Hypothetical: You're waiting for your plane, and see someone at another gate put down a package

[cherokeeprogressive]

then walk away after looking around the terminal. Your flight leaves in 20 minutes. Ten minutes have passed and the person hasn't returned.

What do you do?

I'm just wondering how far you think airport personnel should go to keep you and me safe. And yes, the question is inspired by what most here seem to think was an overreaction by the Logan Intl. security team.

[pitohui]

1. if i see someone put down a package, i tell the nearest gate agent and not 10 minutes later either

there is no reason to abandon a package at the airport, ever, and it should be immediately reported -- you don't wait 10 minutes, you call the person back "ma'am you dropped something" and if they keep walking away, you tell someone immediately, even if only a gate agent at the nearest desk to you -- they'll know who to call to get the alert out

"oh it's at another gate and i won't be the one blown up so let me get on my plane and get out of here before anyone else notices" -- that isn't morality at all, is it, i mean i like my convenience as much as the next person but to go that far?

you got to report it, you got to, how do you live w. yourself, you make YOUR flight on time and when you land you hear on the news about the people at the other gate being exploded?

and if it turns out the person was dropping the package to test airport security, er, as a "work of art," then they still need to be arrested and pay the price for their hoax, because otherwise you set up a situation where it becomes too easy for real terrorists to set up distractions and create other tests of airport security response

mit chick needs to pay a price for what she did, it was wrong, and the woman who reported her did the right thing

[Name removed]

2. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[baldguy]

14. So, if I wear a blinking electrical device - they're allowed to shoot me?

Be a good little brown shirt & believe that Bush's SS is actually saving us from terra-ists by arresting & tazering people who wear blinky pins.


Only traitors try to make us afraid of terrorists.

[Horse with no Name]

35. There is going to be some terrified folks at the Dollar Store THIS Christmas

folks that are scared are gonna piss themselves when they put these babies out.

[kickysnana]

24. Wrong! Nashville 1999

I came down with the flu but had to get home. I am running a fever. My cousin got lost on the way to the airport and on his way to work and I told him I would be alright without him. What I didn't know is that Nashville only had skycaps, no carts and that day they only had one skycap and he evidently went on break. If I am going to make my plane I have to get my luggage and 2 bankers boxes of genealogy files to the gate. I have MS. I cannot carry all of it. I am not supposed to leave it so I grab a wheelchair, one of three, and load up all but one box and head in. It is a small airport so I can see the box at all times. I am stopped by security who demand to know why I am using the wheelchair and are not satisfied with the fact that I had been waiting for 15 minutes in line for the one skycap who then suddenly disappeared for over 15 minutes. Meantime my box is abandoned because they will not let me do what I need to do to get on the plane. There is nobody I can ask for help without abandoning my stuff.

I produced my handicapped tagged drivers license and they had a meeting to decide whether or not to arrest me for something. They let me fly but put changed my seat so the crew could "observe me".

Mindless, idiotic Americans cannot tell a threat from cotton candy. I hate this country and DUers who mindlessly go along with harassing passengers and calling it security. You have more to fear from security than from the terrorists evidenced over and over and over.

[johnaries]

28. Nashville TN? You must be talking about another airport.

The Nashville International Airport is hardly a small airport since it is a hub, and there are plenty of both carts and skycaps.
What Nashville are you talkinga out?

[kickysnana]

34. Nashville TN and there were NO CARTS.

Continental so it would not have been an axillary terminal.

[johnaries]

36. Sorry, couldn't have been. Nashville is a large airport.

Not as big as Atlanta, JFK or DFW, but it is still pretty large. I live here and fly out of the terminal all of the time. There are always a large number of carts available and lots of skycaps all over the airport.
I don't want to dis your story, because I am on the watch list because of my common name. I can never use the automated ticketing, they always have to call in my DL, and I always get plled out of line to get searched. So I believe your story happened SOMEwhere, but it couldn't have been Nashville. Nashville is not a small airport, by any means.

