Thailand forum

Planes are expensive.

So are full body scanners, especially if they are ineffective in detecting explosives. I reckon anyone with a mobile phone and a bit of imagination could explode a bomb on a plane but nobody stops you taking a mobile phone on board.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_body_scanner

Scroll down to "Ineffectiveness" and you'll see a lot of cases where these scanners failed to detect things like bombs and guns.

Israel is probably pretty aware of the threat of Muslim terrorist attacks and they think full body scanners are a total waste of money.

Rafi Sela, an Israeli airport security expert who helped design security at Ben Gurion International Airport, has said: "I don't know why everybody is running to buy these expensive and useless machines. I can overcome the body scanners with enough explosives to bring down a Boeing 747... That's why we haven't put them in our airport."

Just another case of "the terrorist threat" being seen as a very lucrative business opportunity if you ask me, and there doesn't seem to have been any long term testing to see how safe it is either. The WHO recommends that pregnant women and young children shouldn't be exposed to Xray scanners and airline crews presumably have to walk through these things daily, possibly several times a day. If the machine is malfunctioning they could be getting much higher doses than it says on the box. And that has already happened.

In March 2011, it was found that some of the full body scanners in the US were emitting 10 times the normal level of radiation

How good are busy airport staff going to be at checking the machines are functioning properly?

Any glitch in power at any point in the hardware (or more importantly in software) that stops the device could cause an intense radiation dose to a single spot on the skin.

Especially male gonads. Sexy lead knickers are the answer gentlemen.

I was just surprised there was no warning. I thought you had the option to refuse and be body checked by a person.I was flying with an Indian carrier and I assume it was the Indians who insist on a second check by the gate.Patted down by a sweet young girl amused me. Couldn't even take a lighter on board and that's new!
OMG Leonard you are SO unPC. I'm getting to like you.
Actually it's name-changed to Climate Change now but I'm still not convinced either. Maybe it's Al Gore's flatulance.
SBE
I'm just off to see if I glow in the dark.
So has anybody else been through Suvannabhumi lately that can verify this glass vessel with a light flying around it is the real deal?

Couldn't even take a lighter on board and that's new!

I watched a couple of security check people walk across the room making a bee-line towards me as I stood in the check-in queue at Denpasar airport last year. They came up to me and without a word started to wipe some wand over my backpack. They eventually asked if I had a lighter or matches in my pack. I did; they were packed with some mosquito coils. They took me aside so that I could take them out. It wasn't a biggie other than to be made to feel like some drug mule in front of the crowds, but I was surprised that they weren't allowed in checked in luggage. I've been carrying the same matches and coils for years in and out of airports without incident until then. I can only assume that the luggage scanner picked them up and that was why I was singled out.

It was a scary moment until I understood what they were looking for!

Madmac.
Why, do you think you'd get a kick out of watching a bunch of overweight sex tourists from Pattaya naked?

I've done a little more than watched but this is not the place. Can tell you they're fun.If you go to Russia in summer you won't need a scanner as Russian women are minimal dressers.

Nope, sorry! I forgot I wouldn't be subjected to this infernal total waste of money machine because I was entering, not leaving, Thailand.

I'm flying out of DM tomorrow though, will let you know if they have these stupid things there too.

Always find it interesting on the lighter front - we had the same issue when my family came to see me here a couple of years ago and my mum's lighter was taken from her when transiting in Mumbai (I don't smoke but she does). It had been my understanding that international air regulations allowed you to keep one lighter - but not more - with you in your hand luggage during a flight.

I see your point about pettiness, although to be fair the rules worldwide say it has to be 100ml or less liquid in a container with a volume of 100ml or less. On the lighter front, however, the rules say (at last check) that you're allowed a lighter.

Interestingly it was an Indian carrier my family were flying with when my mum had her lighter taken away from her - and yup, security at Mumbai in particular is ridiculous! Agree about keeping safe etc, though in Mumbai it's way overly draconian and just seems like the military officials involved are just fuelling their own egos and sense of self-importance more than anything else.

Why on earth did you want to take 5ml of shampoo with you? :p It probably looked more suspicious than a full bottle would!

Haha it takes all sorts I suppose...

Enigmatic
' I believe the fingerprints are - legally - sold to third parties'
Tell me more I'm intrigued.