The reason for the totally insane "small bottles in a plastic bag rule" is totally BOGUS.
I agree.
Some nutjob teenagers allegedly were planning to blow up planes with liquids. They did not have the chemicals, they did not have any plane tickets and they were not arrested anywhere near an airport and the judges threw the case far away. The EU countries are trying to lift that now because it costs too much.
I don't know all of the particulars in the case but would like to put forth the idea that had we stopped..."stopped" the 19 hijackers on the morning of September 11, 2001, someone would have stepped forward and said, "Oh come on! Nineteen young men were going to hijack four airliners and kill the pilots with boxcutters? That's bullshit!"
But it happened.
During the early 1980-something planes were hijacked back and forth in Europe. There was planes hijacked almost once a week by the liberation front of this and that. Back then you could carry knives and guns on the plane and noone bothered.
Wow! You learn something new every day! I was not aware that you could carry a firearm on an airplane in Europe during that time! We couldn't here unless we checked it in. Or, what exactly are you trying to say? Hunters, for example, as far as I know, can still check a hunting rifle in and fly with it...they just cannot have it on them.
Knives, well, the Government and/or some airlines had a real problem with serrated knives like some Spydercos, etc., they didn't like that terrible aggressive look...ludicrous but true. But you could carry something like a Sebenza and your Kubotan on your keychain would be confiscated. You couldn't carry a Kubotan because it was a "weapon" but a pocketknife was just a pocketknife. My, how times change.
But just after some people flew planes into WTC (disregarding who did it and why and if it was a conspiracy etc) the most crazy rules were enforced. The rules have no meaning but to scare the Average Joe.
Yeah...nose hair trimmers were my favorite confiscated item.
It makes for an excellent business on E-bay, however, check it out some time. Nothing like the smell of theft.
I'm sure the people that own the little shops with the captive audience inside airports love the new rules so they can pump their Evian, Desani and Deer Park water along with other hand creams, etc., at outrageous prices. You pay or you don't get to take it onboard, etc.
Even if that shoe bomber guy had suceeded the plane wouldnt go down. He would most likely have blown his foot off and maybe injured the one sitting next to him. The thing that the plane will exlode from the pressure loss is just a Hollywood myth.
Actually, I don't think he would have blown his foot off as he had the shoe trying to light it to place it against the window of the plane.
I don't know if it would have went down or not but I damned sure wouldn't want to be on the plane that suffered such an instantaneous decompression.
Would the "shoe bomb" have went off? Don't know. I will never know. The government lies like criminals now anyway. No one will know. I think it is absolutely ridiculous that you have to take your shoes off now. You know what's coming next.
Don't fly. Don't give them your money. Best way to handle the situation. Don't expose yourself to their silliness.
I might have to pull Jury Duty, other things might happen and I might have to enter some governmental logic free zone and have to leave certain things like Kubotans and pocketknives in the car. These things are beyond my control. However, I don't have to give airlines and the government my money for travel. Here, you pay your security fee and then get treated like a piece of shit. The American People might possibly wake up one day and defund this stuff if they have to get the finger wave before they have to board. I doubt it though.
