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Another feel-good for checked baggage

emw

emw

macrumors G4
Original poster
Aug 2, 2004
11,172
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Link

Thefts show security gap
Stolen guns reveal O'Hare vulnerable

By Jon Hilkevitch
Tribune transportation reporter
Published August 15, 2006

The recent theft of guns from checked baggage at O'Hare International Airport points to a serious weakness in aviation security that will be difficult to pinpoint because thousands of employees ranging from pilots to airline caterers carry clearances allowing them to walk onto airplanes.

The guns stolen from the bags--all involving passengers departing O'Hare on United Airlines--probably are being taken out of the airport and sold or used in crimes, federal and local authorities said Monday in response to a Tribune report on the disappearing weapons.

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I didn't see this discussed anywhere earlier, but the whole issue of stolen luggage is getting a brighter light shone upon it due to missing guns. I suppose cameras, jewelry, etc., weren't bad enough to worry about.

Oh, and installing surveillance cameras is too expensive...

Oh, and more background.
 
emw said:
Link



I didn't see this discussed anywhere earlier, but the whole issue of stolen luggage is getting a brighter light shone upon it due to missing guns. I suppose cameras, jewelry, etc., weren't bad enough to worry about.

Oh, and installing surveillance cameras is too expensive...
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I'm telling you, whoever sets up self-serve kiosks (ATM-like) for baggage insurance first is going to get rich. Anyone have 15 million dollars to lend? I know I can make it work.
 
Applespider said:
So are they just 'lucking out' finding the guns or are the bags marked to say they have guns in them?
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I don't know that the bags are marked, but since passengers have to declare they're checking them, the ticket agent could simply pass that information on to someone.

Occasionally they may be lucking out - sometimes you get dirty underwear, sometimes a nice watch, sometimes a gun...

image643226x.jpg
 
Just another reason for me and the missus-in-training not to fly anywhere if we can help it. I drove cross-country once (well sort of - Mobile, AL to Chicago) and it was quite nice. If we want to go overseas, I guess we're taking a boat.
 
Applespider said:
In yet another feel-good for compulsorily checked luggage, BA announced that they've misplaced 10,000 pieces of luggage in the UK in the past week when everything had to be checked in.
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Heh, have you ever been travelling through London's airport? I've never returend home WITH my bags going through heathrow (or gatwick for that matter). In fact i head straight for the claim forms when i get off the plane. I'm talking post 9/11 super security too. Least now they have a better excuise then the union problems they always told us before.
 
This, plus a new UK restriction against carying books and magazines on flights...

Forget airline insurance, the person to come up with an airline on which every plane are 10 armed guards with machine guns, and lets people bring bottles of water, laptops, and books on board will be rich.

I know safety is important but airlines seem to forget that people are not, in fact, cattle. When they remember that we are human, I will be happy to pay to fly their "friendly skies".
 
Felldownthewell said:
This, plus a new UK restriction against carying books and magazines on flights...

Forget airline insurance, the person to come up with an airline on which every plane are 10 armed guards with machine guns, and lets people bring bottles of water, laptops, and books on board will be rich.

I know safety is important but airlines seem to forget that people are not, in fact, cattle. When they remember that we are human, I will be happy to pay to fly their "friendly skies".
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You'd fly on a plane with 10 guys with machine guns? I'll pass on that, thanks...

This story is pitiful, yet somehow not entirely unexpected. The FBI can still get guns through security checkpoints in carry-on luggage. These airport security folks aint too bright... :rolleyes:
 
Felldownthewell said:
This, plus a new UK restriction against carying books and magazines on flights...

Forget airline insurance, the person to come up with an airline on which every plane are 10 armed guards with machine guns, and lets people bring bottles of water, laptops, and books on board will be rich.
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Exactly. All this money and time (and for business, time IS money) spent on extra security. Just get armed guards on the plane. I mean, get 5-6 of them. As long as they let me read my magazine and listen to my iPod, and drink my bottle of.....whatever......on the airplane, I'm happy.
 
MooVitZ said:
Heh, have you ever been travelling through London's airport? I've never returend home WITH my bags going through heathrow (or gatwick for that matter).
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Yeah... probably 10-20 times a year. They've never yet lost my luggage ;) even on the occasions where it's weighed so much that I'd have liked it to be delivered 2 days later rather than lugging it across London on the Tube
 
Lousy Idea Abstract

Abstract said:
Exactly. All this money and time (and for business, time IS money) spent on extra security. Just get armed guards on the plane. I mean, get 5-6 of them. As long as they let me read my magazine and listen to my iPod, and drink my bottle of.....whatever......on the airplane, I'm happy.
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With that reasoning there would have to be armed guards in every carriage of the Metro, Tube, Subway. Eurotunnel or SNCF intercity train services that carry thousands of passengers. Life would be great wouldn't it with every aspect of our lives overseen by black suited balaclaved (?) ski masked machine gun toting guards. "SIT DOWN SIR. STEP AWAY FROM THE BOOK SIR" 7 Bullets later one dead book reader or on a plane - 200 passengers flying out of a decompressing aircraft
 
