90% of UK travelers “happy” to use airport full body scanners

by Scott Carmichael on

Global IT firm Unisys surveyed 10,000 people about their thoughts on the full body scanners being introduced at airports around the world.

Of the countries involved in the survey, the British had the least objections – with 9 out 10 respondents claiming they were actually happy to see the machines put in place. At the bottom of the list were Mexicans with just 24% of respondents having a positive opinion.

In the US, only 67% of passengers are willing to subject themselves to the full body scanner, and only 57% said they would trust airport security officers to perform checks using biometric information, compared to 91% of British travelers.

I’m not entirely sure where there are such large differences in opinions. One possible factor could be that the UK (and other European countries) have been involved in airport terror events in recent years and that their governments have done a good job at convincing people that the scanners are the only way to stay safe.

The entire survey can be found here.

(Photo from Getty Images)

Air Canada passenger falls asleep on plane – wakes up in maintenance hangar

by Scott Carmichael on

We’ve probably all been there – you get on your flight, feeling so tired that you pass out before the plane takes off.

But in most cases, you’ll be awake right after you miss the drinks service. Air Canada passenger Kris Lines must have had the nap of his life, because he passed out right after taking off, and was awoken by a maintenance engineer inside a hangar at Vancouver airport.

Apparently none of the Air Canada flight crew members took the time to check whether they had left anyone on board, and simply got off the plane leaving Mr. Lines fast asleep.

When he complained to the airline, they offered him a “generous” 20% off voucher for a future flight. Mr. Lines is not satisfied with that offer, and calls it “absolute craziness”. I’m not entirely sure what else the airline could do for him, other than making sure their staff are retrained to check the plane for sleeping passengers. Still, if this happened to me, I too would probably fight for a little more than a useless discount voucher.

So, next time you feel like you are going to fall asleep on your flight, you may want to ask a seatmate to nudge you awake upon landing. Mr. Lines was lucky that the plane was moved to a hangar, at the end of the day, many planes are just parked for the night.

Women try to smuggle dead relative onto flight

by Sean McLachlan on

We talk a lot here at Gadling about annoying airline passengers, from the guy who smashes our knees by reclining his seat back as far as it can go, to the self-righteous fellow who simply must convert us before the plane lands.

Two women in England have them all beat–they tried to smuggle a dead body on board. The unnamed women were stopped at Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport on Saturday as they wheeled their “sleeping” relative up to the gate for a flight to Germany. Airport officials became suspicious and when they began to ask questions about the 91 year-old man, the duo’s story quickly unraveled.

By covering the man with a blanket and putting sunglasses on him, they apparently thought they could slip by security. Perhaps they were inspired by the Australian who got a bag labeled “bomb” past security or the United flight that had a stowaway scorpion.

The two suspects, who the police have identified only as women aged 41 and 66 from Oldham in Greater Manchester, have been charged with failing to report on death and have been released on bail pending an investigation and, most likely, a trial.

Los Angeles bans Hare Krishnas from airport panhandling

by Scott Carmichael on

Los Angeles airport has won a court battle allowing them to ban Hare Krisnas from collecting donations on its property. The California Supreme Court ruled that the ban does not violate free speech guarantees.

Apparently, Los Angeles airport has over 100 different individuals from 15 organizations that solicit cash at the airport, and the battle to allow them to continue doing so has been going on since 1997. According to the Judge, travelers have enough on their minds without having to deal with panhandling. The Judge had this to say about the inconvenience:

Panhandling may increase congestion, cause travelers to miss flights, and subject them to possible intimidation and even fraud.

Organizations are still free to distribute printed materials, and mention other ways they can donate, but they can not accept any more donations at the airport. A spokesperson for Hare Krishna called the decision “disgusting” and claims the ruling is all about getting rid of Hare Krishna. Of course, the whole story just reminds me of the awesome scene from “Airport” – which you can see in the embedded clip above.

What do you think about panhandling at the airport?

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Airport security “allegedly” caught playing solitaire

by Sean McLachlan on

Once again, airport security is screwing up in public.

My wife, son, and I passed through Madrid’s Barajas airport to fly to London yesterday. While waiting to board, I “allegedly” caught this police officer playing solitaire on the computer at the police checkpoint. She was so engrossed in her game that I was able to take four shots of her without her noticing.

Granted, nobody was boarding at that moment, so she might technically have been on break, but she was in full view of the public and within sight of several gates for international flights, so she had better things to keep her eyes on. When I worked security for IBM back in my college days we were under strict instructions not to take breaks within sight of the public because (duh) it made it look like we were slacking off.

This isn’t the first time airport security has been caught playing solitaire, and considering that there was a deadly terrorist bombing in Spain less than a year ago, I think Spanish airport police should be a bit more watchful.

If anyone at Barajas is interested, this occurred on March 30 at 2:44 PM local time at Gate H22 of Terminal 4. I have the officer’s badge number in case you want to contact me.

NOTE: My editors asked me to insert “allegedly” into this post to cover our collective legal asses, but I know what I saw. I take my family’s security seriously. More seriously than this cop, allegedly.