[Gunner]

Man in St. Louis jailed after flight attendant asked him to close his laptop and
he responded, “Are you the one who checks for shoe bombs?”
3 days in jail and missed his wedding.
Look, I flew extensively in the 70's and 80's when hijacking was at its peak.
If you spotted a friend near a security check point and said, "Hi, Jack!!!",
BAM!!! you were arrested...or so the joke goes.
The TSA claims just the word "BOMB" will trigger the event.
OK, what if he said, “Are you the one who checks for shoe C4 or shoe boom-boom
or shoe explosives or shoe rockets or shoe guns or shoe fuses or....................."
You get the drift.
OK so this guy was an idiot but the deed does not deserve all this drama.

[Blackmirror]

Shafermeyer said he was flying to Maryland to get married and because he was anxious about the wedding and nervous about flying, he had a few drinks before getting to the airport.

It was the drink talking

[Daveskater]

That's ridiculous. Why would they arrest him for asking that? That's just paranoia taken to the extreme.

[Rik]

It was a Norton false positive again.

[evilfantasy]

I'm split on this topic.

A) Even if you think they are "just an airline attendant" this is no excuse to just pop off at the mouth. They aren't your boss but do deserve some respect.

B) 3 days is too extreme. A fine maybe, but not jail just for being an arse-hole.

[Gunner]

There is no split on this topic for me if the wording is correct. Stupidity on both sides.
"ISTANBUL, Oct 15: A drunk man sparked a hijack alert on a Turkish Airlines plane on
Wednesday after passing a note to the pilot saying he had a bomb."
"A drunk Brit was sentenced to four months in prison in the Gulf emirate for claiming he
had a bomb that would explode in seven minutes."
"A DRUNKEN passenger who caused panic on an easyJet flight to Edinburgh when
he tried to light a piece of paper stuck in a bottle was jailed for more than two
months today."
These 3 examples are cut and dried on jail time for these idiots but are not
in the same category as the St. Louis man. IMHO.

[Ukkonen]

In Finland they say to passengers who travel to USA not to talk about their security system on plane or on American airports, not to talk about bombs or hence to something to do with bombs and have your pockets empty at the flight and airport (or at least when I did my short trip to Miami with my parents few years ago).

[evilfantasy]

911 still is and probably will be for many, many years a very sensitive topic in the US. The passengers on a plane are all strangers to the crew. If you owned a shop and a stranger came in and said "I have a bomb" would you take them seriously? Should they just be able to get away with that sort of antics?

[Ukkonen]

yes, but I wouldn't call the police to the shop if a customer said "I want that"

I say that maybe they concentrate their force too much on these little things and can miss something big... If you know what I mean?

But I don't say that you in USA are ridiculous, we can be that here too!

[evilfantasy]

A few years before 911 there was, in my home state, the Oklahoma City bombing which killed 168.

Oklahoma City bombing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shortly after the explosion, Oklahoma State Trooper Charlie Hanger stopped 26-year-old Timothy McVeigh for driving without a license plate and arrested him for that offense and for unlawfully carrying a weapon.

A few days later while still in jail they tied him to the bombing. Never underestimate the "little things."

[Blackmirror]

With all the unrest in the Middle East at the minute i would be extra vigilant

[Ukkonen]

I weren't meaning things like this, this is a true thing what happened here few days ago

A Finnish man were going to Thailand, and he's wife had taken one wrong bag, guys hunting bag, it looked exactly the same as the babies bag.

Here you are not allowed to have liquids with you in the plane when you fly to countries like USA, UK or other what is under terrorist threat, so they did remove his toothpaste and showergeel, you can't take those things with you in the plane, you can do liquid bombs or that you can break the glass and make it to a weapon, when they were so on heat to find liquids, they didn't see the man was carrying two shotgun shells (the man didn't either know), when they did arrive Thailand they discovered in hotel that his wife had taken wrong bag and found the shotgun shells (he was uppset himself too), those could explode of heat and do some severe damage...

So when searching for the "dangerous and life threatening liquids" as toothpaste and drinking water, they missed the shotgun shells... That is what I meant with the "little things"

Instead of really watch for things that is for a threat, they have to concentrate on little things as toothpaste and thats why can miss something really important

And when I was a kid, about 10 years ago, kids were allowed to go to the cockpit with a flight attendant when it was a safe moment. For a 8 year old kid is a nice experience, to really see what it looks like from the front of plane and see where it's flying... Now those kids can be terrorists so no one is allowed there.. I think it's a shame, I have allways been fascinated about everything what's moving without muscle power it was a nice experience to visit the cockpit and talk to the pilots, but the kids nowadays can't get that experience :/

[Gunner]

