Aviation's war on moisture turns ten today

Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/08/10/aviations-war-on-moisture-tu.html

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H2o is scary to some folks.

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Do you know that enough of it can kill you? In lots of ways.

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I never understood the second 1. Shouldn’t it be just the 3-1 rule?

The first 1 already says “1 quart-sized clear plastic bag.” The second 1 just repeats “1 bag.”

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I’m drinking it right now.

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Oh, please be careful. :wink:

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I’m nothing, if not safe.

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You can never pretend to be too safe.

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Especially this gal:

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In all that time, has the TSA ever tested even a single confiscated bottle for explosives?

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I have to say, if I was free to just carry on any old bottle, I would feel nervous. What if that non-American-looking person brought a bottle of… well… something truly dangerous? Making me feel safe is the whole point, right?

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Early this afternoon I discovered that I had accidentally snuck not just one BUT TWO half-consumed bottles of water onto a flight that morning.

I felt a weird mix of guilt, pride, indignation, and indifference.

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I’ve stopped pulling out liquids and gels, and don’t even put them in a quart bag. One day I went through security, forgot to pull them out and no one said anything. On the flight home I purposefully left them in in my bag and no one said anything. On a recent flight I had all sorts of gels loose in a shaving kit and no one said anything. Mind you I carry the proscribed amounts, but still…

And interestingly enough, a friend recently flew with ice - yes, ICE! - in a bag and argued it wasn’t a liquid. He won the argument. The TSA agent told him that the liquids they are concerned about don’t freeze, or at least not at a temperature he’d be casually carrying around, and therefor the fact it was ice proved it was safe. The same agent also said that the agents who ban ice are idiots. (Your mileage may vary, other legal disclaimers, etc…)

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In Beijing we didn’t take any bottled beverages to security, and bought drinks from vending machines once we reached the waiting area in the terminal for our plane. On the bridge between the terminal and plane, there was a secondary security station set up on a folding table where they confiscated any beverages we picked up after clearing regular airport security. Beijing to San Fran is a long flight for a family with two small kids and no backup beverages.

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I keep circling back to this scene from Watchmen…

I have forgotten to pull out my bag of liquid stuffs more than once, and nobody has ever said anything to me, either.

Yes, we make fun of this rule, but think of all major discoveries TSA has made in the past ten years:

Peanut butter is a liquid.

A solid deodorant is a liquid.

A pie is a liquid.

Ice is a liquid.

The list of these strange new forms of matter goes on and on!

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In the past decade, how many planes have been blown up by liquid bombs assembled in the lavatory?

Zero.

Obviously the policy is working!

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They’re counting on the flying public to be as exceptionally stupid as their screeners. Turns out Bush’s administration misunderestimated you.

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