A 2017 update… I must say that Sydney Airport has to be a magnet for the employment of the mentally ungifted, and they all unfortunately end up manning those absolutely useless bomb sniffing toys that airports employ to perpetuate the security theater charade that we all know and love.
These mental midgets (and face it, you wouldn’t be working security at an airport if you had ANY other job prospect!) are taught to parrot (or maybe they’re so stupid they actually believe) the useless security protocols used to give the casual traveler the illusion that they are safe, while anyone with youtube access is able to search for a plethora of items that are individually sold in the stores after security at EVERY airport in the world that, when combined, are 1000% more dangerous than the 100ml of shampoo you’re trying to smuggle on your flight. Some batteries and bottled water can build a bomb folks!!!!
Anyway, I had to laugh in the face of the stupid and pompous Sydney Nazi today who obviously drank the kool-aid during induction as he tried to do his pointless job.
I started thinking about how generally pointless it is to work at the security checkpoint at an airport last week when I got pulled up at an Australian airport just before I was boarding a domestic flight because I had a small pair of folding scissors in my hand luggage. Not a large pair but a small pair of the folding grooming/hobby scissors that are 2.5cm long when folded and 5 cm long when unfolded.
These same scissors had been through a plethora of security screening in the month prior including Melbourne Domestic, Melbourne International (twice!), Hong Kong (twice!), Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Wellington but it was Sydney Domestic that decided that this small pair of scissors, that would have trouble cutting a piece of paper, could bring down a plane.
It didn’t really worry me that I lost the scissors (I’ve already bought 4 more for $5 off eBay) but it pissed me off that our security screening is concentrating on such pointless stuff.
What’s the problems with the existing security protocol? Let’s look at a couple of examples
Well, for starters, we need to have a look at some of the things that you cannot take through a security checkpoint at an Australian airport. These come from this page http://travelsecure.infrastructure.gov.au/domestic/prohibited_list.aspx. Alot of things on these lists I wholeheartedly agree should be on the list, but some are just mind bogglingly stupid.
Knives (including leatherworkers’ knives) & Metal cutlery
Fair enough you might say. But if you are a member of an airline loyalty scheme that gives you access to a lounge that’s located after security then you will probably have unfettered access to metal cutlery including knifes, forks & spoons.
Also, if you fly in a premium cabin of the plane these days also there’s a fair chance that when you’re served your meal you’ll be given metal cutlery to use.
So, what is the point of having the security checkpoint check, and confiscate, for the very same items that you’ve got access to in the sterile area and on the plane?
Now, some people will quite legitimately say that the knife you get given will have major problems cutting through the supplied butter so it would be quite useless trying to use it as a weapon but I would be more concerned about the fork. Four sharp tines that could inflict severe damage on another person if you really tried.
Flying out of Perth I decided to time myself from the time I picked up my bags from the x-ray machine until I got to the knifes and forks in the lounge. It took, including getting stopped at the bomb detector machine, about 5 minutes until I would have been able to replace my knife & fork that would have been confiscated at the checkpoint. How’s that for pointless security!
Pointed metal scissors
Seems all metal scissors are a no no, not just the pointed variety. But why confiscate a small pair of hobby / grooming scissors when you can walk into a store in the sterile area around 30 metres from the security screening point and see a pair of large, around 15cm long metal scissors sitting on the counter? If you really wanted a pair of scissors in the sterile area all it would take would be for your partner to distract the sales person and you could pocket the far larger and more deadly pair of shop scissors.
Again, more pointless security screening.
There’s hundreds of things that are openly available in the sterile area and on your plane that are just as dangerous as a blunt knife, fork & hobby scissors.
I won’t even go into the damage that a pen or a broken wine bottle or wine glass could do to incapacitate a person but I’m sure your imagination can work it out.
I think we all know that security screening at an airport is just to give us the illusion that we’re secure. If the government & airports were really serious about security then they’d concentrate on the big ticket items and not worry about the small, inconsequential things. And they’d also ensure that the sterile area after security is, in fact, STERILE…. because at the moment it isn’t!
Update: I’m not the only one who thinks the searches they do at airport security are mostly useless given what you can get your hands on right after you pass into the so called “Sterile Area”. To prove the point have a read, and a look at the enclosed video, of this Gizmodo article titled Guy Builds a Bomb Just With Stuff You Can Buy After Airport Security. Just goes to show the people who control airport security screening aren’t overly intelligent.