Yet Another Way to Beat Airport Security

Apparently the duty free shops have convinced the TSA (and foreign equivalents) to allow unlimited quantities of liquor, water, and so forth from outside the security checkpoint to be carried onto the planes provided they’re sealed in a special clear plastic baggie at purchase and not removed from the bag before you clear security. I have just one word to say about this incredibly tight security: Tylenol.

Now not that I actually believe the government’s claim that terrorists are capable of mixing yogurt, hair gel, and diet coke to create a bomb, (but only if there’s more than 3.5 oz of each) but if they were, there’s now a huge gaping hole in the security cordon.

Here’s how you do it. Put the bad liquid in an Evian bottle (or toothpaste tube, or hand cream pump, or whatever) and seal it up. Frankly just closing it with the cap would probably be enough, but it’s not like resealing it with plastic is all that hard. Certainly the terrorist Lex Luthors capable of mixing high explosives in an airplane lavatory can figure out how to get toothpaste (or plastic explosive) back into a tube.

Put the tube on the shelf along with the regular toothpaste. Pick it up. Take it to the counter. Pay for it. The clerk will happily seal the explosives into a nice little plastic baggie that you can walk right through security. Boom boom. Everyone’s dead.

6 Responses to “Yet Another Way to Beat Airport Security”

  1. Security Roadmap » Airport security under threat Says:

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  2. Tim Patterson Says:

    The TSA folks are complete imbeciles, from the top of the organization down to the lowly peons that harass us at the airport security check points. :(

  3. TSO Joe Says:

    There is no such plastic bag rule. Even so, Duty Free shops are located INSIDE security checkpoints.

  4. Elliotte Rusty Harold Says:

    Yes, there is, or at least there was in Europe a few months ago; and I’m using “duty free” a little casually. There doesn’t seem to be duty-free within the EU any more. Instead they have something called “travel value”.

  5. SS Says:

    Actually, Elliotte, there’s not. You can buy tax-free products in shops inside security airports and then bring it with you. If you do have to collect your luggage in transit and check in again, you will only be allowed to bring those products through if they’re in a sealed, clear plastic bag with a security seal. You’d actually have quite a bit of trouble forging that seal…and there are easier ways to bring something illegal in.
    What the hell would you want with Tylenol anyway…

  6. Elliotte Rusty Harold Says:

    SS, you missed the point. I don’t have to forge the seal. The clerks in the store will put the product I give them in a clear plastic baggie and seal it with an unforged, actual seal. They do not inspect the contents of the bottle I give them to see that it contains only what it’s supposed to contain.

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