# the future of air travel **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 10, 2006, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-air-travel/368202 "2006-08-10T19:56:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-air-travel/368202/21 "2006-08-11T02:00:19Z")
[QUOTE=Shoshana] At the moment, you can’t have your book, either. [/QUOTE] Really? Damn, that’s…poopy. I’m flying from SFO to Heathrow for a term abroad on August 31, and I just bought a paperback copy of “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell” to keep me company on the plane. Maybe I can smuggle it in my bra. 🙂 THEY’LL NEVER FIND IT THERE! ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-air-travel/368202/22 "2006-08-11T02:12:38Z")
[QUOTE=Tracy Lord] Maybe I can smuggle it in my bra. 🙂 THEY’LL NEVER FIND IT THERE! [/QUOTE] See! That’s just the sort of thing that’s going to have us all flying naked under our paper, backless surgical smocks. Books are contraband? You’ve got to be kidding. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-air-travel/368202/23 "2006-08-11T02:16:28Z")
[QUOTE=Spavined Gelding] See! That’s just the sort of thing that’s going to have us all flying naked under our paper, backless surgical smocks. Books are contraband? You’ve got to be kidding. [/QUOTE] On a serious note if it ever gets to the point that you can’t even wear your own clothing on an airplane we’ll be back to the days when trains and ships were the only option for long distance travel. ---
**Author:** ![Fritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Fritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fritz)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-air-travel/368202/24 "2006-08-11T02:48:49Z")
[QUOTE=asterion] \But for how much longer? Flying sucked to some degree before 9/11. It sucked even more after 9/11. Reid? Flying enters another level of suckitude. It’s going to really start sucking now. No liquids? So no water, soda, coffee to get you through a flight where the airlines don’t even give you enough to drink these days? \ [/QUOTE] You don’t mean that drinks - water, sodas, booze, etc. - is now totally banned, even when served by the airline? I thought it was just that you couldn’t bring it aboard when purchased outside the aircraft. Another thought: the Duty Free shops are going to take it in the neck. How can booze purchased at the DF shop be carried? Agree about the suckitude; I am an occasional business traveler, and it’s a PITA now - it’s only going to get worse. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-air-travel/368202/25 "2006-08-11T02:54:09Z")
[QUOTE=Fritz] You don’t mean that drinks - water, sodas, booze, etc. - is now totally banned, even when served by the airline? I thought it was just that you couldn’t bring it aboard when purchased outside the aircraft. [/QUOTE] True, but have you ever had enough to drink on a flight? Especially these days when the airlines are nickel-and-dimeing everything? ---
**Author:** ![Fritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Fritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fritz)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-air-travel/368202/26 "2006-08-11T02:54:40Z")
I gotta say that a scene from the “Fifth Element” keeps occuring to me - induced sleep. Everybody is put under for the duration of the flight. Wake up at your destination. I could do that… ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-air-travel/368202/27 "2006-08-11T02:55:14Z")
Things will calm down in a couple of weeks. They’ll exempt stuff from the duty-free, and you’ll be able to carry it on-board in their bag. You can buy material to eat and read after the security checkpoint, and they will, in a few weeks, re-allow carry-on baggage. They are just trying to look busy right now. ---
**Author:** ![Fritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Fritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fritz)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-air-travel/368202/28 "2006-08-11T02:55:51Z")
[QUOTE=asterion] True, but have you ever had enough to drink on a flight? Especially these days when the airlines are nickel-and-dimeing everything? [/QUOTE] Good point. Bring plenty of cash. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-air-travel/368202/29 "2006-08-11T02:56:59Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > But for how much longer? Flying sucked to some degree before 9/11. It sucked even more after 9/11. Reid? Flying enters another level of suckitude. It’s going to really start sucking now. Don’t ask me. I gave up on flying unless it was the only possible option long ago. I’m afraid of flying, but even if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t want to deal with all of that crap. Ships, trains and cars get me where I want to go just fine. [QUOTE=Spavined Gelding] Books are contraband? You’ve got to be kidding. [/QUOTE] Has to be. I checked both the FAA website and the TSA website and neither said anything about books being banned. > [@Fritz](#): > > Another thought: the Duty Free shops are going to take it in the neck. How can booze purchased at the DF shop be carried? You’ll have to ship it, I imagine. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-air-travel/368202/30 "2006-08-11T03:30:25Z")
