Are you willing to give up a little convenience to be safe?

I think the only problem I have is that they constantly say they are beefing up security, like after 9/11, but the guy still got the explosive on the plane. He was on lists of being an affiliate of terrorists, but an article said he wasn’t dangerous enough to be on a no-fly list???? If you want to beef up security, why not just make common sense adjustments like putting suspects on no fly lists.

It sounds like they are just saying they will beef up security, but nothing is actually happening, and if they do, people will become non chalant again and things will go back to normal after a certain amount of time.

But I digress from the actual question: I don’t care if they beef things up, If I go on vacation for a week, a few more hours won’t seriously hinder my vacation. I usually don’t do anything the first day I land anyways.

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Generally, when it comes up to Liberty vs Security, I look to my friend Benjamin Franklin: “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither and lose both”

By the way, all of the increased airport security efforts? Wasted because somebody doesn’t understand computers.

I give up convenience every day I drive, the limit and move out of the way of the Crazies!

Have you ever imagined yourself in a 747 jet airplane, 35,000 feet above the earth? most people have flown in some form of aircraft in their lifetime. have you ever visioned yourself falling from that height and what the final outcome was going to be? I have many times and this is why i back any and all security measures at airports. whatever it takes to make flying safe. i do not mind waiting in the screening lines. i do mind taking my shoes off. i do not mind even a strip-search if thats what it takes. its our life and if we do not protect it, then the terrorists will take over without a shot being fired. i love my country and i love flying to see my children. the skies belong to everyone, except terrorists. lets keep them on the ground where they belong.

@john65pennington I agree and you can bug my phones and check my mail. Just plan to wait longer like xmas shopping.

Airport security checks are rubbish. They wouldn’t stop someone determined to cause destruction. Example; recently airport security has been increased a lot, yet gang members were still able to run into the airport, jump the gates, overpower a guard and enter the secure part of the terminal, and then proceed to beat up a man. All the strip searches and invasive luggage searches in the world won’t stop a strong man from running past guards and blowing something up.

I’m all for a reasonable level of security to prevent drugs, diseases, and perishables from entering or exiting countries. However, current security levels are ridiculous. Why should security personnel have the right to search my vagina and anus (sexual assault, by the way) because they think I look suspicious? Why should strangers have the right to rummage through my personal belongings, ask me personal medical questions, and look at my photos without my permission, when I have done nothing wrong? Why should mothers not be able to bring baby formula on a plane, simply because gung-ho airport staff can’t pull the sticks out of their arses and calm down? How can baby formula be used as a terrorist weapon? Perhaps the new mother is planning on threatening to splash milk in the pilot’s eyes if he doesn’t fly the plane into the white house…

Yes.

Mmmm, let me review the two main choices… wait a little longer to get on my plane, or crash into the ground in flames at the speed of sound. Gosh, think I’ll take the minor inconvenience of airport security. No, it’s not perfect, but it may be the the best thing we have right now on our “war on terrorism.” No question for me. I’d rather “suffer” a bit at the hands of a security guard who’s trying to keep me safe than at the hands of a nutjob who values his own death more than my life.

Reviewing my previous reply, I see that I ignored the concerns of other Flutherites about all the weaknesses in the current security rules. I didn’t mean to. There are definitely plenty of problems with the system. And, after reading the article at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/29/earlyshow/contributors/main6033703.shtml, I feel it even more strongly. Still, I’ll take what we’ve got. I’m positive it has averted disasters.

“Airport security” is a joke. A dumb show meant to appease the passengers and make them believe “they have my interests and safety at heart, so I will do whatever silly thing they command”. In other words, to make us more malleable and pliable to whatever new elements the security folks decide to add.

Why is it a joke? Because planes taking off and landing at civilian airports are incredibly vulnerable anyway. Civil airports are not hard targets to anyone who wants to bring down a plane. Anyone with half a brain and the intent to do so could sit outside the airport perimeter—legally—and take his time planning the takedown.

With all of the shoulder-fired missiles that were made available to the Afghans in the 80s, surely there are enough of those and similar weapons available to those who are truly determined to take out a plane or two. The people now “attacking” civil aviation with shoe bombs and bombs in their underwear are amateurs, idiots and thrill-seekers.

What we had a taste of in September 2001 was “asymmetrical warfare”, where a determined foe with improvised weapons and little to lose—and total commitment to his cause—can create havoc on a disproportionate scale. We’ll see more of that type of havoc, such as truck bombs, small aircraft crashing into passenger airliners at airports during landing and takeoff, greasing of runways to cause skids and crashes, and other such acts that are relatively simple to pull off, take minimal manpower, and cause total disruption and damage. The baggage checkers at the airport are making sure that “what used to happen” won’t happen again—maybe!—but that doesn’t really increase security.

Take a ride sometime along the “service roads” near and around your local airport. Look at the general lack of control at the General Aviation terminal (where private pilots get access to take off and land), and look at the fuel depots and the “security fence” at your airport sometime. Now imagine what you would attack if you were a real terrorist.

What you see in the airport terminal is nothing more than bad theater and a pretense of security.

Like I said on a different thread, I think it’s great that they’re doing everything they can to prevent a catastrophe. But the terrorists are just so clever that they have to do tons of security stuff, so it just gets so stressful. Add that to delays and cancellations, and I’d rather drive from here (the good ol’ USA) to France. Yes, I know that’s impossible. I’m making a point.