Don't pack food, don't lock bags, fliers told

Chicago Tribune ^ | 12/20/02 | Jon Hilkevitch and Crystal Yednak

[Slings and Arrows]

Don't pack food, don't lock bags, fliers told

By Jon Hilkevitch and Crystal Yednak

Tribune staff reporters

December 20, 2002

Preparing the public for yet another big change in air travel, the government asked passengers Thursday to stop packing certain kinds of items in checked bags, including, for example, Christmas fruitcakes.

High-tech bomb-detection devices might mistake them for explosives.

Just in time for the holidays--and with the Dec. 31 deadline to screen 100 percent of checked baggage--aviation security officials want travelers to know that things like chocolate bars, wheels of cheese and books can trigger a hand-inspection of luggage.

[Slings and Arrows]

Looks like the baggage screeners are getting their Christmas shoplifting done early this year.

FReegards,
Slings and Arrows

[Libertarianize the GOP]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[Bodacious]

"the agency is recommending that passengers buy plastic cables or zip ties at hardware stores as an alternative to suitcase locks. Such clasps can be cut off easily by screeners needing to look inside baggage, officials said, and they provide some deterrence against tampering."

And just what % of "inspected" baggage will arive with ALL of it's contents? They have trouble just getting my bags to the same airport within the same 24 hour period that I do.
Bet that every baggage handler will have clippers, a sharp knife, tin snips, and replacement " cables or issued locks in their pockets........then Christmas would be all year long!!

[mvpel]

I guess we'll have to start taking photographs of our luggage to document the theft claim when the bag shows up with less than we packed.

[Marobe]

Boycott the airlines !

[norraad]

"Say, can you send my bags to Chicago & give me a ticket to Boston", said Henny Youngman to the airline desk.

"Sorry, we can't do that" , said the brainless wonder in a funny hat.

"Why not, you did last weeK!" yelled Henny.

[danneskjold]

Preparing the public for yet another big change in air travel, the government asked passengers Thursday to stop packing certain kinds of items in checked bags, including, for example, Christmas fruitcakes.

High-tech bomb-detection devices might mistake them for explosives.

There actually might be something to this...I've known a fruitcake or two to blow up, after being digested...

[Tauzero]

The Keystone Cops strike again.

bttt

[Jesse]

Just one more reason not to fly unless I absolutely, positively, have too. From here in Southwest Montana, it really isn't that bad of a drive to the Left coast and Nevada.

[Diana Rose]

Marzipan can trip the C4 detector because of the similar density.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The airline industry seems to have forgotten that, without passengers, airlines themselves are unnecessary.

[tracer]

This occurred to me this a.m. (great minds, etc.). Perhaps including in your checked bag a copy of the photo you suggested would be useful.

But, then again, it might just p!$$ off the "security screeners" enough that they'll lose or empty your bag "just to show you". What a marvelous age and world we live in...............

Ooh! Ooh! I just had a brilliant idea!! You could load your checked bag with the spring-loaded "snakes" that pop out of a fake "peanut brittle" can -- or you could enclose the whole "peanut brittle" can gag device and imagine the scene when the inspectors open the can to examine the peanut brittle which set off the "bomb sniffer." Would you prefer the top or bottom in the bunk bed we'd end up sharing in BOP/Danbury?

[Tauzero]

This new crap has its origin in the government, not the airlines.

And it could mostly be avoided by screening people, rather than their luggage and effects. But that would not be politically correct.

[Riley]

< Maxwell Smart >

"It's the old exploding fruitcake trick!"

< /Maxwell Smart >

[angkor]

No fruitcakes? Shoes on top? Unlocked checked luggage?

This is more than ridiculous, it's phenomenally, stupifylingly pathetic.

Look for USA Patriot Air - out future nationalized airline - to be the only remaining air carrier in business by 2004.

Meanwhile 1,000 illegals and 1,000 kilos of coke cross the Mexican border every day, along with god knows what else.

[razorback-bert]

certain kinds of items in checked bags, including, for example, Christmas fruitcakes.

Hmmm

[Doomonyou]

the agency is recommending that passengers buy plastic cables or zip ties at hardware stores as an alternative to suitcase locks. Such clasps can be cut off easily by screeners needing to look inside baggage, officials said, and they provide some deterrence against tampering."

This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of from these idiots. OK, put zip ties on your luggage, what if you need to get inside once you get your bags at the other end? Open it with the pocket knife/scissors etc. that YOU CAN'T CARRY WITH YOU ON THE PLANE??? I guess we will have to have Federal zip tie cutters at airports now too.

Idiots!

[PAR35]

asked passengers to refrain from packing any food or beverages in checked bags and to pack shoes and boots on top of other contents.

Sounds like the program is being run by PETA. If you have leather shoes, your bag will (pronounced vill) be opened and searched for other contraband.

[LadyDoc]

the government asked passengers Thursday to stop packing certain kinds of items in checked bags, including, for example, Christmas fruitcakes.

AHHHH EXPLODING FRUITCAKE ALERT EXPLODING FRUITCAKE ALERT

Seriously, my Filippino relatives had a whole suitcase full of goodies to take there, and another suitcase of goodies to bring back. If they are checking our bags, we'll be in trouble...

[iconoclast]

Preparing the public for yet another big change in air travel, the government asked passengers Thursday to stop packing certain kinds of items in checked bags, including, for example, Christmas fruitcakes.

Beam me up!

I have three questions for y'all.

1. Could we get any LESS nonsense from a leftwing government?

2. Could you name me one night in the last 10 years when you have gone to bed worried about what Saddam Hussein was going to do the next day?

3. Do you ever stop and think about such questions?