Originally Posted by
fyrefli
Yep, it goes something like this:
UK reacts to apparent threat with misguided, hamfisted, industry-damaging ineptitude
UK tells EU and other partners they have to do same
EU and other partners, unsurprisingly, laugh in faces of UK, whilst raking in extra business from people changing plans to avoid UK airports
UK backs down
All entirely predictable (and indeed predicted in various places on these forums).
It is tempting to believe this, isn't it?
I fly a lot as a passenger from Stansted. I've had my shoes off twice in the last month. Security was busy on Tuesday evening but I noticed that even at six thirty in the evening a third of the checkin desks were not being used. Now we are over the school holidays hump, passenger numbers are down I guess. Despite this, significant numbers of passengers were being refused entry to security due to their odd shaped bag protuberances not being greased well enough to fit in the bag test box! Perhaps as many as 1 in 20 were required to go back to checkin judging from the length of the queues of people paying for an extra hold bag at the Ryanair ticket desks.
Many were stressed as they were running out of time. I saw one woman aged about thirty who obviously didn't get the message. She paid for the bag that didn't fit in the box and then rushed off back in the direction of checkin to get her boarding card, but still touting three heavy stuffed carrier bags! "She'll be back" the Ryanair desk clerk said. I can only assume she was too, more late and more stressed than ever.
At the other extreme, in July I whad been surprised to see EasyJet checkin signs which seemed to encourage any quantity of hand baggage "within reason" or similar. Anyone else see those?
Perhaps the UK reaction to the August terror threat was not so unreasonable if it has (by extremes) returned hand baggage levels to something manageable and sensible. I reckon it was getting a bit daft before.
I would hate to have to do a security job which involved constant flow and analysis of such a huge multitude of objects and in such large volumes as was beginning to be the case at the beginning of the summer holidays.
And as for the aircrew risk - in the days when I humped bags, a couple of years ago, I was surprised at the variety and location of "Aircrew" bags which "seemed" immune to any real control. They not infrequently got offloaded with other bags and had to be expeditiously returned. In addition to that, we were constantly being asked to use our own security passes to allow airside to landside access to cabin crews and flight deck crews who wanted to use a proper toilet or whatever. Ours was not to reason why they were not issued with passes. It is mistakes in procedure like those which light the way to where security flaws may lie. If those aspects alone have been tightened up a bit, then surely the recent clampdown has been a good thing?
The other thing I was starting to wonder about was the true weight and loading balance when so many passengers load themselves to the hilt without any final weighing being done. I've done this myself - I am not obese but weigh 100kg in my underpants (which I always insist on wearing in the passenger compartment!). I have checked in 15 or 20kg in the hold and then, aided by a heavy winter coat with deep pockets, a handbaggage allowance, a credit card and a duty free allowance I've easily managed to arrive at the aircraft steps with another 20kg about my person. How much of my 140kg actually makes it to the loading sheet? Something well less than 100kg I suspect.
If there were 180 like me on one of Mr Ryan's 800s, that would surely get us pretty close to the max before the fuel is added? A bit like quick turned-round overheated brakes, maybe it doesn't matter too much anymore? A 737-800s may not be toothpaste-proof but perhaps you can load it with as much bravado as a Cherokee Six out of an African dirt strip! What say any of you 737 jockeys out there?
Captain's toothpaste apart, perhaps all that has happened is that the security baseline has been quickly and effectively returned to somewhere sensible, and some semblance of baggage control has returned. It was all a jolly inconvenient ride in August, but personally I don't think the industry is suffering from any lingering ineptitude - Ryanair charge £7 now for any unexpectedly stowed bag on the day so they ain't exactly loss-making this week. When I travelled in August with an IATA-sized handbag Ryanair dared not charge me to stow it to fit the new rules. I had not downsized my handbag and assumed I'd simply get to put it in the hold for free, and in August I was exactly correct. Ryanair's latest amended business model means they do dare charge unsuspecting punters now of course. So I have already learned that handbags really do have to fit in the box or I shall be returned to Go and must pay seven quid! And I fully expect that caution still applies now that we are back to IATA size testboxes which get used rather than being mere decorative items!
Oh and one other thing - In August I got pulled up onboard when I placed a boxed bottle of whisky in the overhead bin - no bottles up there of course! I knew that, but it's the first time I have ever been pulled up for the mistake - damn those new transparent plastic bags! Cost me my extra legroom exit row seat that did! All for the common good I guess
I shall still wonder about that weight and balance question, however! I always time the take-off run and anything over 35 seconds to rotation has me wondering even more!