Airport Security

[BERNADETTE]

Reminds me of when my Mum was flying to Ireland for her sisters funeral. She had been searching everywhere for her nail clippers, when her handbag went through the scanner it set the alarm off. You guessed it the clippers were in it, she was mortified. At least it gave my cousin a laugh, he said her face was a picture

 

[shillelagh]

Was going to a wedding in ireland and i had the wedding present in my suitcase - all neatly wrapped up and ribboned etc. First in the queue at manchester - my sister had took me early - there was quite a few passengers behind me - when the suitcase went through and gave the check in clerk my ticket and passport for id - next thing you will have to go with these gentlemen theres something in your suitcase that we want to check! Security bloke dragged my suitcase off the belt and another one got hold of my arm - sis whats happening jen - its the canteen of cutlery for the wedding pressie!!! The scanner had picked out the shape of the knives but nothing else!!!! Was dragged off to a room and they opened my suitcase and saw the pressie - it was scanned and the other scanner managed to pick out the spoons and forks - otherwise i'd have had to open the pressie. I was searched as well. The security bloke said that if the scanner hadnt have picked out the rest of the cutlery then it would have had to have been opened and i would have had to have a full body search!!!! Next wedding i went to we posted the pressie!!!! Never gone through belfast though without being searched - have always been nabbed coming through there and that was after being searched at manchester - they searched me after picking my suitcase up - i got nabbed as i was walking through - my cousins used to laugh at it - i'd be coming through 10 mins after everyone else!!!

 

[MargaretR]

I was on a trip from Manchester to Venice and had to change en route at Milan.
The new rules about sharp objects had just been introduced.
I had no problems at Manchester, but at Milan, with only 20 minutes plane changeover time, I was told that nail scissors had been detected in my hand luggage, and I had to remove them and hand them in.

I got down on my knees and tipped the whole contents of my hand luggage on the floor and rummaged amongst it rapidly and found them.

I did get some unusual looks from other passengers but who cares , I caught my flight

 

[Gayle]

Another airport story - big family holiday, ten of us went and it was about six months after the attacks so security was still pretty high.

We approached the scanner and all went through except my Dad who was stopped because they'd found something in his bag. He'd taken a nail care kit which had those little sharp scissors in and they'd found it. When they let him go after about 10mins they he was really indignant - "but they're only little nail scissors, for cutting my nails!" he kept saying - he genuinely couldn't understand why they stole his scissors. We did point out to him that though they were tiny they could probably cause some damage!

 

[West Ender]

I have flown at least 6 times since the "terrorist scare", from Manchester and, once, from Liverpool. Each time I have had nail scissors and a nail file in my handbag (handbag tucked into my flight bag until I'm on the aircraft). My bag has gone through the X-ray machine every time and I have never been challenged!

I went away with my elder daughter 2 years ago. She set of the alarm when she went through the arch, was body-scanned, then had to remove her trainer-boots which, it transpired, had metal toe-caps. The lady who searched her had to feel around her feet and I felt sorry for the woman because our Jo suffers from hyperhydrosis of the feet - just like her dad did. In other words sweaty, and rather smelly, feet.

Our Laura, the subject of this thread, hadn't set off any alarms. It was a "random" search of a child whose clothing made it patently obvious she wasn't hiding anything, if she had been it would have been conspicuous.

What a waste of time.

 

[Bonnyboy]

Bet the Security staff don’t get paid a great deal and from the sounds of some of the posts it would seem they pick on “soft” targets. Search your given quota of travellers, pick the ones that look least likely to cause hassle and paperwork, bugger off home and await the pay check. Can you really blame Security Staff if they use such tactics ?

 

[jaysay]

I've been stopped a couple of times, so has Chris but the best fun I've seen was when we went away with a friend a few years ago who has a metal pin in his leg. You should have seen the looks on the security guards as they were scanning him over and over again and as his leg set off the alarms every time he went through it.

Joan, my other half, always set the alarm of when she goes through the airport scaners, as she has a plate in her hip frpm when she broke it about 12 years ago, she as had the fact recorded in her passport, to save any problems