[QUOTE=Whack-a-Mole] Sadly trains are just as susceptible to terror attacks as planes are. Perhaps even moreso and certianly more spectactular when a thousand people being dragged 300 mph go boom. [/QUOTE] Get your motherf_ **ing snakes off my motherf** _ing train. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-air-travel/368202/31 "2006-08-11T03:32:59Z")
> [@](#): > > It’s going to really start sucking now. No liquids? So no water, soda, coffee to get you through a flight where the airlines don’t even give you enough to drink these days? Heck, no carryon or at least no electronics? I think some people may be misreading what has been implemented since the UK plot was revealed this morning. I have not yet seen any statements suggesting carry-on luggage in general has been banned, nor have I seen any prohibition on small electronics. As yet, anyway. That said: Christ, I hate flying. No toothpaste or shampoo, except in checked baggage? What if, as I do, you travel to some godforsaken place and land in the middle of the night, and your checked baggage doesn’t happen to arrive? No liquids of any kind? Yeah, sure you can buy something after you pass security, and pay double or more what it costs outside the terminal. Sheesh. Most of my flying these days is on business, in steerage class. I must, no choice, carry a company laptop containing potentially sensitive business information whenever I travel. While I can access company E-mail pretty much anywhere with an Internet link, there is not a whole lot of useful work I can do, other than access E-mail, if I don’t have the laptop with me. There is simply no.effing.way I will accept travelling on business, or the personal liability involved in letting that machine out of my personal control for the duration of the flight, leaving it open to damage or theft. I have to imagine that were security authorities to attempt such draconian measures, there would be howls from every corner of the business community. I understand perfectly well that many people have suffered from terrorist acts against aircraft over the past twenty years or so. I have no desire that anyone suffer further from such acts. Nevertheless, the increasing hysteria of the Security State is beyond belief. I am particularly sick of, and completely fed up with, an utterly brainless security model that assumes that every single commercial airline passenger is a terrorist until proven otherwise. I am not now, and never have been as terrified of the terrorist bogeyman as what seems like most of my fellow countrymen. Somewhere along the line it would be nice to see the return of a little rationality. I suppose we’ll see how this all pans out over the next couple of weeks. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-air-travel/368202/32 "2006-08-11T03:39:29Z")
I as understand it carryon _luggage_ is out; everything you carry onto the plane must be in a clear plastic bag, but I’m not sure if it’s only in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-air-travel/368202/33 "2006-08-11T03:45:53Z")
What we really need, of course, is a return to “profiling” on a major scale. It’s discriminatory? Tough. Stop shaking down Grandma and start looking closely at Abdul, traveling from Pakistan and paying cash for his ticket. When you find a female of Scandanavian extraction blowing up a plane, then add her profile to the list. Until then, nope. Let’s get rational here. Why should the overwhelming majority of travellers be forced to go through something that should be aimed at a small group that, to date, can be reasonably profiled? You’re an Iranian-extraction Christian, totally loyal to the US, where your family has lived for 5 generations? Sucks to be you right now. TFB. Deal with it. Steve the Pole over there has never done a thing, nor has anybody in any of his profile groups. Why should he be searched? This isn’t the streets of the US, and air travel is completely voluntary, so don’t cry to me about discrimination. Profile the shit out of these people and let the 99.9% of the rest of us get on with things. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-air-travel/368202/34 "2006-08-11T03:54:38Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] What we really need, of course, is a return to “profiling” on a major scale. [/QUOTE] You don’t think the terrorists could recruit caucasians? ---
**Author:** ![Otara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Otara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otara)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-air-travel/368202/35 "2006-08-11T04:01:36Z")
I carry my camera onboard because they get nicked fairly often if you check it in, and also because without it my underwater photography holiday goes down the gurgler - last year my luggage went to San francisco from Australia while the rest of us went to Fiji. I think I can see the writing on the wall :/. Otara ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-air-travel/368202/36 "2006-08-11T04:23:03Z")
