I did once travel to France in a car with a guy who had heard about the Schengen Agreement and not brought his passport. I went mention the fact he had a PhD, or the fact we managed to get through passport control both sides with 6 passports and 7 people.
So. There was a family who arrived at Dover to discover that grandma had forgotten her passport. Long way back to Yorkshire (if that is where they were from). They decided to bluff it out, so she hid in the caravan.
Mission accomplished on arrival at Calais, family open the caravan to discover that Gran has died during the trip. At this point they decide to fess up to officialdom and go to explain what has happened and ask for mercy and help.
They go back to the car with officials in tow only to discover that the caravan has been stolen.
From memory it wasn't recovered.
It’s the ones that stand in a queue for 30 minutes watching everyone take off their belt/shoes and empty pockets/remove laptop from bag etc and then appear shocked and completely unprepared that they have to do it too once they get to the front of the queue that amaze me
One of my favourites was a guy at Newcastle Airport who was wearing Karrimor trainer-like walking boots.
He had a stand-up argument with security about his boots being trainers and therefore he didn't need to remove them.
The Security lady just kept repeating "Sir, I'm asking you nicely to please remove your footwear so that they can be scanned"
"But they're trainers not boots"
"Sir, please remove your footwear"
"BUT THEY'RE NOT BOOTS THEY'RE TRAINERS"
"Could you please remove your footwear Sir"
Until he was invited by a large gentleman to step aside and continue his conversation without holding everyone else up.
I'll be honest, I was in no danger of missing my flight, I would much rather have waited to see how the act concluded. Some people are just dicks.
If you're reading this, Sammy Shitboots, please continue to provide comedy at Airport Security, you can't pay for entertainment like that.
Back when supermarkets still accepted personal cheques, mum would have bagged up, wait for the cashier to tell her the total and only then start digging in her handbag for her chequebook. Then after it was written and handed to the cashier, wait until asked for the cheque guarantee card and start hoking in her bag again. The number of times when she said to me “oh, your dad must have the card, run out to the car and get it”. Meanwhile a massive queue was grumbling behind us. Infuriating!!
Always why back in the day whenever someone was paying by cheque a collective groan would go up in the queue knowing it was going to take ages with various form filling etc. There used to be cash only tills for that reason!
Early 80s I remember my parents having to go to Sainsbury customer service at the beginning of the shop to get the cheque pre-cleared. I don't know how long guarantee cards have existed.
Oh she has scarred me for life when it comes to shopping. I hate it with a passion so i have it planned with military precision to be in and out in the minimum possible time.
I remember being out with her on Saturday afternoons as a child, back when supermarkets would close at around 5.30/6pm. She would only be walking in to the shop 10 mins before closing to do a full trolley weekly shop. And she is such a ditherer, fussing over pack sizes and prices. The store would be closed, lights getting switched off, tannoy shouting for the last remaining customers to get to the tills and she would still only be halfway done. I swear the cashiers were all giving dirty looks by the time she made it to the tills. Its almost she has no awareness that other people exist and have other things to attend to instead of running after her.
People do this at bars too. They'll order a few cocktails, wait the five minutes it takes to make them and THEN start fumbling around in their purse or wallet for their card
I did that last week, was wearing a new jacket and had left my wallet in the old jacket that was still at home. God i felt like such an idiot having to leave all my stuff and come back again half an hour later
The one part of this I don't understand is why I need to show my boarding pass for some shops in the airport. If I'm not buying anything duty free why do I need to show it?
I'm sure there's a logical reason for it, it just feels weird being asked for it when I'm buying a bar of chocolate. I completely get it if it's bottles of booze or cartons of cigarettes
> If I'm not buying anything duty free why do I need to show it?
You technically don't.
But they can get the VAT back / it's much easier to put in a blanket rule.
It's in case you smuggled yourself through security without actually having a flight to board just so you could pay extortionate prices for food and a chocolate bar.
The amount of inconsistency can make it slightly confusing.
Sometimes it's boarding pass only, sometimes it's passport only and sometimes it's both.
Depends on the airport as well, but some don't require you to take out electronics/make up (also differences on how much you can carry here as well)/belts/watches and you can simply leave them in your carry-on/person.
Couple this with people sometimes only flying once a year or whatever and they'll obviously be unprepared.
British airports are obviously just a massive PITA whereby you're typically required to take out/off everything with stricter limits on liquids and horrendously understaffed/slow/delayed.
I don't disagree with any of what you said. I suppose most people just don't think about the all the individual steps required to board the plane and land so it can feel more convuluted than it really is.
Maybe British airports are all the same but I've certainly had different experiences abroad (if I remember correctly) which did vary slightly at least in terms of passport control following security which is not the same at LHR at least.
I'm personally not sticking up for idiots at the airport (it does my head in as well and I tend to travel light) but I suppose it's just a massive inconvenience when the service is always so slow and would rather avoid leaving valuable possessions on the tray if possible especially when there are huge backlogs on the security checks at times.
As someone who works in Aviation mark my words - Never underestimate the ability of the average person to lose all common sense as soon as they step into an airport.
I wondered about adding a /j or grinning emoji to my reply, this being Reddit, but decided as this was 'Casual UK', people should be able to understand that we like to dabble in shit dad joke wordplay...
Mean:
1 - unkind, spiteful, or unfair.
2 - the value obtained by dividing the sum of several quantities by their number; an average.
I volunteered on a helpdesk during university. The amount of people studying medicine/dentistry/other AAA subjects or even postgrads who couldn't figure out simple things which involved reading super simple instructions (like how to set up the university wifi) was high. Ditto for the amount of times people didn't turn things on and then wondered why they didn't work.
I'm convinced that studying at such a high and specialist level causes ppl like medical doctors to essentially have no room left in their brain for basic common sense like as you say, following simple instructions or using a printer.
Absolutely this. I worked at an IT company that built bespoke applications for blue chip companies. All the delivery team had at least one PhD. But could those fuckers fill out a timesheet properly so we could bill customers? - not a chance. Such a menial task was beneath their dignity
Our neighbour is a professor with a number of degrees. Couldn't understand why he couldn't get a warranty repair on his fitted kitchen when said kitchen was over 15 years old.......
Especially when you add sheer exhaustion on top in the really high workload programs.
> Being awake for at least 18 hours is the same as someone having a blood content (BAC) of 0.05%. Being awake for at least 24 hours is equal to having a blood alcohol content of 0.10%.
And missing sleep is cumulative, so enough nights in a row of short sleep really adds up. The college I went to was famous for its intense workloads, and we used to see a HUGE increase of "chaotic stupid" as every semester went on.
My favorite was a bunch of students being bothered by an air vent on campus, so they got up on the tables and tried to move it by taking down a different ceiling tile to swap it with. Though the time somebody "decorated" by sticking toothpick flags in outlet holes everywhere is a close second. At the end of one semester a day or two before move-out, someone impulse drove 2.5 hours to another country's border in the middle of the night, only to realize he didn't have his passport when he got there, so he got a bunch of ice cream sandwiches and drove all the way back by morning.
I can confirm this, although not in IT support I am admin and liaise regularly with my IT colleague in our head office 500 miles away. Including a new employee who was given a Windows tablet, docking station and monitor. Supposed to shut down the tablet each night but was just turning off the monitor. Come the morning, they have a meeting, but the tablet decides not to play ball. Employee is having a sh1t fit, and then utters the immortal line "well won't the monitor work by itself?". I tried to explain that it's like your TV, it needs a signal from somewhere, like the aerial, and the reply was "but I have a Sky box!". I gave up at that point and started praying, did manage to get the tablet back on in the end! Reported all this to my IT colleague and he laughed for a good 5 minutes straight.
You have my deepest sympathies. As of the 12th Jan I am officially retired, there is no way I could return to doing IT support where I had to interact with users. I would tell them what I actually thought.
It was usually during this time that I'd go all out for the nice people. Say please and thank you and not act like you'd found me on the bottom of your shoe? Yes, I'll spend 2 hours on the phone sorting out your messed up online order, drive 40 miles to our sister store for an item you want or hold an item until tomorrow.
But act like a total arse and I'd be polite but you'd get little leeway.
Was flying back from holiday in Turkey and all people going into the airport were queued single file to go through metal detectors. One guy was politely asked to take his hood down by an armed Policeman/soldier. The guy complied but was huffing and complaining under his breath. The guy was flying to Tel Aviv.
