jeff89 Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 My parents decide to go to Canada for their anniversary. Get through security and onto the plane fine. Wait on plane for 45mins so they can fix a hydraulic problem with the plane . Arrive just in time so that if they run through the airport they can make their connecting flight. They had to go through customs before boarding the plane. Customs agent decides to do a spot test on my dad’s digital camera for explosives. Test is positive for explosives. All the customs agents get excited, supervisors get called etc. My parents get drilled about their entire life for the last 10 years, in addition to the “Has your bag left your sight?” stuff. Forms are filled out ad nausea. Then the question… “Have you been around anybody shooting, because that can cause a positive reading?” Without thinking my parents say no . More questions and scans and they are allowed through, an hour later. They have now missed their connecting flight, but get the last two seats on the next flight, which is in 2 hours. They finally get on the plane, only to sit there for another hour while they figure out why the "luggage door open light" won’t go out . Finally they arrive in Canada and go to get their luggage… yep you guessed it, their luggage didn’t make it with them . The airline promises to bring it to their hotel when it arrives and they do, only a few hours later. I feel bad because my parents forgot that I borrowed their camera to take pictures of my (now ex) girlfriend shooting for the first time. When my parents told me the story I couldn’t stop laughing. I said “Um remember I took the camera to the shooting range to take pics of Judy.” They remembered as soon as I said it. I still feel bad though… Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garfield Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 Well, no real harm was done and it *is* funny in some way Anyway, I also take pictures from me and my buddies schooting, so I will remember this story if I ever take my camera on a plane, so thanks for the tip ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn jones Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 another reason why your parents are spending your inheritance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nik Habicht Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 September 20, 2001 we were scheduled to fly to Germany for my mother's 75th birthday celebration. At 2 a.m., while packing, I discover that Lufthansa has cancelled our flight --- because virtually no one was flying 9 days after 9/11. After a half hour phone call with them, they re-book us on a flight to Munich (instead of Frankfurt) that's leaving 2.5 hours earlier. So I call the limo company and change the booking for the car to take us to the airport. We finish packing and fall into bed exhausted. The car shows up and delivers us to the airport four hours early as requested by the folks conducting airport security. I'm carrying a full load of professional gear to take a ton of family pictures for my folks. At check-in Lufthansa tells us that the flight for Munich will be delayed until the original Frankfurt departure time to make sure that they get all the passengers who booked tickets to Frankfurt as well. --- You guessed it, we're 6.5 hours early. The security check takes 4 minutes. Fortunately I packed several books in my camera bag... We take off on schedule but circle an hour over Munich before landing. We land at the same time as a jumbo from the middle east --- and have to go through separate immigration lines. I zip right through with a German passport, Carol is the only woman not covered from foot to top of head in line behind 600 middle easterners. After about ten minutes, one of the immigration guys handling EU passports notices that she's dressed differently and waves her over to his window and processes her. I decide that I like reverse profiling... but we've now missed our connecting flight to Frankfurt. An hour and a half later we settle on that plane and the rest of the flight is uneventful. We're met by representatives of the German limo company from Heidelberg, who've sent a van to pick up a couple of U.S. military dependents and us. They drop the military dependents off at the base in Heidelberg. Other than delays, we haven't really seen any major changes in the way post 9/11 travel is conducted. When we arrive at the base --- which was an open post, when I last visited --- we are thoroughly inspected by military police and soldiers carrying what appear to be loaded M-16s, and backed up by HumVees with manned machine guns. Total travel time was 22 hours, normally this is done in about 12. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gm iprod Posted October 16, 2003 Share Posted October 16, 2003 But you were safe!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nik Habicht Posted October 16, 2003 Share Posted October 16, 2003 Yes, we were and we were extremely grateful that we were able to make the trip. Everyone we knew thought we were crazy to go --- but Carol and I never thought of not going. I think carrying on with life as normal as possible is the way to win the war against terrorism.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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