British Aviation Bans All Hand-luggage

In a drastic move to prevent terror attacks on air crafts, British Aviation authorities have now banned all liquids and hand-luggage aboard planes. That means no water, contact lens fluid, body lotion, perfume, shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant and certainly no magazines, books, iPods and laptops. Imagine an eight hour flight without a mag??!!

Yahoo! News reports that passengers can expect double screening from now on - passengers and their carry-on luggage will be checked not only at the main security checkpoint, but also a second time at the boarding gate.

British police overnight arrested 24 people suspected of plotting to blow up as many as 10 jetliners bound for the United States. It is believed the suspects planned to mix a sports drink with a gel to make an explosive that might have been triggered by an MP3 player or a cell phone. Liquids and gels of any kind were subsequently banned from carry-on luggage in the United States and Britain.

"Standing there looking to make sure no one has a tube of toothpaste is patently ridiculous, because now we're looking for objects again -- we're not looking for threats" said Michael Boyd, president of the Boyd Group, an aviation consulting firm in Evergreen, Colorado. (from CNN)

As Cory Doctorov at Boing Boing says, " If this is a good idea now, then why won't it still be a good idea in a year? A decade? After all, terrorist plots will always exist in potentia (can you prove that no terrorist plots are hatching at this moment?) Until they handcuff us all nude to our seats and dart us with tranquilizers, there will always be the possibility that a passenger will do something naughty on a plane (even then, who knows how much semtex and roofing nails a bad guy could hide in his colon?)"

Now how about throwing caution to the wind and doing the same here in SL??