according to WKYC-TV here in CLE, a passenger passing thru the checkpoint to concourses C/D at CLE was detained due to security finding a corkscrew in his/her baggage.

the customer, obviously a road warrior, had enough, and walked away from security while they were talking amongst themselves. my guess is that they were either:

A. unsure of the standard of the day regarding corkscrews.

B. deciding who was going to take the corkscrew home as a christmas present after it was confiscated.

regardless, when the passenger walked away (which meant he/she had to walk past the national guard stationed at the checkpoint as well), the two concourses had to be cleared and everyone rescreened. to make matters even more interesting the offending passenger (and the corkscrew) were never found!

is it possible we are beginning to see the beginnings of frequent flyer rebellion? those of us who know better know that the corkscrew was not a security threat! the lack of standards, in spite of federal oversight, nearly 3 months after the terrorist attacks, contibuted directly to this problem tonight in CLE.

BTW, i hate to burst the bubbles of the security personnel in CLE, but when I flew in from MSP on NW on sunday, i had a glass of wine in FC. came from a full size bottle, which had to opened with a corkscrew!

stop the madness!

You know, I did the exact same thing at BOS not so long ago, except it was a lighter instead of a corkscrew. Of course, they didn't even notice and the airport wasn't shut down.

The only thing worse than a useless/stupid rule is the incredibly miserable way that it's implemented.

The only thing worse is when someone does something so stupid as to walk away from security while they are obviously not finished with you. I am completely in agreement that security lacks quite a bit and the rules these days might not be reasonable. That doesn't change the fact that security is going to continue to do their job the way they are told until they are told otherwise. A frequent flyer rebellion serves no purpose other than to inconvenience every one else at the airport as well as yourself. Taking it upon yourself to decide that you are done with their security check is an invitation for disaster, as we have seen numerous times now. Those that do this deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. That is no better than someone driving through a red light because they are tired of waiting. If you want to affect change then join a grass roots movement by writing letters and calling your congress man/woman. Taking things into your own hands serves no purpose but to make you feel better for a very short period until they either A) find you and arrest you or B) shut the entire airport down. In neither case do you end up being able to board your airplane and leave on time.

Amen, AS Flyer!

I still don't get it.

Security didn't notice their suspect walking until at least several minutes had elapsed? Or else, they couldn't simply call after the suspect? The security videos weren't aware?

If security didn't call after or chase, how was the suspect to know to return? And if they did call after or chase, how come the suspect wasn't stopped or followed?

No matter what happened, it sounded like security failed, and in a heavy-handed, even punitive-appearing manner, to make up for that failure thousands were inconvenienced.

Will they now take credit for having averted disaster? And if they never found either their suspect or the contraband, how do they know whether it's safe to re-open the concourses?

I was in the lobby of a hotel where a NW crew was waiting for the airport van. They were complaiing about the flimsy plastic corkscrews they have to use now.

sorry AS Flyer, but i respectfully disagree with you. not only do we have the right, but we also have the responsibility to stand up against those who violate our rights.

we are beginning to see a rebellion in a number of ways. travellers are being pushed to the breaking point, all in the name of security. i have only booked one flight into 2002, because i've decided to drive the shorter distances (8 hours or less) rather than be subjected to the random harassment at the airports.

airports are being shut down because of the "panic mentality" which has be foisted upon us by our leaders in washington. tom daschle says "you don't professionalize, unless you federalize", and norman mineta is making demands which cannot be met, all in the name of security.

"those who sacrifice freedom for security will have neither". until standards are set and communicated to the travelling public, we will continue to have these breaches.

should this man have stopped? perhaps, but we don't know that he knew he had a problem. don't the screeners bear responsibility to clearly notify a passenger that there is a question about an item they are carrying? don't the screeners have the responsibility to promptly notify the passenger of the problem.

trust me, when i go thru security, my goal is to get thru, get my things, and get away from the check point. this person had to walk past airport security and the national guard to get away from security.

heres a link to an article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer about this breach:

http://www.cleveland.com/cuyahoga/pl...0082128920.xml

Here is an idea for all of us that fly weekly:

Everyone go to your kitchen drawer, remove one corkscrew, place said corkscrew in the computer bag and be done with it.

Maybe after confiscating hundreds upon hundreds of $2.00 corkscrews the incompetant policy makers will realize a national standard may be the best way to go.

i like it!

civil disobedience at its best!

Au contraire -- if the traffic signal is
broken, you may proceed when it's safe to do
so. Security *is* broken.


From the article:
How can they not know if he took the bag?
Is the bag there or not?

If they're not paying attention while they
pulled the bag, and he did take it and walk
off, how can you blame him? Are we
passengers supposed to be mind readers?

This nonsense has got to stop!!!

[This message has been edited by JS (edited 12-07-2001).]

Interesting analogy.

I guess I'm just uncertain about the objectivity
of who and how one decides if one has been
waiting at the broken light long enough to proceed.

[This message has been edited by blairvanhorn (edited 12-07-2001).]

thats when it becomes the responsibility of the individual to decide. common sense kicks in. much more effective than waiting for some government minion to decide for you.

IMHO, the CLE security staff is especially bad.

I've often had to wait to pass through security there while security staff memebers resolve issues by yelling at each other (not yelling because of malice, but because of the effects of hearing loss). These guys are like the Keystone Kops; not surprised they couldn't keep track of the passenger they were trying to inspect.

O, and a year ago, before passing through the metal detector at CLE I dropped a bunch of items in the hands of a security guard. I realized on the plane that the securuty guard gave me back all the items I had handed him except the waterman pen I recevied from my wife as part of the gifts I received from her when we got married.

[This message has been edited by Spyder (edited 12-07-2001).]

Oh, I trust my common sense 100%.

But everyone else's ...

On Thanksgiving morning, they needed a *supervisor* to approve my sealed bottle of orange juice through security. I felt so safe.