Reply #126: Oh I agree with you it is utterly stupid

[jberryhill]

I've been to Europe three times in the last year. I'm also a smoker, and so being able to light a cigarette after landing matters to me.

At Madrid, they SELL lighters on the "secure" side of the airport.

The TSA is 99% purely for show value, and most of the rules are as utterly stupid as those who enforce them. I've been consistent in saying that in this thread.

That said, however, making a stink about getting liquid through in the US is not going to get you, or your child, through security any faster. You can drink in the line and have an empty container in your carry on when you pass through the checkpoint, and you can refill it from a tap or fountain on the other side.

As an ex Secret Service employee, this passenger believed she was "special" and needlessly inflamed the situation.

You know, of course, the MOST outstandingly stupid thing of them all - security screening the pilots. That is so utterly brain-damaged that I can't imagine why the pilots put up with it.