Nail clippers are back! - a semblence of sanity returns to air travel

Actually, the no nail clippers deal was only immediately after 9/11. I've carried nail clippers on planes within a few months of 9/11. Including blunt scissors is nice and as some one said before, knitting needles actually have much more weapon potential than a two inch knife.:rolleyes:
 
what about other blunt objects? could someone get abord with something like the cold steel KOGA SD1? something like that or a Kubaton would probably be more effective than nail clippers as well though i have never heard of anyone being told they coulndn't bring them on a plane. After i had to give up or stay home when told to hand over my budwieser bottle opener i just made it a practice to not take anything other than a wallet, no belt, no change, no keys, i would just check everything. good to know though
 
It was only weeks after 9/11 that they announced that as long as your nail clipper didn't have an attached file with sharp point (often used to clean under the nail), you could carry it aboard. My clipper had such a point. They suggested simply breaking the file off. I used my Trusty, and not Rusty, Dremel Tool to quickly grind off that point and nicely round over the tip of my file. I've carried it with me on every trip since and I've never had a single problem with it.

It was also only weeks after 9/11 that they announded that safety razors with non-removable blades were acceptible.

Good grooming was restored to the friendly skies only weeks after the justifiable and understandable knee-jerry that immediately followed 9/11.
 
The article also mentions the requirement to remove shoes. The requirement for everyone to remove shoes and have them x-rayed was in place only a few weeks after the Shoe Bomber incident. But, today, airports conduct random "Shoe Days" on which everyone has to remove shoes.

A friend of mine, however, flew from Portland to Seattle on a one-way ticket purchased for cash moments before the flight (his wife had driven to Seattle a few days earlier for some conference and had, there, twisted her ankle and didn't want or feel able to drive back so, he flew up to drive her home). He reported receiving the most through inspection of his life.
 
Every little bit (of sanity) helps. A couple of random thoughts though.

I'm glad that more personal items can be carried on-board, but I'm not sure I'm happy with where the "electronic" searches are going. If anyone knows any way that someone's credit or flight history can even remotely identify them as a threat sufficient to warrant their extra search or harassment (aside from pure speculation), please share.

Along those same lines, anyone who thinks that a well (or poorly) planned terrorist attack is going to involve a last minute cash one-way ticket purchase seems deluded to me.
 
All the crap the airlines pulled after 9-11:

Breaking off nail files: Did this really make anyone safer? What happens if the terrorists send 10 300 pound karate experts?

Strip searching your grandma: After all the stories I've heard from people that have flown post 9-11 of old women and 80 year old congressional medal of honor winners getting searched, I firmly believe the airlines have a secret policy of picking on people who are completely unlikely to be terrorists, simply to prevent lawsuits for "racial-profiling." Yet with all this "security, a woman got on a plane with a gun in her carry-on(she got caught on the second leg of her her flight).

The only thing that made the airlines safer after 9-11 was the passengers. It was the passengers that prevented Richard Reid (the shoe-bomber) from blowing up the plane, and it is the passengers that subdue everybody that gets even a little whacky on a flight these days. All the airlines are interested in doing is providing an illusion of security, so they can continue to rip you off as a consumer and as a taxpayer. Remember the bailouts, and the layoffs, while the CEOs still make huge bucks? Remember the security screeners that were coached through federal exams?

The most shocking thing I've read after 9-11 is that several of the hijacked passengers who called their loved ones on their cell phones said the hijackers had guns. Yet this has never been officially confirmed. Why? Because it illustrates a huge security failure, and publicizing it would be bad for business. Instead they search your grandma.
 
The one-way ticket trigger is not aimed at large-scale organized terrorists, 9/11-style. Those guys spent millions of dollars preparing and organizing and training for that. They're not going to jepardize all of that to save a couple of hundred bucks by buying one-way tickets. It's aimed at copy-cat crazies and kooks. One can argue about it's effectivness.

And as for searching non-stereo-typical looking people, that's an obvious need. Recently, TSA found a loaded pistol concealed in a child's teddy bear. And a knife hidden in an infant's car seat. Everyone and everything has to be suspect and searched equally.
 
About time. This kind of security checking was I'm sure for effect to show they were doing something.

I had a nail file, scissors and a plastic nailfile and a disposable razor confiscated from my carry on luggage shortly after 9/11. The young customs officer waved the plastic nailfile under my nose and told me it was a weapon. When I asked about the duty free liquor in GLASS bottles many were carrying on board, I was informed that passengers would be upset if they confiscated that! They did not notice my straight razor or find the carbonfibre stilleto I had forgotten in my bag.

The VIP I was travelling with thought it was hysterical and asked if they thought I was going to threathen the crew with a manicure.

I have also heard a lot of stories from women who have had lipsticks and compacts confiscated - no one has yet explained the rationale of that one to me.
 
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