Originally Posted by
AircraftOperations
I was told by UK security staff that the bag had to re-sealable for 2 reasons:
Firstly, so a "vapour test" can be performed on the contents if required.
In theory, by placing all the smellies in a sealed bag and gases that leak are contained within the bag. As the bag passes through the scanners the sensor would detect this concentraion of gases.
This presupposes that one bag that passes through does not contaiminate the machine for later bags/
It presupposes that the sealed bag is not so totally sealed as to stop any gases escaping.
It is certainly the case that they want even a single item in the bag so that any aromas are captured.
Now Mrs PN is know for arriving at security with about 2 litres of essentials despite Mr PN having forcibly extracted a suitcase from her the night before. At LGW she passed about 4-5 items through in her handbag. These were spotted, a plastic bag was produced and they were bagged (post-scanner). Her handbag was then scanned with a hand-held sniffer and then the bag was also scanned. This was all done without hastle and quite pleasantly.
Naturally any terry would use an odourless solid that could be activated by ***** **** *** ** *** ******.