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[nardo]

Farts for peace.  Don't give in to the man.

[polly_mer]

Farts for peace.  Don't give in to the man.

I'll have to mention this to the protesters keeping vigil outside the base gates.  It would be a nice change from their tired old signs and they would have something new to yell at the MP's.

[dolljepopp]

True story: Three or four Christmases ago, when I was still living in New York, I was over here (in the European country where I now live), travelling around a bit, eventually coming to the town where I now live to visit my best friends. They have two kids, the older of which, a daughter, was about seven at the time. She was mad for Barbie. I decided to buy her something Barbie-ish and went shopping in a majour department store in the last town I was in before flying here. Because the girl was somewhat fascinated by the fact that I lived in New York (which she pictured as something terribly exotic), I wanted a New York-ish Barbie and found one -- "Club Trash Barbie" or some such. Said Barbie had a black faux leather miniskirt, boots, and a top with some design that lit up when a button in Barbie's back was pressed.

At the airport on the other side of the country, I had the kids' gifts, unwrapped in a shopping bag, so they could go through security. The guards sent the bag through several times before asking me to empty it. The younger kid's plush toy didn't interest them, but they were fascinated by "Club Trash Barbie." This is a fully-industrialised, very Western country, so it's not like they hadn't seen a Barbie before, and I was puzzled.

After a few more Barbie x-rays and much huddling of stern guards chattering nervously over poor Barbie, it suddenly struck me that perhaps Barbie had wires in her top, so as to power the lights, and that wires showing up in airport x-rays where wires are not expected make airport security people justifiably nervous.

I called on of them over and tried to explain. Sure enough, Barbie's wires were causing a security risk. Somewhat surprisingly, they allowed me to show them how the thing worked. When Barbie's blouse lights blinked, they all laughed, looking rather relieved. They ran Barbie through the machine one more time, gave her back to me, and sent me to my gate.

My friends and I re-christened her "Terrorist Barbie"...

[expatinuk]

Farts for peace.  Don't give in to the man.

I'll have to mention this to the protesters keeping vigil outside the base gates.  It would be a nice change from their tired old signs and they would have something new to yell at the MP's.

You've heard of underground rebellion....

Now...

Underpants rebellion!

[2nd_career]

How did I miss this thread?

Three quick pre-airport tips:

1) If you have a Greek final in the Chemical Engineering building, change shoes before going to the airport.

2) If you go to that place in Las Vegas where you can fire automatic weapons, save your receipt even if you have your clothes laundered in the expectation that they will then clear the explosives sniffers.

3) When in Rome, do not buy unusual grappa at a salumeria, no matter how interesting it looks. The cute little doggie at US Customs will not believe you are not smuggling delicious meat products.

[tee_bee]

Hmmm.

I've never, ever been denied entry to baggage claim. But it's important to have a backup system. I often arrange to meet people at their airline's ticket office, esp. if they don't have bags. When we deny access to the ticket counters, we're all in trouble.

The other vital element is the cell phone, in case there's two Delta desks or something (it happens!). Then you can fix a place to meet.

But beware of passengers bearing cell phones. True story: After landing in New Orleans in an Embraer 170 regional jet, the flight attendant made an announcement that, on that particular model plane, passengers couldn't use their cell phones until we reached the gate. Immediately after the crystal clear announcement was made (brand new plane, very comfy, PA that worked, etc) this woman next to me whips out the Razr, calls her son, and says, sotto voce "we're taxiing." Of course, he didn't hear her, so she spoke up "we're taxiing." The conversation remained this fascinating all the way to the gate (I remember my very first airplane ride too, mommy!). The conversation was in English, so my fellow passenger wasn't English challenged--just straight up stupid.

Thanks--I feel better now.

[expatinuk]

The airline industry's insistance that we not use mobile phones on planes is just hornswoggle...

Looks like that ban will soon change in the EU.

[secretweapon]

My friends and I re-christened her "Terrorist Barbie"...

I want one!

[drangie]

The airline industry's insistance that we not use mobile phones on planes is just hornswoggle...

Looks like that ban will soon change in the EU.

Oh, lord, please, no.  If they could make flying any worse, it would be by allowing people to blather on their cell phones during the flight.  I think I would prefer the screaming babies.

[chemystery]

How did I miss this thread?

Three quick pre-airport tips:

1) If you have a Greek final in the Chemical Engineering building, change shoes before going to the airport.

I've got one along this line.  After a visit home while I was in grad school I was heading through security at the small (read: actually has time to be rigorous about security) airport in my hometown.  The bag checkers pulled my bag aside and swabbed the handle.  I was curious, so I asked what they were checking for.  "Chemicals," was the answer.  I wasn't sure that explaining what I did would help matters, so I just kept my mouth shut and hoped that I hadn't brought any residue from the lab home with me, at least not whatever they were checking for. 
Like any chemistry geek, I would have liked to know specifically what they were testing for, but I suspected that asking would have really raised some flags.