I blogged a few months back about how ridiculous the rules are regarding the use of electronic equipment on airplanes. I often leave my iPod on, and sometimes (gasp!) my laptop, which I leave secretly running inside my briefcase. I am happy to report no problems so far.
A flight attendant did something on my flight a few days ago that I have beeen waiting to hear for a long time. After the initial announcement that everyone had to turn off their electronic devices, she let a few minutes pass. Then she got back on the microphone and said, “According to the reading on my equipment up front, there is still one cell phone turned on, so please check that you have turned yours off.”
Obviously, she has no equipment for detecting this, but you should have seen the passengers scramble to check their bags. Except for me, of course. My laptop hummed happily along under the seat in front of me. Still, brilliant on the part of the flight attendant, although I think it would have been more convincing coming from the pilot.
The Economist, meanwhile, picked up on a theme mentioned in my past blog post regarding the nonsense in the ritual airline safety message about “in the unlikely event of a water landing…” Here is the Economist’s version of the in flight announcement we really want to hear (although you may need to be a subscriber to follow the link).
And, finally, let’s hope you don’t have to sit next to me on your next flight. Not only do I put you at risk because I don’t turn off my iPod and thus interfere with airline communications, but TSA just confiscated my deodorant and my toothpaste. Of course they let me keep my contact lens solution. Hmmm…if I were a terrorist, don’t you think that I could figure out how to take the top off a bottle of contact lens solution and put my explosive liquids in there? It is totally pointless to enforce rules which impose costs on innocent people, but are easily circumvented by terrorists. Can anyone think this is accomplishing anything productive?
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You shouldn’t complain. Imagine having to fly Israel’s El Al Airlines frequently. The average wait is something like 3 hours for boarding and they spend somewhere around $70 per person for security as opposed to about $4 for domestic airlines. You can read about their extremely strict guidelines here:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/sept11/2001/10/01/elal-usat.htm
Of course continuing to break the rules for no apparent good reason is just going to cause more trivial security guidelines. And not taking 30 seconds to put your toothpaste in your checked baggage was probably not a good idea.
You shouldn’t complain. Imagine having to fly Israel’s El Al Airlines frequently. The average wait is something like 3 hours for boarding and they spend somewhere around $70 per person for security as opposed to about $4 for domestic airlines. You can read about their extremely strict guidelines here:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/sept11/2001/10/01/elal-usat.htm
Of course continuing to break the rules for no apparent good reason is just going to cause more trivial security guidelines. And not taking 30 seconds to put your toothpaste in your checked baggage was probably not a good idea.
The restrictions might not be as silly as you imply, according to the study described in this article.
The restrictions might not be as silly as you imply, according to the study described in this article.
Assuming for a moment that the cell phone restrictions actually have some validity (which I doubt), why isn’t the TSA worried that a terrorist might 1) deliberately leave his cell phone on or 2) modify his cell phone specifically to screw with the plane’s nav. systems, etc.? Let’s ban cellphones and computers!
Assuming for a moment that the cell phone restrictions actually have some validity (which I doubt), why isn’t the TSA worried that a terrorist might 1) deliberately leave his cell phone on or 2) modify his cell phone specifically to screw with the plane’s nav. systems, etc.? Let’s ban cellphones and computers!
It’s not one or two cell phones that they are worried about. It’s the collective effect of 100-450 phones or devices that do pose a threat. So, thanks for being part of the community.
It’s not one or two cell phones that they are worried about. It’s the collective effect of 100-450 phones or devices that do pose a threat. So, thanks for being part of the community.