A New Brunswick woman is wondering how she made it through Saint John Airport security and all the way to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., with a live cat in her suitcase.
posted by joannemerriam on May 2, 2007 - 80 comments

Is John Barlow, cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Grateful Dead lyricist, a threat to national security? "On September 15, 2003, I boarded Delta Flight 310, scheduled to depart San Francisco International Airport for JFK at 7:20 that morning. I was still feeling slightly singed from Burning Man and the hour was one I prefer to see from the other side. I was almost back to sleep when, roughly two minutes before pull-back, I was approached by a Delta employee who informed me that there was 'a problem' of some sort and that it would be necessary to get off the aircraft..."
posted by digaman on Dec 10, 2004 - 172 comments

Paranoia or prudence? You decide. Seven people from an American Trans Air Chicago to New York flight were questioned by police, then released after a fellow passenger alerted flight attendants when she saw them "passing notes and changing seats". The plane was escorted to La Guardia by F-16's. Does this sound like safeguarding our freedom or are we getting rather creepy here?
posted by beth on Jul 17, 2002 - 37 comments

Two men remove utility knives from their carry-on bags and throw them away before boarding a flight. They were seen and reported, and subsequently arrested at the security checkpoint. One has been charged with improper use of a weapon. I'm hoping there's more to this story that we're not being told, otherwise it sounds plainly wrong to me. Yeah, they were dumb to have them, but there are reasons people use these knives and even travel with them.
posted by Qubit on Oct 15, 2001 - 20 comments