Comments on: Airport security ROCKS ! http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2006/10/06/airport-security-rocks/ Living the first class life -- at coach prices Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:49:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=9558 By: Better Living Through Miles http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2006/10/06/airport-security-rocks/#comment-245 Better Living Through Miles Fri, 06 Oct 2006 20:07:00 +0000 http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2006/10/06/airport-security-rocks/#comment-245 Tough noogies? It's okay with you that agents can make up rules? You lost your lighter because the rules -- official, published rules -- changed. You may not have been informed beforehand, but ignorance is no excuse. Rightly, you accepted the ruling. Though I'm sure you were frustrated at the loss of an $80 object. But this guy packed something that <a HREF="http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/prohibited/permitted-prohibited-items.shtm" rel="nofollow">wasn't prohibited</A>. Even if the rock was shaped like a "cake slice," it's legal according to the published rules. Want to see wedge-shaped rocks banned? Change the rules, officially. You seem to want to punish him more because of his attitude after the fact than because of his "contraband." You say he MAY have been "snotty" at the checkpoint. (We don't know that he was.) But if anything, it sounds like he was standing up for his rights, not unnecessarily provoking the TSA agents to get a rise out of them. You smoke cigars, presumably. Let's say you were carrying a box of Davidoffs in your carry-on. If someone from TSA told you that your cigar box was prohibited because it had a sharp corner, wouldn't you have protested? Sounds like you are more willing to let an agent of the federal government exercise an inordinate amount of arbitrary power than I am. Tough noogies? It’s okay with you that agents can make up rules? You lost your lighter because the rules — official, published rules — changed. You may not have been informed beforehand, but ignorance is no excuse. Rightly, you accepted the ruling. Though I’m sure you were frustrated at the loss of an $80 object.

But this guy packed something that wasn’t prohibited. Even if the rock was shaped like a “cake slice,” it’s legal according to the published rules. Want to see wedge-shaped rocks banned? Change the rules, officially.

You seem to want to punish him more because of his attitude after the fact than because of his “contraband.” You say he MAY have been “snotty” at the checkpoint. (We don’t know that he was.) But if anything, it sounds like he was standing up for his rights, not unnecessarily provoking the TSA agents to get a rise out of them.

You smoke cigars, presumably. Let’s say you were carrying a box of Davidoffs in your carry-on. If someone from TSA told you that your cigar box was prohibited because it had a sharp corner, wouldn’t you have protested?

Sounds like you are more willing to let an agent of the federal government exercise an inordinate amount of arbitrary power than I am.

]]> By: BoonDoggie http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2006/10/06/airport-security-rocks/#comment-244 BoonDoggie Fri, 06 Oct 2006 14:52:00 +0000 http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2006/10/06/airport-security-rocks/#comment-244 Yeah, well, I lost my $80 cigar lighter a few years ago when they suddenly started enforcing the lighter rule. But I didn't whinge about it. So he lost his rock, which sounds pretty jagged. And the way he packed it sounds like the TSA guys might have thought he was hiding it. Red flag #1. And if you read his editorial, you can easily imagine him being supercilious and snotty at the agent. Red flag #2. So tough noogies to him, I say. Yeah, well, I lost my $80 cigar lighter a few years ago when they suddenly started enforcing the lighter rule. But I didn’t whinge about it.

So he lost his rock, which sounds pretty jagged. And the way he packed it sounds like the TSA guys might have thought he was hiding it. Red flag #1.

And if you read his editorial, you can easily imagine him being supercilious and snotty at the agent. Red flag #2.

So tough noogies to him, I say.

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