Airline Security Follies
Sara Kehaulani Goo reports on the latest airline security follies:
Jon Sheldon’s 2-year-old son got a taste of airport security this summer. When he reached the checkpoint at Reagan National Airport with his father, he was surrounded by diligent screeners focused on a potential security threat: his plastic “sippy”cup.
A standoff ensued — the boy refusing to surrender the cup and the screeners unwilling to yield on a possible risk to the flying public.
Meanwhile, Sheldon loaded his carry-on bag onto the X-ray machine conveyor belt. The bag passed through without a blink from anyone, and it was only later that Sheldon realized that he had accidentally stuffed into his bag a Leatherman pocketknife with a three-inch blade.
A Transportation Security Administration spokesperson, moreover, actually tried to justify its efforts to take away the sippy cup.
In the case of the cup, the TSA said it had good reason to demand compliance from the 2-year-old. “While it might seem strange we would be focused on a sippy cup, we have reasons to believe there are certain things introduced in sippy cups that are not as obvious as a Leatherman,” Stover said.
Really? Earlier this month I flew across the country with my son who uses sippy cups.
No one asked about them at any of the security checkpoints through which we passed.
So, are they a threat or not? Or is this just a pathetic case of CYA from an agency that continues to be denied the funding it needs to really protect the public.
Tax cuts for the affluent or airline security. What’s your priority?
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