from Hacker News

Understanding American Airport Security Following 9/11 (2019)

by eatbitseveryday on 7/30/23, 11:34 PM with 45 comments

  • by voakbasda on 7/31/23, 3:47 AM

    I stopped flying in 2003 as a direct result of the TSA. I used to fly everywhere with a mandolin, as it would fit into the overhead compartments and allowed me to participate in the music scene at my destination.

    After the security theater was in full swing, I got stopped at a security checkpoint and was told that I could not take my spare set of strings onto the plane, because they might be used as a garrote.

    Knowing that I hadn’t changed them for a while, I asked whether it would be okay for me to sit there and change them. They agreed. So I took 15 minutes and put the new strings on my mandolin. That appeased them, and I continued on my long journey home.

    So, the strings were still allowed through… on my instrument. Where I could have removed them and fashioned a garrote just as easily as when they were new in the bag.

    The terrorists won. I never flew again.

  • by magicalhippo on 7/31/23, 8:28 AM

    Some years ago I was flying home from a large European airport. Unbeknownst to me there had been a bomb threat, so the security check was turned up to 11.

    The queue for the security check was enormous, thousands of people packed in a snaking queue filling up the place.

    I've never been so scared flying as I stood in line looking at the doors to the parking lot, with nothing but people between.

  • by ed_westin on 7/31/23, 12:26 AM

    This website uses 400MB+ of disk space for cookies, site data and cache for a single visit.

  • by chrismcb on 7/31/23, 9:52 AM

    Isn't it time to disband the TSA? So the security theater? "... no more intrusive or intensive than necessary..." I would say waiting on lines for hours, even being required to show up hours before is more intrusive than necessary.

  • by workfromspace on 7/31/23, 8:42 AM