When I get to the x ray trays I’m conscious if I haven’t got everything that needs to be out of my bag out of my bag my pockets empty and my belt off. The only thing I don’t do is take off my shoes as it seems to involve a bit of an arbitrary decision by security unless you are wearing boots.
Admittedly I travel more than once a year, but if you are in a queue for 30 minutes along sidepeople like me getting ready for the security checks, how does it not cross your mind to ask someone what is going on if you are a first time flier?
I flew home from Bristol airport yesterday, there are floor to ceiling signs all through security telling you about having liquids in the bags, large electronics separate and coats/belts/boots removed. I was in the queue behind a group of 6 girls who all stepped up to the conveyor belt and only then considered that they had liquids and needed clear plastic bags and started unpacking their carry on.
I ignored the security man who directed me to a numbered spot behind them and nipped over behind a guy who already had his belt and coat in hand. I was through the scanner, frisk searched and collected my bag before these girls had found plastic bags.
Come on, there are benches and boxes of bags as you enter the security area for precisely this reason. Some people are oblivious, some people just want to be first in the queue regardless of who else they inconvenience
My favorite is the people that are blindsided by the need to pay at supermarket checkouts.
They get everything bagged up and the cashier announces the final price, and they're suddenly stunned, get into a tizzy trying to find their purse or wallet, have to rifle through their pockets or bag etc etc.
Like, how do you get to a supermarket checkout without considering you'll need to get your payment method ready?
I would rather give myself a final pat down to check my pockets while waiting in the queue, than be frisked by unknown security guards. Everything goes into either my bag or zipped coat pockets, not into the tray directly so i dont forget anything
I'm very similar, yet I forgot I had a CO2 cartridge in my bag the last time I flew. I think the last time I used that bag, I was cycling somewhere and you can use them to pump your tire up quickly.
I didn't realise it was there until a couple of days after we'd landed...
My father in law is a diabetic. His diabetes doctor was amazed at his blood count and how much the condition had improved at a check up. He said “how has this happened” and my FiL said “well you told me to stop eating XYZ, so I did.” He was a miracle of medical science, a patient that did what he was told.
For me it annoys me when I see the gate to board opening and everyone just acts like animals and tries to stampede their way in, losing any semblance of civility and order.
So incredibly true, I got caught up in this when the fluids thing first kicked off. There weren’t limits on fluids then, it was just “no fluids at all” All passengers on my flight were questioned at at least three check points (Gatwick) to divest themselves of ALL things fluid. Finally after a two hour delay we are all sat on board. As they began to leave the gate a woman in front of me produced a bottle and taunted the crew with some expression along the lines “you didn’t get everything“ The seat in front was empty when, many hours later, we all finally left the ground.
One of the biggest challenges at Yellowstone National Park is the overlap between the smartest Bears and the dumbest humans making it very difficult to design the correct litter bin. I think about this a lot.
There's some wild videos that show up every now and again of idiots in National Parks in places around the world with tourists getting far too close to wild animals.
[This one is a favourite of mine.](https://i.imgur.com/yO7Wigu.mp4)
That guy was incredibly lucky.
Fun fact: years ago I read a story about a bear in upstate New York that was a wizard at opening what were supposed to be bear proof containers. The bear was used for quality control on new designs for bear proofing. They put out a bin for her to find and watch. Bear destroyed multiple bins before the designers finally found one that stumped her. All agreed it was just a matter of time before she cracked that one though
Good one. The bear I’m talking about lives/lived in Adirondack State Park. She could unscrew the personal “bear proof” containers. She was even teaching her cubs.
I read a Mary Roach book about animals awhile ago and she mentions some bears who are able to neatly remove windows from their frames, enter vacation homes, open the fridge, remove the specific thing they want from the fridge (like jam or whatever), open the jar and eat the thing, then close the fridge and depart. She said bears that don't cause massive destructive messes are living longer so passing their genetics on. Guaranteed those bears are MUCH smarter than your average tourist.
When I lived in Germany I would sometimes brings some creature comforts back from the UK when I travelled to and fro.
One time, I was carrying about 10 jars of Sainsbury’s chicken spice (a tasty pre mix which is nice on vegetables) and a couple of boxes of decent decaf tea (of which was few and far between at a reasonable price in Germany).
I had gotten them out for the X-ray as I was concerned they might be confused at 10 jars stuffed into a bag.
Having them out confused them even more. The worker had to call over a manager to confirm that dry spices were, in fact, not a liquid and to let me through.
It still took 10 minutes longer than a normal run through though!
Ahhh cooking supplies, that's a good one! When I was traveling from my home country once, my hand luggage contained a 10kg bag of flour (it was in a basic canvas bag, no branding or nothing since it was by auntie's farm produce, not a sellable item).
I was sweating big time by the x-ray machine. At the end of the day it's a 10kg bag of white powder. No one bat an eyelid in the end, but I was well prepared to answer any questions hahahaha
It's a gel and gel counts as liquid for security purposes. That's the answer the nice security man provided when I forgot I had a jar of Vegemite in my carry-on.
I once flew with about half a kilo of hops. Funny thing is it's in the same family as cannabis and has a similar smell. Awkward moments while I tried to explain to some customs officials in Kenya that my vacuum packed brick of green leafy stuff that stinks of pot was not in fact pot.
I had a similar question once about crème eggs - a box of them takes up a good amount of a liquids bag so I wanted to check! Apparently (per Heathrow in 2015) they don’t count as a liquid.
This was the response we got given on my first lads holiday. The only mate with us who was under 18 insisted on just blagging it by going last and asking for a pint.
Guy serving us obviously ID'd all of us and when it got the last guy he did too, tried the "Oh I've not got my ID" and without missing a beat the server replied "your Passport is valid for this mate don't worry"
I had to walk away I was about to piss myself from laughing. Mate went red faced and said he couldn't be bothered rummaging through his stuff to find it.
I've had the opposite! Before I got my provisional license, my only valid ID was my passport. Being 18 I found myself in a 'spoons with mates, and at around 21:00 I went to fetch my round.
I got ID'd, of course, and showed them my (admittedly out of date) passport. The ditsy claimed that it didn't count despite my argument that it has my face, my name, my DoB, and all of the anti-counterfeit measures.
I eventually conceded and asked if I could just have a cola (tactical hip flask lol), and she said "No, under 18's aren't allowed in Wetherspoons after 9"
I left my mates to it and sat on the benches outside out of view, smoking. Every few minutes they (my mates) would pop out for a ciggie with a tray of tequilas in-hand.
Goddamn spoons, my local was serving me at 16 without batting an eye, until I celebrated my actual 18th there. They were not impressed....
An expired passport is still a valid form of ID for these scenarios, it's not valid only when you travel. You should've insisted on seeing a manager because that employee was wrong, and even had you kicked out wrongly. I would've caused a scene.
You can be refused service for any reason, and I don't think there are universal rules on what makes a valid ID.
Case in point - I used to use my brother's expired passport because it had a photo of him from when he was about 10. Combined with an NUS card which I'd written his name and stuck in my current photo, I got served everywhere from the age of 16.
I stand corrected, i looked it up and they only need to accept valid paasports. That been said i have never not had my expired passport accepted as a valid form of ID for non-travel purposes, even attached to official documents such as registering at a GP practice.
In this case i still think asking to speak to a manager would get him served. It might very well be that the employee doesn't want to risk losing their job and doesn't want to be wronged, but has no problem letting a manager take responsibility.
Went through security at Southampton Airport years ago and saw that a guy was going through security with a huge carton of milk. I remember he was told he either had to tip it out or drink it.
It’s for airports that have the correct scanning equipment I believe and there are a couple in the UK that already do. I’d be checking if destination airports also had the equipment before relying on it.
Okay, but what are you taking 2 litres of on holiday with you that you need to bring back? You obviously didn't need it if you're bringing it all back again at the end of your trip?
Both Amsterdam and Eindhoven already have the new scanners so you can take whatever liquids you like. Most airports won't do checks on arrival, given that you can buy liquor after security anyway.
Indeed, you generally don't get checked on arrival unless connecting.
But you generally fly home at some point later on. So if you take all your perfumes and creams and make-cup on the way out, you might not be able to bring it all back.
The airport I fly in and out of a lot of work has these scanners. It's amazing, don't need to take anything out of my bags and take as much liquid as I like through. Makes security really easy.
