Soaking up Security in Switzerland.
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Soaking up Security in Switzerland.
A strange rumour with far more truth in it than one might like to hear has come down the jungle drums.
On New Year's day a certain airline had a scheduled departure from Switzerland to South Africa. The scheduled departure time was, so one hears, 22.30LMT.
A group of seven family members checked in their ton of baggage and six of them went through security.
Subsequently those six members of the family boarded the aircraft. The seventh, arriving late, from the land side bar at security, was held at security for being drunk. This he was, totally. The matter was reported to the Captain who, quite rightly, refused to take the passenger southwards that night. (The airline in question however, very decently honoured the punter's ticket and shipped the chap out on the next day's flight.)
All fairly straightforward so far, I think?
However, it would appear that no baggage whatsoever was off loaded from this Africa bound flight. All the family had checked in together and so the baggage tag receipts were all on one ticket, as it were. One presumes that the presumption was made that the detainee was neither playing nor acting drunk with the motive of avoiding the flight, having already possibly placed something nasty in one or more of the many checked in bags?
Perhaps it would have been a better idea to off load either all of the family members (which would not have been very politic) or all of their baggage, which would, given the physological possibilities, have been sensible and could have been achieved surreptitiously.
(With a wary eye on the flack farm, little cheetah has tried very hard to make sure that this story is correct in every pertinent way before posting.
The details are correct, to the best of his belief - for what they are worth, of course!)
Toodle Pip!!
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Had s similar problem with a larger group once.
A few passengers failed to join, lost in the shops, but had given their briefcases to friends who had joined. Coupled with people repacking their bags in front of checkin staff to get under the baggage restrictions it was a complete nightmare. Took ages to sort out, and we didn't get it quite right then. Nothing sinister, but you have to be very very careful.
If in doubt, offload the entire group, bags and all. Simple swift (relatively) but above all, SAFE :
A few passengers failed to join, lost in the shops, but had given their briefcases to friends who had joined. Coupled with people repacking their bags in front of checkin staff to get under the baggage restrictions it was a complete nightmare. Took ages to sort out, and we didn't get it quite right then. Nothing sinister, but you have to be very very careful.
If in doubt, offload the entire group, bags and all. Simple swift (relatively) but above all, SAFE :
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Ah, that's only been true since we got the screening process 100% right, right? 
Once there's sufficient reason for concern, as it seems there was in this case, it's all about eliminating risk, be that pax or bags.
Once there's sufficient reason for concern, as it seems there was in this case, it's all about eliminating risk, be that pax or bags.
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The bags were ok to travel as the AAA regs state if a family is traveling together and all of there belongings are mixed together in the same bags then if 1 member fails to join and the rest of the family are traveling then there is no need for a baggage offload.
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Furthermore, in this case, the passenger actually wanted to travel and was offloaded by third parties. In a case where the passenger had purposefully chosen to miss the flight or offload him/herself, the situation may have been resolved differently.
Grandpa Aerotart
And how many times have you been told by ground staff that the missing pax didn't have any check in baggage?
Yeah right!
Pax checks in to go half way around the planet, fails to board and is offloaded...and when ground staff are asked how long to find/offload his/her baggage they look you straight in the eye and say there is none...and then ask what delay code you think might be ok...and then try and negotiate a delay code that puts the blame anywhere else except at their feet.
Off course I could just be getting a little cynical.
Yeah right!
Pax checks in to go half way around the planet, fails to board and is offloaded...and when ground staff are asked how long to find/offload his/her baggage they look you straight in the eye and say there is none...and then ask what delay code you think might be ok...and then try and negotiate a delay code that puts the blame anywhere else except at their feet.
Off course I could just be getting a little cynical.
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Thread Starter
Just to draw attention to a teeny point in all this.
It is the easiest thing in the world to actually imbibe enough alcohol and to behave in such an obvious drunken way as to be refused embarcation onto an aeroplane.
In fact, it could be a jolly decent way of ensuring that wife and irritating parents in law were blown to smithereens, as they winged wherever, all baggage together in hold, booby trap primed and set. Forever afterwards, the surviving family member would be justified in extolling the benefits of alcohol, for truly, without its effect; he too would have boarded and been blown up.
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Well, as Oscar Wilde once said:
'I wish I had thought of that.'
To which comment, incidentally, some wag replied:
'You will, Oscar, you will.'
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Quote:
It is the easiest thing in the world to actually imbibe enough alcohol and to behave in such an obvious drunken way as to be refused embarcation onto an aeroplane.
Unquote.
Ah yes, however, not guaranteed. BE has, on a couple of extremely rare occasions, actually been allowed to board while in an overly "tired and emotional" state. That would scupper this pax efforts to do away with his loved ones!
It is the easiest thing in the world to actually imbibe enough alcohol and to behave in such an obvious drunken way as to be refused embarcation onto an aeroplane.
Unquote.
Ah yes, however, not guaranteed. BE has, on a couple of extremely rare occasions, actually been allowed to board while in an overly "tired and emotional" state. That would scupper this pax efforts to do away with his loved ones!
