Breaking the silly new airplane travel rules

Terry Heaton’s pot of Carmex got confiscated as he tried to bring it on a plane leaving WKRN’s bloggers conference we attended. Poor guy had to sit for hours in dry air with unmoistened lips. But if Terry had simply purchased Carmex (well-known for its addictive properties) in a tube and then put it in his pocket, there wouldn’t have been a problem. I was drinking iced tea as I tried to board my plane. I was told to finish it or pour it out (obviously, I finished it). If I had put it in my bag, I could have “sneaked” it on. And that’s the silliness of these new “no liquids and no gels” travel rules. You can defeat them so easily that they only penalize the people who cooperate. Want to bring liquid on a plane? No problem. Buy water once you pass through the gate and then put it in your carry-on. Ditto toothpaste. And those silly terrorists could easily sneak gels through, simply by bagging them and strapping them to their legs or putting them in their pockets. As far as I know, we don’t pass through gel detectors. Once again – it’s not the security, it’s the appearance of security.