Worst airline safety experiences

[Kobun]

I've had what must have experienced what must have been the worst safety infraction at an airport, ever.

I won't name airport or airline for safety reasons, but here goes.

I was about to board a 747, having gone through a very thorough security check, where I even had to remove my boots!
As they started boarding the jumbo, me and another guy got called by name.
I imidiatly knew the reason and wasn't alarmed about it.
I had guns in my suitcase...
So, I'm told I will have to point out my suitcase to claim it as mine. Fine.
Me and the other guy is taken through some coridors, down some stairs to the front of the plane.
Of course they make us wait for someone.
After a few minutes were in a car going to the other side of the airport!
Were taken to a small building with some x-ray (or whatever) machines.
There is my suitcase in the middle of the floor.
"Yup, thats mine" I say.
But that wasn't enough.
Could I please show them the contents?
Sure.
So I open the case, and a crowd gathers around me.
The other guy had a hunting rifle.
I had a Glock, a SIG 552 and a Neostead.
Haven't any of these guys seen a gun before?
I had packed the guns with a vital part in another bag, and the ammo was with the guns. Perfectly legal.
Ammo... One of the "supervisors" didn't like that it was in the suitcase.
Atleast one of the guys (the one that brought us out there) agrees with me that this is safe, so they argue for several minutes.
The supervisor even asks if I could take the ammo with me. Into the plane...!
"Eeh. Sure, I guess". :banghead:
But, finally (with the rapidly upcoming departure time and all), they deside I have it packed all-right.
Could I please re pack my suitcase, they ask, and the leave!

So there I am.
Alone with my luggage containing guns, ammo, knifes, batons and a bunch of other things...

So I close up my suitcase, and drag it out to the car waiting outside.
We drive up to the 747 and the suitcase is loaded directly into the plane.

And then...
Me and the other guy is lead up a flight of outside stairs, directly into the gate.
We hand our tickets to the staff, as we are now not at the gate, but at the planes door!
And the we board.

Wow. Great security!
Jeeze!
First they make me take my boots off, and then they hand me guns and knifes and let me board.
I figured it would be best for me to shut up then.

 

[RANash]

Why not name the airline and airport?

When I travel with a firearm, I visit the airline's web site, find their firearm policy statement, print it out with the airline's logo on it, and carry it with me when I go to the airport. Then, when you get an ignorant airline employee, you whip it out and explain that you followed the airline's published guidelines. They read it, and then say, "Uh, OK."

Unfortunately, that doesn't work as well on the TSA personnel.

 

[dhoomonyou]

about 20 + years ago.....

My brother and I are on a DC10 from chicago to seattle, sitting next to an exit door, the plane taxi's to the runway, gets set and the pilot hits the gas, then suddenly stops short.....***!? The CO pilot comes down the aisle and leans against the exit door and it OPENS! he closes and LOCKS it, tells the stewardess to buy us a drink. The plane re taxis to the runway and off we went.

 

[Peetmoss]

That is well nuts. Why waste all this time and money if they are just going to basicly give you your guns to sneak on the plane knowingly. I have seen poor security at the airport before but this is just rediculous.

 

[Thumper]

vital part in another bag

Not familiar with that...none of the carriers I fly have that requisite.

Contrary to what one would expect, the desk folks are usually remarkably "ho-hum"about it.

"I need an 'unloaded firearm tag.'"

"Okay...can you show me it's clear?"

"Sure."

"Just set the bags on the conveyer. Here's your boarding pass."

"Gracias."

 

[Black92LX]

is it really this easy?? i have never traveled with my guns. just seems strange.

 

[Jeff OTMG]

You would not be able to do that on a U.S. carriier. Only screened and badged personel are permitted in secure areas of the airport and once your luggage is turned over to TSA for inspection you are not allowed to touch the contents. Of course over here your luggage would never have made it that far without someone questioning it. Here you do not even proceed to the security screening checkpoint until you luggage has completed the screening process and is okayed to be loaded into the aircraft.

A SIG 552 and a Neostead, we only wish. I hope to be going to Switzerland in the next year or two to do some shooting. I have a friend with a locker over there who bought a 14' SIG 552, full auto of course, that he keeps there to shoot when he is in country. I am thinking about acquiring a few to stow there as well. There are VERY few Neosteads over here, only about 25 I think. Someday we will get them. I am trying to work with Global Trades in Houston to get them in, they have an import license.

 

[hksw]

Dang, my little incident of getting my Craftsman Allen-type hex wrenches taken away from me last week at Columbus, OH doesn't sound quite as bad. I still can't think of a way on how to take over or disable a plane in flight with Allen wrenches.

