"did you pack your bag yourself?"

[Biker Biggles]

Used to happen at thiefrow all the time
Probably still does

[Littlepeahead]

Coming back from Ireland I had checked in my bags and then as I went through with hand luggage they politly asked if I had anything like a metal comb or nail file in my bag. Er no, I don't think so.

They then asked me to empty my bag. At which point I was rather embarrassed to have to get out my teddy (I was 29 at the time) and then found my blooming great Swiss Army knife that I'd forgotten to pack in my hold luggage. Ah - so that's is what's setting off the metal detector.

To be fair, Ryanair and the airport staff were great - oncer they'd stopped laughing at my raggy old teddy. They allowed me to go and give the knife to the check in desk who tracked down my hold luggage and slipped the knife into an unlocked side pocket - where I retrieved it in London.

[timwilky]

I once had to travel to Turin, but working for a French company I have to travel via France.

So Manchester -> Paris -> Turin return Turin->Paris and fail going through to Manchester.

It turns out the wife had put scissors in my toilet bag last time we had been away and bag had been put straight into my travel bag, and only picked up after I had travelled on 2 separate aircraft. Of course I was not happy with her.

On a separate occasion I was found to have a dogs plastic squeaky toy welly in the arm pocket of a jacket, despite not owning a dog. Turns out the landlord of one of my locals had done it. I returned it to him at full speed on my return.

[tigersaw]

I've worked at airports for 30 years. I'm still not trusted to take a yoghurt airside.

[the_lone_wolf]

Originally Posted by tigersaw

I've worked at airports for 30 years. I'm still not trusted to take a yoghurt airside.

Of course not, for all they know it could be an Islamic Müller...

[_Stretchie_]

Originally Posted by the_lone_wolf

Of course not, for all they know it could be an Islamic Müller...

[the_lone_wolf]

Originally Posted by _Stretchie_

Did I spell that correctly???

Originally Posted by keithd

if you've ever flown out of America you will know not to bother padlocking your luggage. They'll just break it off.

Whereas in civilised countries, they simply use a biro to open the zip, they zip it back and forth to reseal it, once they've search your bag. I dare say that the "bad guys" know the same trick.

I and a friend were searched coming back from Holland. It made a bit of a mockery of the "did you pack your own bags" when he asked whose bag was whose and we said we both had stuff in both bags. They never queried this, but were less than amused when both of us denied any knowledge of the large cocaine-package looking parcel wrapped in brown paper. It was some cheese my mate had bought and forgotten about. Oh how we laughed.

I used to work in an airport as a passenger agent, and got to ask those questions... did you pack the bag yourself, have you left it unattended at any time, has anyone asked you to take anything on the flight... and (as it was 2003 and trrizts were still planning to eat our children) have you got anything sharp or with an electrical cord in your carry-on bag?

If you don't answer appropriately, you have a big problem. Securicor and special branch will want a word, and they are very big and strong. I saw plenty of chavs being led away (followed by a furious missus telling him what an idiot he is and that she's still going to Alicante whether they let him travel or not) after making a stupid joke to the security staff like 'don't pat me down there mate, you'll set my bomb off'.

A mate of mine came back from Amsterdam once, completely forgot about a bag with a small amount of weed at the bottom of his rucksack.

They found it at the airport, and the Dutch took him to a side room. We thought it was over for him. Actually, all that happened was he signed a statement 'acknowledging' the fact that his weed has to be confiscated, and that was all, have a safe journey mate.

Altho I guess it probably happens frequently over there which is why they probably have this approach.

I was 10 and bought one of those extendable forks from Italy that you can use to nab peoples food from across the dinner table, but I didn't check it in and it got confiscated. I was so naieve at the time thinking who would wanna use my fork as a weapon, this officer just wants the fork for himself. It was an awesome fork, sad times.