Stanstead Screening Nazis
 

Do the liquid limitations at this airport apply to operating crews. I was told by my handler that he would pick me up at the Enterprise building near the terminal. As I approached the screening area, it was like a pack of wolfs on me. These guys don't get much bussiness and were bored. A screener with grubby little hands and no gloves started digging through my toiletry items pulling out lip balm, and small liquid items and digging through my bags for 20 miniutes. Then he was sniffing the bag with his machine over and over.
Finally a supervisor was called, and he conviced me to say my roller board bag would be in the "hold" of the aircraft. I was not treated like a 747 Captain. I was treated like a terrorist suspect. My FO had a bag with large cans of shaving cream that was never opened. What kind of idiots are these people? Is this liquid limitation for pilots true at all UK airports? Help:uhoh:

You ARE a Very dangerous fellow.
 

It appears security got it right with you.
Lip balm…..very suspicious. What kind of Captain uses Lip Balm?.
You probably had ALL kinds of contraband. Over 3oz liquid deodorant. Sure it's solid, you say. But what happens when it gets heated?. Liquid!. Banned, confiscated, and the world is a safer place.
It appears your FO know how to "tow" the line. Take his lead next time.

In all seriousness, I had the same thing happen the other day. My "plastic" baggie was WAY too filled. As a matter of fact, that and my WHOLE flight bag were relegated to the lower hold due to all kinds of dangerous stuff.
:-)

Same out of Manston. I walked through the metal detector with my cheaters on. Didn't set it off….but…..they had to ( my cheaters now ) be put through the X-ray machine. Seriously. Glad the button on my pants was small enough.

By the way…welcome to the rumor mill.

Don't worry Flyray.

I have contacted my friends at Stansted and they promise not to search your possesions next time but will be waiting for you with some vaseline and a pair of rubber gloves.:ok:

"What kind of idiots are these people" these are the kind of idiots that keep us safe from the perils of terrorism, god help us all.

A word of advice for next time, bring your lunch box in a frozen state. It gives you the benefit of doubt whether the sauce qualifies as liquid or not :D

It did indeed happen at STN, a flying colleauge was robbed off his lasagne for busting the 100 ml rule :ugh:

I have been through Stansted as crew and pax and it is thoroughly unpleasant. My other half found out first hand why I hate going through there on a recent holiday to Spain. She had already booked it before I got a word in. It isn't the operatives' fault. It is the government minister's fault that they behave as they do. He is not going to back off the drama in case somebody gets through with a container of water and it makes the press. What I find intriguing though is the cavalier way that the confiscated items are treated. Now this stuff is either completely safe or it is suspect. So why is it carelessly thrown into a big bin if it is suspect? I wouldn't have thought this was an approved way of handling potential explosives.
With the above exception, I've always taken the Eurostar to Paris, Amsterdam and recently, Frankfurt to fly long haul. It is all over a lot cheaper than the UK's airports and the war on terror is at least polite.

Im sure its the Ryanair influence on the whole of stansted. Lowering the tone of everything. tonnes of little hilters. Grin and bare it Im afraid.

Farce
 

While not wanting to get into a discussion about the merits ( or lack of) of UK security screening because the way it is done is variable however, STN, BHX & MAN seem to have a talent for unpleasant, aggressive and stupid behavior. They don't have exclusivity with these attributes but are the market leaders in obnoxious behavior.

Or just get over yourselves and stick to the rules, and you won't have any problems :rolleyes:

750XL
 

I wish it were that simple, the UK regulations are very prescriptive but in my experience the airports I mentioned above seem to invent there own rules.

We had problems at STN, having contacted the head of security to clarify the situation and him attaching a copy of the rules to the desk at the screening point but the same problem reoccurred on an almost daily basis. Even when we pointed to the rules the attached to the desk at the security point the screeners seemed unwilling or unable to read and understand the rules.

In my view it is not the rules that need changing but the culture if aggressive behavior of the screening staff.

To say that if you stay within the rules is simply fails to understand the situation.

The typically unpleasant, half-witted moron who works for airport 'security' in the UK and the protocols they their like follow, demonstrate an obscure attitude towards our safety. They treat all who would question their efforts, as well as those who don't, with rudeness and contempt and add ZERO to our national security. Until the rules they are meant to follow change, expect to be badly treated whenever you pass them by. Personally I don't speak with them and will never help them, ever. They don't deserve any they are only behaving like some other guards "who were only following orders."

