Smoker bypasses security at JFK; flights delayed

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

NEW YORK (AP) — Authorities say an airline passenger who took a cigarette break caused a security scare at New York City's Kennedy Airport that led to some flights delays.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says it happened late Saturday afternoon in Terminal 8 after the man had gone through security screening and then went out to smoke.

Port Authority spokesman Joe Pentangelo (pehn-TAN'-jeh-loh) says the passenger returned through a gate that wasn't open.

FULL story at link.



Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20141004/us--jfk_airport-security_breach-f4357d614a.html

[BlueJazz]

1. "The man, reportably, was not smoking cigarettes" A team of security officers took the young man...

..into a closed room. "15 minutes later the young man was free to go. The security people went to the snack bar and ate most of the stock."

[Cha]

2. Yeah, got to have that freaking cig. Too bad about the flight delays.. :( but, they have a

security system at airports and it was breeched.

Mahalo Steve

[seveneyes]

3. Yeah because Cigs bad, some other vices good

It all depends on which Oxen is schizen.

[Cha]

4. stupid cigs aren't addictive at all... had to go out and come back through a closed gate and

delay flights just for the hell of it.

[Demit]

8. The story says it was the security breach that caused the delays, not the smoker.

Somebody in airport security left the gate unsecured. I'm sure you would agree that that's not good & that it should have been investigated. Or should we forgo security so that flights can leave on time?

[mac56]

11. Oh gosh, no, anything but the smoker.

He was just a poor innocent victim of oppression.

[Demit]

12. ?? You do understand why the flights were delayed, don't you?

You evidently carry great animosity toward smokers. I'm not trying to put a damper on that. I'm just clarifying what happened in this situation.

Security didn't delay flights because they were using the time to punish or 'oppress' the 'poor innocent' smoker. They delayed flights because they were using the time to investigate the security breach that was revealed by the man being able to slip through it. A lapse in security that could have allowed someone to get through unnoticed and do something very, very bad.

If I had been in that airport I would have been glad that security discovered the breakdown of security before I boarded my plane. I guess you would rather have taken your chances.

[Nye Bevan]

5. What does "returned through a gate that wasn't open" even mean? (nt)

[Skittles]

6. poorly written for "returned through a non-secure gate"

[BumRushDaShow]

7. Probably meant a screening station that was closed & not manned by TSA. nt

[BlueMTexpat]

9. LOL - I wondered about that too. eom

[Lenomsky]

10. I regularily exit EWR (Newark) on my layover ..

which tends to be min 2.5hrs up to 4.5hrs so I have a coffee and smoke then re-enter have some food and a beer then exit and so on and so forth. I can exit 3 maybe even 4 times so that's 3-4 times TSA need to check me.

Why not pander to smokers and have small areas external (as used to be the case in some airports) but fenced in like a dog pound where the 10-15% (depends on nationality) of crazies can puff away without leaving the security area

Day 14 on my vaporiser only had 20 cigs total not purchased any in 2 weeks rather than 280 min purchase. I pray this thing keeps me off the evil weed.

Cheers