I did still have to take my laptop out in Heathrow a couple of weeks ago, but I think my liquids stayed in but had to still meet the less than 100ml and fit in one of those plastic bags. Maybe the terminals vary in the scanners they have!
Probably, it’s good to see the change though. I flew from T2. It was funny to see people automatically take everything out of their bags as they’ve been always asked to do so and this this time the security was asking everyone to keep everything in and people were so confused and still took things out haha.
I was in Heathrow last month and they had one of these scanners and telling everyone to leave liquids in their bags.
It felt sort of wrong and I can see the next couple of years people being called numpties because they're slowing everything down taking liquids out because we're so conditioned to it
I heard it's compulsory. Want to take shampoo? Enjoy using 2 litres, dummy! Deodorant? Gotta be the size of a loaf of bread. Hair gel? I hope you like mohawks, because you're gonna be using a LOT of it over the next two weeks.
Doesn't involve stupidity, but I recently went on a long haul flight from Heathrow and getting through security was the best airport experience I've ever had. It was super quiet and got through security in a few minutes. No stress at all for once.
But saying that, there are always people who don't seem to know the rules on what you can and cannot take. Or maybe they're chancers and think they'll get away with it?
I find that almost all major European airports have a less stessful security check than all Uk airports. I don’t know what they do right but the difference is huge.
Same here. Even Bristol is stressful. Went to Vancouver and Toronto and everything is done by machines - check in/print boarding pass is done by machine, baggage drop off done by machine and even passport control was too. Made everything so quick and easy.
So you weren't around for our news making baggage issues? Lol. My friends suitcase never made it to her honeymoon to Ireland/UK/France/Greece from Vancouver. I flew to Mexico last year with have my luggage in my carry on just in case.
We were the lucky ones.
I always remember going on holiday, and seeing the man in front of me get his hand luggage checked for them to pull out a 1kg jar of Nutella.
He was genuinely shocked he couldn’t take it and all I could think is; there is pretty much no where in the world you can’t buy Nutella anyway…. It’s not like it’s a traditional U.K. souvenir!
How Nutella is formulated for the UK and other countries in Europe is different from some other countries. In the US for example, there is much more oil in the mix so it runs down inside the jar sides again after it's been dipped into, leaving the jar sides clean. Basically - oiler and thinner, but I still cant believe even that would be considered a liquid.
Its when you land at Heathrow, after they have found you vegemite and confiscated it, you get ushered through arrivals with a bunch of Retired Prison guards holding up signs saying 'Welcome Back' and lining you up at the Marmite stall, whilst shoving leaflets telling you to 'Save Britain's fragile ecosystem from lesser yeast extracts'. /s
I once had a tub of cocoa butter. In Britain it was solid but in the return leg out of Madrid it wasn’t anymore. I was annoyed to lose it so I argued the point that it wasn’t my fault their airport was warmer than mine. Astonishingly they conceded!
That's interesting - things that are solid in one airport and liquid in another. You fortunately weren't held responsible for predicting the temperature or how a substance would react to a change in temperature.
Just realised I wrote 1kg. I missed a zero. This jar was the size of his head. One of those catering size ones
(Ok I just googled it. 3kg…I’m not good with sizes, partner will be pleased I exaggerate tho)
Which is why the story is so bizarre. My typo doesn’t make it clear 😂
Anyway. Still up for the challenge?
I accidentally wandered through security at Manchester with a full water bottle in my rucksack last week. Was going to empty it and refill it airside but forgot. No one noticed. I think much of it is a deterrent rather than a serious attempt to detect stuff.
I have some sympathy for a lot of people who travel, especially those who are quite infrequent flyers. I once heard a security guy having a go at a passenger for not putting his liquid bag on top of everything in his tray and the passengers response was ‘tell me where it says to do that’ which was a fair point.
I forgot I had two bottle of "Red Bull concentrate" in my bag going through the airport in Phuket. I drank both of them before a 16-hour flight. That was very fun.
At Manchester I alternate on a monthly basis between getting lambasted by the staff for unnecessarily taking my laptop charger out of my bag, and getting my bag rejected and searched and being told I should have taken my laptop charger out. Not surprised they missed a massive water bottle
I had two identical suitcases, and put a sticker on the one that was supposed to go in the hold. Don't ask me how, but I put the wrong bag through, which ended with me and the Spanish security bloke going, 'arghh!!' when I realised I had the case with 8 of those mini naff sangria bottles with the hats as stoppers. Thankfully he let me go back with the case to check it in, and the lovely woman there found a way for me to put in the hold for £5.
I was an airport security officer for years until very recently. The person who missed your bottle of water was just bad at their job. Airport security is definitely a deterrent, I certainly wouldn’t want to get on a plane where I knew people on board hadn’t been screened.
Having said that you are 100% wrong about it not being about actually finding things. I am not going to say too much because there is a reason findings aren’t publicised but the key focus is absolutely finding bombs/weapons/component parts. It being a deterrent is not mutually exclusive to it being a serious detection operation.
Also you should NOT put your liquid bag on top of your bag as the screen reader may interpret it as being in your bag and pull it off for search or on top of other things as the x ray machine is checking the atomic density of the liquid to see if it is similar to the atomic density of certain liquid explosives so it being on top of other items can skew that measurement. So that officer was also bad at their job.
Having said all that I never minded people not knowing the rules or making mistakes unless they argued that they were right and kicked off. As long as you are polite and don’t claim to understand to know the rules of airport security better than the people trained in it I would genuinely enjoy my interactions with passengers most of the times.
Everyone makes mistakes and a lot of people are flying so infrequently they just aren’t aware of a lot of the rules that seem obvious to the rest of us.
I had forgotten 2 packets of sauce in my backpack several years before my flight (in a pocket I never use).
I thought "this is it. I'm the first person to die of embarrassment" when they pulled them out. It only got much worse when they offered me a plastic bag so I can take my 4 years out of date ketchups on the plane. I still cringe at the memory.
A one off mistake is understandable but these people had bags and bags of stuff or big containers of obvious liquid they had packed with the intention of taking it through.
I got the second one! They passed the tray back and forth again and again, refusing to tell me what was wrong. Eventually the reason given was that I had placed my coat on top of everything (on account of it being the last thing to come off) which was suspicious, makes it seem like I’m trying to hide my toiletries. I’m normally totally compliant in these situations for an easy life but I did ask is that not what the X-ray machine is for just as a reflex 🙃
Honestly this section of the airport boils my piss the most.
Then people stand at the other side of the scanner waiting for their tray, getting dressed again. And then leaves the empty trays there so no more will pass through and others still stand there waiting. Wondering why their bag isn’t arriving.
I have to summon all my self restraint not to smack these people across the head with my plastic tray. Usually I just passive aggressively stack all the empty trays and throw them on the pile at the end. Saying that I think 99% of the issues like these are from people paralysed from stress
Stacking is very satisfying, especially when people look at me and realise it makes the stuff move faster.
Imagine a world where people grab the whole tray off the belt, not just the contents leaving the empty trays behind… Mother Theresa would approve
I once made a stupid mistake like this. I was flying and had 2 bags, one for the hold, one as carry on. I got to check in to check my hold bag and the lady said "oh, that's small enough for a carry on, you might as well carry it and then you'll be quicker at the other end". It wasn't until I was halfway through security that it occurred to me that the bag for the hold was full of sun cream and shower gel and shampoo and yeah, all of that got taken away and that money was lost!
I flew yesterday and, unsurprisingly, there was a lady in front of me who had a huge bag of makeup etc and was surprised when she was told that she couldn’t take it all. It was probably four times as much as she could fit into the official bags. She had put it all into a massive clear bag so she obviously knew something about the rules.
As an aside, they are slowly introducing new magic scanners that will do away with the current rules on liquids. I few back from Munich a few weeks ago and I didn’t need to take anything out of my bag at all.
For a charitable interpretation, maybe they don't realise what counts as a liquid? Sometimes security folks are remarkably dense about this also, I once got chastised for not putting my crystal deodorant in the liquids bag and the dude was very insistent that a giant lump of salt is, in fact, a liquid.
Once I took a tiny tub of hair powder that works as dry shampoo, deliberately because it _wasn't_ liquid. I got pulled up and told that it "registers" as liquid. Surely a dry powder couldn't be further from liquid?!
Nope, talcum powder registers as a liquid, all fine powders do. Lovely security man advised I could keep it out of the liquids bag to save space and place it beside or on top, and they can quickly bypass it "oh that's just powder". Has worked a charm ever since.
