Comments | brendio: Terrorists stole my vegemite!

brendio

Terrorists stole my vegemite!

Feb 10, 2007 15:09

It's an alarming headline, I know, and terrorists didn't actually steal my vegemite directly, but they are succeeding in some way when they can deprive an Australian of his daily bread spread. The current restrictions on hand baggage for flights in Europe that were put in place after the discovery of a plot to use liquid explosives to blow up ( Read more... )

Comments 4

Heres a tip burdo February 10 2007, 15:24:20 UTC

You know what looks *really* suspicious in the hand-luggage scanner: a big tin of Milo. Its large, round, and looks a lot like a fertilizer bomb to the scanner.

Fortunately, the Canadians recognised a staple food when they saw one - I got to keep it.

(Yes, I carry Milo as hand luggage :P )

Re: Heres a tip brendio February 10 2007, 18:09:43 UTC

I once had a fun idea to use the cables from all my electric goods (chargers, etc.) to write a message to the guys on the X-ray machines. It was really hard to keep them in place though.

burdo February 10 2007, 15:30:15 UTC

PS I totally agree about the purposelessness of these restrictions. It only really thwarts the very unimaginative terrorists, and inconveniences everyone mightily. But then, whats the disincentive for the govt to act like this? Writing letters to your MP? Holding a rally? Complaining through online chat forums?

One way is through the airline companies themselves, whose concern over safety is perceptibly strong, and who dislike the way these security measures detract from their customers experience. So, it seems the strongest measure to correct the stupidity is through the airlines (I think RyanAir made noise on this issue last year).

commiserations zuribruce February 19 2007, 13:27:07 UTC

I commiserate with the vegemite story. Flying these days can be a nightmare. I just (as in a few hours ago) arrived back from the US. I have to say the trip was fantastic in all aspects except the travel. Long queues at every point - starting at the Zurich check-in, the Non-US arrivals queue in Washington, the non-US interrogation and finger-printing, the xray (please remove shoes, liquids, gels, computers from laptop bags, belts jackets, etc etc), the startvation methods on both internal US flights, the 100 middle school field trip students on the return flight, the 3 hour delay due to a snow storm in Washington, having to take my own "checked-in" baggage to the connecting flight. The "easy" check-in" on the way back which took 3 times longer than any regular check-in, and involved 2 staff members as well as a "high-tech" machine. It just didn't stop. Then I tried to buy a stamp for a postcard at the terminal. They came in packs of 10, so I bought 10. Then I looked around for a mail box. Couldn't locate one, so I asked a nice airport ( ... )