Martin Broughton, the chairman of the UK carrier, had a verbal meltdown at the UK Airport Operators Association in London, saying that US security dictates what the rest of the world should do, but quite often they don’t even follow the rules themselves.
Now, every airport I’ve been to in the US in the last few years has requested I remove my laptop from my bag, and shoes from my feet, but Broughton is claiming that “America does not do internally a lot of the things they demand that we do” and that the rules are “completely redundant”.
“Take the iPad, they still haven’t decided if it is a laptop or it isn’t a laptop. So some airports think you should take it out and some think you shouldn’t,” Broughton added.
While I agree that a lot of the checks seem unnecessary, I still think they’re worth doing. It doesn’t add too much extra time to a journey, and quite frankly, I’d rather be safe than sorry. I think a lot of us would. [CNN]
Image via SixMillionDollarDan/Flickr
Bobbobboy
Thursday, October 28, 2010 at 1:20 PMPoint me at a list which shows the number of would be bombers and attackers which have been caught in Airport security and i’ll tell you whether its needed or not.
Does anyone even publish these sorts of figures or is if you ask are you acused of being a terrorist and shipped to Chile for torture ?
kanthan
Thursday, October 28, 2010 at 1:56 PMI traveled through all major australian cities & NZ for 6 months repeatedly, and only then did i find a full length screw driver in my laptop bag.
i have flown in from regional airports (that dont do security checks), and landed in Sydney aiport, and walked right throughout the terminal without any checks.
Yet..im drilled on my ipad. each and everytime.
some airports say you dont need to take laptops out if its pouch…but others make you take it.
go figure.
Rich
Thursday, October 28, 2010 at 2:34 PMHow exactly did Martin Broughton have a “verbal meltdown”, and more to the point what is a “verbal meltdown” anyway??
He expressed his opinion on pre-flight security checks, I’d hardly call it a meltdown!
James Carson
Thursday, October 28, 2010 at 4:29 PMsomeone i know carried a card knife (shaped like ur average credit card, folds out into a sharp machette like pocket knife) through about 20 flights, until it was finally caught out by some volenteer security workers at a regional airport who took their jobs very seriously.
trk
Thursday, October 28, 2010 at 5:56 PMI accidentally carried an 8″ (when folded) flick knife that I use at work straight into an International Terminal in one of Australias major cities a few weeks after 9/11 when security was being taken VERY seriously. Realising I’d forgot to leave it in the car, I just put it with my keys etc on the tray heading off to the xray scanner, figuring security would pick it up and see I wasnt trying to conceal it in any way.
Anyway, it popped out the other end and the tray was handed to me by security, at which point I just put it back in my pocket and shut my mouth about it. Glad I did because only a few days later they evacuated an entire terminal for rescanning because someone carried a small pocket knife through and stupidly dobbed themselves in.
I really doubt all this added security is doing anything particuarly positive towards stopping terrorist attacks. There are a stupidly large number of ways a terrorist can completely avoid detection at airports. Its just lucky they arent exactly criminal master minds.
Patrick McMorris
Thursday, October 28, 2010 at 8:25 PMI completely disagree with the author of this post. The point is not are the extra checks worthwhile, but are the Americans following what they force the rest of the world to do.
Sydney airport recently discovered a Swiss Army knife in my laptop bag I had forgotten about and travelled through 4 US airports without them ever detecting it.
Personally I find the level of security at Major Australian airports to be sensible and not painful, however by contrast I find UK and US airport security is usually painful. In addition US security seems to frequently miss major things.
Tycho
Friday, October 29, 2010 at 9:22 AMThis part:-
It doesn’t add too much extra time to a journey, and quite frankly, I’d rather be safe than sorry.
Implies that these security checks help – the *only* thing airport security is for is making the public feel safer by giving the illusion of security.