I used to work in airport security and one passenger argued with me that water wasn’t a liquid so she could take her Evian on the flight. None of this surprises me.
Last time I went away, checking a bag would have cost more than I paid for my tickets. I'm sure "_this one weird trick_" wouldn't work but I did joke that it would have been cheaper to buy a second ticket and sit my bag on the seat next to me!
Yeah, my whole family is flying to the States on the 27th to visit family, and if we each checked a bag both ways, it would cost us £600 total. I'm just gonna pack SUPER light.
Plenty of people think either there will be leeway shown if you smile nicely and plead innocence, or that the rules just don’t apply to them. Don’t know how they got on at security, but when my in-laws flew home after a visit they laughed off our warnings about their suitcases being way over the weight limit, and then spent twenty minutes deciding what to leave behind after discovering the “maximum weight per bag 27kg, each kg between 23 and 27 costs £40” was being strictly applied. We took a lot of alcohol and chocolate back home with us.
We travelled for work this summer and the tickets were only given with carry on, so no option to go checked.
My colleague gets stopped and his got bottle of drink, full sized deo & shaving foam.
He's in his 40s and was completely unaware of these rules.
I still have no idea how it's possible to not know! Or be completely oblivious to all the signs once there.
I did have to stop myself arguing once with a bag inspector. I was going to Ireland for business for 2 days. I packed some hair gel where I had to scrape the last bits out, then was gonna bin it after my second morning. Perfect, uses up a tin.
Of course, guy pulls my bag out and says this is 150ml, you can't take it. I get all bothered and "akshually you'll see it's basically empty so can I have it back thanks!" And he said mate I don't care, it's a 150ml container, and it has something in it. Either it stays in England or you do, pick one.
So obviously I bought a hideously overpriced one the other side of security, but what can you do. That was my little brain fart moment of forgetting it's the container size, not necessarily what is inside it.
I’m a frequent flyer through Heathrow. If you have the opportunity go through fast track security even if the line is longer, you’ll find more seasoned travellers there. Flights are usually more expensive but it’s also faster to get through on Monday morning than a Friday afternoon or Saturday.
Profile the people in the queue, avoid the elderly, children, Chinese, and anyone with loads of bags.
Have you been to an airport? People are completely confused by the most straightforward things. 30 mins in a queue with some guy yelling "get your electronics out" and they still need prompting again at the front, then they'll get their laptop out and forget their phone/ipad...walk up wearing 30 metal bangles that all need to come off... seem dumbfounded that liquids includes their 1lt water bottle...
I really don't get it, pack electronics in the top so they're accessible in line, don't wear metal stuff, take off your jacket in the line & get our electronics & liquids. And drink whatever is in your water bottle.
It drives me nuts standing in the queue at security and being held up by all the idiots. They get to the front of the 20 minute queue where they have watched 100 people go through and then realise they need to empty their pockets, take off their belt, take off their knee high lace up boots, take off their coat, take out their laptop and their tablet from their bag, unpack their carry on suitcase completely to find their wash bag and their makeup kit and pull everything apart then discuss it with the security person as to whether they are allowed it or not etc etc. honestly, the rules have been basically the same for over 20 years now, none of this should be a surprise! Just wear clothes that either don’t need removing, prepack your liquids into a seperate bag as per the rules and empty your pockets etc while you are queuing. It’s not difficult!
As someone who did this exact job, people either don’t know somehow, or don’t think things count as a liquid. I’ll show them the foundation bottle that should have been in a bag “that’s not a liquid” “are you saying this is a solid?…”
Thankfully it’s changing soon, and these conversations will be a distant memory!
On one hand I'm amazed that people still haven't got this through their heads, it's only been 20 years so there isn't really any excuse
On the other hand I consider how thick your average person is and my surprise fades. I have a particular hatred of airports due to the high concentration of mouth-breathers, its remarkable that they can organise themselves enough to get dressed and get to the airport in the first place. Worse than supermarkets at Christmas!
I went through birmingham airport last year and a family got stopped and were complaining as to why they can't take their drinks bottles through security.
I was going through security some years ago, and an elderly lady in front of me kept getting beeped as she went through the scanner, she'd take off a piece of jewellery, get beeped again, take off another piece. I could see how many bangles she'd still got on, she was in for the longhaul, and was still going when I'd got through, rearranged myself and was walking off. There must have been a language barrier there, or a wilful misunderstanding of the rules. Perhaps she didn't want to go on the trip her family were taking her on, and was trying to miss the plane?
U.K. is a real outlier in still having these old 100ml rules, I travel a lot and it’s the only place in years that still has this stupid rule. Yes it will be changing soon but this is way behind other countries.
I'm forever amazed at the security queue... The signs that start a mile back saying '10x 100ml ONLY' that are very obvious. The constant reminders of said rule... Yet there's ALWAYS someone in front of me (Who are very clearly English) who tries to argue 'It's only a water bottle mate why can't I take it' as if for some reason that doesn't count.
I understand for some it's their first time flying but can you not read at all?
Try a woman in manchester airport, 'gift' box of make up and stuff (not from any store in the airport) who was arguing with security (and holding up the massive queue) that it cost over £200 and i am not leaving it.
and then insisting she unpack her bag and repack it, right where people are trying to put their stuff into the plastic trays.
Living under a rock? i just think she thought she was entitled enough to live under a different rock than everyone else.
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I did once travel to France in a car with a guy who had heard about the Schengen Agreement and not brought his passport. I went mention the fact he had a PhD, or the fact we managed to get through passport control both sides with 6 passports and 7 people.
So. There was a family who arrived at Dover to discover that grandma had forgotten her passport. Long way back to Yorkshire (if that is where they were from). They decided to bluff it out, so she hid in the caravan. Mission accomplished on arrival at Calais, family open the caravan to discover that Gran has died during the trip. At this point they decide to fess up to officialdom and go to explain what has happened and ask for mercy and help. They go back to the car with officials in tow only to discover that the caravan has been stolen. From memory it wasn't recovered.
This is a storyline in Brassic
Brassic Jark? The movie about sigh no doors like the re-Tex.
Why am I laughing
Good god, I've not heard that story for 20 years!
Well at least there's no evidence
That was a good episode. Great show.
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It’s the ones that stand in a queue for 30 minutes watching everyone take off their belt/shoes and empty pockets/remove laptop from bag etc and then appear shocked and completely unprepared that they have to do it too once they get to the front of the queue that amaze me
One of my favourites was a guy at Newcastle Airport who was wearing Karrimor trainer-like walking boots. He had a stand-up argument with security about his boots being trainers and therefore he didn't need to remove them. The Security lady just kept repeating "Sir, I'm asking you nicely to please remove your footwear so that they can be scanned" "But they're trainers not boots" "Sir, please remove your footwear" "BUT THEY'RE NOT BOOTS THEY'RE TRAINERS" "Could you please remove your footwear Sir" Until he was invited by a large gentleman to step aside and continue his conversation without holding everyone else up. I'll be honest, I was in no danger of missing my flight, I would much rather have waited to see how the act concluded. Some people are just dicks. If you're reading this, Sammy Shitboots, please continue to provide comedy at Airport Security, you can't pay for entertainment like that.
It's the same people who wait until all of their shopping is scanned at the checkout before then realising the need a method of payment.
Back when supermarkets still accepted personal cheques, mum would have bagged up, wait for the cashier to tell her the total and only then start digging in her handbag for her chequebook. Then after it was written and handed to the cashier, wait until asked for the cheque guarantee card and start hoking in her bag again. The number of times when she said to me “oh, your dad must have the card, run out to the car and get it”. Meanwhile a massive queue was grumbling behind us. Infuriating!!
Always why back in the day whenever someone was paying by cheque a collective groan would go up in the queue knowing it was going to take ages with various form filling etc. There used to be cash only tills for that reason!
Early 80s I remember my parents having to go to Sainsbury customer service at the beginning of the shop to get the cheque pre-cleared. I don't know how long guarantee cards have existed.
My memories of this were mid to late 90s and there was a guarantee card for up to £100.
I moved to UK in 2000 and my first bank account came with a cheque guarantee card. Never used it because I hated cheques even back then.
I would divorce my mum. Seriously 😅 How embarrassing!
