Airport Insecurity Strikes Again
All airline passengers can feel safer now. The Guardians of Air Safety just confiscated a small screwdriver bit I've carried for thirty years.
The rules, according to the screener in Cincinnati yesterday, prohibit tools except for those little screwdrivers that come with eyeglasses repair kits. So they took my unsharp, handleless screwdriver bit and left me the miniature stiletto in my glasses kit.
The screwdriver bit they took is less than two inches long, a quarter inch in cross section, with a slot screwdriver on one end and a Phillips on the other. It's the one that comes as part of a small-airplane fuel tank sampler. Years ago, when I no longer had need of the sampler, I bored a hole through the center of the bit and put it on a key ring with my fingernail clipper, and I've carried it in my toilet kit ever since. It's been through security many dozens of times since 9/11.
I explained why I carry it. I used to be a plumber, and loose fixture knobs in hotel rooms drive me nuts. I use the screwdriver bit to tighten them when I check in.
The Guardian of Air Safety was apologetic. He told me I could go back out of the insecurity check area, go upstairs to a US Mail station, mail it to myself for $3.85, and come back to go through insecurity again. I declined.
After I tied my shoes and picked up my bags, I told the Guardian of Air Safety that I was very glad that Richard Reid carried his bomb in his shoe and not up his ass.
Anybody know where I can get a carbon fiber screwdriver?
The rules, according to the screener in Cincinnati yesterday, prohibit tools except for those little screwdrivers that come with eyeglasses repair kits. So they took my unsharp, handleless screwdriver bit and left me the miniature stiletto in my glasses kit.
The screwdriver bit they took is less than two inches long, a quarter inch in cross section, with a slot screwdriver on one end and a Phillips on the other. It's the one that comes as part of a small-airplane fuel tank sampler. Years ago, when I no longer had need of the sampler, I bored a hole through the center of the bit and put it on a key ring with my fingernail clipper, and I've carried it in my toilet kit ever since. It's been through security many dozens of times since 9/11.
I explained why I carry it. I used to be a plumber, and loose fixture knobs in hotel rooms drive me nuts. I use the screwdriver bit to tighten them when I check in.
The Guardian of Air Safety was apologetic. He told me I could go back out of the insecurity check area, go upstairs to a US Mail station, mail it to myself for $3.85, and come back to go through insecurity again. I declined.
After I tied my shoes and picked up my bags, I told the Guardian of Air Safety that I was very glad that Richard Reid carried his bomb in his shoe and not up his ass.
Anybody know where I can get a carbon fiber screwdriver?
posted by Eric Rush | 9:43 AM
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