T S A ......really, I Mean Really !

[Kip Powick]

Left our favourite island in the Caribbean the other day.(ADZ)

Thought I had the check-in/security procedures wired since I have been doing the same thing for 11 years.

No such luck

We have 4 pieces of luggage, 2 suit-cases and 2 dive gear bags plus a netbook in a case, my regulators(2), dive computers, and underwater cameras in a small back pack and Scuba 2 has a small "ladies essentials" bag.

To start your check-in procedure one has to take all the bags and put them on a small metal table and the police hand search all bags..........not a problem

One then checks in all baggage except the 3 carry-ons we have

One then goes to the next floor and awaits TSA screening in a separate room..(finally air conditioning!! as the rest of the terminal temp is close to 35C.)

There is only one conveyer belt and one x-ray machine

We put the three carry-on bags on the conveyer, walk through the metal detector which shows "green" but no matter....EVERYONE gets the wand !!

I smile at Scuba02 cause we know what is coming next....TSA will want to open the scuba regulator bag.............and.......... yes they do !........(We carry that gear in the backpack cause it is the most expensive part of our dive package and stuff like that has been known to disappear when checked in as luggage)

Good grief ...they see that I have a bottle of Baileys with receipt attached in my regulator bag......they are not happy.

Please bear in mind I have been doing this trip for the past ten years..and always carried the bottle(s) in that bag................I ask "What is the problem"?

I am told I can not take any alcohol in my carry on-baggage ...............I ask for clarification...............I am told that I can not carry any alcohol onboard unless I buy it at the DUTY FREE shop that is located in the secure area which I will have access to after this security screening, passenger control,............. passport control,....................... and a police hand search of my carry on baggage .....then I can carry it onboard !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What should I do????? I ask to see a supervisor......between the TSA individual..... . his supervisor...and my limited Spanish I am advised that I can take the bottle back down stairs, they will have a man "box" it for me and it can go as checked luggage or I can leave it with them...(yeh-right) I am now at the point of dropping the bottle on the floor and apologizing for having it slip from my grasp or actually doing what they say I can do...I decide to take the bottle through the entire procedure...backwards............ just for the experience.

A little sweaty rotund police officer who looks surprisingly like an over tanned Rob Ford, escorts me back through the crowds , down the stairs, hollers at Jose, rattles off Spanish directions. Jose comes back with a piece of corrugated cardboard he has ripped off a box, puts the bottle on it, attempts to roll the cardboard around the bottle and finally takes a roll of Saran-like tape and secures this cardboard pyramid and hands it to me and asks for 4000 COP, ($2.00). I pay him and take it to Transat Check-in and they put a priority baggage tag on it and it is 'gone'. I ask the check-in lady when this new procedure came into effect...she says "last year..it is the law...no alcohol in carry-on luggage"....no need to pursue the issue further with the lady so I head back up to the air conditioned room...escorted through all the checks and then stand in line for passenger control ..................and then passport control,( I have no carry-on luggage so no police inspection before I step into the waiting area.

Scuba 02 is laughing when I get to a seat next to her.............and what is real funny is that there were two bottles in my Regulator backpack !!!! A bottle of Gin was next to the Baileys but was in a different colored bag and they never even touched it.......and neither did the police hand-search she endured.

Anyhow I kissed the bottle of Baileys goodbye as I had serious doubts about it ever getting to Montreal.

Impact and I mean "impact"...I have never experienced such a hard landing in a B737-700..(was painted in Air Transat colors but not sure if it was Canjet drivers or AT...the FA's were AT) and off we go and wait for our luggage...as we were "priority" pax, the 4 bags showed up pretty fast and on the oft chance the bottle did make it, I went and played "catcher" at the baggage drop end of the carousal.

Eventually there was just her and I standing there...looking for our little package and the belts went "stop"................ no bottle...we are the last two standing there just looking...well ...........I guess like two sorta glazed doughnuts........everyone has gone home.

Headed for the EXIT when I though I would ask an airline Rep walking around if he had any idea how I go about claiming lost baggage, after all I did have a baggage receipt

I explained what I was looking for, (we were at Carousal #4) and he said it was probably over at Carousal # 10......what???? "Yes", he said, " Carousal # 10 is for oversized luggage." Oversized luggage, a bottle of alcohol??..we laughed and headed out toward the exit and in doing so we had to pass Carousal # 10 so I trotted over to the short belt there it was....the only package on the belt, on the oversized luggage belt !!!

Ripped off the cardboard and deposited in the Regulator bag...next to its buddy !!!

So much fun...so little time !!!

[mo32a]

When you can't take more than 3 ounces of any one liquid why would you be surprised when they wouldn't allow the bottle?