I find it hard to tell if you are .... I thought the examples were self evident. I'm dismissive of all this terror business because I believe that the Pentagon & Al Qauida are singing from the same hymn sheet. (Ahem) Behind both sides is same puppeteer. If you are going to be blown up - you will be. Because the forces that be will make it happen. Ostensibly, they will have done everything to have protected you but, your death, in reality, was always part of the game. Every time a politician speaks they lie. You can't trust them. Not one iota. And these are the people who control the dissemination of information and the agenda. All of this stems from the CIA funding and training of the Mujahideen in the Zbigniew Brzezinski organised ambush of leading Russia into its own Vietnam in Afghanistan. From their, supporting the Taliban against the Northern Alliance because they (The Taliban) were friendlier to the Bush families oil interests and of course Bin Laden construction. You don't have to take my word for it - you can read it from the horses mouth in Brzezinski's own books. Americas present policies can be read too. Search on the Dominance Group, Full Spectrum Dominance or read - Rebuilding America's Defences: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century. It calls calls for "The ability to wage simultaneous theatre wars, perform global constabulary roles, and the control of space and cyberspace. " And that the US " must increase military spending to preserve American geopolitical leadership as the world's superpower." Also - "That in order to maintain a Pax Americana, potential rivals — such as China, Iran, Iraq, and North Korea — needed to be held in check. The report also recognised that: "the process of transformation ... is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalysing event such as a new Pearl Harbour." Don't believe the spin. If your time is up there was nothing anyone could have done to have saved you. Jihadees - CIA black operations - it's all to the same end. America the new Roman Empire.

Bugger! I've just seen the emoticon. Sorry Abstract.
 
Sorry Henri, but my dear old government <cough> is far too incompetent to pull off any conspiracies they might have hatched up. All the US government's machinations in Afghanistan and the rest of the middle east over the past 25 years has led to the ugly dead-end we see right now.

But anyway, flying: I think I'm going to stay off planes for a very long time, and I'm usually not one to shy away from things like that. I absolutely do not trust checking my bags, and will only do so if I'm taking my larger suitcase on a 2+ week trip or something. Flying's unpleasant enough as it is without being able to brush my teeth or take out my contact lenses in the lavatory when my eyes get dried out in the thin cabin air.
 
Counterfit said:
Next time I go anywhere out of driving distance, it's going to be on a train.
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Good luck with that. I checked this summer on what it would take to get from Denver to Orland. Three days and $450. One way.

The first person to build a reliable self-driving car will get my money.
 
QCassidy352 said:
You'd fly on a plane with 10 guys with machine guns? I'll pass on that, thanks...
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I'd much rather have a few guys and their M-16s sitting around than have to wait 3 hours in a security line only to have to take off my shoes, my jacket, unpack my bag for the world to see, be wanded, felt up, swabbed for explosives and generally humiliated, (Just think of how indignant you would be if they tried to do that to you when you got on a train or tried to get into a sporting event) to get on a plane where I can't watch the movie of my choice, read, get some work done, or have something to drink, and pay a massive premium for the honor...
 
Applespider said:
So are they just 'lucking out' finding the guns or are the bags marked to say they have guns in them?

In yet another feel-good for compulsorily checked luggage, BA announced that they've misplaced 10,000 pieces of luggage in the UK in the past week when everything had to be checked in.

This means there are poor sods without keys, phones, laptops, secure keyfobs...
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A friend of mine is one of those 10,000 she still hasn't gotten her bag and is not a happy camper.
 
Xenious said:
A friend of mine is one of those 10,000 she still hasn't gotten her bag and is not a happy camper.
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I just found out a few hours ago this kid who goes to my school was supposed to be on one of the flights that were going to be suddenly transformed into pretty but horribly destructive and deadly fireballs. I hate this guy, but I'm glad he didn't die, although I can't say I'm sad he spent a few days sleeping on an airport floor...
 
uh... shouldn't we be more worried about the mindset of these individuals that are actually PACKING guns to take to an airport nowadays? God these people don't seem to have IQ's large enough for them to function in society...
 
rockthecasbah said:
uh... shouldn't we be more worried about the mindset of these individuals that are actually PACKING guns to take to an airport nowadays? God these people don't seem to have IQ's large enough for them to function in society...
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Remember the guns weren't going to be carried on - they were checked. If you comply with the checked baggage requirements (no prohibited items), you have every right to expect whatever you pack to arrive. Requiring the packing of so many electronics means that rather than the occasional quality find, almost every suitcase is a jackpot for the handlers. That guns were found and stolen just demonstrates a nasty side effect...
 
Are these people really protecting us?

Most of the times I go through checkpoints screeners are half asleep anyway.
 
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