Dulles LOUSY Airport Security

[Carni]

In light of this pants bomber drama...I just wanted to share an experience my husband had in August at Dulles airport in Northern VA.

My daughter had a friend fly here from another state, she is a minor so she had to be escorted back and forth to the gate by an adult--when she arrived and when she was dropped back off at Dulles to fly home about a week later.

My husband went back and forth through security twice on different dates with a lighter in his pocket (he didn't remember to remove it) and they never picked up on it -- and this is one of the airports the 911 planes flew out of?

What we are experiencing now is bush/cheney's "crack security" legacy as in they (IMO) didn't have tougher security after 911 -- just a bunch of nuisance mandates for the general public and their political enemies (Ted Kennedy on the no fly list? WTF?)

Hopefully this admin will be able to actually establish some type of security plan, because as far as I am concerned there wasn't one for several years under bush/cheney-- but this is Obama's fault?

I think not! Pants bomber was reported to US authorities under bush's reich and yet nothing was done!

[Tim01]

1. Nobody is willing to spend the time or money it would take for good security. nt

[PeaceNikki]

2. Lighters are permitted now.

On edit, there is a local story about a woman who filed a complaint because she mistakenly left mace in her purse and it wasn't caught:

http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/80241112.html

"Do you think they took your complaint seriously?" reporter Heather Shannon asked Anderson.

"Absolutely not," she replied.

Anderson said the written response she received is proof of that. In an email accidentally attached to hers, a TSA employee wrote to the co-worker handling Anderson's complaint, saying, "Please have a short and general response prepared. Don't like giving these too much credence or validation."

"After I saw that I was just livid," Anderson said.

[Shagbark Hickory]

3. WHAT?! Are you shitting me?

[PeaceNikki]

4. I shit you not.

http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/sop/index.shtm

[Warpy]

7. No, they unbanned them

Stupidest idea in the universe.

You don't have to bomb a plane. You just have to start a fire when it's over the middle of the Atlantic.

Allowing lighters on planes is the most idiotic thing they've ever done.

[Shagbark Hickory]

8. I guess the lighter manufacteres lobbiests weren't paying enough to keep that going nt

[PeaceNikki]

9. Even when they were banned, matches were allowed.

I'm no scientist, but I think they could be equally dangerous.

[Carni]

10. Damn! I had no idea they were permitted again!

Seems kind of dumb!

[kiva]

5. Airport security varies widely in severity.

Between 2002 and early 2005 I was flying between Las Vegas and Denver once a month; this was before (and during?) the remove shoes every time requirement, but I discovered that the same pair of shoes could go through LV security but set off the machines in Denver. I suspect that because Vegas is so dependent on tourism, there was an effort to make the procedure fast and relatively painless. It rarely took more than 10 minutes (if that) at McCarren, but DIA had lines that consistently took almost an hour to navigate.

As to the lighter, it may be that because lighters have been reallowed onboard for a couple of years, security doesn't require they be removed when you pass through the detectors? :shrug:

[JCMach1]

6. I won't say which airport in Europe, but I somehow got away (accidentally) with a full cologne

bottle in my carry-on. Certainly large enough to start a fire if I had been nefariously minded... :(

I didn't realize it until I got home.

[Carni]

12. My Mother flew with scissors in her purse

Also out of Dulles but in 08. She didn't realize they were in her purse (she's a fiber artist so she often takes them with her when she travels, but usually checks them in luggage) in any case they didn't pick up on them.

[marmar]

11. Dulles LOUSY Airport....

At least the United terminal is.....

[KG]

13. don't i know it! my nat. guard lil bro was guarding it a few weeks after 9-11.

think of an overweight Barney Fife w/ an M16.