice of overpriced airline budweiser, coors and miller beer and no real wine choice on airplanes and throughout Texas.
Government duplicity in persecution of dopers, gamblers, and lovers who do it with the market instead of in gumming approved brothels, gambling joints and gambling states and through approved pharmaceutical companies.
The list goes on and on. One still has the hope of some change once Bin Laden takes over!
I just flew from Logan in Boston to SF Int'l airport... the plane was full and everyone had a carry on. It was very same old, same old. They only thing different, they forbade all "liquids and gels" (except insulin and baby products) in carry on luggage, including water and coffee. My question: Can I bring on a bottle of frozen water?
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