Absurd new airline rules...

[CosmicCowboy]

WTF??? I don't mind reasonable precautions but this shit has nothing to do with safety and just pisses me off...

It's all on the LAST HOUR of the trip?

-Can't get into overhead bins/carry on luggage.

-Can't use the restroom.

-Cant' have ANYTHING in you lap...computer, book, blanket etc. Both hands have to be in plain sight.

what the hell are they gonna do when someone really has to use the restroom?

And all this stuff is only dangerous in the LAST hour? It's not dangerous on takeoff but it's dangerous on landing?

Fucking idiots. Shit.

[Kori Ellis]

So on short trips (L.A. to Vegas for example), you just can't do anything except sit there because the flight is less than an hour?

[CosmicCowboy]

Apparently so. Absolutely ridiculous.

[ashbeeigh]

This is just for international flights, from my understanding. All prompted by what happened over the holiday weekend.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34601479/ns/travel-tips/

Oh here's a better one:

http://www.startribune.com/local/80183407.html?elr=KArksD:aDyaEP:kD:aU2EkP7K_t:aDya EP:kD:aUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU




New security guidelines for international flights also limit passengers to one carry-on bag and require that during the last hour of a flight passengers remain in their seats and keep all items out of their laps.

[CosmicCowboy]

WASHINGTON – Some airlines were telling passengers on Saturday that new government security regulations prohibit them from leaving their seats beginning an hour before landing

The regulations are a response to a suspected terrorism incident on Christmas Day.

Air Canada said in a statement that new rules imposed by the Transportation Security Administration limit on-board activities by passengers and crew in U.S. airspace. The airline said that during the final hour of flight passengers must remain seated. They won't be allowed access to carryon baggage or to have any items on their laps.

Flight attendants on some domestic flights are informing passengers of similar rules. Passengers on a flight from New York to Tampa Saturday morning were also told they must remain in their seats and couldn't have items in their laps, including laptops and pillows.

The TSA issued a security directive for U.S.-bound flights from overseas, according to a transportation security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly.

The official said passengers traveling internationally could see increased security screening at gates and when they check their bags, as well as additional measures on flights such as stowing carryons and personal items before the plane lands.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement Saturday that passengers flying to the U.S. from overseas may notice extra security, but she said the measures "are designed to be unpredictable, so passengers should not expect to see the same thing everywhere."

A Nigerian passenger on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam allegedly attempted to start a fire as the plane prepared to land in Detroit on Friday, according to authorities. The incident has sparked a major international terrorism investigation.

Air Canada said it was limiting passengers to one carryon bag in response to a request from the U.S. and Canadian governments.

The airline advised U.S.-bound passengers to restrict their carryon item to "the absolute minimum" or to not carry any bag on board at all.

"Carriage of any carryon item will result in lengthy security delays for the customer," the airline said.

U.S.-bound flights on all airlines are experiencing significant delays, said Duncan Dee, Air Canada's executive vice president and chief operating officer.

A spokeswoman with Infraero, a Brazilian government agency that oversees airport infrastructure, said that airlines had been asked by federal authorities to add another layer of security for international flights originating in the country after the attempted attack in the U.S.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to discuss the matter, said that passengers would face an extra screening that would take place just before they boarded planes. She would give no more details, citing security concerns.

David Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, said the domestic airline industry has been in close coordination with the security administration since Friday's incident and there will be increased scrutiny of passengers. He declined to comment on whether new regulations have been put in place.

[CosmicCowboy]

Apparently it's not just international flights.

[z0sa]

USG: Taking away our rights one terrorist act at a time.

[thispego]

you have a going problem, cc? can't hold ur peepee for an hour?

[to21]

lol...thats what I was gonna say.

[ashbeeigh]

Apparently it's not just international flights.

Everywhere I've heard it's only international flights. However, it's a brand new rule so it's probably still trickling down being refined. Nothing is ever certain, and it's the government.

I don't fly so it won't affect me. Just reporting what I've heard.

[CosmicCowboy]

you have a going problem, cc? can't hold ur peepee for an hour?

Well, I'm probably average for someone my age, but I sure like to have the option available if I want it.

But I DO read when I fly. I can typically knock out an average hardback book between SA and LA. That rule REALLY pisses me off if they actually enforce it.

[Bukefal]

Well this is hysteria you get after such things have happened. And its totally unnecessary, because if a terrorist wants to do something, he will, he will find a way, if you keep your laptop on your lap or not, doesn't matter a shit. Hysteria, that's what it is.

They cant keep doing this, taking it over the top, under the name of 'regulations against terrorism'.

