321–330 of 512 posts
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They can still confiscate whatever they want, regardless of the rules: https://bbs.boingboing.net/t/makers-tsa-compliant-multitool-...
They confiscated a friend's _comb_, because it opened with a switchblade-style button.
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The 9-11 hijackers used razor blades. So, its been done. Of course, no American passenger is going to believe that everything will be fine if they comply these days so I don't think its possible to pull off 9-11 again.
There is a huge difference hijacking protocol between now and 9/11. Post 9/11 passengers are not going to allow a guy with a razor blade hijack a plane, or even several guys with razor blades. Passengers and crew members now fight back and have the advantage of numbers.
Yeah, but what if _everyone_ on the plane were a hijacker?
Wait...
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My friend accidentally took a multi-tool through airport screening shortly after 9/11 and had to lawyer up to get the resulting shitstorm to go away (and he's white and an American citizen) On the other hand, I remember when I was a kid in the 90s and accidentally took my pocket knife (3" blade) through screening, and they found it but let me bring it on the plane...
I used to take my CRKT M16-14 knife on the nerd bird SJC SEA round trip twice a week. Nobody cared. This was mid-90s until just before 9/11. I didn't try to hide it - just tossed it in the bin with my keys etc. https://www.copsplus.com/prodnum4396.php
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Please don't. We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11611215 and marked it off-topic.
Afraid of an NSL?
There are genuine means of protest if the TSA offends or inconveniences you. Death threats and incitement of violence, whether general or specific are not helpful - here or anywhere else, and may be illegal, depending on your jurisdiction.
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What will funding them "fully" accomplish? Do you believe that their inability to catch terrorists is a matter of lack of funding?
This is like the time I asked someone on Reddit what they meant by funding education "fully." They said, "double." So... we'd be a world leader in primary and secondary education again if we just spent twice what we currently do? Well, I guess it was an answer. There are 2 kinds of people: those who think that more money will somehow fix everything (them), and those that think more money will only exacerbate the prob…
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$7 billion a year just for the TSA budget. That's not counting all the indirect economic losses from the security theatre.
Or deaths due to people driving instead of flying. "Increased delays and added costs at U.S. airports due to new security procedures provide incentive for many short-haul passengers to drive to their destination rather than flying, and, since driving is far riskier than air travel, the extra automobile traffic generated has been estimated in one study to result in 500 or more extra road fatalities per year." https://…
Flight leaves at 6:00pm, gotta be there bare minimum 1 hour early, preferably 2+, going to split the different and say 90 mins.
Leave home at 4pm, drive 35 min to airport. Wait in line 15 mins to check bag. Allocate generous 20 mins for a quick security scan (this can blow up to 60 mins+ if it's a busy day and/or your airport sucks, but 20 mins is about the fastest you can really get through including time to walk to the checkpoint and be scanned). It's now 5:10. Sit around for 20 mins until your plane starts boarding. It's now 5:30. Sit on horrifyingly uncomfortable plane for 30 mins awaiting takeoff/other passengers to board. It's now 6. Your plane takes 10 mins to taxi and 45 mins to fly from point A to point B. It's now 6:55. Plane takes 10 min to taxi in (though I've waited 45 min+ before, especially at LAX). It takes 10 min for everyone to deplane. It's now 7:15. Once off plane, go wait at bag claim. We'll say it takes 20 mins to get there, wait for your flight to be unloaded, and wait for your bag. Now it's 7:35. Now you have to get from destination airport to actual destination, and you're probably looking at another 30 mins. That's 8:05. 4 hours and 5 minutes since you left your house.
So it takes 4 hours to do a 45 minute flight, and that's assuming everything is running quickly at the airport, which is often not the case. We also didn't include any time involved in arranging rides to/from the airport and/or parking, carefully reviewing your bag to make sure you didn't accidentally pack any liquids or gels that are larger than 3oz, etc.
It's faster to drive than to fly if your destination is within 4 hours' drive, and it's generally a no-brainer to drive due to the greater comfort it provides within 8 hours' drive. Flying is really only necessary once you get past that 8 hour drive barrier, and the only reason we tolerate flying being what it is is because it can turn a 24-hour+ drive into a 3 hour flight.
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> costs $1500 and about 6 months to process the paperwork that lets her stay Really not cool. Probably justify it by saying it takes a lot of time to process paperwork (that they created the requirement for in the first place...) Did you know that it also now costs $2350 for someone to renounce their US citizenship? It also takes an undefined amount of time (typically 12+ months) and they publish your name online on…
Revoking citizenship is a costly exercise. It was previously subsidized by all tax-payers, now it isn't. Not that it matters to the price/cost of doing it, but what do you think are the most common reasons for forfeiting US citizenship? I suspect it's tax-evasion.
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Oh come on. I fly through Europe twice to three times a year. The transfer from Charles de Gaulle is a nightmare worse than any major US airport. They literally make you leave the security area and go through security for simple transfers if you're coming from the states. That's shit design right there. A lot of international connections are terrible and knowing which airports/airlines do a good job is important. Its…
Heathrow too. I've made international transfers through terminal 5 and had to go through both immigration and security. And Heathrow is absolutely crazy about liquids. No cough syrup for you, because it's impossible to find bottles of it smaller than 100ml.
Here's an awesome TSA story for you: Late last year while trying to fly out of LAX a TSA employee thought I was carrying a throwing star. They called the police, who correctly identified as a toy in seconds. I thought the whole ordeal was over until I got a "notice of violation" in the mail from TSA 45 days later. Now I'm banned from pre-check for three years, even though I have global entry and even though the fine…
I didn't get a warning, but I did have my bag opened, all my belongings thrown out on the ground, and was delayed for 30-45 minutes... All this because I had a box of poptarts that apparently looked like a bomb.