But once inside the airport terminal, we can always buy some water and no one will check anymore if you bring the water inside the plane.
In: 974
A long time ago (right after 9/11) there was a credible threat about liquid explosives. See, what makes hidden explosives difficult is that combining the innocent stuff together is pretty complicated and hard to do on an airplane. A lot of bomb attempts were thwarted when other passengers saw what the attacker was trying to do. But with liquids it’s really quite simple and fast. Just mix, and boom.
This was quietly demonstrated to the appropriate officials: two drinking bottles full of innocent seemingly liquids (one was probably peroxide; which means the other could be one of dozens of options) when mixed would easily take down the whole plane.
They didn’t want to ban these SPECIFIC liquids and give terrorists any ideas, so they just banned ALL liquids. That way they don’t have to give the secret away. And enforcing these bans needs to be performed by someone who isn’t going to understand the issue anyway, so it’s safest just to say “no liquids” and leave it at that. It’s infuriating to passengers, but OTOH you don’t want your front line agents making judgment calls when you have absolutely no intention of explaining the threat to them.
So, no liquids. Easy to enforce, no explanation given. Done.
Latest Answers