Its Bullshit.

Just like the other nigerian guy on a flight to detroit. The hysteria is so increased, that when people see someone who even looks a tiny little bit funny, is immediately labeled as a possible terrorist. And the poor guy had just a food poisoning and was feeling a bit sick. hysterical.....

[baseline bum]

When are they going to make everyone fly naked?

[Winehole23]

When are they going to make everyone fly naked?Shortly before cavity searches become routine.

[PixelPusher]

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/12/odds-of-airborne-terror.html


Over the past decade, according to BTS, there have been 99,320,309 commercial airline departures that either originated or landed within the United States. Dividing by six, we get one terrorist incident per 16,553,385 departures.

These departures flew a collective 69,415,786,000 miles. That means there has been one terrorist incident per 11,569,297,667 mles flown. This distance is equivalent to 1,459,664 trips around the diameter of the Earth, 24,218 round trips to the Moon, or two round trips to Neptune.

Assuming an average airborne speed of 425 miles per hour, these airplanes were aloft for a total of 163,331,261 hours. Therefore, there has been one terrorist incident per 27,221,877 hours airborne. This can also be expressed as one incident per 1,134,245 days airborne, or one incident per 3,105 years airborne.

There were a total of 674 passengers, not counting crew or the terrorists themselves, on the flights on which these incidents occurred. By contrast, there have been 7,015,630,000 passenger enplanements over the past decade. Therefore, the odds of being on given departure which is the subject of a terrorist incident have been 1 in 10,408,947 over the past decade. By contrast, the odds of being struck by lightning in a given year are about 1 in 500,000.

This means that you could board 20 flights per year and still be less likely to be the subject of an attempted terrorist attack than to be struck by lightning.

Fuck security theater.

[angel_luv]

Good thing I travel with interesting people since I am not going to be allowed even a book for the last hour of flights.

I really don't get the book restriction- unless of course someone was reading Terrorism for Dummies. :lol

[thispego]

well, i'm probably average for someone my age, but i sure like to have the option available if i want it.

But i do read when i fly. I can typically knock out an average hardback book between sa and la. That rule really pisses me off if they actually enforce it.

they gonna take away the sky mall magazines and shit, also? What if you want to sit there that last hour of your flight and read the safety procedures?

[CosmicCowboy]

Well, at least Janet Incompetano finally admitted today that they might have done a few things wrong Christmas day..Up until now she has been saying "everything worked the way it was supposed to"...I was like uhhh WTF? It was blind dumb luck. The dudes detonator malfunctioned and then the other PASSENGERS took him down...

[EmptyMan]

Just advance plane technology so we each have our own pods.


This is also going to make it hard for fellow passengers to phone-video me saving Flight 234467 and it making it onto every news channel enabling me to never have to pay taxes again after becoming the #1 national hero.

[Das Texan]

Just do your fucking job at the screening.

[DisgruntledLionFan#54,927]

what the hell are they gonna do when someone really has to use the restroom?



It's funny, I was just talking to my folks about this since we travel the DTW/AMS legs quite frequently.

Are you supposed to just piss and/or shit in your pants?

How long will it be before some dude just whips out his cack and pisses on the seat in front of him or on the floor?

Really, what other options would you have?

[boutons_deux]

The charade of the new on-flight rules convincingly confirms the forever charade and futility of pre-flight inspections.

Judging from the TSA staff I've seen at the inspection stations, TSA is an employer of last resort.

[Slomo]

It's funny, I was just talking to my folks about this since we travel the DTW/AMS legs quite frequently.

Are you supposed to just piss and/or shit in your pants?

How long will it be before some dude just whips out his cack and pisses on the seat in front of him or on the floor?

Really, what other options would you have?

Piss in the barf bag?

[DisgruntledLionFan#54,927]

Forgot about that. Options are definitely limited, though.

Did it surprise you that this went down at or through Schipol, Slomo?

[Slomo]

Forgot about that. Options are definitely limited, though.

Did it surprise you that this went down at or through Schipol, Slomo?

Well yes and no.

Yes, because Schiphol has this weird double security checks, where you have to go through security twice (once at the entrance to the terminal and once at the gate) as opposed to most airports where you only go once. So in theory the guy had to go a security not only at his departure point but also at Schiphol. Of course all US bound planes in Europe have additional checks so he might have gone through two checks in AMS.

No because I often get the feeling that the employees at Schiphol only go through the motions. They are not well organized and the gate check is badly setup, creating crowds and bottle necks and stressing everybody - in effect lowering the precision of the check.

All of the above relates to internal EU flights. I've never flown intercontinental from AMS.