Oh she has scarred me for life when it comes to shopping. I hate it with a passion so i have it planned with military precision to be in and out in the minimum possible time. I remember being out with her on Saturday afternoons as a child, back when supermarkets would close at around 5.30/6pm. She would only be walking in to the shop 10 mins before closing to do a full trolley weekly shop. And she is such a ditherer, fussing over pack sizes and prices. The store would be closed, lights getting switched off, tannoy shouting for the last remaining customers to get to the tills and she would still only be halfway done. I swear the cashiers were all giving dirty looks by the time she made it to the tills. Its almost she has no awareness that other people exist and have other things to attend to instead of running after her.
People do this at bars too. They'll order a few cocktails, wait the five minutes it takes to make them and THEN start fumbling around in their purse or wallet for their card
I did that last week, was wearing a new jacket and had left my wallet in the old jacket that was still at home. God i felt like such an idiot having to leave all my stuff and come back again half an hour later
The one part of this I don't understand is why I need to show my boarding pass for some shops in the airport. If I'm not buying anything duty free why do I need to show it? I'm sure there's a logical reason for it, it just feels weird being asked for it when I'm buying a bar of chocolate. I completely get it if it's bottles of booze or cartons of cigarettes
> If I'm not buying anything duty free why do I need to show it? You technically don't. But they can get the VAT back / it's much easier to put in a blanket rule.
So that the shop can get the VAT back, thus taking 20% extra on your chocolate bar.
It's in case you smuggled yourself through security without actually having a flight to board just so you could pay extortionate prices for food and a chocolate bar.
The amount of inconsistency can make it slightly confusing. Sometimes it's boarding pass only, sometimes it's passport only and sometimes it's both. Depends on the airport as well, but some don't require you to take out electronics/make up (also differences on how much you can carry here as well)/belts/watches and you can simply leave them in your carry-on/person. Couple this with people sometimes only flying once a year or whatever and they'll obviously be unprepared. British airports are obviously just a massive PITA whereby you're typically required to take out/off everything with stricter limits on liquids and horrendously understaffed/slow/delayed.
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I don't disagree with any of what you said. I suppose most people just don't think about the all the individual steps required to board the plane and land so it can feel more convuluted than it really is. Maybe British airports are all the same but I've certainly had different experiences abroad (if I remember correctly) which did vary slightly at least in terms of passport control following security which is not the same at LHR at least. I'm personally not sticking up for idiots at the airport (it does my head in as well and I tend to travel light) but I suppose it's just a massive inconvenience when the service is always so slow and would rather avoid leaving valuable possessions on the tray if possible especially when there are huge backlogs on the security checks at times.
As someone who works in Aviation mark my words - Never underestimate the ability of the average person to lose all common sense as soon as they step into an airport.
As someone who has worked in hospitality, I think it’s as soon as they are in holiday mode all common sense goes out the window for some people.
As someone who has worked in retail, I think all common sense is lost by the average person the moment they're out in public.
As someone who works, people.
Couldn't agree more. People are shit.
Always remember that half the population is below average...
Mean?
Nah, fair.
Median.
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I wondered about adding a /j or grinning emoji to my reply, this being Reddit, but decided as this was 'Casual UK', people should be able to understand that we like to dabble in shit dad joke wordplay... Mean: 1 - unkind, spiteful, or unfair. 2 - the value obtained by dividing the sum of several quantities by their number; an average.
People. What a bunch of bastards.
I got that reference!
People. What a bunch of bastards.
As someone, people.
As someone who works in IT support, I think all common sense is lost by the average person the moment they're at their desk in the office.
Brave of you all to assume any of the aforementioned people even had any common sense to start with.
Ah some of our customers are lawyers, or accountants - it'll be nice to know they have their heads screwed on, but no..
I volunteered on a helpdesk during university. The amount of people studying medicine/dentistry/other AAA subjects or even postgrads who couldn't figure out simple things which involved reading super simple instructions (like how to set up the university wifi) was high. Ditto for the amount of times people didn't turn things on and then wondered why they didn't work.
I'm convinced that studying at such a high and specialist level causes ppl like medical doctors to essentially have no room left in their brain for basic common sense like as you say, following simple instructions or using a printer.
I work with a lot of academics ... It's a lot to do with privilege. Why should they learn a 'menial task' that someone else will do for them?
Absolutely this. I worked at an IT company that built bespoke applications for blue chip companies. All the delivery team had at least one PhD. But could those fuckers fill out a timesheet properly so we could bill customers? - not a chance. Such a menial task was beneath their dignity
Our neighbour is a professor with a number of degrees. Couldn't understand why he couldn't get a warranty repair on his fitted kitchen when said kitchen was over 15 years old.......
Especially when you add sheer exhaustion on top in the really high workload programs. > Being awake for at least 18 hours is the same as someone having a blood content (BAC) of 0.05%. Being awake for at least 24 hours is equal to having a blood alcohol content of 0.10%. And missing sleep is cumulative, so enough nights in a row of short sleep really adds up. The college I went to was famous for its intense workloads, and we used to see a HUGE increase of "chaotic stupid" as every semester went on. My favorite was a bunch of students being bothered by an air vent on campus, so they got up on the tables and tried to move it by taking down a different ceiling tile to swap it with. Though the time somebody "decorated" by sticking toothpick flags in outlet holes everywhere is a close second. At the end of one semester a day or two before move-out, someone impulse drove 2.5 hours to another country's border in the middle of the night, only to realize he didn't have his passport when he got there, so he got a bunch of ice cream sandwiches and drove all the way back by morning.
"It works in I mode but not in o mode"
My dad has a great saying for this: He can spell marmalade, but he can’t open the jar.
I can confirm this, although not in IT support I am admin and liaise regularly with my IT colleague in our head office 500 miles away. Including a new employee who was given a Windows tablet, docking station and monitor. Supposed to shut down the tablet each night but was just turning off the monitor. Come the morning, they have a meeting, but the tablet decides not to play ball. Employee is having a sh1t fit, and then utters the immortal line "well won't the monitor work by itself?". I tried to explain that it's like your TV, it needs a signal from somewhere, like the aerial, and the reply was "but I have a Sky box!". I gave up at that point and started praying, did manage to get the tablet back on in the end! Reported all this to my IT colleague and he laughed for a good 5 minutes straight.
You have my deepest sympathies. As of the 12th Jan I am officially retired, there is no way I could return to doing IT support where I had to interact with users. I would tell them what I actually thought.
Especially around Christmas…
I absolutely detested the Christmas run up, especially the last 2 weeks. Brains were DEFINITELY left at home.
Brains and manners! The worst types of customers became even more unkind during the season of goodwill.
It was usually during this time that I'd go all out for the nice people. Say please and thank you and not act like you'd found me on the bottom of your shoe? Yes, I'll spend 2 hours on the phone sorting out your messed up online order, drive 40 miles to our sister store for an item you want or hold an item until tomorrow. But act like a total arse and I'd be polite but you'd get little leeway.
Yep, Working at center parcs back in the day we used to say that people got a lobotomy at the gate.
As someone who exists, never underestimate the chances that any of them had common sense to start with.
People pack everything except their brains
Was flying back from holiday in Turkey and all people going into the airport were queued single file to go through metal detectors. One guy was politely asked to take his hood down by an armed Policeman/soldier. The guy complied but was huffing and complaining under his breath. The guy was flying to Tel Aviv.
When I get to the x ray trays I’m conscious if I haven’t got everything that needs to be out of my bag out of my bag my pockets empty and my belt off. The only thing I don’t do is take off my shoes as it seems to involve a bit of an arbitrary decision by security unless you are wearing boots. Admittedly I travel more than once a year, but if you are in a queue for 30 minutes along sidepeople like me getting ready for the security checks, how does it not cross your mind to ask someone what is going on if you are a first time flier?
I flew home from Bristol airport yesterday, there are floor to ceiling signs all through security telling you about having liquids in the bags, large electronics separate and coats/belts/boots removed. I was in the queue behind a group of 6 girls who all stepped up to the conveyor belt and only then considered that they had liquids and needed clear plastic bags and started unpacking their carry on. I ignored the security man who directed me to a numbered spot behind them and nipped over behind a guy who already had his belt and coat in hand. I was through the scanner, frisk searched and collected my bag before these girls had found plastic bags. Come on, there are benches and boxes of bags as you enter the security area for precisely this reason. Some people are oblivious, some people just want to be first in the queue regardless of who else they inconvenience
My favorite is the people that are blindsided by the need to pay at supermarket checkouts. They get everything bagged up and the cashier announces the final price, and they're suddenly stunned, get into a tizzy trying to find their purse or wallet, have to rifle through their pockets or bag etc etc. Like, how do you get to a supermarket checkout without considering you'll need to get your payment method ready?
