This was one of those YOU WON’T BELIEVE THE FLIGHT I WAS ON stories which I 100% don’t believe. It may have been on the SDMB but I can’t find it but somebody claimed it 100% happened to them.
Basically they boarded an American domestic commercial plane in the 90s (1996 I think) which becomes important because when questioned they justified it with it was pre-9/11 so it was the wild West at airports apparently.
A person sitting at the gate had as their carry-on luggage consisted of a huge plastic black trash bag that held like 4 or 5 gallon bottles of water. So when this person boarded the plane with it they tried to put it in the overhead bin and obviously it wouldn’t fit. The flight attendant walked over and told the person they might have to check their bag and they refused and at some point while struggling to put their bag in one of the tops of the water bottles broke and started soaking the seats below it.
Now, I know we were lax before 9/11, but I really feel this still wouldn’t have been allowed on a commercial flight by even the rudimentary security. They had places at airports selling suitcases for a reason, let alone the fact this person is carrying a bunch of liquid that could be dangerous.
Anyone know specific security rules of back then regarding this?
Yes. It was up to airline personnel to decide if you could bring something on, and if space was a available they usually were fine with it. Bags of any kind still had to get X-Rayed.
Before 9/11, my darlings, you could board an airplane without taking off your shoes or belt, with liquids of more than 100 ml each and not in a baggie. Mamma walked you to your gate and hugged you goodbye as you struggled to free yourself and run down the gangway. I had friends who smuggled pet cats, ferrets, rats, and snakes onboard inside their shirts (though not at the same time, bless your heart). We smoked cigarettes on the plane and children could visit the cockpit to meet the captain during flight. We ate almonds and peanuts up there in the blue. Pocket knives, tweezers, boxcutters, lighters–it was the Wild West of the stratosphere.
You could carry your stuff on in a trash bag today. Suitcases aren’t required.
Which part don’t you believe, the garbage bag or 4 or 5 gallon bottles of water? I’m pretty sure you could use a garbage bag as a carry-on today , just as long as it fit in the sizing bin. i’ve certainly seen people using plastic shopping bags. Pre-911, there weren’t any rules regarding liquid - I suppose they might not have allowed 4 or 5 gallons of water but really the part that’s unbelievable is someone wanting to travel with that many bottles of water ( you can still carry bottles of wine/alcohol under certain circumstance involving flying into the US from overseas)
In 1996 you had to go through a metal detector. IIRC they’d put your carry-on luggage through an X-ray at larger airports. But if you weren’t carrying guns or knives (or in the case of one woman I knew, a can of mace in her purse) they didn’t much care.
Even today, if you can fit a Thanksgiving turkey in your carry-on, you can bring it on the plane.
My friend once boarded a flight with a carry on consisting of a paper bag holding all his stuff. It was the return of a round trip where the way there we went together by car. He had forgotten that he was taking a plane back home.
yes, you could even after 9/11 because I ended up staying in Indiana longer than planned and had to purchase clothes and just tossed them along with other things in a drawstring hefty bag and plopped it in the overhead rack after the stewardess took all the air out of it and retied it shut…
You could still smoke on US carriers (TWA at least) on international flights in 1993. I know this because I flew TWA New York to Amsterdam in July of 1993. They sat me in smoking but I moved. I moved to sit next to a really attractive and wonderful angel of a woman in the middle non smoking section. We chatted, then met again in Holland, hung out there, then lived together for 4 years. Hell of a romantic way to meet!
It was an L-1011 wow! It seemed ancient even then but it also had a mall of restrooms in the very back–like 5 or 6 of them (well, it seemed that way. I’m sure one of our resident Air-heads will probably correct me! Sorry, I didn’t look it up ).
9/11/01 itself did not really usher in different security standards. What it did do was replace lowest-bidder rent-a-screener companies with the (really truly) far more professional TSA. Net of a few start-up bumps as that org learned to do its job. The rules didn’t change so much as the proper (read “thorough”) enforcement of longstanding rules.
Metal detectors and carryon X-ray came in around 1970 in response to the spate of hijackings to Cuba. Preventing non-passengers such as friends and family from getting past security screening dates from the 1980s.
The “only small liquids and kept in a ziploc” rule came into effect a couple years after 9/11/01 after a very close call with what amounted to a Molotov cocktail plus liquid explosives smuggled on board in seemingly innocuous containers.
Nobody now cares whether your luggage is a garbage bag or a Gucci bag. They care what’s in it, how big the bag is, and directly relevant to the OP, how much liquid is in it.
In the 90’s you didn’t even need to show ID to get on the plane. I moved to go to college and drove a UHaul upstate with my stuff. My brother was going to come with me to help, and I bought him a one-way plane ticket so he could get home after. Something came up, he couldn’t make it, so a different friend went instead. At the airport going home, they just gave my brothers name and that was it.
There was no airport security to speak of. You could just go to the airport and rock up to the gate to meet travelers with no checks at all. No ID check (I don’t even remember bag screening). Nothing.
And the legroom! Checked bags were free. There was no security at all, that I can remember. They just checked your ticket, that’s it. That was in the 1970’s to 80’s, when I did most of my flying. You could carry on most anything that would fit. I used to pre-order a kosher or vegetarian meal because they were higher quality than the regular far, which came in a tray with real silverware and was always substantial.
That was before I came to so deeply hate flying. It was kinda fun back then. Now it’s slow torture.
I distinctly remember smoking on a transatlantic flight in mid/late 2000. But then it was Air Cubana, flying London to Cuba. Not sure they cared much for international rules.
I once boarded a plane carrying a large plexiglass aquarium filter that measured about 36"X18"x4", a duffel bag with 40 lbs. of coral gravel in it, along with a suitcase that would fit in an overhead bin and a garment bag. It helped that I was in first class I’m sure. They put the duffel bag through the machine and asked me what was in it. I told them, they gave me a look, opened the duffel and rummaged through the gravel, then said “Ok, gravel, that’s fine.”
They might still allow that now, except I think less likely to allow the gravel through without more inspection. And these days it seems planes are more likely to be full and carry on space will be more limited.
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