please empty your brain below

airport security is largely about show and less about actual security, unfortunately. you may be interested to read some columns by a pilot, who often writes about the fallacies in airport security. it's from a US-perspective, but he brings up points that transfer abroad, too. http://www.salon.com/technology/ask_the_pilot/

The last time that I flew anywhere was in 2006 and I hardly remember any security protocol. But as mentioned on the news yesterday that it is most likely going to be the passengers who have to foot the bill for all these new-fangled security machines, I doubt I'll be going anywhere again by plane. Unless paid for by someone else.

As I've said elsewhere, airport security is a total charade.


Think of the ethnic profile of those who work airside and see where the *real* risk to security comes from…


It just hasn't happened. Yet. Or has it?


Maybe products used in the past plots haven't been got past security after all. Maybe some shop worker, kitchen staff or cleaner... or indeed any other person who works airside who has been radicalised... got them into the 'restricted' airside and then hid them somewhere for the 'bomber' to retrieve (or even passed them to him in a shop purchase bag). Much easier...

That reminds me of a pretty cool security guy when I was flying back to Stuttgart from Heathrow just a few days after they introduced the no-liquid-on-a-plane-regulations. He looked at my sandwich and I asked if I wasn't allowed to take this through the barrier. He just grinned and said: "naaaahhh I was just thinking if you could turn this sandwich into a deadly weapon!" ;-)

On the sharp objects side, I think it is very decent of all prospective terrorists, wishing to use knives in an attack, not to use ceramic knives http://www.cooks-knives.co.uk/acatalog/Kyocera_Ceramic_Knives.html or plastic knives http://www.keepshooting.com/knives/polymer/blackpolymer.htm that wouldn't be detected on the metal detectors. Dead hard to get hold of, of course.

What I don't understand are the increasingly and needlessly draconian security restrictions. I don't think a ban on lavatory usage in the last hour of the flight, or the switching off of those in-flight location maps, will stop a terrorist setting off a bomb somehow. It will, however, cause a great deal of misery to masses of already suffering passengers, some of whom could well be put of flying for good.

Some 3,000 people are killed every year in the UK by motorists.

In light of the airport paranoia, it is odd that almost anyone can get behind the wheels of a car and cause carnage without passing a dozen checks to verify their ability to drive the vehicle before the car ignition will even start.

Your dislike of airport security is just like mine. I have just about got the routine off pat now but you can never be completely certain. When I last flew from Berlin I had rather a lot of coinage which was nicely bagged up and in my hand luggage for scanning. The Bundesrepublic security person decided that tipping all of the coinage all over the security check desk - just to be certain it wasn't a bomb - was a really good idea. That took ages and ages to pick up!

Still Eurostar security is nearly as bad as for flying despite the fact that other European trains go through huge tunnels under the alps with no such security checks. Does every lorry driver and car passenger have to be scanned if they opt to use the Eurotunnel shuttle or is it just train passengers who carry bombs?

Eurostar is not quite as bad, but also a pain. I can understand that in the right hands, a plane can be a deadly missile, piloted into the houses of parliament or something like that. It's harder to do that with a train.

Most of this is just a charade designed to convince the general public that something appropriate is being done. I would be more interested to know what failures of government policy led to this sorry state (and don't say invading Afganistan or Iraq, 9/11 happened BEFORE either of these).

A spot on post. The process is now a total charade that wastes everyone's time and achieves nothing.

At least the security search staff at London City manage to be polite and good humoured - unlike the muppets they use at airports owned by BAA.

Eurostar's security is a lot tougher than it used to be, but it's still lighter on the French side than it is on the British - they don't make you take belts and coats off, for example. When I moved to France a few years ago (pre-2001) my suitcase was too big to get through the scanner (London-side) so they just waved me through...

I don't think the security checks are a charade - they are a real deterrent. Thats why the recent incident involved a convoluted trip via Africa and an ineffective concoction. And I think BlueWitch is being uncharacteristically unfair when suggesting that the "ethnic profile" at Heathrow makes the risks any worse - bit of an insult to the thousands of Asian people who work there and, like us, are at risk from attacks.

sorry, that was me above. didn't mean to be anon!

I used to love flying but I simply will not go near an airport now. My train was stranded at Gatwick the other month and I was terrified lest I had to exit through the terminal (in the end I got on another train so as to be stranded at Three Bridges instead). Yes, the pointless, intrusive, humiliating 'security' is the main reason, but the men with sub machine guns give me the willies too. I'm glad to discover that I'm not alone. But why are so many people still prepared to put themselves through this? Why accept the indignity? Is flying that important?

