They ask people to empty their liquids into a bin so they don't need to be screened at all. They want to only screen liquids deemed so valuable to a passenger that they would attempt to sneak it through security. That's a higher signal of interesting liquids now.
If someone is coming through security with an explosive liquid, they are not going to dump it out before entering the security area. It’s going to be found during X-ray, at which point it will be flagged for extra screening on your bag (explosives detection).
If you want to cause actual excitement just bring an actual bomb and throw it in the rubbish before going through security. You'd kill a lot of people, cause the US (or whichever country) to chase its tail furiously for a while, and you surely wouldn't be caught.
The fact that nobody has done this to me demonstrates how vapid these threats are. The cost in human lifespans wasted in this nonsense far exceeds the number killed in the US by terrorists, foreign or domestic. At least you can read a magazine while queuing and while walking through the machine. What a farce.
In its defense, the TSA does provide paychecks for folks who are truly otherwise unemployable, though it would be cheaper to send them all home and mail the checks to them. Oh, and it provides ripe pickings for those with access to checked luggage, as has been well attested.
It's naive to assume that someone working at the airport would actually know whats going on. These are the lowest level employees. They know what they need to know, i.e. "Take the bottle and throw it away". Maybe they give you some smoke screen story like "Ug there could be explosives in there. Or lord knows what."...
I am not sure, but to me it seems common sense that pouring potential explosives and poison into a bin, feels kinda shady...? No?
The real reason why they want you to dump all your stuff is simple. All these 45 million people need to rely on what the airport & planes provides. Lots of money to be made here...
A much bigger hazard: My MacBook with water damage. I am pretty sure the chances are higher that it just bursts into flames during a flight, than someone carrying explosives in a fucking water bottle.
> The real reason why they want you to dump all your stuff is simple. All these 45 million people need to rely on what the airport & planes provides. Lots of money to be made here...
Kind of tired of seeing this obviously wrong and cynical reasoning. You are allowed to bring food through, and also empty bottles that you can refill at dedicated water bottle filling stations.
I like to think of it as cynical naivete. You don't actually know, nor are you curious enough to find out, but you want to appear wise and full of hard-earned real world experience. So you just assume the worst intent on everyone's part.
I always figured it was like the shoe removal or rumors about disallowing laptops on carry-on... the authorities had intelligence that these things would be used as part of an attack.
His point is if it were truly lethal they wouldn't just add it to the public water supply like that, or hastily dispose of what might be a biohazard in a public trash can.
I mean, if someone wanted to put poison in the (waste) water supply, they could just pour it down their own drain. It's not like the TSA has special drains. I think it's fair for them not to worry about poisoning the water supply any more than anyone else does.
I don't think anybody is worried about the water being unsafe except for the TSA, who are hastily discarding it. So no, if they are taking the stance that the water might be unsafe, they are responsible for disposing of it safely.
There are things you don't pour down the drain because they can react with your piping, sewage lines and equipment in downstream treatment facilities. There are regulations and protocols for getting rid of such waste, and pouring them down the drain isn't one of them.
And if they have to assume it isn't water then why not handle it as such? As it stands now they have bins for travelers to discard their potential explosives (water bottles) in.
100% nonsense. They just pour it down the drain - or more commonly in the trash.