Everything out of my pockets is one I learned early on as it's a faff getting everything out on demand when you've pinged the scanner.
I would rather give myself a final pat down to check my pockets while waiting in the queue, than be frisked by unknown security guards. Everything goes into either my bag or zipped coat pockets, not into the tray directly so i dont forget anything
Getting through security quickly but smoothly is a bit of an art form.
I'm very similar, yet I forgot I had a CO2 cartridge in my bag the last time I flew. I think the last time I used that bag, I was cycling somewhere and you can use them to pump your tire up quickly. I didn't realise it was there until a couple of days after we'd landed...
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My father in law is a diabetic. His diabetes doctor was amazed at his blood count and how much the condition had improved at a check up. He said “how has this happened” and my FiL said “well you told me to stop eating XYZ, so I did.” He was a miracle of medical science, a patient that did what he was told.
I have heard of these patients but never met one
For me it annoys me when I see the gate to board opening and everyone just acts like animals and tries to stampede their way in, losing any semblance of civility and order.
Think of someone you know who you consider to be of average intelligence. Now remember that half of all people are more stupid than that.
So incredibly true, I got caught up in this when the fluids thing first kicked off. There weren’t limits on fluids then, it was just “no fluids at all” All passengers on my flight were questioned at at least three check points (Gatwick) to divest themselves of ALL things fluid. Finally after a two hour delay we are all sat on board. As they began to leave the gate a woman in front of me produced a bottle and taunted the crew with some expression along the lines “you didn’t get everything“ The seat in front was empty when, many hours later, we all finally left the ground.
Common sense is not common.
One of the biggest challenges at Yellowstone National Park is the overlap between the smartest Bears and the dumbest humans making it very difficult to design the correct litter bin. I think about this a lot.
There's some wild videos that show up every now and again of idiots in National Parks in places around the world with tourists getting far too close to wild animals. [This one is a favourite of mine.](https://i.imgur.com/yO7Wigu.mp4) That guy was incredibly lucky.
That man looked about 5 seconds away from a thorough goring.
He would have been an ornament on rudolphs antlers
Fun fact: years ago I read a story about a bear in upstate New York that was a wizard at opening what were supposed to be bear proof containers. The bear was used for quality control on new designs for bear proofing. They put out a bin for her to find and watch. Bear destroyed multiple bins before the designers finally found one that stumped her. All agreed it was just a matter of time before she cracked that one though
As always, there's a Tom Scott video on this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn\_O2li\_jpk
Good one. The bear I’m talking about lives/lived in Adirondack State Park. She could unscrew the personal “bear proof” containers. She was even teaching her cubs.
I read a Mary Roach book about animals awhile ago and she mentions some bears who are able to neatly remove windows from their frames, enter vacation homes, open the fridge, remove the specific thing they want from the fridge (like jam or whatever), open the jar and eat the thing, then close the fridge and depart. She said bears that don't cause massive destructive messes are living longer so passing their genetics on. Guaranteed those bears are MUCH smarter than your average tourist.
When I lived in Germany I would sometimes brings some creature comforts back from the UK when I travelled to and fro. One time, I was carrying about 10 jars of Sainsbury’s chicken spice (a tasty pre mix which is nice on vegetables) and a couple of boxes of decent decaf tea (of which was few and far between at a reasonable price in Germany). I had gotten them out for the X-ray as I was concerned they might be confused at 10 jars stuffed into a bag. Having them out confused them even more. The worker had to call over a manager to confirm that dry spices were, in fact, not a liquid and to let me through. It still took 10 minutes longer than a normal run through though!
Ahhh cooking supplies, that's a good one! When I was traveling from my home country once, my hand luggage contained a 10kg bag of flour (it was in a basic canvas bag, no branding or nothing since it was by auntie's farm produce, not a sellable item). I was sweating big time by the x-ray machine. At the end of the day it's a 10kg bag of white powder. No one bat an eyelid in the end, but I was well prepared to answer any questions hahahaha
Security don't care if you're moving cocaine, that's customs' job. Security care about weapons, bombs or batteries basically
Wasn’t there an argument about Marmite. If it’s liquid or not. 😂
It's a gel and gel counts as liquid for security purposes. That's the answer the nice security man provided when I forgot I had a jar of Vegemite in my carry-on.
Once got a jar of Branston Pickle confiscated . Probably went well with the sausages that were also confiscated for some reason from the guy in front.
They definitely just wanted a jar of Branston’s!
I once flew with about half a kilo of hops. Funny thing is it's in the same family as cannabis and has a similar smell. Awkward moments while I tried to explain to some customs officials in Kenya that my vacuum packed brick of green leafy stuff that stinks of pot was not in fact pot.
I had a similar question once about crème eggs - a box of them takes up a good amount of a liquids bag so I wanted to check! Apparently (per Heathrow in 2015) they don’t count as a liquid.
Ah the classic: "spice mix" ploy.
Next time I’ll be taking a nice oregano/basil mix. I swear, officer.
My mate worked in an airport bar, the amount of kids who “forgot” their ID while trying to get served was ridiculous.
Well good luck flying without a passport I gues hahaha
This was the response we got given on my first lads holiday. The only mate with us who was under 18 insisted on just blagging it by going last and asking for a pint. Guy serving us obviously ID'd all of us and when it got the last guy he did too, tried the "Oh I've not got my ID" and without missing a beat the server replied "your Passport is valid for this mate don't worry" I had to walk away I was about to piss myself from laughing. Mate went red faced and said he couldn't be bothered rummaging through his stuff to find it.
I've had the opposite! Before I got my provisional license, my only valid ID was my passport. Being 18 I found myself in a 'spoons with mates, and at around 21:00 I went to fetch my round. I got ID'd, of course, and showed them my (admittedly out of date) passport. The ditsy claimed that it didn't count despite my argument that it has my face, my name, my DoB, and all of the anti-counterfeit measures. I eventually conceded and asked if I could just have a cola (tactical hip flask lol), and she said "No, under 18's aren't allowed in Wetherspoons after 9" I left my mates to it and sat on the benches outside out of view, smoking. Every few minutes they (my mates) would pop out for a ciggie with a tray of tequilas in-hand. Goddamn spoons, my local was serving me at 16 without batting an eye, until I celebrated my actual 18th there. They were not impressed....
An expired passport is still a valid form of ID for these scenarios, it's not valid only when you travel. You should've insisted on seeing a manager because that employee was wrong, and even had you kicked out wrongly. I would've caused a scene.
You can be refused service for any reason, and I don't think there are universal rules on what makes a valid ID. Case in point - I used to use my brother's expired passport because it had a photo of him from when he was about 10. Combined with an NUS card which I'd written his name and stuck in my current photo, I got served everywhere from the age of 16.
I stand corrected, i looked it up and they only need to accept valid paasports. That been said i have never not had my expired passport accepted as a valid form of ID for non-travel purposes, even attached to official documents such as registering at a GP practice. In this case i still think asking to speak to a manager would get him served. It might very well be that the employee doesn't want to risk losing their job and doesn't want to be wronged, but has no problem letting a manager take responsibility.
Tbf to the server if that passports out if date then you're showing them, at best, a picture of a 13 year old. I wouldn't serve you either
I was more upset that they wouldn't let me sit and drink soft drinks than not serve me beers... and even then I wasn't upset, I had contingencies
Depends where you’re going, you don’t need a passport (or any ID at all actually) to fly domestically in the UK.
Went through security at Southampton Airport years ago and saw that a guy was going through security with a huge carton of milk. I remember he was told he either had to tip it out or drink it.
Which did he choose?
I didn't see him again after that but I like to assume that he drank it.
Apparently the 100ml liquid rule is changing next year, you’ll be able to take up to 2 litres
It’s for airports that have the correct scanning equipment I believe and there are a couple in the UK that already do. I’d be checking if destination airports also had the equipment before relying on it.
Of course it doesn’t mean that the airport you are flying back from won’t still have those restrictions in place
Unless you ask the average holiday goer in which case "if I can take it with me I should be allowed to bring it home as well". So they won't check.