I was merely pointing out a miscarriage of justice based on a bad decision.
The examples I pointed out are surely just in prosecution but the man who
only mentioned the word "bomb" with no intent of having/using one was a
ridiculous circumstance at the least.
As for liquids found during check-in, the reason given for this practice is to
discard flammable substances yet these confiscated liquids, and whatever
else they deem unsafe, are thrown in a barrel behind them to what???
Maybe blowup the whole place if something, which has never been found yet,
was actually a bomb-like substance that was detonated.
Taking off ones shoes for inspection is voluntary in most places but if you don't
you may/will wind up in a secondary check of all your open body cavities.
You will be standing there naked bent over spreading your cheeks but with your shoes on.
The intellect of a suicide bomber is low anyway but even an idiot wouldn't mention
the word bomb if they actually had one and planned to use it.
Hey, we all have an opinion and that's mine. TIFWIW.
(I don't have to fly any more and am very thankful for that.)

Oh yeah, one other thing...the TSA screeners are now wearing police-like uniforms with badges
to give the air of more superiority, authority and respect. Just wait for them to be issued guns and told
to use them at their discretion. Gun/badge syndrome leads to more problems than a one in
a billion possible terrorist.

[evilfantasy]

There was a flight earlier in the week where a guy, upon being asked to buckle up for landing, jumped up ran to the back of the plain and assaulted an attendant. He then announced he had a bomb and began trying to open the exit door, apparently to jump. The passengers detained him. He is now in a psyche ward. You just never know how serious, or not, someone is who is willing to make that claim.

Passengers subdue man who allegedly made bomb threat aboard Los Angeles-bound Delta airliner

A Kentucky man who claimed to have a bomb aboard a Los Angeles-bound jetliner and was then tackled and bound by other passengers will not face federal charges, the FBI said Wednesday.

If you're crazy they won't charge you. But if you are just being an arse-hole then you better watch your mouth. And rightly so IMHO!

[Gunner]

Got a jerk sitting next to you while cruising at 35,000 feet at 550MPH?
1. Quietly and calmly open up your laptop case.
2. Remove your laptop.
3. Start up
4. Make sure the guy who is annoying you can see the screen.
5. Close your eyes, join your palms together, tilt your head up to the sky & move
your lips as if praying
6. Then hit the link.

Oh, BTW, make sure this guy isn't an air marshal with a gun or he, in the words
of "Dirty Harry", will blow your head clean off.

See ya in the joint.

Mark Twain once said….”Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself.” hehehe

[Ukkonen]

If someone claims he has a bomb and acts like evilfantasy said earlier, so that is a security threat and you are a big arshole if you do so!... If some one here in plane says he has a bomb so it's serious!

But not if I walk on the airport and say to my friend "they seem to have hard security control here, lets see what happens next", we were advised to not to say like that when we arrive in USA, because security staff in USA may prevent us to come in to the country....

[Gunner]

There are some people that DO NOT JOKE...
Cops, ICE (immigration and customs enforcement), border patrol/agents,
TSA or anyone with Homeland Security and a myriad of other agencies that
"Protect and Serve". About the same throughout the world with some places
being a little more of less strict. Just the times we live in. No biggie.
(I never heard the word scud or IED trigger an event in the Mid East..)

[Sup2a]

talking about discarding liquids earlier, its certainly a precaution people need to take... high powered explosives can be made by seemingly harmless liquids or dangerous liquids disguised as other liquids, Id say quite a few of these laws are not over the top, however quite obviously joking about shoe bombs getting 3 nights is jail? I could easily see how it would spark a slight bit of uncertainty, but jail time and fines for joking... bit much

[Albert Lionheart]

I used to spend my working life sitting on aircraft and the abiding memory I have of security staff is that most of them are just plain stupid, bereft of imagination and unhelpful. Like the guard in Turkey who would not allow a woman to take a bottle of baby feed on the aircraft despite the fact that it was stuffed into the baby's mouth and being consumed by the brat.
I wouldn't do the job but I still think the people who work in this area should be given some social graces - bit like US Immigration Officers who have done the US tourist industry no end of harm with their sheer b loody mindedness!

[Gunner]

Me too, Albert, and I can't possibly make this crap up...................
"By today’s rules, I can carry on liquids in quantities of three ounces or less, unless
they’re in larger bottles. But I can carry on multiple three-ounce bottles. Or a single
larger bottle with a non-prescription medicine label, like contact lens fluid. It all has
to fit inside a one-quart plastic bag, except for that large bottle of contact lens fluid.
And if you confiscate my liquids, you’re going to toss them into a large pile right
next to the screening station — which you would never do if anyone thought they
were actually dangerous."

Can you please convince me there’s not an Office for Annoying Air Travelers making
this sort of stuff up?

I reiterate: Security vs Stupidity