It is the same with a bottle of water, can't take it through security but you can buy all you want post security.

The point is you didn't have access to it, or the means to alter it post security.

I understand that rule, don't like it, but I understand it.

Now if you want a dumb rule how about this;

Went to the PGA golf tournament at TPC Scottsdale a month or so ago. Watched some golf, went through the display tents, then went and had a burger and a cola. Went to leave the event and go to my car and security stopped me and said I couldn't carry the cola outside. When I inquired as to why they stated that it was to prevent you taking alcohol off the premise. OK then, I can drink it or dump it, go 50 yards to the Walgreens store and pick up a bottle of anything I want and that's all perfectly fine. Goofy. Of course I could have put the cola in my bag of goodies I was carrying out and that would have been OK as well, because they weren't checking any bags on the way out.

[Kip Powick]

When you can't take more than 3 ounces of any one liquid why would you be surprised when they wouldn't allow the bottle?

It is the same with a bottle of water, can't take it through security but you can buy all you want post security.

The point is you didn't have access to it, or the means to alter it post security.

I understand that rule, don't like it, but I understand it.

Because for the past ten years there has been no restriction on taking sealed bottles of alcohol onboard in ones carry-on.... yet..........

In this case, once through security you can buy alcohol and place in ones carry-on...what's to say a " friend" in the Duty Free has not loaded the bottle you purchase with.... C4

In this country,(ADZ), you can take any bottle of liquid, (EXCEPT ALCOHOL), in your carry-on as long as it is SEALED. Scuba 02 had a bottle of tangerine-orange drink in her bag....the guy merely made sure the cap had not broken the seal.

Numerous folks had full bottles of water ...no problem as long as the cap had not been opened.

The post 911 liquid rules were never in effect at ADZ

Perhaps I was not clear.............I was told NO ALCOHOL can be carried onboard UNLESS it is purchased in the DUTY FREE once through security.....why only alcohol???

[Guest longtimer]

Kip: you said .............I was told NO ALCOHOL can be carried onboard UNLESS it is purchased in the DUTY FREE once through security.....why only alcohol???

Of course the answer is Revenue $$$$, from the alcohol sales, needed to continue operating the duty free shops and of course providing employment for the staff working at them.

[manwest]

Because for the past ten years there has been no restriction on taking sealed bottles of alcohol onboard in ones carry-on.... yet..........

In this case, once through security you can buy alcohol and place in ones carry-on...what's to say a " friend" in the Duty Free has not loaded the bottle you purchase with.... C4

In this country,(ADZ), you can take any bottle of liquid, (EXCEPT ALCOHOL), in your carry-on as long as it is SEALED. Scuba 02 had a bottle of tangerine-orange drink in her bag....the guy merely made sure the cap had not broken the seal.

Numerous folks had full bottles of water ...no problem as long as the cap had not been opened.

The post 911 liquid rules were never in effect at ADZ

Perhaps I was not clear.............I was told NO ALCOHOL can be carried onboard UNLESS it is purchased in the DUTY FREE once through security.....why only alcohol???

Bet you had a great trip/diving Travel is not what it used to be, I have learned just to keep my mouth shut when I don't agree/understand what they want ,seems easier that way. I know how you feel. Better than being arrested lol

cheers

[Kip Powick]

Kip: you said .............I was told NO ALCOHOL can be carried onboard UNLESS it is purchased in the DUTY FREE once through security.....why only alcohol???

Of course the answer is Revenue $$$$, from the alcohol sales, needed to continue operating the duty free shops and of course providing employment for the staff working at them.

I agree....it was an experience and next time......bottles securely wrapped in suitcase...dirty underwear in the Regulator bag :Grin-Nod:

[inchman]

My biggest complaint would be that they allow any liquids through the security checkpoint, regardless as to their motive for selective permission.

A passenger arriving in YYZ from this airport could transit to any other international destination (not the US, of course) without further security screening. So lax security in ADZ provides an easy hole for those who might want to attack a more high profile flight. The LHR liquid bombers used sealed soft drink bottles to store their explosives by going through the bottom of the plastic bottles and heat sealing them (thus the LAG rules). And one of the targeted carriers was dear to many of our hearts. Nobody likes the rules. But we, especially in the industry, should understand why they're in place.

There's a reason why security at Yellowknife or Yarmouth or Jackson Hole meets the same minimum standards as Vancouver, Toronto or Denver. Once a person is in the system, they have access to almost the entire world without rescreening.

[J.O.]

TSA runs the security in Colombia?

[Kip Powick]

Hi Jeff,

I used "TSA " but actually it is a combination of police and local security personnel... Don't really know their official name.

Between the two forces they do all the security and I must admit their "hand" searches are pretty lax.