Anyone from a country that's 'under threat' of terrorism - people with glass bottles in their hand luggage!??!

Question

We live in Japan, and when the English friend we had staying with us went to Narita airport for his flight back to Heathrow he was expecting all sorts of inconveniences ... imagine how surprised he was when the people x-raying his suitcase INSISTED that he put his 3 bottles of alcoholic liqueurs into his HAND BAGGAGE to carry with him on the plane! I think this is ludicrously dangerous, and ASKING for trouble! I also feel the same way about people who buy duty-free - glass bottles, lighters, maybe letter-openers - and are allowed to walk onto the plane carrying them!!

It seems to me that any wanna-be terrorists wouldn't NEED to carry dangerous stuff from Heathrow, they could buy most of the things they need in another country and blow the plane up on the way BACK to Heathrow more easily!

This applies to flights to America, and to any other country that's sided with Bush. Do YOU feel safe, knowing that people can smash a bottle and hijack your plane? Or threaten people with a lighter?

It really annoys me that Heathrow is making such a big deal of terrorism, yet people flying TO Heathrow are allowed to carry dangerous potential weapons!!

It's not LOGICAL!! You know????

Cheeze-cop - Unfortunately non-US flights don't HAVE armed marshals! I wish they did...!

You're perfectly right, it IS up to the people screening the baggage to make sure it's safe! That's my concern...

This web-page tells you the current rules for people flying FROM or VIA British airports;
https://lfn.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/lfn.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=2355&p_sid=cCWw-ugi&p_lva=2350&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPSZwX3NvcnRfYnk9JnBfZ3JpZHNvcnQ9JnBfcm93X2NudD0xMiZwX3Byb2RzPSZwX2NhdHM9JnBfcHY9JnBfY3Y9JnBfc2VhcmNoX3R5cGU9YW5zd2Vycy5zZWFyY2hfbmwmcF9wYWdlPTE%2A&p_li=#
You'll notice that liquids and lighters are both banned - so are sharp objects, as they always have been. Empty glass bottles are surely normally classified as 'sharp objects'? Because they can so easily be turned into sharp objects! (These people won't even let you on board with nail clippers - how much damage can you do with nail clippers???)

Bostonianinmo - you have a VERY good point. However, if you were sitting in an aeroplane seat and some scumbag smashed a glass bottle and threatened the stewards / stewardesses with it, I think you'd temporarily be more concerned about terrorism than drunken drivers.

Maybe if you compare this theoretical plane hijacking plane with a car-jacking - it's a similar thing, although a crashing car 'probably' can't do as much damage as a crashing plane... but a car-jacking can also be easily accomplished with a broken bottle. Not nice ... but some people DO that sort of thing.
: (

Whoops - one too many 'plane's in that last paragraph!
; )

Answer 1

huh... who would've thought. that's nothing. i've heard worse. i'm glad to know that we're doing ev. thing we can to make flying safer & more convenient...for terrorists!

Answer 2

I would think that a person with a broken bottle wouldn't have a snowballs chance in H3LL to hijack a plane.

It is up to the people searching/screening the baggage to help make airplane travel safe. It is also up to the passengers to be vigilant and take charge if they see something NOT RIGHT; IE. someone with a broken bottle.

And with armed marshals on board, chances are slim that a hi-jacking would occur with a bottle.

You could go on and on with this one.....good topic.

Answer 3

Frankly I'm MUCH more concerned about the bottle of beer in the hand of some dimwit drunk driver around here.

Since 9/11, 5 Americans have died as a result of possible terrorist activity -- the anthrax attacks. But nearly 200,000 have died due to drunk drivers. And our wonderful president is a drunk driver himself!

We get our panties in a wad about terrorism but are 40,000 times more likely to be killed by a drunk driver and nobody seems to give a sh*t.

Screwed up priorities if you ask me!

Answer 4

Yeah, that's both scary and stupid.