[ecstatic]

60. lol nt

[HCE SuiGeneris]

3. Taser them with your new model XLT3000 Megavolter!

[DS1]

4. godwinned in two posts

shame that's not a record for this place

fucking ridiculous, there's no point even bothering here anymore

[Jed Dilligan]

19. No point bothering to uphold the good bits of fascism?

Yes, I agree.

[Mz Pip]

5. I'd report it

IT's not like there are never any packages anywhere in the world that don't blow up and kill people.

Just because it hasn't happened here, yet, doesn't mean that it never will and that we don't need to pay attention.

We have either created more people who are willing to kill themselves over BushCo policies or BushCos war on terror is working and we are really very safe here.

I kind of think Bush policies have made us less safe and it's just a matter of time before this shit starts happening here.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[Rosa Luxemburg]

6. I usuakky chase after them saying have you forgotten something?

[tkmorris]

7. Oh of course you report it

And the process will get very serious from there, as it is supposed to. The question for me though is what happens AFTER the EOD team has determined that the package was just someone's lunch. If the person who forgot the package is identified, say from security camera footage, should they be arrested for it?

I'd say no to that. Likewise, I think the airport people in Boston were correct to investigate the "device", but that investigation should have resulted in clearing the woman and her shirt pretty quickly. That it didn't is an indication of just how frightened people have become, and saddens me no small amount.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

8. I wouldn't make any assumptions. What does the package look like?

It would have had to get through the security x-rays and examinations to even get through.

More likely than not, I would not be immediately suspicious. Why should I be? :shrug:

[midlife_mo_Jo]

13. Why should you be suspicious?

Well, for starters, there's usually signs and recordings on the p/a system telling people NOT to leave their luggage or packages out of site, and for people to report any such packages or luggage that's unattended. Look, I'm just as worried about the fascists running this country as the next guy, but we all know these rules when we enter the airport. Should you be jailed for doing something like that. NO! However, it's common sense that stuff like this is going to get investigated.

And lest you think this kind of thing is all the monkey's fault, it's been this way in Europe for a lot longer.

[Sukie1941]

9. I don't fly anymore

because the last time I got the feeling that the next would be the last.

And that was before we got off the tarmac!

I would tell the nearest official-looking person, then get the hell out of there.

[mtowngman]

10. a couple of years ago I saw an unattended gym bag

at the entrance gate to Hershey Park. Hundreds, maybe a thousand people walking by. I pointed it out to a security guard and he looked at me like I was nuts for bothering him and went back to his coversation with another security guard.:shrug:

Hey, we have the same member date, just a year apart.

now where do I sign up to taser mit chick?

[TexasProgresive]

11. Unattended luggage should be taken out to the tarmac and

blown up. There should be signs informing people of the consequence of leaving their baggage unguarded.

[TexasProgresive]

12. dumplicate post

[HCE SuiGeneris]

15. The ridiculousness of this post lies in the fact that there have none, that's zero

bombs blowing up in U.S. airports. Why the fuck is there such paranoia about this? Other than the fact that the media and government has manufactured this fear...

[renie408]

20. Up until six years ago, no airplanes had flown into any buildings, either.

I don't think it is ridiculous to pay attention to things like a suspicious package. There have been bombs set off on trains in Madrid and London. It isn't like we are immune to that sort of thing. Do you think because it has yet to happen that it couldn't? I would actually be surprised if something like that DOESN'T happen here eventually.

[Hobarticus]

55. WTF is the big deal with looking out for one another?

Some folks make it sound like merely keeping an eye out for trouble, and possibly looking out for someone else's life, is somehow aiding and abetting Dubya.

Have we become so bitter that we'd walk away from something like this? How evil does it make me to just point it out to a cop, and move along?

I just don't get it. Damn, if 9/11 proved anything, it proved that gov't ain't gonna save your ass when the shit hits the fan.

[RC]

21. Rigth on! We have a gang of criminals that need an enemy to fuction

in control of this country

Way too many DU'ers are playing into their plan, acting like good little sheeple and spreading the fear as they have been told to do.

[renie408]

23. Yeah, way better to IGNORE something than to pay attention...

It seems smarter to me to NOT panic like Bush would like, but still pay attention to things like unattended packages left in suspicious places.

