No Zippo Cases Allowed!

"I am Captain Lethargic!"
-Random KnightErrant Quote


So I was reading Boing Boing, because that site kicks ass, and ran across this interesting link.

Recently, lighters were declared illegal for carry-on luggage. They are already illegal for check-in luggage, which means you simply cannot carry a lighter at all on an airplane anymore.

Anyway, so this guy had one of those Zippo spy cameras. He declared it, so they wouldn't mistake it for a lighter: all it is is a Zippo case with a camera inside. No flammable materials.

The checker wouldn't let them through. They got the manager, who declared the camera part of the item was fine: but not the lighter case.

The lighter case. The lighter case was not allowed on board.

Obviously a flip topped metal box is a threat to the security of the aircraft. What bullshit.

This happens to members of the National Rifle Association fairly routinely. NRA members are given a keychain of a silver bullet... It's not a real bullet or anything, it's just a hunk of plastic. It even has "America's NRA" stamped in the side, and a hole through the middle to boot. Not explosive, not even the least bit dangerous. But there are multiple accounts of security screeners swiping these and not letting people on the plane with them. They detained a guy named Ray Santelli for almost an hour, questioning him and repeatedly going through his luggage before sending him on his way, but without the bullet. That was going to be disposed of because it was "threatening looking."

They did something similar to my Aunt last summer. She had a wheel of cheese that someone gave her while she was visiting us, and when she went to fly home the X-ray screener couldn't tell what the cheese was. Perhaps they thought it was plastic explosives? I don't know. They hauled her and all her luggage to a secure area. And when they got there, did they just open that one suitcase and go "Ha ha! That's not C-4! That's Baby Swiss!" and let her on her way? Of course not. She was questioned, and ALL her luggage was sifted through. Over cheese.

In 2002, something even more ridiculous happened to Gen. Joe Foss, who was one of America's top fighter aces during World War II. They temporarilly confiscated his Medal of Honor! His Congressional fuckin' MEDAL OF HONOR! To "confirm it wasn't a weapon"! It took them 45 minutes to figure out it wasn't a danger. The kicker? They didn't seem to even know what a Medal of Honor was! What the fuck?

And then they miss knives, guns, and goddamn fake bombs!.

Excerpt from CNN:

In hundreds of undercover tests conducted between November and February, security screeners missed 70 percent of knives, 60 percent of simulated explosive devices, and 30 percent of guns. Overall, screeners failed 48 percent of the time.

(Seventy percent of knives. Thirty percent of guns. And sixty percent of bombs. They were probably too busy questioning an 85 year old granny who forgot to take her knitting needles out of her carry-on.)

I don't know about you: But between the inconvenience, the ignorance, and the incompetence ... I plan on getting my pilot's license and just flying myself.

Anyway, rock on.