How Secure Is Airport Security?

So as I’m getting ready to get on a US Airways flight from LaGuardia airport in NY, I had some brief thoughts on airport security.

We can bring even UNOPENED water bottles through security, but the last year that I’ve flown, I have walked through security with a Swiss army knife and pocket keychain of pepper spray in my bag.  I have literally been stopped by security who removed my water bottle twice (both times I honestly did forget), but NEVER for the pepper spray.  In fact, I didn’t even know it was in my bag until I just went through it and removed it now (cause karma would have it taken away from now today haha).  The Swiss Army Knife was taken from me last year, as I waited 8 hours at LGA on standby and missed a wedding.  I went through security at LGA literally 5 or 6 times (every like half hour, I was restless) before someone actually noticed it in there.  That’s almost scary to think that we’re so concerned with water bottles (OMG! Someone may have poisoned Sprite! We better make them throw their non-alcoholic beverage out so they can pay a ton of money once they get through the gate!)  Does anyone even stop to think that maybe someone could actually slip something from their pocket that’s non-metal and actually put it into something they bought in the terminal?  At least let us take through UNOPENED water bottles.  Alcohol I can totally understand not being allowed through, for obvious reasons.  April 2007, when I left Philadelphia to fly to Raleigh to visit a friend, they made me throw out an expensive Clinique face wash because it was over 3 ounces or whatever the limit is.  It was clearly just fancy, expensive soap.  It wasn’t even a liquid if you want to be technical.

Anyway, when I left San Diego on July 29, I had two connecting flights.  When I printed out my boarding pass after checking my bag, all 3 printed out, with the last one, from Logan Airport in Boston, MA to MacArthur in Islip, LI on top and the one from San Diego to Phoenix, AZ on the bottom.  As they do when you go through security, the first person (before the metal detector) will check your boarding pass to see if you are 1) Who you say you are; 2) Flying on the right day; and 3) In the right terminal.  Then, they initial it and you go on through to the metal detectors and do all that jazz.  Well, I mistakenly presented my Boston boarding pass to the first checkpoint and the man just initialed it and let me walk through.  I said something immediately, as when I presented it at the next point, I’m pretty certain all they do is check to see if it’s initialed to “approve” you through.  Basically, I could have been ANYONE flying anywhere and they may not have caught me.  Or at the next checkpoint, they could have possibly given me major problems for not having the right pass initialed (if they even looked).

The wrong boarding pass presented.  Pepper spray.  Swiss army knife.  Those are things that can be cause for real concern in the wrong hands.  All got through security at LGA, JFK, SAN, and RDU.  Yet we’re so worried about unopened water bottles.

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