Airport Security

[Mountain Man]

So...as of January 1st..all airports are supposed to x-ray all baggage before it is put on flights.

3 weeks ago i was at the airport getting ready to leave for a trip out of the country. After checking in, i was told to take my bag to the x-ray machine. unloaded my bags and waited to see if they needed me to open the locks to see inside (all of my climbing gear was in there. While waiting for my bags to go through the machine, i noticed that bags that were through the machine had a little stamp put on them to say that they had been x-rayed, (yes I asked what the stickers were for.)

All of a sudden a baggage handler comes over with a cart and starts to put bags that HAVE NOT been through the x-ray machine, on his cart. when he did this he put the same stickers on bags that were not x-rayed as were put on those that had.

I asked him why they wern't x-raying my bags and he refused to answer me. soon a security guard came over and told me to be quiet and that they couldn't answer any security questions. He told me to leave or he would have to detain me.


So...is every bag xrayed???

I know that the security in Quito Ecuador ,(where i was) was much tighter than in Baltimore. I had to show my passport 7 time from the moment i walked into the airport there till i got on my plane.

 

[intrigued]

At Charlotte and Chicago Midway, they screen everything I've got.

 

[Shingen]

Well every bag is supposed to be xrayed.

When I was in HNL (Honolulu), they had a machine at every check in window, so that there was no way to get to the checkin window without getting your bags xrayed.

At SAN (San Diego), they only have one machine, so after you checkin you dump your bags at the big machine to be xrayed. There was so much time wasted and the system didn't work this way.

I highly prefer the HNL system. It was much more effective and efficient.

Also, I noticed foreign airports are much more security conscious than US airports...even before 9/11.

Anyone try going through Heathrow? It's a smugglers nightmare...

 

[Mountain Man]

Well every bag is supposed to be xrayed.

When I was in HNL (Honolulu), they had a machine at every check in window, so that there was no way to get to the checkin window without getting your bags xrayed.

At SAN (San Diego), they only have one machine, so after you checkin you dump your bags at the big machine to be xrayed. There was so much time wasted and the system didn't work this way.

I highly prefer the HNL system. It was much more effective and efficient.

Also, I noticed foreign airports are much more security conscious than US airports...even before 9/11.

Anyone try going through Heathrow? It's a smugglers nightmare...

Honolulu sounds like the rest of the world....except for the mainland.

 

[Mountain Man]

At Charlotte, they screen everything I've got.

That's great...that's what they're supposed to do....but my feeling is at Baltimore(generally one of the test airports, from what i understand) is that It's not happening.

I have no problem getting screened all the way through. Hell I have had my bags hand searched numerous times. But don't say that you are x-raying every bag when that does not appear to be what's happening.

 

[intrigued]

I don't mind it in the least, it's the way it should be. I just wish that the random screenings weren't so random. Until my flight last weekend, I have been searched every single flight from Charlotte to Chicago, and back for months now. I don't know what it is about me, but I get it every time. I know its time consuming, but it certainly is worth every precaution.

 

[The Heretic]

So...is every bag xrayed???

Sounds like they aren't. But this is just a look busy measure anyway so I wouldn't be too concerned.

 

[svenmn]

Dont get me started here. But since you did I love being screened, hell I have even been asked to remove my shirt to go thru metal detectors. I have several 1/2 inch chunks of metal saw blade in left shoulder. Hell could go thru butt naked and still set them off.

 

[lobito]

I just got back from Cantral America 2 weeks ago, where security was MUCH better than it is here in the states. I don't get it honestly. I don't mind being searched, or waiting a few moments if I have to so they can make sure my packages are safe. But they aren't doing their jobs (very well, or at all), if they aren't screening EVERY BAG.

I waited for 15 mintues while my bags where checked coming back to the states, with practically NO wait time here. Airport security is totally fucked up in the states, truth is, it was probably better before, than it is now in some cases.

 

[christophe]

the last time i flew my carry on was searched but as far as i know the actualy suitcase was not.

i am planning a trip out of the country this sunday and will be interested to see what becomes of this....

knowing my luck i will be strip searched....