One for the experts on airport security

DannyB said:
I went through security at Dubai airport with a pair of coveralls in my hand luggage, the scanner detected a 5M tape measure in a pocket in the coveralls. The tape was duly confiscated and I got a grilling which implied they thought I was trying to hijack the aircraft with it. I'd simply forgotten it was there.
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Guess the security guy was just working to rule :)
 
On the other hand, I visited a supplier in Germany and was duly presented with a 'Waiters friend' type of corkscrew complete with blade embossed with the company name.
Travelling light with only hand luggage.

Detected at both security checks at Munich airport , duly examined ,handed back to me and waved through.
Gobsmacked!
 
About a year after 9/11 I was in an American airport and the queue at security was being held up while some bloke was arguing with the security person about whether he could take this particular item in his hand luggage.

What do you think it was?

Jump Leads? A corkscrew?

No, it was a HAND GUN!

"But it's not loaded" he insisted. Eventually he reluctantly gave in and they put in with the hold luggage.
 
Flying back to the boat in Florida, SWMBO and I had one rather heavy bag. Too heavy, something weighing 2 kg has got to come out. SWMBO extracts the spare hull anode and it goes in hand luggage.

Anode duly spotted by the security wonk. I launch into a techinical monologue about galavanic corosion till the wonk's eyes start to glaze over and we're waved through. :)
 
Deleted User said:
It is a complete lottery which is why aircraft security is often called 'security theatre' in the UK ie it is designed to make the travelling public feel safer rather than actually make them safer. For what its worth I have got through security with lifejacket gas refill bottles (explosive devices) and paint cans in my hand luggage but had a tiny electrical screwdriver confiscated. On many occasions I have simply forgotten to take my wash pack out of my hand luggage and nobody has picked that up

In your case I would just put the cables in your hand luggage and if they're confiscated, well thats just bad luck

Apropos nothing at all, this reminds me of an incident a few months ago at security at Heathrow T5 which demonstrates how idiotic airport security can be. My SWMBO was wearing a zipped fleece on top and nothing else underneath, only a bra. A rottweiler female security officer instructed her to remove the fleece because she deemed it to be a jacket. My SWMBO complained that she was naked underneath and pulled up her fleece a little to show her. Still the security officer insisted that she took her fleece off but my SWMBO refused and meanwhile a queue of disgruntled passengers built up behind her. I then told the security officer that she was being a silly jobsworth only I might have used words a bit stronger than that whereupon the security officer said that I was being arrested for abusing her. Sensing that her husband was about to get himself banged up, my SWMBO removed her fleece and flounced through the security barrier with just her bra on much to the delight of other male passengers around. I was marched off to a room whereupon all my details were recorded and I was told that consideration would be given to prosecuting me. To be fair I have heard nothing since so maybe sense has prevailed but what a stupid waste of everybody's time
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If its a full zip it must come off if a half zip it stays on even if its exactly the same fleece type and make!...crazy rule and I was once pulled up on it, I said I did not feel comfortable taking my top off so they let me off...as you say a lottery.
 
MapisM said:
For the records, based on jfm 60/40 estimate, I decided to try.
In the worst case, I would have asked him to refund me at least 60% of the 15 Eur value... :D
Anyway, I just went through ok, phew!
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Haha! Well done. Of course, this whole thing is such a lottery that this piece of data this is about as useful as saying "I put $100 on the red at the roulette table last night and won!" :) :)

BTW and FWIW, I never remove washbag liquids or gels, and never get stopped for that except about once a year (flying >100 sectors pa). Saves a lot of time.
 
jfm said:
Haha! Well done. Of course, this whole thing is such a lottery that this piece of data this is about as useful as saying "I put $100 on the red at the roulette table last night and won!" :) :)

BTW and FWIW, I never remove washbag liquids or gels, and never get stopped for that except about once a year (flying >100 sectors pa). Saves a lot of time.
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That remarkable. They always seem to spot the odd forgotten tube of toothpaste or suntan lotion in my luggage.
 
petem said:
That remarkable. They always seem to spot the odd forgotten tube of toothpaste or suntan lotion in my luggage.
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Well the obvious answer to that is that you look like a terrorist and jfm doesn't:D:D
 
I've only just seen this thread sadly, but I would count myself as an expert on aviation security. The underlying problem is one of standardisation and some very poorly written regulations. The regulations we follow in the UK are largely publically available, EC300 and EU185 form the core along with two restricted documents, CD774 and the Single Consolidated Direction (Aviation). All these allow for 'More Stringent Measures' MSMs which are supposed to be threat dependent. Where this causes confusion is the fact that tools are considered to be prohibited items for the obvious reasons that they can be used as a weapon. the legislation fails to, nor could it, list all tools. Tradesmen that need to have tools need specific airport passes and descriptions of tools in and out of the security restricted areas. So, the security officer often needs to make a judgement call on what is, and what isn't a threat based on their opinion, which is clearly subjective. The incident with the fleece was clearly wrong, the direction is 'outer garments' to be removed. If LHR take this any further (which they won't) please contact me via PM and I may be able to help.
 
Not quite the same but I returned from South Africa with about 2kg of droewors and biltong, (What saffer wouldn't?) I got hauled over. It was in the hold but the drug dogs at Manchester have obviously good taste. A very nice and petite young officer pulled me inside and demanded I open the bag. She was awfully dissapointed it wasn't drugs even if it was contraband. When she asked what it was and I told and offered her some while taking the oppotunity to snaffle a droewors. The look of disgust on her face was priceless. I thought she was going to puke. She couldn't wave me through fast enough. Must have been a vegetarian.
 
This of course would be absolutely no go today, but had a very fun encounter with airport security and customs about 35 years ago.

Had just delivered a sailboat to the USVI and was flying back with all my kit; tools, sextant, radios, etc AND a four man liferaft in a fiberglass canister. All was for checked baggage (don't think the raft would fit in the overhead bin) and went through OK until they came to the raft. Customs looks at it and asks, "what is this?". I look at it and on the top in bright red, 4" letters it says "Avon Liferaft". So I reply, "it's a liferaft," doing my best not to roll my eyes.

"How do you open it so I can look inside," he asks.

"Stand back, pull that rope on the side and it will pop out all by itself. But if you do that, you have to get it back into the box." I add, "I would also prefer that you not take a drill and make holes to see what comes out," a common practice with wood carvings and similar souvenirs at the time.

So he looks at the raft all around, scratches his head and then picks up the phone to call for backup. The next guy up the food chain shows up and the basic scenario repeats with no resolution. So he goes to the back of the room, knocks and enters an office, obviously the supervisor. They come out after a few minutes and the supervisor comes over to inspect the raft. Then asks why I have it, where I came from , where I'm going, etc. By this time they are holding the plane for me to get through the inspection.

The supervisor eyes me, obviously I'm enjoying the process and not sweating like the container was loaded with 20 Kgs of something that would get me locked up for 20 years. So he gave up, cleared the raft but told me never to come through his airport with something like that again.
 
My nephew and I were allowed to take gas inflating life jackets on through I asked the airline beforehand and they seemed doubtful and told me to take the bottles off the jackets. I did point out that they had loads of the things on planes.
Security referred to airline before letting us through.
Have transited Turkish security with a large bottle of water.
 
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