I am not saying shoot some kid with an ugly pin on her shirt. That was an overreaction. I am saying that we are not immune to the exact same kind of attacks that have occurred in Europe. Why would we be? The thing isn't to ignore the possibility, the thing is to go on with our lives while keeping our eyes open.

[Kelly Rupert]

39. There have been

several attacks on the US aviation industry, and several bomb attacks on mass transit. Your argument is akin to a soldier saying, "Sure, people have been shot while being a soldier in Iraq, and sure, people have been shot while wearing a purple sweater. But no soldier has been shot in Iraq while wearing a purple sweater, so I'm safe."

[murloc]

43. LaGuardia 1975

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/LAW/12/24/ctv.laguardia/

"We were full and ended up stopping in front of the TWA terminal," recalled Schimmel, then 27. "A second, larger limo pulled up next to us and double-parked. We were told to get into the bigger car."

Schimmel got inside the second car and had just slammed the door shut when it happened.

A bright blue flash. A blast of air. Deafening noise. Broken glass rained down.

"There was the residue of the bomb. You could smell whatever it was in the air and see the huge explosive force that had blown the floor and ceiling out," Dreher, now 73, retired and living in South Florida, told Courttv.com. "All the windows were blown out."

Using an empty hangar to store evidence, investigators meticulously sifted through debris removed from the terminal. Based on what was found, they concluded the bomb had the equivalent of 25 sticks of dynamite and was composed of either TNT or plastic explosives. According to Dreher, the device was controlled by items most of us might have lying around the house -- a Westclock alarm clock and an Eveready 6-volt lantern battery.

Eleven dead, 74 injured was the final toll.

[rug]

16. I'd bring it into the bathroom and see if there was any cash in it.

[cherokeeprogressive]

27. Glad to be a member of the same political party as you, rug. n/t

[DemGa]

17. Report it...nt

[AnotherGreenWorld]

18. I'd think, hey, free package.

[renie408]

22. I wonder if that's what the people on that train in Madrid thought. n/t

[Kelly Rupert]

41. Do you generally steal unattended packages?

;)

[HughMoran]

25. I have reported similar incidents

I boarded a plane in Ireland and there was a bag already on the plane. I got a bit nervous and mentioned it to the stewardess. It was her bag. I was relieved. Didn't make the news cycle for a week though. That is how this should have been dealt with, but the morans made a big fucking deal about it. Ass holes.

[petronius]

29. I had exactly the same experience - sat down in the last row and found a purse

under my seat. It turned out to be the flight attendant's. Reading threads like this, it seems like a lot of DUers are engaged in a deliberate under-reaction: it's true that Bush and the RWers have a deliberate strategy of playing on people's fear, but to pretend that there is nothing ever to fear anywhere isn't the proper response...

[cherokeeprogressive]

31. You're eggzactly right. ANYTHING under your seat could be a bad thing... in places OTHER than HERE.

So let's pretend that our freedoms trump our concerns for the safety of us all, and never worry, because after all, we're free to leave whatever we want, wherever we want.

[librechik]

48. me too--plain brown paper wrapped packege left at table in mall

I pointed it out to security.

The owner could always claim it at lost and found if it was harmless.

After Madrid (or atlanta, for that matter-- better safe than sorry.

[uppityperson]

26. I saw a pink backpack leaning on a sign next to a bank today.

The only reason I mention it is because I noticed it and that really pisses me off. If "they" want me safe, give me an affordable place to live, affordable decent childcare, affordable decent health care including dental, and quit invading other countries and pissing people off by doing horrendous things in my name to "keep me safe".

[HughMoran]

30. I saw a handbag rolling down the highway with paper money flying all over the highway

I didn't stop, but the urge to pull over and start collecting bills like a greedy whore was gnawing at me for the next 10 miles - lol!

[tyedyeto]

32. Terra. Terra. Terra. Fear. Fear. Fear.

Run for your life. That is what this administration wants us to feel, do and act on. So, if you ever see something out of the ordinary..... act on it and call the 'authorities' NOW!!!!