IMO the most thorough and professionally executed security checks in the EU are Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich. There's only one check but they always stumble on some of my stranger carry on items (my carry on bag looks like a gift basket from an electronic store :) ), but at the same time there are enough of them not to create huge cues.

What I don't get is that with the new mandatory 48hrs. advance registration the guy was allowed to board the plane despite of his name being on the suspect list.

These new rules are retarded! I don't really understand what they are trying to achieve except to make everybody even more nervous - you know there are going to be stupid accidents with people flipping out.

Oh and the absolutely best and most thorough security check: Ben Gurion airport Tel Aviv. I never understood why nobody was copying that model.

[mrsmaalox]

Okay everyone, just relax :lol

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091228/ap_on_bi_ge/us_airline_attack_passenger_tolerance;_ylt=ArCfFcB 7gzhnj7S8DyVTjdJ34T0D;_ylu=X3oDMTM3MWlpZDZrBGFzc2V 0A2FwLzIwMDkxMjI4L3VzX2FpcmxpbmVfYXR0YWNrX3Bhc3Nlb mdlcl90b2xlcmFuY2UEY3BvcwMzBHBvcwMxMARzZWMDeW5fdG9 wX3N0b3J5BHNsawNpbi1mbGlnaHRzZWM-

In-flight security rules eased


By DAVID KOENIG, AP Airlines Writer David Koenig, Ap Airlines Writer – 36 mins ago
DALLAS – In-flight security rules have been eased after a two-day clampdown, airline officials familiar with the matter said Monday.

At the captain's discretion, passengers can once again have blankets and other items on their laps or move about the cabin during the tail end of flight. In-flight entertainment restrictions have also been lifted.

The airline officials spoke on condition of anonymity because federal safety officials had not publicly announced the changes.

Security rules were relaxed in the last 24 hours, one official said.

Tougher airline security measures were imposed Friday after a man flying from Nigeria to Amsterdam then to the U.S. on a Northwest Airlines flight tried to ignite an explosive as the plane prepared to land in Detroit. On Sunday, police met another Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight after the crew reported a "verbally disruptive passenger." A law enforcement official said the man posed no security risk to the plane.

Government officials have refused to discuss what restrictions had been put into place, but in many airports lines were longer and security personnel were extra diligent.

Travelers on incoming international flights said that during the final hour, attendants removed blankets, banned opening overhead bins, and told passengers to stay in their seats with their hands in plain sight.

In Philadelphia, sisters Leslie and Lilliam Bernal said security was much tighter as they returned from a wedding in the Dominican Republic than it had been in September, when they made the same trip.

Leslie, 26, of Keasby, N.J., said security screeners in Santo Domingo asked her to lift her long hair so they could look at her back.

"I don't mind at all," she said. "I'd rather them do what they have to do."

Authorities introduced a second layer of security at Pearson International Airport in Toronto. On Monday morning, every U.S.-bound passenger was subjected to a pat down and their luggage was inspected by hand. It took about three hours for travelers to get through the checks.

On one Air Canada flight from Toronto to New York's La Guardia Airport the crew told passengers before departure that in addition to remaining in their seats for the duration of one-hour flight, they were not allowed to use any electronic devices — even iPods — or their own headphones. The crew also told passengers that they would not be able to access their personal belongings because of the "enhanced security procedures."

At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, television screens were tuned to the Atlanta Falcons football game, and some passengers were only faintly aware of Friday's incident in Detroit.

Jeff Fox, of Alpharetta, Ga., who was returning with his family from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. after a weeklong cruise, said he will tolerate new restrictions if officials think they will keep passengers safer.

"I'm one of those who trusts that they're trying to do the right thing, even if it is a pain," he said.

The incident Friday, however, continued to raise questions about security, said Jack Riepe, a spokesman for the Association of Corporate Travel Executives.

Riepe said corporate travel managers want to know how Friday's suspect reached Detroit even though he was on a watch list maintained by counterterrorism experts. A government official said the suspect's father raised concerns about him to U.S. officials several weeks ago, but the father's information about his son's possible ties to fundamentalist Islamic groups was too vague to act upon.

U.S. airlines have been appealing to federal officials to make restrictions effective but palatable to passengers.

They remember that passengers accepted tough new security measures immediately after the 2001 terror attacks, which grounded all flights for several days, but that support for the restrictions waned.

