[Paddlewise] Stoves on planes/airline security (or lack thereof)

I've been away on vacation the past week, but just couldn't help responding
to this, even though it's a little late.  One of our neighbors have a 16
year old son we know very well who recently flew from Seattle to visit his
uncle somewhere in California.  He was taking some camping equipment with
him that included a LARGE HUNTING KNIFE in his carry-on baggage (that he
evidently thought was in his checked baggage).  He flew through security!!!
On his way back, he had the same knife in his carry-ons -- but this time,
as his bag was going through the X-ray machine, he was asked if he was
carrying "something like a compass" in his bags.  At that moment he
remembered the knife, but simply responded that he didn't have any kind of
compass.  They kept examining the X-ray, concluded it was no big deal and
let him on again!!   I am not making this up (unfortunately)!

Evan Dallas
Woodinville, Washington

>Date: Sat, 22 Jun 2002 08:13:22 -0500
>From: <tfj4_at_attbi.com>
>Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Stoves on Planes
><snip>
>More recent air travel has not left me with a good feeling about the
>security of flight checks.  On a recent flight to and from Ireland my
>carry-on luggage attracted no scrutiny, despite the fact that my bag
>contained half-a-dozen bungee cords with nasty looking hooks on the end.
>Also inside my bag was a metal-clad opisometer (map measuring wheel
thingie)
>that to me has the outline of a derringer and that I was expecting to have
>to explain and demonstrate to every guard I met.  Except for the x-ray
>screening of the bag, which provoked no further examination, nobody looked
>into my rather bulging carry-on.  Coming back into the US, after
retrieving
>my daughter's checked bag, we walked right out of the terminal onto the
>street, with not a word of interrogation or scrutiny from US customs,
>despite the fact that we had flown on Royal Jordanian airlines, most of
the
>other passengers being Arabs who originated in Amann with only a stopover
in
>Limerick.



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