And no, liquid are not permitted to be carried by flight crew boarding in the UK. You might do something atrocious with it; like pour it over the explosives, ammunition, detonators, NBC material etc, that are carried in freighters. Or worse. And then, there's the huge, great, gaping hole in UK security...

The solution? There is none. I'm afraid that in the UK in some areas we are beyond redemption. Only by removing an entire generation of bungling bureaucrats and town council type clowns will we stand a chance of reforming our country. Our current security procedures are an example of the rot that has set in.

PM

Pitdown
 

You are indeed correct about the sorce of the problem but not the intended result.

UK airport security has been 100% successful in its intended result! it has protected the (self perceived) political elite from the media, it has enabled them to be seen to be acting robustly on terrorism while also having the side effect of keeping an army of low pay workers in employment...... The real bonus is that it is the airline industry that is paying to shield them from the problem.

The root of the problem is that we no longer have any political leaders who have any experience outside the Westminster bubble and are unable to see any anything in terms outside this bubble. I can see no way that we can solve this problem without a major political unheaval.......... May be UKIP will provide this in May, but I won't be holding my breath.

I can easily followed all thoughts.

My company often pass through two airports in the UK.

BFS screening near the Cargo ramp is friendly and always helpful , they have a really nice attitude towards the flying personel regarding everything also liquids.:D

EDI screening on the cargo side of the airport is real screening N.... , they interprete the rules on their own, unfriendly and really really bad behaviour, my company has approached them but with no difference in attitude.
Furthermore the liquid rules are fully enforced towards crew or should I say especially towards crew, most of us feel harrashed.:mad::ugh::ugh::mad:

I remember EMA screening on the cargo ramp to be pretty bad also.

Are the rules not the same all over the UK and why are some airports allowed to interprete rules on their own, at least BFS has a history so they should maybe be the worst but they are not.

Regards,
A happy cargo pilot

Unfortunately for the airlines, we, the Pax, do have a choice.

My first- ever (2007) (yes! at my age!) foreign flight to Limoges was turned into an endurance test,by this cretinous "security" charade.
I haven't flown commercially since and I'm not alone.

Maybe the airlines will wake up before it's too late. Make it more inconvenient to use their service, and guess what?....the less-inconvenient service gets the business and the profits.
Backsides need to be kicked and a realistic screening protocol enforced by a fit-for-purpose regime.
Until then, these arrogant, self-important,bullying numpties will continue to undermine the commercial enterprise that feeds them.

Air transport is a convenience, not a necessity and those in power would do well to remember that.

When they take the drivers bottle of water out of the cab of his tanker with 3000 odd litres of Jet A behind him, as they have, it makes you wonder.

I was strip searched at Luton one day when the metal clip on my trousers set of a little beep on the hand held metal detector. Yet I can go through screening in the US set of the walk through metal detector and all they want to see is your ankles. Haven't been through Stanstead, but Heathrow are similar, it is just a horrible experience to go through before you start your days work. One day you can go through without any hassles and the next its the spanish inquisition.

Know of an aeromedical team who were at a different airport threatened with the confiscation of their bags of intravenous fluids, they were told if anything happened to the patient they and their managers would be having a chat to the Coroner. Soon backed off, did not see all the needles scalpels, controlled drugs and had no idea what they were looking for in terms of the equipment.

Some of these security people failed the intelligence and social skills test for the wheel clamp unit and ended up at the airport.

Another brilliant one, also from STN. Reporting for duty a colleague with an airside ID from a different airport was initially refused passage. This airport's ID had recently been redesigned and now they couldn't recognize it anymore. Their little binder of acceptable ID cards had not been updated. 45 min later I met the guy airside, not sure how he convinced GESTAPO.

Trying to understand the insanity
 

Thank you to everyone who has responded. I see I am not the only one who has been sodomized by UK security. From your responses, I understand that the liquid limitations do NOT apply to pilots, but that individual units can just interpret the rules anyway they see fit. Is this true? If so, how can there be no standardization?

By the way, I will have my lip balm handy next time to apply to my anus when I have to face these idiots again.