___

[mrsmaalox]

Ha Schiphol! I was once escorted to an interrogation room by a guy with a machine gun when the the metallic wrapper of a chocolate bar in my pocket set off an alarm. :rolleyes

[CosmicCowboy]

Ha Schiphol! I was once escorted to an interrogation room by a guy with a machine gun when the the metallic wrapper of a chocolate bar in my pocket set off an alarm. :rolleyes

Sounds vaguely erotic. Did he give you the full pat down once he got you to your private interrogation room? :lol

[Mark in Austin]

I can't remember which comedian suggested this, but it seems timely: why can't the next terrorist plant his bomb on a crying baby so those get banned from flights?

If we ever want to get serious about airport security, we would follow the Israeli model: everybody gets screened quickly and efficiently. Every bag gets opened and searched quickly and efficiently. There is a chain of custody label for every bag you bring into the airport. If the bags don't match at any of the checkpoints, you get removed from the line and the bag is isolated. Fast. Professional. Effective. And you get to keep your shoes and underwear on.

[mrsmaalox]

Sounds vaguely erotic. Did he give you the full pat down once he got you to your private interrogation room? :lol

Well he did say the body cavity search was mandatory! :lol

[Viva Las Espuelas]

If we ever want to get serious about airport security, we would follow the Israeli model: everybody gets screened quickly and efficiently. Every bag gets opened and searched quickly and efficiently. There is a chain of custody label for every bag you bring into the airport. If the bags don't match at any of the checkpoints, you get removed from the line and the bag is isolated. Fast. Professional. Effective. And you get to keep your shoes and underwear on.

Amen. It's efficiently but I don't know about quickly. I heard it takes 3 hours. El Al airport. I believe they interrogate everyone and have never had an incident. They even give you a steak knife for your meal. The airline, that is, not the airport itself. I'm all for that but being that we like to baby people and want to be PC with every little thing it'll never happen here. Oh well.

[SAtown]

So on short trips (L.A. to Vegas for example), you just can't do anything except sit there because the flight is less than an hour?

Yes. I was on 2 separate 1 hour flights yesterday and on both I couldn't do anything.

[Wild Cobra]

WTF??? I don't mind reasonable precautions but this shit has nothing to do with safety and just pisses me off...

It's all on the LAST HOUR of the trip?

-Can't get into overhead bins/carry on luggage.

-Can't use the restroom.

-Cant' have ANYTHING in you lap...computer, book, blanket etc. Both hands have to be in plain sight.

what the hell are they gonna do when someone really has to use the restroom?

And all this stuff is only dangerous in the LAST hour? It's not dangerous on takeoff but it's dangerous on landing?

Fucking idiots. Shit.
Your new demonrat government at work.

Couldn't stop the guy, so they have to make life hell for everyone to make the scared pussies think they are doing something.

I'll bet most libtards think it will make a difference!

[Winehole23]

Must not be any libtards on ST. I don't see anyone defending this weak bs.

[Wild Cobra]

USG: Taking away our rights one terrorist act at a time.
Well, like it or not, flying is a commercial service. It is not a right to fly.

Still, they are getting ridiculous just because they fucked up, allowing that shit in a flight.

Really now, is an hour going to make a difference?

[Wild Cobra]

Must not be any libtards on ST. I don't see anyone defending this weak bs.
And for the record, I don't call all liberals libtards.

[Winehole23]

And for the record, I don't call all liberals libtards.Of course not. The ones you agree with you call "conservative".

[jcrod]

you have a going problem, cc? can't hold ur peepee for an hour?

Well when your drinking at the bar in the airport and then have a couple on the flight, you need the option to piss when you need to. An hr could be a long freaking hr, then waiting to get off....

[baseline bum]

Of course not. The ones you agree with you call "conservative".

:rollin

[phyzik]

So, what happens if someone is reading a book and refuses to put it away. What exactly are they going to do to that person?

[Winehole23]

So, what happens if someone is reading a book and refuses to put it away. What exactly are they going to do to that person?For contumaceous reading?

Detained and questioned? Arrested?

Watch-listed?

Who knows.

Any of these seem possible, though in principle it seems ridiculous to suggest that reading creates an intolerable disturbance in flight.

[Bender]

So, what happens if someone is reading a book and refuses to put it away. What exactly are they going to do to that person?
book 'em

[PuttPutt]

Hopefully the TSA gets their shit together sooner than later. Right now, I am SO not looking forward to flying to SA from Sea-Tac on the 7th.

[PixelPusher]

So, what happens if someone is reading a book and refuses to put it away. What exactly are they going to do to that person?


book 'em

That's a 9.8. If you'd gone with "Throw the book at 'em", that would've been a perfect 10.

[EricB]

Awesome, more government intervention...

[Cant_Be_Faded]

thanks alot bin laden