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I stopped flying in 2003 as a direct result of the TSA. I used to fly everywhere with a mandolin, as it would fit into the overhead compartments and allowed me

I stopped flying in 2003 as a direct result of the TSA. I used to fly everywhere with a mandolin, as it would fit into the overhead compartments and allowed me to participate in the music scene at my destination. After the security theater was in full swing, I got stopped at a security checkpoint and was told that I could not take my spare set of strings onto the plane, because they might be used as a garrote. Knowing that I hadn’t changed them for a while, I asked whether it would be okay for me to sit there and change them. They agreed. So I took 15 minutes and put the new strings on my mandolin. That appeased them, and I continued on my long journey home. So, the strings were still allowed through… on my instrument. Where I could have removed them and fashioned a garrote just as easily as when they were new in the bag. The terrorists won. I never flew again.

Clamchop 3y ago
The kind of stand I and many others I'm sure would like to take but I, like most people I imagine, fly to do important things in the limited time I have, for which air travel is one hell of a luxury that makes it possible at all. Family, friends, personally significant trips. I don't fly for business but I figure that's a very important reason for many. They have most of us bent over a barrel. No free market to be seen here. Unless you count fuckhead rent seekers like Clear exploiting that the line to queue for security is technically in the airport's purview. Clear and the airports that participate are offensive.
- midoridensha 3y ago
  >I, like most people I imagine, fly to do important things in the limited time I have, for which air travel is one hell of a luxury that makes it possible at all. Family, friends, personally significant trips. If I didn't fly, I'd have to take a ship to visit my family, and that would probably take weeks and cost a fortune. I guess if you never leave the US, this kind of stand makes sense, but when you live on different continents it's not practical at all.
NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
The difference was not the location of the strings. To the TSA, the difference was your expertise in being able to change them on the spot. You proved that you are a mandolin player, and not merely an assassin who is carrying one as a cover story (but you could be both.) It's for this reason, supposedly, that we're asked to boot our laptops and so forth. Do we have a mundane or nefarious purpose?
- barsonme 3y ago
  Yet I can’t drink part of my water bottle to prove that it’s not an explosive.
  - csomar 3y ago
    I thought they don't allow water bottles so you don't mess up on the airplane.
    - lights0123 3y ago
      Most airports provide a water fountain, often with a dedicated water bottle filling spout, right after security.
      - marcus_holmes 3y ago
        I flew Scoot from SE Asia (Singapore or Bangkok, can't remember which) to Germany back in 2019, and they had one functioning water fountain between security and boarding. Needless to say, everyone wanted to fill their water bottles and the queue got long. So long that the plane started boarding before it was half done. Aircrew staff were shouting at people to stop filling their water bottles and get on the plane. We passengers, realising that for once we had some power, refused. We knew they couldn't take off with our baggage but not us, and getting our baggage off the plane would take longer than the delay to just fill our bottles. So we ignored the shouting and filled our bottles. The plane took off 15 mins late (iirc). It felt great :) I have no idea if it affected Scoot's policy on charging for water on the flight, or the airport's attitude to water fountains. I like to think it did. Flying out of Panama this year, we discovered that they don't care about water bottles. I would love for airport security to finally get over this idea that water bottles might potentially contain explosives.
cromka 3y ago
A typical case of Security through obscurity, just making an illusion of safety that anyone willing can workaround.
pjc50 3y ago
For me, it was when COVID was killing about three airliners worth of Americans a day but enforcing the water bottle rules (used in 0 attacks for a total of 0 fatalities) was far more important than anything to do with COVID.
- iforgotpassword 3y ago
  The Germanwings incident. I don't know how many lives were saved by locking the pilots in since 9/11, but I sure know how many were taken....
  - xattt 3y ago
    What are the airline security protocols like for domestic flights in China?
- nikanj 3y ago
  Enforcing the water bottle rule sells a lot of beverages at the airport, with a nice margin because the customers have no options
  - AdamN 3y ago
    These days there are water bottle filling stations in almost all airport terminals.
    - simonebrunozzi 3y ago
      15 years later.
- AdamN 3y ago
  Liquid explosives have been used in multiple attacks, one of which was almost successful (but not in the end). The rationale for banning larger quantities of liquid are rational and done in response to a specific incident: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_transatlantic_aircraft_plot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_transatlantic_aircraft_pl...
callalex 3y ago
Speaking of instruments and the TSA, the first few times I flew with a brass instrument I accidentally forgot to remove my [over-the-limit] ounces of lubricant with explosive vapors, as well as the large blade I use for cutting strings and other instrument maintenance. After that I started doing it on purpose just to prove to myself that if I wanted to become a terrorist it would take less than zero effort to just hide everything in a French Horn. It’s such a pathetic joke, and you’re right that the Taliban won.