[backscatter712]

33. It ain't gonna happen.

The odds of a person being killed in a terrorist attack in an airport or airplane are less than the odds of them being killed by being struck by a meteorite.

Even if you see the situation in the OP, 999 times out of 1,000, it's some schmuck forgetting his carryon, not some eeeeeeeeeeeeevil terrorist.

So get over yourselves. You'll never see it in your lifetime.

[Kelly Rupert]

38. I've seen that exact situation before.

It was at Chicago-Midway. Cops came within a minute, tracked down the guy, brought him back to the package. From what I heard of the conversation, the guy (white kid, looked college-age) supposedly didn't think he could bring his backpack in the bathroom and "hid" it behind a newspaper machine (between A5 and A6, IIRC, if you're familiar with MDW) while he took a piss. Cops then asked if he wouldn't mind taking it over to the security checkpoint to be wiped down; guy complies, they walk off. Guy boarded my MSP flight later, and had his backpack, so apparently it worked out for him.

[pitohui]

61. actually there are posters on this board from manhattan who have seen it in their lifetime

and i know my sister whilst in london decades ago saw it in her lifetime

so if you think bombs can't explode and it only happens to brown people in the middle east, all i can say is, must be nice to live such a sheltered existence

[Kelly Rupert]

37. Tell the gate agent as soon as the guy puts it down and leaves.

Then board my flight.

[2rth2pwr]

40. I'm not going to report to those jack booted thugs

If they think they can get me to spy on other citizens for "suspicious behavior" and buy into their Fascist plan for AmeiKKKa they're crazy.

[AZBlue]

42. I've reported less in far less volatile situations.

[BlooInBloo]

46. I bet you have, you good 1% doctrine person, you.

[AZBlue]

47. Why must you be rude just because someone doesn't think exactly like you do?

Are you the new Hitler? Should we all step in line behind you?

You have serious issues - take them out elsewhere.

[Beerboy]

44. I'd Call Congress Right F*cking Now!,

then go get a beer. The terrorism stuff is so over-hyped it's ridiculous. Even if it was a bomb, there's not much you could do about it anyway, everyone's gonna die of something sooner or later.

[TheUniverse]

45. If I saw someone putting down a package.

I probably wouldn't think it was a bomb, and was probably more likely a some sort of mob activity. As a result, I'd walk away from it, so I wouldn't get smoked.

[ecstatic]

62. lol nt

[Der Blaue Engel]

49. In case anyone on this thread is actually unaware

You may not put down "packages" or luggage or anything else in an airport and walk away from it. If you do, you can expect your unattended belongings to be destroyed.

[HughMoran]

50. "belongings to be destroyed"

They may eventually be destroyed, but that is a bit of an overstatement to make your point.

[Der Blaue Engel]

53. There are signs and announcements making that statement in every airport

How is my post an overstatement, and what point do you think I'm trying to make? :shrug:

[HughMoran]

54. lol - you have no idea

Signs say that to intimidate people - just like your post. They typically ask you if an item is yours if you wander from it. They rarely destroy items.

[Der Blaue Engel]

56. You're making some very bizarre assumptions about me

I'm trying to intimidate people? What reason would I have to do that? I'm just quoting the airport security rules. It's not my problem whether they mean them or not. Frankly, they don't have to intimidate me into keeping an eye on my own belongings.

[karlrschneider]

51. Hope nobody else notices for 10 more minutes.

...

[Hobarticus]

52. Good to know that so many here would be willing accomplices in an attack...

on some bizarre notion of "principle".

"I won't report to the jackbooted thugs."

Nice. Thanks for watching my back.

[ecstatic]

57. LOL. I'm sure whoever said that was being sarcastic

At least... I hope so :scared:

[Hobarticus]

58. Sure as shit didn't seem sarcastic to me...

And yeah, it's pretty upsetting. How screwed up is that?

[Skittles]

59. I'd report it quickly

no one in their right mind does this at an airport any more

[Raejeanowl]

63. I Wouldn't Hesitate To Report It

It wouldn't take me ten minutes, just long enough to realize it was being abandoned.

You don't "deliberately" walk away from your property in a public venue.