as some of you know, i had been in indy the past week and a half and in order to get there quickly, i chose to fly.  

the phoenix airport was not bad.  moved pretty quickly through all the checkpoints.  don't know whether it was because of the time of day or whether they're just good at moving people.

got searched at both the x-ray machine as i entered the boarding area and at the gate.  as the lady takes my boarding pass, she waves me on through and then says, "oh, i forgot, you need to step over here. you've been randomly selected for a security search."  yeah, right.  except that it wasn't random.  i had a one way ticket (didn't know when i'd be returning so didn't have roundtrip).  the guy searching through my bag and purse didn't even search it.  just sort of rifled through the top layers.

what a waste of time.

upon my return to phoenix at the indy airport, i waited in the longest line just to pass through the machines.  i think a lot of that is because indy's airport is small and the layout makes everybody pass through the same machines.  they only searched people at the machines if they set off the alarm.  but i did get "randomly selected" again at the GATE.  i knew i would, again having a one-way ticket.  so this time i packed my underwear right on top so the person searching would have to touch it!  [:D]  it was a guy and you could tell it caught him off guard.  hee hee hee!  i also told him i didn't really mind the search, though i didn't think it would do any good, but i did mind that they lied to me.  "what lie?" he said.  i replied, "the random lie.  i didn't get randomly picked.  you people took one look at my one-way ticket and thought for some stupid reason that i needed to be searched.  as if only hijackers take one-way flights."  he didn't look happy but didn't say anything.  

the whole irony is that because of their search i actually had ideas about how the bad guys could get on board with "contraband".  the whole thing is inept.

on a more positive note, i did manage to open the eyes of one lady when we discussed the searches.  i told her this: "imagine two different airlines, one which allows passengers things like nail files, knives, etc.  and one that doesn't.  which plane do you think the terrorists would want to use to take?"  she nodded, knowing full well which would it would be.  then i asked her, "so what have we done by all of this crap?  we've given the terrorists that much more ease in taking planes because they know the passengers are defenseless.  and THAT's what irks me about not being able to carry a knife on the plane.  the airlines have left the passengers completely and utterly defenseless."

she nodded, saying, "i've never thought of it that way before."

heeheehee.  another one coming around!

ARLady,

I understand your frustration.  I went to the PRK last week and was "randomly" selected in Huntsville and in LAX.  Talk about worthless!  And extremely insulting!

My bag was also searched both in Hsv. and LAX.  Neither search found my Gerber 500 pocketknife nor my Leatherman tool, even though both were clearly in one of the side pockets of my checked bag.  

Good point on the 2 airlines example.  I plan to use in the future.

Regards,

Merlin

I agree, the "security" is a total crock.  I have flown several times over the last few months.  I travel for work, so take my laptop as a carry on.  They make you take it out of the bag and pass it through seperately.  No problem, both the laptop and bag go thru xray fine.  

When I started working the next day, I started setting up my laptop.  I noticed I had left my toolkit in the laptop bag.  It has normal computer type tools, pliers, screwdrivers, X-acto knife, etc.  It passed through the airport scanner no problem.  I remembered to put it in my checked bag on the return trip.  If this kind of thing gets on by accident, a terrorist would have no problem smuggling on his stuff.

I haven't flown since September 11, but I really shouldn't have been able to get away with the things I did even *before* then, according to their then-current rules:

I flew pretty much weekly, on business, and the trips were 1- or 2-day out-and-back things, so I never bothered to check any bags;  I travel pretty light.  

One time, as I was standing in line to go through the metal detector, I realised that I had accidentally left my 5" butterfly knife in my pocket.  There was no time to take it back to my vehicle.  So I dropped to my knee, and, while appearing to rummage through my bag, I slipped it in with my electric razor, wrapping it tightly with the razor's power cord.  Went through the x-ray without a second glance.

Another time, I was turned back at the checkpoint and told that my keychain was a stabbing weapon. (It's a dummy .50 BMG round, so yeah, I guess you could stab someone with it).  I had no checked baggage to put it in, so I walked into a newsstand, out of sight, and I took the thing off of my keys, and I slipped it behind my belt buckle, and went back through the security gate.  I had to do the "Jesus Stance" thing while they went over me with the handheld, but they never blinked at the fact that my (non-Texan) buckle made an enormous bleep.

-BP, glad he got out of the consluting business.

this whole thing is a crock.

Never EVER again will something like 9/11 take place.

History shows that hijackings were made by people with demands to say or go somewhere.  Just STFU and you will live thru it.

THAT will never happen again.

too bad aircraft fuselage doors are designed the way they are... you got some loser who tries to do something stupid, just drop down below 10,000ft and drop the mofo out, close the door and continue on the way. or another way, throw the mofo down into the unpressurised wheel well and cruz at 35k+ for an hour or so..  

Why go to all of the trouble? Just beat the guy(s) to death, strip em naked (just in case they aren't completely dead) and throw em in the shitter till you land.