Are the Airlines Losing It?

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 8/16/06 at 2:56pm

Besides reading recently about the 10,000 misplaced pieces of baggage, here's an article about diverting a flight.

It's about separating a 60-year-old woman from her hand cream. I wonder if she has eczema.
Woman Held for Hand Cream Diversion

[iHeartMyGeek]

Posted: 8/16/06 at 3:01pm

wow. That confused me a LOT.

At this point, it's almost going to take less time to drive somewhere than worry about leaving all of your hygiene products. getting to the airport four hours early, go through the scanners (some of which are actually so specific that they can see your genetalia) and then worry about being hijacked. It's not even worth it. Especially with how expensive it is.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 8/16/06 at 3:03pm

This article suggests British Airlines had as many as 20,000 bags go missing.
British Airways trouble

[Elphaba]

Posted: 8/16/06 at 5:12pm

I would rather the airlines lose it, than me lose my life because they were lax

[vmlinnie]

Posted: 8/16/06 at 5:13pm

I'm a complete airline geek, so i had better stay here for a while;

10,000 bags go missing every day in the USA.

[vmlinnie]

Posted: 8/16/06 at 5:16pm

By thw way, does anyone else notice the coincidence;

Today's incident was on Unted flight 923,
Or 'Nine-two-three', which seems a lot like 'Nine-ty-three'.
Ninety three was the one that went down in Pennsylvania.
Coincidence? I think not...

[iHeartMyGeek]

Posted: 8/16/06 at 5:17pm

Yeah, but then what's the significance of the number 93?

[vmlinnie]

Posted: 8/16/06 at 5:18pm

United93, the plane that fought back, 9/11, ring a bell?

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 8/16/06 at 5:19pm

Updated On: 1/23/09 at 05:19 PM

[iHeartMyGeek]

Posted: 8/16/06 at 5:19pm

Lol, linnie, I know that. I just wonder why they're going for all the 93s...

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 8/16/06 at 5:32pm

The airlines don't have the wherewithall to handle terrorism.

Nobody does.

I don't know that there's any safe solutions and they have to try to cope.

But it's getting to be insanity.

[JbaraFan1]

Posted: 8/16/06 at 8:34pm

Unclaimed Baggage Center

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 8/16/06 at 10:32pm

I'm with Elphaba. If this is the way it has to be, yes it's very unfortunate, but safety first, and these rules apply to everyone. That woman was an idiot. Has she been living in a bubble?

Updated On: 8/16/06 at 10:32 PM

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 8/16/06 at 10:53pm

They aren't too clear on what happened.

The airlines personnel could just as well be getting freaked out and it could affect their approach to passengers.

You are going to have older people and mentally disturbed and not very competent people who are not going to understand all the latest rules.

Separating an older person from a little hand cream especially on a long flight is not a good idea. The plane flight is very dehydrating and they may have eczema, it's very common. If they don't have their cream it can flare up in no time under those conditions. It may not be a cream they need a prescription for but they still need it. For them it is a considerable health issue, not just an inconvenience.

And what's their alternative for international? Take a boat?

If these liquids are so available and dangerous that means trains and subways are not safe from them either.

[broadwayxminixidina]

Posted: 8/16/06 at 11:18pm

I've been living under a rock for a while now, so could someone explain to me WHY they are banning liquids/ gels?

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 8/16/06 at 11:27pm

Because Al Qaeda is reputed to have been planning to bomb a bunch of planes by mixing liquids on board.

[broadwayxminixidina]

Posted: 8/16/06 at 11:29pm

Ah, got it. Thank you!

[DRSisLove]

Posted: 8/17/06 at 12:02am

I guess I slightly agree. I mean, with the terrorist plot and all they have to be cautious, but on the otherhand, a 59 year old woman? I mean, come on...

[amasis]

Posted: 8/17/06 at 12:11am

...trains and subways are not safe from them either.

I thought the same thing... What are they going to do about those?

"To properly get our arms around the folly of it all, we need to look back at what happened in 1995. I'm referring to the notorious "Oplan Bojinka" -- which I wrote about last week -- a conspiracy linked to al-Qaida that was broken up by Philippine police only days before 11 U.S. jetliners were targeted for destruction. The parallels between the Bojinka and London operations are truly remarkable, involving similar explosive materials and a strikingly similar modus operandi. Yet on the heels of Bojinka, airports remained calm. Passengers were free to step aboard with their cups of coffee and bottles of shampoo. This forces us to wonder: If it is truly in the interest of air safety to stop passengers from bringing the most basic and commonplace personal items on board, why was it not done the first time?"

"Terrorism needs to be stopped at the planning stages. That's where our security can do the most good," Schneier says. "By the time the terrorist gets to the airport -- or the shopping mall, or the crowded movie theater -- it's too late."


Is airport security futile? Updated On: 8/17/06 at 12:11 AM

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 8/17/06 at 12:23am

You can't help but wonder what kind of crazy issue you're going to have to deal with next.

Remember George Orwell's 1984?

Phew... With all this new high-tech security where will there be any room for privacy?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/17/06 at 12:42am

I would rather the airlines lose it, than me lose my life because they were lax
-exactly elphaba


As for the woman when I flew home from England a few days ago they warned people over and over that they can't have the stuff with them and that serious action will take place if someone defies the law.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 8/17/06 at 12:44am

Human beings are not machines.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/17/06 at 12:50am

and my life isn't a toy. I agree that there is a fine line between insanity and safety, however I think that at this particular point in time the law if just fine the way it is considering recent events. It's not like they take it away from you in your luggage! You simply pack up your hand cream, makeup, whatever it is, and get it after the flight.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 8/17/06 at 12:52am

Unless, of course, your luggage is amongst the 20,000 missing pieces.

[amasis]

Posted: 8/17/06 at 6:08am

I do feel some of these measures border on hysteria. It just looks they are going about this blindly. Which is very frightening.

What I find interesting is that - as mentioned in the article - they didn't implement the same security plan when a very similar plot was uncovered in 1995. I wonder if part of that was due to America being confident enough of its intelligence that it didn't feel the need to go to such an extreme on airport security, which is admittedly the last line of defense against these sort of things, anyway. I suppose after 9/11 they can't afford to be so confident (even though the intelligence report about it was there). And at the same time, in 1995 fear wasn't such a useful thing to encourage, the way it is now.




Updated On: 8/17/06 at 06:08 AM