My parents and I recently flew from Dayton to Newark. At security in Dayton, the woman putting things through the X-ray machine told me to step on some red box thing (actually I think the red was just to mark the place to step on it). I did so with one foot (shoe on), and she then said I was okay to go on through the metal detector. Following me was my dad, who, having not been instructed to do anything with the red box, did not step on it and went through the metal detector and set it off. Apparently his shoes set it off, so the took them off and put them through the X-ray machine. At the Newark airport on the way home, his shoes set of the metal detector again. There was no magical red box to step on at Newark. I now have three questions:
What the heck is in my dad’s shoes that sets of metal detectors?
What is this red box? Some sort of metal detector for shoes?
Why have I not seen this red box prior to flying out of Dayton a week ago? (I have been on a couple flights in recent months, so it’s not like I’ve been away from airports for a very long time.)
No idea about the red box, but his shoes (are they boots, walking shoes or dress shoes?) may have a steel shank. Or a steel toe, but you probably could have figured that one out yourself
The shoes are basically some kind of sneakers, I think. I figured there must be some metal in them somewhere, but I’d never seen such shoes set off a metal detector before.
My shoes always set them off as well, it’s due to the built in metal shank. The box you are referring to is a pre-scan device to let you know if you should take your shoes off and send them through the x-ray prior to walking through the metal detector (not all airports utilize them).
I find it easier to slip off my shoes and send through the x-ray than to get beeped at the metal detector and have to go through the wand check (it’s a lot quicker).
Your dad’s shoes are just regular sneakers? Like tennis shoes? My dad has dress shoes with a metal rod through the sole somewhere for stiffness or something. My dress shoes seem to be all leather and rubber, so they’ve always been fine.
The Red Box is pretty much one of those hand-held metal detectors (you know, the wands that they use to hand search at concerts) strapped into a box. I’ve actually seen one of the boxes where you could see the handle of the wand sticking off to the side - obviously a retro-fit. And yeah, you’re supposed to use it to check your shoes before walking through the metal detector. If they’re super-busy, they don’t like you walking back and forth through the metail detector, so they have to put you in one of those little chairs and have somebody hand-search you, which sucks.
I flew to Newark from MSP two weeks ago. On the way there, I wore tennis shoes, and there was no special screening for them at all. On the way home, though, we were a bit more dressed-up (no time to change into casual duds before the flight) and my husband and I were both instructed to remove our shoes and send them through the X-ray machine before we walked through the metal detector. As we were removing our shoes, they were asking the party behind us to remove all shoes that were not tennis shoes.
I was wondering if this was some weird profiling thing–American tourists wear tennis shoes, so if you’re not wearing them, you look suspicious. Well, then I thought, perhaps it was the buckles…I was wearing sandals with metal buckles. However, my husband’s shoes–the black leather Doc Marten-like Sketchers he wears to work–did not have buckles.
Yeah, it’s better to take off your shoes than be wanded, etc. IMO.
The security fellow who asked me to remove my sandals last week said it was “the thickness of the sole” that led him to ask. I don’t know if that was a screening thing, or rather that the thickness upped the chances that there was some sort of shank in the shoe so he was trying to save a second trip through.
I have a couple of pairs of those vaguely Doc Marten-like Skechers that I often wear to work. Which means I often wear them to the airport, because most of my travel (business) involves heading straight from work to Dayton International (same place as the OP).
I learned a long time ago that those shoes set off the metal detector every time. Not only do the lace holes have metal grommets, but the sole has a big metal plate in it, as well. I’ve always just taken them off to avoid any problems.
On my return trips, I’m usually more prepared to airport-proof myself, which involves sneakers or sandals, and no belt.
I haven’t seen the red box yet. But I’m flying to Florida in the morning, so I’ll be on the lookout.
Several times I’ve been asked to remove my shoes (sneakers actually) and the security guard sort of swabs the inside with a white piece of cloth which he then puts into a machine. I assume its an explosives ‘sniffer’. Seemed to start happening right after that french-arab guy (or whatever he was) tried to blow up the plane by lighting his exploding-clown-shoes with a match.