Clamchop 3y ago

The kind of stand I and many others I'm sure would like to take but I, like most people I imagine, fly to do important things in the limited time I have, for which air travel is one hell of a luxury that makes it possible at all. Family, friends, personally significant trips. I don't fly for business but I figure that's a very important reason for many. They have most of us bent over a barrel. No free market to be seen here. Unless you count fuckhead rent seekers like Clear exploiting that the line to queue for security is technically in the airport's purview. Clear and the airports that participate are offensive.

midoridensha 3y ago
>I, like most people I imagine, fly to do important things in the limited time I have, for which air travel is one hell of a luxury that makes it possible at all. Family, friends, personally significant trips. If I didn't fly, I'd have to take a ship to visit my family, and that would probably take weeks and cost a fortune. I guess if you never leave the US, this kind of stand makes sense, but when you live on different continents it's not practical at all.

NoZebra120vClip 3y ago

The difference was not the location of the strings. To the TSA, the difference was your expertise in being able to change them on the spot. You proved that you are a mandolin player, and not merely an assassin who is carrying one as a cover story (but you could be both.) It's for this reason, supposedly, that we're asked to boot our laptops and so forth. Do we have a mundane or nefarious purpose?

barsonme 3y ago
Yet I can’t drink part of my water bottle to prove that it’s not an explosive.
- csomar 3y ago
  I thought they don't allow water bottles so you don't mess up on the airplane.
  - lights0123 3y ago
    Most airports provide a water fountain, often with a dedicated water bottle filling spout, right after security.
    - marcus_holmes 3y ago
      I flew Scoot from SE Asia (Singapore or Bangkok, can't remember which) to Germany back in 2019, and they had one functioning water fountain between security and boarding. Needless to say, everyone wanted to fill their water bottles and the queue got long. So long that the plane started boarding before it was half done. Aircrew staff were shouting at people to stop filling their water bottles and get on the plane. We passengers, realising that for once we had some power, refused. We knew they couldn't take off with our baggage but not us, and getting our baggage off the plane would take longer than the delay to just fill our bottles. So we ignored the shouting and filled our bottles. The plane took off 15 mins late (iirc). It felt great :) I have no idea if it affected Scoot's policy on charging for water on the flight, or the airport's attitude to water fountains. I like to think it did. Flying out of Panama this year, we discovered that they don't care about water bottles. I would love for airport security to finally get over this idea that water bottles might potentially contain explosives.

cromka 3y ago

A typical case of Security through obscurity, just making an illusion of safety that anyone willing can workaround.

pjc50 3y ago

For me, it was when COVID was killing about three airliners worth of Americans a day but enforcing the water bottle rules (used in 0 attacks for a total of 0 fatalities) was far more important than anything to do with COVID.

iforgotpassword 3y ago
The Germanwings incident. I don't know how many lives were saved by locking the pilots in since 9/11, but I sure know how many were taken....
- xattt 3y ago
  What are the airline security protocols like for domestic flights in China?
nikanj 3y ago
Enforcing the water bottle rule sells a lot of beverages at the airport, with a nice margin because the customers have no options
- AdamN 3y ago
  These days there are water bottle filling stations in almost all airport terminals.
  - simonebrunozzi 3y ago
    15 years later.
AdamN 3y ago
Liquid explosives have been used in multiple attacks, one of which was almost successful (but not in the end). The rationale for banning larger quantities of liquid are rational and done in response to a specific incident: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_transatlantic_aircraft_plot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_transatlantic_aircraft_pl...

callalex 3y ago

Speaking of instruments and the TSA, the first few times I flew with a brass instrument I accidentally forgot to remove my [over-the-limit] ounces of lubricant with explosive vapors, as well as the large blade I use for cutting strings and other instrument maintenance. After that I started doing it on purpose just to prove to myself that if I wanted to become a terrorist it would take less than zero effort to just hide everything in a French Horn. It’s such a pathetic joke, and you’re right that the Taliban won.