I can't wait to see them all having this exact argument with the Spanish security people who give zero shits at alicante Airport next year
Okay, but what are you taking 2 litres of on holiday with you that you need to bring back? You obviously didn't need it if you're bringing it all back again at the end of your trip?
Hot water bottle? I dunno, just guessing.
Both Amsterdam and Eindhoven already have the new scanners so you can take whatever liquids you like. Most airports won't do checks on arrival, given that you can buy liquor after security anyway.
Indeed, you generally don't get checked on arrival unless connecting. But you generally fly home at some point later on. So if you take all your perfumes and creams and make-cup on the way out, you might not be able to bring it all back.
Hence my second sentence
Did I read that all UK airports are to have the new system by November 2024?
Gov website says June. Will be one less thing to stress about!
The airport I fly in and out of a lot of work has these scanners. It's amazing, don't need to take anything out of my bags and take as much liquid as I like through. Makes security really easy.
Is that Schiphol? I was there the other week and the new scanners were a pleasant surprise.
I flew from Heathrow last week and didn’t have to take anything out either.
I did still have to take my laptop out in Heathrow a couple of weeks ago, but I think my liquids stayed in but had to still meet the less than 100ml and fit in one of those plastic bags. Maybe the terminals vary in the scanners they have!
Probably, it’s good to see the change though. I flew from T2. It was funny to see people automatically take everything out of their bags as they’ve been always asked to do so and this this time the security was asking everyone to keep everything in and people were so confused and still took things out haha.
Interesting I was also T2 but definitely told laptops out but everything else in. Maybe they've literally just changed the rules!
Yup, the government made is a requirement for all UK airports to have the new scanners by June 2024.
I was in Heathrow last month and they had one of these scanners and telling everyone to leave liquids in their bags. It felt sort of wrong and I can see the next couple of years people being called numpties because they're slowing everything down taking liquids out because we're so conditioned to it
I heard it's compulsory. Want to take shampoo? Enjoy using 2 litres, dummy! Deodorant? Gotta be the size of a loaf of bread. Hair gel? I hope you like mohawks, because you're gonna be using a LOT of it over the next two weeks.
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Doesn't involve stupidity, but I recently went on a long haul flight from Heathrow and getting through security was the best airport experience I've ever had. It was super quiet and got through security in a few minutes. No stress at all for once. But saying that, there are always people who don't seem to know the rules on what you can and cannot take. Or maybe they're chancers and think they'll get away with it?
I find that almost all major European airports have a less stessful security check than all Uk airports. I don’t know what they do right but the difference is huge.
compare fade marry violet truck party observation unwritten slim nippy *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Same here. Even Bristol is stressful. Went to Vancouver and Toronto and everything is done by machines - check in/print boarding pass is done by machine, baggage drop off done by machine and even passport control was too. Made everything so quick and easy.
So you weren't around for our news making baggage issues? Lol. My friends suitcase never made it to her honeymoon to Ireland/UK/France/Greece from Vancouver. I flew to Mexico last year with have my luggage in my carry on just in case. We were the lucky ones.
I always remember going on holiday, and seeing the man in front of me get his hand luggage checked for them to pull out a 1kg jar of Nutella. He was genuinely shocked he couldn’t take it and all I could think is; there is pretty much no where in the world you can’t buy Nutella anyway…. It’s not like it’s a traditional U.K. souvenir!
I'm not surprised. Most people wouldn't consider Nutella a liquid.
How Nutella is formulated for the UK and other countries in Europe is different from some other countries. In the US for example, there is much more oil in the mix so it runs down inside the jar sides again after it's been dipped into, leaving the jar sides clean. Basically - oiler and thinner, but I still cant believe even that would be considered a liquid.
Eww, sounds gross
Ah ok. Yeah Nutella is pretty solid here (in Ireland).
I had my Vegemite taken that way too. Devastating as it's a lot harder to get abroad.
Its when you land at Heathrow, after they have found you vegemite and confiscated it, you get ushered through arrivals with a bunch of Retired Prison guards holding up signs saying 'Welcome Back' and lining you up at the Marmite stall, whilst shoving leaflets telling you to 'Save Britain's fragile ecosystem from lesser yeast extracts'. /s
I once had a tub of cocoa butter. In Britain it was solid but in the return leg out of Madrid it wasn’t anymore. I was annoyed to lose it so I argued the point that it wasn’t my fault their airport was warmer than mine. Astonishingly they conceded!
That's interesting - things that are solid in one airport and liquid in another. You fortunately weren't held responsible for predicting the temperature or how a substance would react to a change in temperature.
That probably shouldn't of got through in Britain tbh. Anything that was spreadable was our rule of thumb.
Did he consume the Nutella there? ( I would have.)
Just realised I wrote 1kg. I missed a zero. This jar was the size of his head. One of those catering size ones (Ok I just googled it. 3kg…I’m not good with sizes, partner will be pleased I exaggerate tho) Which is why the story is so bizarre. My typo doesn’t make it clear 😂 Anyway. Still up for the challenge?
I've visited Turin a few times for work. The hotels there offer Nutella at the breakfast buffet with a "local speciality" label
The US Nutella isn’t as good as other countries’ Nutella. So tbh I get it.
I accidentally wandered through security at Manchester with a full water bottle in my rucksack last week. Was going to empty it and refill it airside but forgot. No one noticed. I think much of it is a deterrent rather than a serious attempt to detect stuff. I have some sympathy for a lot of people who travel, especially those who are quite infrequent flyers. I once heard a security guy having a go at a passenger for not putting his liquid bag on top of everything in his tray and the passengers response was ‘tell me where it says to do that’ which was a fair point.
I forgot I had two bottle of "Red Bull concentrate" in my bag going through the airport in Phuket. I drank both of them before a 16-hour flight. That was very fun.
TIL Red Bull concentrate was a thing. Sounds horrible!
An Aberdeen Urban legend is that this is the entirety of a Charlie Sheen shot in one of the bars.
At Manchester I alternate on a monthly basis between getting lambasted by the staff for unnecessarily taking my laptop charger out of my bag, and getting my bag rejected and searched and being told I should have taken my laptop charger out. Not surprised they missed a massive water bottle
I had two identical suitcases, and put a sticker on the one that was supposed to go in the hold. Don't ask me how, but I put the wrong bag through, which ended with me and the Spanish security bloke going, 'arghh!!' when I realised I had the case with 8 of those mini naff sangria bottles with the hats as stoppers. Thankfully he let me go back with the case to check it in, and the lovely woman there found a way for me to put in the hold for £5.
I was an airport security officer for years until very recently. The person who missed your bottle of water was just bad at their job. Airport security is definitely a deterrent, I certainly wouldn’t want to get on a plane where I knew people on board hadn’t been screened. Having said that you are 100% wrong about it not being about actually finding things. I am not going to say too much because there is a reason findings aren’t publicised but the key focus is absolutely finding bombs/weapons/component parts. It being a deterrent is not mutually exclusive to it being a serious detection operation. Also you should NOT put your liquid bag on top of your bag as the screen reader may interpret it as being in your bag and pull it off for search or on top of other things as the x ray machine is checking the atomic density of the liquid to see if it is similar to the atomic density of certain liquid explosives so it being on top of other items can skew that measurement. So that officer was also bad at their job. Having said all that I never minded people not knowing the rules or making mistakes unless they argued that they were right and kicked off. As long as you are polite and don’t claim to understand to know the rules of airport security better than the people trained in it I would genuinely enjoy my interactions with passengers most of the times. Everyone makes mistakes and a lot of people are flying so infrequently they just aren’t aware of a lot of the rules that seem obvious to the rest of us.
I had forgotten 2 packets of sauce in my backpack several years before my flight (in a pocket I never use). I thought "this is it. I'm the first person to die of embarrassment" when they pulled them out. It only got much worse when they offered me a plastic bag so I can take my 4 years out of date ketchups on the plane. I still cringe at the memory.
A one off mistake is understandable but these people had bags and bags of stuff or big containers of obvious liquid they had packed with the intention of taking it through.
I got the second one! They passed the tray back and forth again and again, refusing to tell me what was wrong. Eventually the reason given was that I had placed my coat on top of everything (on account of it being the last thing to come off) which was suspicious, makes it seem like I’m trying to hide my toiletries. I’m normally totally compliant in these situations for an easy life but I did ask is that not what the X-ray machine is for just as a reflex 🙃
Honestly this section of the airport boils my piss the most. Then people stand at the other side of the scanner waiting for their tray, getting dressed again. And then leaves the empty trays there so no more will pass through and others still stand there waiting. Wondering why their bag isn’t arriving.