All my dress shoes set off the metal detectors. So I wear my sneakers – which don’t. I usually only have to remove my sneakers at airports in port cities. Some small airports seem to have an inflated sense of paranoia, or are just confused – they make everyone take off their shoes. So it’s a toss-up when traveling as to which shoes to wear. If I wear loafers, I’ll have to take them off for sure, but it’s easy. If I wear sneakers, I’ll only have to take them off sometimes, but it’s a hassle.
Actually, either way it’s a hassle, but I wouldn’t expect traveling to get easier anytime soon.
In some cases it is the metal shank in the sole or the heel. In other cases it is just that the sole or heel is more than a certain thickness. We often ask people to remove shoes that contain no metal at all, just to verify that they are unaltered and nothing is concealed inside. The best test is to run them through the X-Ray machine, the level of detail it reveals is quite amazing. If I see someone coming through the walk through metal detector who may seem a bit suspect, I will ask that the shoes come off, but it reduces the chance that we will be accused of profiling if I also ask you and the next person to remove theirs. And I am not the one who wrote the rules, we are under constant observation, by our supervisors, by the screening managers and by testers from the TSA who come through in the guise of everyday passengers.
I disagree with the premise that American tourists wear tennis shoes since everyone I know is an exception to that. But more importantly, I’d point out that the people wearing tennis shoes aren’t getting a pass at the security checkpoint. If they set off the metal detector, they’ll get checked just like anyone else. The guards are just trying to process everyone as quickly as possible and they know from experience which shoes are likely to set off the detector and which aren’t.
I’ve become even more disenchanted with the airport security measures. I started out assuming that they were mostly for show and to make passengers feel as if something meaningful was being done. The whole system was all put together in such a crash, crash manner that it is hard to believe that it was well shaken down. Nothing has happened to change that opinion, and maybe a few things to reinforce it.
For example. My son has a leg full of metal rods as a result of a murdercycle accident. He passes through the metal detectors and they don’t let out a peep. So I assume that the rods are of a non-magnetic steel, maybe stainless or monel, probably to avoid adverse physiological reactions.
If that’s the case, Osama, being well financed, can certainly come up with ways to avoid the detectors, at least part of the time.
Terrorists have managed to instill a panic that results in our spending vast sums on a marginal system that was thrown together overnight. And all of that at very little cost to themselves.
I’m not sure that’s what he meant, however. At any rate, they were Birkenstock-style, pretty standard. I didn’t get the impression that he felt they were unusually thick or suspiciously different from a normal sandal. Merely that they went beyond a certain benchmark thickness.
My son insisted on taking off his sandals just like mommy, even though he didn’t have to.
Magnetic or non-magnetic metal actually isn’t relevant. What’s actually important is the conductivity of the metal, and the geometry of it (a closed loop of wire will show up strongly, a loop with a thin gap cut in it will show up weakly or not at all, for instance). I would have a hard time believing that your son’s leg rods are nonconductive or that their geometry is particularly stealthy, though. My best guess is that they were being slowed down by a lot of false positives, and so turned down the sensitivity of the macine far below what they were supposed to (or even turned it off entirely!). Of course, this does even less to inspire confidence in the security measures than you suggest.
I didn’t know that. A gun is topologically a ring and should show up strongly. So if a gap is sawed in the trigger guard its detectability is greatly reduced?
It’d be reduced, but probably not significantly. Closed rings are better than open rings, but a disk of the same size would be better yet. And any solid piece would give at least as strong a signal as the largest disk contained in it. I suspect that the other, solid, metallic parts of a gun would be at least comparable in size to the trigger guard, if not larger, and those parts would still produce a strong signal.
On the way back from Italy last October I had a lay over in Newark. I went through the security check with my sneakers on, had no problem, thought I was good to go. As I was gathering my backpack and purse off the table the security guy sees I still have my sneakers on and starts giving me crap “Did you go through the machine with those on your feet?” I answered him “Yes I did.” and he said “You need to remove your shoes ma’am” and I said “But I’ve already cleared the machine, why do I have to remove my shoes now? They’re only sneakers!” He starts to act like I’m challenging his authority and calls another person over and has me manually checked from head to toe. Luckily I had a long lay over because they took their sweet time. I will ALWAYS take off my shoes now when traveling (have been on 4 week long trips all over the US since the beginning of May so now I’m a pro!). Lesson learned, always wear easy-to-slip-on-and-off shoes when traveling by airplane.