As for trains, I recall the talk of introducing 'airport style security' to London's mainline stations - which would have put paid to me earning a living. No thought was given to the fact that you could board a train at an unmanned station in Yorkshire and sail into Kings Cross that way.

I completely agree. I haven't flown for leisure or work since 2003, after a stint at commuting by air weekly from City Airport. In 2009 I had to take a trip on a plane. I was amazed by the pointless standing around in my socks and other indignities. Everything I wore seemed to set off the metal detector, even things I had no idea contained metal. In the end they couldn't even appear to work out what was setting off the over-sensitive wands so they ushered me through. Travel is dis-pleasurable enough to me and this completely puts me off.

If you enjoy a laugh, you might take a look at www.stupidsecurity.com. I'm just trying to get the courage, next time I have to remove my belt, to remove my trousers too as that seems to spook the security-guys-who-wouldn't-recognize-a-bomb-if-it-hit-them!

I was pleased to encounter some security screeners with a sense of humour when I was passing through Glasgow Airport before Christmas.

The girl in front of me asked if she needed to put her boots through the X-Ray.

Security man 1: ooh, yes, especially boots.
Girl: but I've got odd socks on!
Security man 1 to security man 2: haw, Bob! she's got odd socks on. Says she's got another pair at home the same.

Like Zed I haven't flown since 2006, I feel less and less like doing so too.
I do wonder whether we aren't being spun a yarn about the dangers...just so that we are put in our places.
I'd always been aware of the US approach to incoming passengers...It struck me they'd assume your visit was for some nefarious purpose and if they didn't like the look of you you'd be treated to their worst.
I think I narrowly avoided a grilling/intimate search etc on one trip when I answered "I've come to spend money" - when all I was there for was to accompany Mr B on a business trip - a reason they would not accept.

They once tried to confiscate my nail scissors, but when I pointed out that all six of us were black belts at karate (and indeed one of us about one of the top 20 in the world) and could therefore do sufficient damage empty handed they grudgingly allowed me to keep my nail scissors. I reckon the staff just think, ooh, that looks nice, I'll have that. At Auckland they took my screwdriver for repairing glasses, which has already been through American security twice.

I also hate flying - but its a necessity every year or two to visit family in Thailand. Its good to see the security processes putting people off flying - cannot be a bad thing and I hope more people will then use rail!

At what point does it simply become not worth the hassle to travel? For me, with no relatives in a distant spot or work commitments that require it, the point passed years back.

I have a particular aversion to paying large amounts of money in order to be ritually humiliated, as well as poor impulse control in stressful situations (for which read: a big mouth) and a deep regret that a handful of terrorists have achieved their objective of terrorising a wide swathe of the population - thanks to the connivance of the government, the police and the British Airports Authority.

Readers might also be interested in this rather good piece from BBC news on the UK Border Police: http:/
ews.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8165404.stm

Nice to see Al Quaeda's joined the 1010 carbon reduction initiative! I used to fly a lot for work and had it down pat (hint: put your keys, phone, etc. in your jacket pocket, put your jacket on the scanner, put jacket back on at other end, redistribute all your worldly goods into their proper pockets at your leisure) but I'm so glad not to have do all that any more. Let the train take the strain...


The airport security IS a nuisance but I suppose it´s all about your priorities. Yes, you can always take a bus or train or cruise... or you can decide against travelling altogether. Change your job, move your family or establish a party with a new anti-security philosophy. Don´t curse the darkness - light a candle.

"...And I think BlueWitch is being uncharacteristically unfair when suggesting that the "ethnic profile" at Heathrow makes the risks any worse"


Really? It's the most logical way to get bombs on aeroplanes.


If one can get off the "Racist" Racist!" finger-pointing bandwagon that now exists in this country if anyone dares to say anything sensible, and think about the mechanics and logistics, it makes perfect sense.



I agree 100% and it does put me off flying and as has been pointed out some of the latest restrictions are ridiculous. For example not going to the toilet in the last hour of the flight - on many flights to Europe/Far East you'll be over land most of the flight so it's pointless. And what if you need to go - I'm sure the airlines won't be happy if you go all over the seat.

Same with the idea of not showing maps. You can quite legally take a hand-held GPS device on a plane in your hand luggage which gives are far more accurate location than a low-resolution map on the seat back TVs.

