This story is both funny and scary:
So to save a few bucks, he gets a friend to crate him up and send himself via cargo from New York to Texas. Almost got away with it as well if he hadn’t jumped out of the box at his parents’ house in Texas and scared the bejesus out of the delivery guy!
Two quesions:
Do you think it was any less comfortable than coach?
What is to stop a few terrorists from hoping into a crate and sending themselves wherever?
I don’t think it would make an effective weapon. Imagine GWB opening up a crate delivered to the Oval Office (“hmm,” he thinks to himself, “‘FRA-GI-LE’…it must be Italian…”) and out pops an al-Queda terrorist who screams “Booga booga!”. The President jumps back, screams like a little girl, flails his arms wildly, and possibly wets himself. In an instant, 6-8 burly Secret Survice agents stomp the crap out of the terrorist, squashing most of him into the carpet.
See? Maximum effort, minimal destruction. All the terrorist has done was destroyed a one of a kind carpet, and possibly a pair of presidential slacks.
No virgins for him, that’s for sure.
It wouldn’t take much to make it more comfortable than coach. To start with, you’re not in the middle seat with a 300-pound person on each side. I suspect it could be quite comfortable given enough foam padding, a good book and a book light.
How about just shipping yourself in a crated recliner with a good book and a book light. Of course the Feds will now be suspicious of the increased frequency of La-Z-Boy shipments.
Well, it’s not exactly a new trick. I think the Marx Brothers did it in Monkey Business, and the gag was old even then. 
Nobody here has read about Henry “Box” Brown? In his own words even! A shorter summary of his escape is here. First thing I read about when I saw the news story.
I can’t help think of The Velvet’s song The Gift
Yet another reason we should irradiate all cargo.
I really don’t get this. A Greyhound ticket from NYC to Dallas is $90. Shipping a crate that likely weighed 200lbs (170lb man, plus weight of packing material and crate itself) can’t be much cheaper than that.
For the hell of it, I ran a search on an online rate calculator. Estimates ran from $145 to $300 for a 50 inch square, 200lb crate. Perhaps his friend, the shipping clerk who packed him, got him a discounted rate. Even so, this is pretty bizarre.
D’oh! RTFA (well, the whole thing, anyway). At the end of the article, it says he was quoted $320 for a last-minute one-way ticket. He wanted to get there fast and didn’t have the luxury of waiting 7 days for a cheap bus ticket. It’s still pretty damn stupid, but it makes a little bit of sense now.
I wonder why he had to get to Texas so fast? Maybe he was just eager to get those warrants cleared up.
According, to a local news station here in NYC, the crate weighed 350lbs and it cost $550.00 to ship.
The shipping cost was billed to his employer. 
Why would paying $300 to mail Achmed to the White House make sense? Even if he GOT there, he’d wind up in the mailroom, not the Oval Office. Sheesh, every time someone does something stupid, it might be terrorists.
Of course, if it was an exploding La-Z-Boy ™
How about a terrorist getting shipped via UPS or FedEx, only to extricate themself from the box in flight, overpowering the crew and flying a loaded cargo jet into a building, a full stadium, a shopping mall, etc.?
Cargo aircraft are currently not subject to all of the same security measures as passenger aircraft.
I don’t know much about cargo planes, but I would assume that the cabin and cargo bay shouldn’t be connected. Why would they be? The crew’s got no reason to go back there in flight - and you wouldn’t want to pressurise/climate control the cargo bay to the same standard as the cabin.
I think cargo in a plane is shipped in sealed containers, IIRC.
I’ve chosen to live my life not fearful of every possible scenario in which a terrorist can do me harm. I could get hit by a bus crossing the street, I’m not going to worry about some guy nailing himself into a box with a crowbar and a sandwich.
There are everyday situations, as well as highly unlikely ones, and even ones that haven’t even been considered, where a terrorist could inflict harm.
Both of our scenarios are extremely unlikely, and I’d only given mine enough thought to get through the post and illustrate how I felt about the absurdity of the idea of a terrorist shipping himself, cargo class, somewhere to wreak havoc.
While I’m not mocking your right to think through every little situation and look for ways that terrorists can use it as a weapon or manners in which they can destroy it, I have more important things to worry about.
How 'bout some soup for the effort?
He gets this “eternal reward”.
Actually, you do want to have access to the cargo area from the cockpit. Oftentimes, the cargo needs to be checked, especially if you’re flying livestock. This actually happens more often than you’d think.
The cabin of a purely cargo aircraft is also pressurized for this reason, and to keep sealed packages from bursting.
Cargo containers for ships is another danger. Illegal immigrants stow away in them all of the time. Some elaborate containers have been discovered equipped with lighting, television and radio for entertainment, kitchen facilities and chemical toilets to make the trip more comfortable. The implications of this for anti-terrorism efforts is obvious.
I thought they x-rayed all the packages.
Also, I thought of the VU song as well. I might have to dig that one out.
