I saw a couple of comments in other threads so I thought it would be interesting to gather some "scare stories" about security lapses when boarding a UA flight.

Some time ago I was boarding a UA flight from Washington DC to Kuwait City. Given the heightened concerns on Middle East flights I figured security would be tight.

First thing I saw was that a few rows in front of me there was one of the "you're in my seat; no it's my seat" discussions. FA came over and discovered that one of them, a Middle Eastern man, was on the wrong flight. How do you get on the wrong flight in Washington DC flying to Kuwait? Omaha to Kansas City is one thing, but I thought security would be a bit tighter.

As I sat down to enjoy the flight, a woman 2 seats away pulled out her 12 inch knitting needles to while away the time.

Arab men wandering on to the wrong flight and women carrying 12 "spears"? In Washington DC? They take my fingernail clippers away.

Your ignorance seems rooted in a very, very broad generalization of the Middle East. Especially if you're traveling to that part of the world, a little education would go a very long way...

Ugh.

Edit: Did you ever bother to go figure that whole binary math concept out or are you just exceptionally comfortable in your current state of, how shall we say, unawareness generally speaking?

As far as informed people, "binarily" speaking, there are 10. You are not one of the two of them...

If they are still taking your nail clippers, a few words of advice: buy AAPL now and hold, sell it and buy TSLA at IPO and hold, don't buy UAL, avoid real estate, avoid REITs, don't manage your wealth with Madoff.

(In case anyone else is curious about the history, nail clippers were disallowed up until December 2005: http://blog.tsa.gov/2008/01/lighters...d-lithium.html.)

On my flight on Friday, this woman at the exit row was knitting during landing. My concern was not she would hurt anyone but the needle somehow gets on the emergency chute and puncture it.

It is not likely since it was an A320 window exit. However, I can see sharp objects can be dangerous on the regular door exit rows.

Several years in the Middle East. I think I know a bit about it. Not sure how wondering how a middle eastern looking man wandered on to a wrong flight in our nation's capital makes me ignorant. Perhaps you can enlighten.

Again, you lost me. Your binary signature is cute, but I've never challenged or disagreed with it. Perhaps you're thinking of someone else.

Pretty sure what CCIE is attempting to point out that the security gaffe was letting anyone wander onto the wrong flight, regardless of origin, and that what he's taking issue with is your post making it sound like the guy being middle eastern is somehow making him more of a security risk.

He's lost me with the binary thing too, though. Then again, that joke has been around since circa 1990, so maybe you're being confused with someone else here?

Presume we're talking about IAD here?

The individual in question -- whatever his national origin or ethnicity -- had presumably been screened at a TSA checkpoint. With some extremely rare exceptions, that's it in terms of physical security for departures.

The BP / flight mismatch should not have ocurred, but that's for passenger count / weight & balance reasons as well as for document checks to protect UA from transporting inadmissible pax.

Oh my.

Maybe UA implemented the removal of secondary passport check at gate, as suggested in this forum.

They should take those away. She could have been in the middle of knitting a bunch of Afghans!

So, was he a terrorist after all? Or did he turn out just to be a guy who accidentally boarded the wrong plane?

Nothing wrong with knitting needles.

Lol...

Fyi, both knitting needles and fingernail clippers are allowed through TSA security checkpoints. Same with screwdrivers less than 7" in length.

Look, I have never been one to tolerate much in the way of political correctness but let's be clear here: this is out-and-out racism. You are clearly implying that UA amplified their error by letting a "Middle Eastern looking man" (proper capitalization mine) onboard the wrong plane. Oh my, on a flight to Kuwait and they didn't strip search and interrogate this guy?! Of course somebody screwed up - probably somebodies. But they did not somehow doubly screw up because they let someone very likely from Kuwait on a plane bound for Kuwait. UA is not a whites only carrier last I knew.

So if you're so versed in the Middle East, you do realize that we have no greater ally there than Kuwait and that to this day US citizens get practically waved in and out of the country with minimal interference or inspection. Yet Kuwaitis routinely suffer abuse here due to their "Middle Easterness." It was very recently carried on the front page of the Arab Times that a delegation of their military officers who were transiting MIA en route to S America were not allowed to check into a hotel when their onward flight canceled and they were rebooked for the next day. They were kept in the terminal overnight, presumably because, as Kuwaiti military officers, they pose a huge security threat to the US. What with that dark hair and dark skin and that shifty Middle East appearance and all that. Right? Right? Probably freakin terrorists with that look of theirs.

From: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...inst-ua-5.html

What we're seeing here is not a security issue but an uneducated individual being ignorant.