[QUOTE=Lissa] You don’t think the terrorists could recruit caucasians? [/QUOTE] Could? Yes. Have? No. Until they find old Mrs. Struglasson with a wheel chair full of Semtex, she should get wheeled right on through with a minimum of fuss. Sayid gets strip-searched. You have to play the odds here. It isn’t fair, but it is practical and efficient. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-air-travel/368202/37 "2006-08-11T04:32:28Z")
[Quote=alphaboi87] I as understand it carryon luggage is out; everything you carry onto the plane must be in a clear plastic bag, but I’m not sure if it’s only in the UK. [/Quote] OK, sorry, [I’ve just seen this off the AP wire](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060810/ap_on_re_eu/britain_terror_plot_glance) and apparently the carry-on restrictions in the UK are indeed much more comprehensive than what’s been implemented in the US. Wow. I mean, just – wow. That’s completely insane. You have my sympathies. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-air-travel/368202/38 "2006-08-11T04:38:47Z")
WTF? Those restrictions are insane! Eyeglasses but not the case? Has someone been fashioning an eyeglasses case out of plastique? Morons. Our security systems are being run by morons. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-air-travel/368202/39 "2006-08-11T04:39:12Z")
> [@](#): > > Look, if I have to pay for a bottle of water instead of bringing one from home, I can live with it. I see no reason to ban things like books. As for banning electronics, that will not go over well. > [@](#): > > Has to be. I checked both the FAA website and the TSA website and neither said anything about books being banned. At least at the moment, British Air is not letting you bring on any of your own liquids, any liquids purchased in the terminal, any possessions other than a plastic bag with your ID, wallet, prescription drugs, glasses (no case), contacts (no solution) and travel documents. I heard a report on CNN of people sharing magazines on the planes because they were not allowed to bring books on. I assume this is a temporary ban on everything non-essential in order to speed up the screening process. > [@](#): > > Operational disruption is expected to continue following security restrictions introduced at all UK airports. Customers travelling from all UK airports may only take a limited range\* of items through airport security search points. > > In addition to these restrictions, the airline has decided that no hand baggage will be allowed in the cabin on inbound British Airways’ flights to the UK from the USA to speed up the departure process from the USA. > > \*link takes you to: > Passengers may take through the airport security search point, in a single (ideally transparent) plastic carrier bag, only the following items. Nothing may be carried in pockets:-· > > pocket size wallets and pocket size purses plus contents (for example money, credit cards, identity cards etc (not handbags)); > travel documents essential for the journey (for example passports and travel tickets); > prescription medicines and medical items sufficient and essential for the flight (eg diabetic kit), except in liquid form unless verified as authentic. > spectacles and sunglasses, without cases. > contact lens holders, without bottles of solution. > for those travelling with an infant: baby food, milk (the contents of each bottle must be tasted by the accompanying passenger) and sanitary items sufficient and essential for the flight (nappies, wipes, creams and nappy disposal bags). > female sanitary items sufficient and essential for the flight, if unboxed (eg tampons, pads, towels and wipes). > tissues (unboxed) and/or handkerchiefs > keys (but no electrical key fobs) ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-air-travel/368202/40 "2006-08-11T04:45:14Z")
[QUOTE=Lissa] You don’t think the terrorists could recruit caucasians? [/QUOTE] As suicide bombers? Yes, this sucks. I have to travel every 4-5 weeks for ~20 hours on 4 different planes. I’ve developed a routine that makes this somewhat bearable. I bring my Palm which has over 500 books on it. I have a set of Bose noise cancelling headphones so the roar of the engines don’t drive me crazy. I bring extra water, which while not a problem on Air Canada’s long haul flights, is a real problem on Lufthansa. They seem to think that they are transporting camels to the Middle East, not people. I have a pump spray of nasal moisturizer so that I don’t get nosebleeds due to the dry air. I have headache medicine, diarhea medicine, and sleeping pills. I’ve also got a whole bunch of junk food and other items that I take with me to work so that I can bear living in the desert for weeks on end. And I ain’t checking any of it! Fuck that. I don’t have any choice about waiting around for luggage to catch up with me. If it is not there when I arrive at a location it is gone probably forever. I cant wait for it to catch up unless I’m on the way home. So, everything that I carry currently is brought as carry-on. It fits overhead and under the seat in front. Aahh, God. I can just imagine the arguments as the fool in front of me at the security check starts arguing about why he can’t bring his double-mocha latte with him…\ Fuck! I’m going to go postal if that happens, I just know it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-air-travel/368202.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-air-travel/368202.md?page=3)