Great post, DG. I travelled alone from Heathrow to Schipol recently, with a 3-year-old and an 8-month-old. We practiced beforehand for the worst that security could throw at us, and I'm glad we did: sit toddler down by security arch, sit baby between her legs, bribe them not to move. Collapse pushchair, heave up bags, remove belt, boots, check children still in place, remove toiletries and baby milk, taste baby milk in front of attendant. Send toddler through security arch. Dangle baby in security arch before proceeding through myself. Sit toddler down, put baby between toddler's legs, bribe them not to move, etc., etc., etc. And did I get *any* assistance from staff? Don't be silly! A nice kind passenger behind me helped me with my pushchair. The kids, thank goodness, behaved impeccably, but I'm not doing it again on my own.

Whether through accident or design, the terrorists have found a simple and elegant way to attack us. Why directly attack our freedom when they can make us do it ourselves?

Last time i was at Heathrow, admittedly a few years back, i thought most of the staff were Sikhs - not the ethnic profile generally seen as a risk.

Personally i find the on-the-ground inconvenience and humiliation in the name of security, far more distressing than the airport stuff. After all, i can just avoid airports.

i agree with bluewitch.i will add that at this point the racial profile is becoming increasingly meaningless as *anyone* has the potential to become radicalized. on the u.s. side, the increased 'security' on the airlines helps to decrease attention on the woeful shape our ports are in. why bother with a plane, when a port of call has pitiful security?

I used to enjoy flying, even with 5 kids in tow, but it's such a hassle now. Unfortunately when you're 5000 miles away from all your family, who cannot come out to visit you, there's no other option.
And you're right GB, do they ever offer to assist you?? Like heck.

I would like to point out that I'm not just talking about LHR (my initial comment was, "Think of the ethnic profile of those who work airside and see where the *real* risk to security comes from...")


The easiest way to get anything anywhere it shouldn't be is from the inside, because insiders/employees are seen as much less of a security risk than visitors/users of a service, and so less subjected to security measures.


And, erm, I probably shouldn't say this, but this idea isn't mine as an original. I've heard it from several highly informed places - latterly from a (very) senior immigration official at another major UK airport.


So 'the system' knows the risks and is deflecting attention by inconveniencing the public to make it look as if they are doing something. As has become the norm in this currently pitifully 'governed' country...


If you're a paedophile, do you stand outside the school gate and stare in, or get a role inside, as a member of staff? (and don't think the new(ish) enhanced CRB checks stop or deter 'em either - another governmint scheme to deflect attention and deter community spirit, and involvement, introduced after one unfortunate event in Soham).

I was trekking in Nepal in December 1999 when Indian Airlines Flight 814 was hi-jacked after leaving Kathmandu airport.

When we came to fly back to the UK from the same airport a few days later, security was very tight. We went through the usual metal detector / hand-luggage X-Ray combination. Two seperate hand frosks and also had to physically identify our hold luggage on the apron, before it was loaded onto the plane.

When we got onto the plane, one of the friends I was traveling with discovered that his Swiss Army Knife was in his pocket.

As a frequent traveller, am I annoyed at the delays at Heathrow-YES I am.
And I hope next week before I spend 12 hrs in the sky that they are as thorough with me and the other passengers on the trip.
Question-On the flight down did you look out the window at the town of Lockerbie?

My usual Get Real comment to people with the vapors about terrorists is, "You have about as much chance of being struck by lightning as encountering a terrorist. What precautions are you taking against lightning?"

Well, turns out somebody has done the actual statistics. (I should have kept the link!) You're twenty times more likely to be hit by lightning than a terrorist.

Max Roberts asked: "I would be more interested to know what failures of government policy led to this sorry state (and don't say invading Afganistan or Iraq, 9/11 happened BEFORE either of these." I believe the original aim of Bin Laden & co was the removal of US army bases from Saudi Arabia (they're still there).

Quite right, DG, my first reaction to the full body scanner news was "One more thing to put me off flying".
When a terrorist's own father reports him and nothing happens, you have to think the money would be better spent on more intelligence officers. Intelligent ones.

I have to fly quite a lot (Edinburgh next week as it happens).

I go to that mental state of 'nothing can phase me' so that I don't get wound up by casuals flying with chain collections in their pockets and the inevitable hand luggage suitcase full of shampoo containers.

Strangely, they used to have those full body scanners at LHR (adopt the three poses), but they seem to have been removed.

Oh, and quite a few shoes have long metal strips in them that bing the metal detectors.

Maybe you'd just like to get blown out of the sky rather than suffer the inconvenience of security checks. If you'd followed the instructions you would pass through without difficulty like the rest of us!!!!











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