 

[tyme]

They took away an allen wrench set? What, were the small ones stabbing weapons?

 

[critter]

As of the date October 28-29 of this year! Go to Atlanta airport, go through security checkpoint. Bleeped on belt buckle, watch, zipper in wallet, etc. Of course, leatherman tool, nail clippers, nail files and such WMD are NOT TO PASS through security. FINALLY cleared. INSIDE THE SECURITY AREA, THERE IS A SHOP SELLING NAIL CLIPPERS, TWO TO A PACKAGE, ONE SMALL REGULAR SIZE AND ONE LARGE TOE CLIPPER SIZE!!!!!!!!!! COULD PURCHASE ALL YOU WANTED AND LOAD ON PLANE WITH THEM.

The security is simply a CYA ploy so that if (WHEN) something else happens, they can get enough lil ole ladies who were strip searched to testify that they had a 'great' security program. Therefore, you can NOT SUE US!

Absolutely un-freakin believable!

 

[einnor1040]

They took away an allen wrench set? What, were the small ones stabbing weapons?

I had Canadian Customs take a Fluke Multimeter away from me once about 15 years ago. I never got it back. They were giving some guys coming in from the US to hunt a rough time too. They were checking their guns over and had all there suitcases emptied out going thru everything.

 

[OEF_VET]

The only time I've ever flown commercial with a weapon was returning from Afghanistan via Germany to Baltimore.

My LT and I stepped up to the Customs agent in Baltimore and when he asked if we had anything to declare, my response was to show him my orders and say "We're returning from Afghanistan, and have 2 automatic rifles, a pistol, and three sets of Army owned night vision goggles in this box." He handed us our customs forms, said "Welcome home.", and sent us on our way.

The next morning when we checked in for our continuing flight, we told the same thing to the lady at the ticket counter, and told her that one of us would need to remain within an arms reach of the box at all times. She called a National Guardsman over, he had us open the box, then he gave me and the box a ride on his golf cart to the secure baggage area and left me there until they were ready to load the box and I onto the plane. They drove me out on the golf cart, loaded it, thanked me, shook my hand and led me onto the plane, where the pilot made an annoucement about the two of us and where we had been. the response from the other passengers was quite nice.

Sometimes it's nice to be more equal than others and get the special treatment. I mean, I could have bought a full-auto AK in Bagram for $400, or an RPG for not much more, and snuck it back without a problem. Too bad I didn't know how easy it would have been.

Frank

(Of course, it's much different being a civilian than this situation.)

 

[Thumper]

is it really this easy?? i have never traveled with my guns. just seems strange.

It's really that easy...and beats the heck out of buying a new carry gun at your destination.

 

[tyme]

You can ship it to yourself overnight (just not via usps), right?

 

[papercut]

critter observed the following FUBAR by yet another government TLA:
As of the date October 28-29 of this year! Go to Atlanta airport, go through security checkpoint. Bleeped on belt buckle, watch, zipper in wallet, etc. Of course, leatherman tool, nail clippers, nail files and such WMD are NOT TO PASS through security. FINALLY cleared. INSIDE THE SECURITY AREA, THERE IS A SHOP SELLING NAIL CLIPPERS, TWO TO A PACKAGE, ONE SMALL REGULAR SIZE AND ONE LARGE TOE CLIPPER SIZE!!!!!!!!!! COULD PURCHASE ALL YOU WANTED AND LOAD ON PLANE WITH THEM.

The security is simply a CYA ploy so that if (WHEN) something else happens, they can get enough lil ole ladies who were strip searched to testify that they had a 'great' security program. Therefore, you can NOT SUE US!

Absolutely un-freakin believable!

A bit more believable when you find out that Atlanta airport security is run by Beverly Harvard, the former Atlanta chief of police. (She's actually the deputy airport security administrator, or whatever the second-in-command title is.)

But wait!, you exclaim. Surely a former police chief of a large metropolitan city has some idea on how to handle security.

Well....maybe that's true for some former chiefs, but not Harvard. She only got the job because she was easy for the corrupt former mayor, Bill Campbell, to manipulate.

Perhaps her best qualification is that she's one of the very few high-ranking members of the former Campbell administration who has not been indicted on criminal charges.

http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/2002-01-02/flipside.html

 

[Fly320s]

As of the date October 28-29 of this year!

That's a neat trick considering that today is Oct 17.

I worked a four day trip this year where I went through security at 5 different airports. I had a three inch pocket knife in my bag the whole time.

oops.