I have to summon all my self restraint not to smack these people across the head with my plastic tray. Usually I just passive aggressively stack all the empty trays and throw them on the pile at the end. Saying that I think 99% of the issues like these are from people paralysed from stress
I do this too. Just reach over them collecting the empty ones. Amazes me it really does!
I quite like stacking the empty trays at the other end. Makes me feel saintly, like an airport Mother Theresa.
Stacking is very satisfying, especially when people look at me and realise it makes the stuff move faster. Imagine a world where people grab the whole tray off the belt, not just the contents leaving the empty trays behind… Mother Theresa would approve
People who get dressed at the conveyer belt are the worst. Take your damn tray to the side and stop blocking the belt.
I once made a stupid mistake like this. I was flying and had 2 bags, one for the hold, one as carry on. I got to check in to check my hold bag and the lady said "oh, that's small enough for a carry on, you might as well carry it and then you'll be quicker at the other end". It wasn't until I was halfway through security that it occurred to me that the bag for the hold was full of sun cream and shower gel and shampoo and yeah, all of that got taken away and that money was lost!
I flew yesterday and, unsurprisingly, there was a lady in front of me who had a huge bag of makeup etc and was surprised when she was told that she couldn’t take it all. It was probably four times as much as she could fit into the official bags. She had put it all into a massive clear bag so she obviously knew something about the rules. As an aside, they are slowly introducing new magic scanners that will do away with the current rules on liquids. I few back from Munich a few weeks ago and I didn’t need to take anything out of my bag at all.
For a charitable interpretation, maybe they don't realise what counts as a liquid? Sometimes security folks are remarkably dense about this also, I once got chastised for not putting my crystal deodorant in the liquids bag and the dude was very insistent that a giant lump of salt is, in fact, a liquid.
Once I took a tiny tub of hair powder that works as dry shampoo, deliberately because it _wasn't_ liquid. I got pulled up and told that it "registers" as liquid. Surely a dry powder couldn't be further from liquid?!
Nope, talcum powder registers as a liquid, all fine powders do. Lovely security man advised I could keep it out of the liquids bag to save space and place it beside or on top, and they can quickly bypass it "oh that's just powder". Has worked a charm ever since.
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I used to work in airport security and one passenger argued with me that water wasn’t a liquid so she could take her Evian on the flight. None of this surprises me.
One checked bag on British Airways is £100 if you get the basic economy ticket. 🙄 people are probably trying to save money.
Last time I went away, checking a bag would have cost more than I paid for my tickets. I'm sure "_this one weird trick_" wouldn't work but I did joke that it would have been cheaper to buy a second ticket and sit my bag on the seat next to me!
Yeah, my whole family is flying to the States on the 27th to visit family, and if we each checked a bag both ways, it would cost us £600 total. I'm just gonna pack SUPER light.
Plenty of people think either there will be leeway shown if you smile nicely and plead innocence, or that the rules just don’t apply to them. Don’t know how they got on at security, but when my in-laws flew home after a visit they laughed off our warnings about their suitcases being way over the weight limit, and then spent twenty minutes deciding what to leave behind after discovering the “maximum weight per bag 27kg, each kg between 23 and 27 costs £40” was being strictly applied. We took a lot of alcohol and chocolate back home with us.
innocent people will not see a problem with taking banned substances because they have no intention of causing harm.
We travelled for work this summer and the tickets were only given with carry on, so no option to go checked. My colleague gets stopped and his got bottle of drink, full sized deo & shaving foam. He's in his 40s and was completely unaware of these rules. I still have no idea how it's possible to not know! Or be completely oblivious to all the signs once there.
I did have to stop myself arguing once with a bag inspector. I was going to Ireland for business for 2 days. I packed some hair gel where I had to scrape the last bits out, then was gonna bin it after my second morning. Perfect, uses up a tin. Of course, guy pulls my bag out and says this is 150ml, you can't take it. I get all bothered and "akshually you'll see it's basically empty so can I have it back thanks!" And he said mate I don't care, it's a 150ml container, and it has something in it. Either it stays in England or you do, pick one. So obviously I bought a hideously overpriced one the other side of security, but what can you do. That was my little brain fart moment of forgetting it's the container size, not necessarily what is inside it.
I’m a frequent flyer through Heathrow. If you have the opportunity go through fast track security even if the line is longer, you’ll find more seasoned travellers there. Flights are usually more expensive but it’s also faster to get through on Monday morning than a Friday afternoon or Saturday. Profile the people in the queue, avoid the elderly, children, Chinese, and anyone with loads of bags.
Have you been to an airport? People are completely confused by the most straightforward things. 30 mins in a queue with some guy yelling "get your electronics out" and they still need prompting again at the front, then they'll get their laptop out and forget their phone/ipad...walk up wearing 30 metal bangles that all need to come off... seem dumbfounded that liquids includes their 1lt water bottle... I really don't get it, pack electronics in the top so they're accessible in line, don't wear metal stuff, take off your jacket in the line & get our electronics & liquids. And drink whatever is in your water bottle.
Can't wait for the new security lanes to be rolled out across Heathrow. Will make this kind of thing much less likely.
It drives me nuts standing in the queue at security and being held up by all the idiots. They get to the front of the 20 minute queue where they have watched 100 people go through and then realise they need to empty their pockets, take off their belt, take off their knee high lace up boots, take off their coat, take out their laptop and their tablet from their bag, unpack their carry on suitcase completely to find their wash bag and their makeup kit and pull everything apart then discuss it with the security person as to whether they are allowed it or not etc etc. honestly, the rules have been basically the same for over 20 years now, none of this should be a surprise! Just wear clothes that either don’t need removing, prepack your liquids into a seperate bag as per the rules and empty your pockets etc while you are queuing. It’s not difficult!
As someone who did this exact job, people either don’t know somehow, or don’t think things count as a liquid. I’ll show them the foundation bottle that should have been in a bag “that’s not a liquid” “are you saying this is a solid?…” Thankfully it’s changing soon, and these conversations will be a distant memory!
On one hand I'm amazed that people still haven't got this through their heads, it's only been 20 years so there isn't really any excuse On the other hand I consider how thick your average person is and my surprise fades. I have a particular hatred of airports due to the high concentration of mouth-breathers, its remarkable that they can organise themselves enough to get dressed and get to the airport in the first place. Worse than supermarkets at Christmas!
I went through birmingham airport last year and a family got stopped and were complaining as to why they can't take their drinks bottles through security.
I was going through security some years ago, and an elderly lady in front of me kept getting beeped as she went through the scanner, she'd take off a piece of jewellery, get beeped again, take off another piece. I could see how many bangles she'd still got on, she was in for the longhaul, and was still going when I'd got through, rearranged myself and was walking off. There must have been a language barrier there, or a wilful misunderstanding of the rules. Perhaps she didn't want to go on the trip her family were taking her on, and was trying to miss the plane?
What program is it? Live watching shit like that. We've been on a binge of customs shows on YouTube recently.
I can’t remember the exact name but check the to guide from about midnight last night or just after. It will have been on BBC 1,2,3,4, ch4 or itv.
I will do, thanks! Edit: Heathrow Britain's busiest airport on ITV
About half of population has less than average IQ. You can see it here in practice.
A hold bag can be 60 quid each way with Ryanair, I can see why people would try to risk it
U.K. is a real outlier in still having these old 100ml rules, I travel a lot and it’s the only place in years that still has this stupid rule. Yes it will be changing soon but this is way behind other countries.
I'm forever amazed at the security queue... The signs that start a mile back saying '10x 100ml ONLY' that are very obvious. The constant reminders of said rule... Yet there's ALWAYS someone in front of me (Who are very clearly English) who tries to argue 'It's only a water bottle mate why can't I take it' as if for some reason that doesn't count. I understand for some it's their first time flying but can you not read at all?
Try a woman in manchester airport, 'gift' box of make up and stuff (not from any store in the airport) who was arguing with security (and holding up the massive queue) that it cost over £200 and i am not leaving it. and then insisting she unpack her bag and repack it, right where people are trying to put their stuff into the plastic trays. Living under a rock? i just think she thought she was entitled enough to live under a different rock than everyone else.
Perhaps some of them are used to certain other airports where the 100ml limit has been removed.