‘Ooh là là!!’ said the French lady.
We were at Zürich Airport, almost at the top of the queue to go through security with our hand luggage. The French lady, me, a young couple from somewhere in Eastern Europe, by the sound of them – and a middle-aged pair who were putting their bags on the band.
The woman went first, with one of those small suitcases you can take on planes, plus a large handbag and an assortment of airport see-through bags containing make-up etc. The security lady peered at those, selected one, shook her head, and dropped it into the bin. The French lady and I exchanged sympathetic looks – I guess most people have fallen foul of the ‘no liquids’ rule. But the security lady wasn’t finished. She indicated the handbag, and the middle-aged woman, now slightly pink, opened it.
The security lady rummaged, then waved the Eastern Europeans, who were removing shoes and belts in anticipation, back towards the French lady and me. The four of us stood watching as several more bottles, tubes, and tubs of heaven knows what appeared from the handbag, and clunked and banged into the bin. That was the ‘Ooh là là!!’ moment, but the security lady still wasn’t finished. She wanted to look in the woman’s case now, and – you’ve guessed it – clunk, clunk, bang, bang. The thought went through my head that this woman had more jars and bottles in her hand luggage than I had in my entire bathroom…
The middle-aged man’s bag was scrutinised next, and several more tubes bit the dust. The Eastern European man rubbed his fingers together in a ‘money money’ gesture, and the rest of us nodded, four people unable to converse, but sharing this spectacle. Then another security person was summoned to investigate the couple elsewhere, and we all moved forwards, more than a little gobsmacked, but glad to be on our way again.
All I could think was – Why? What on earth had gone though the heads of this pair when they packed their bags? The ‘no liquids’ rule isn’t popular but it’s clear enough, and it’s there for a reason – and the couple were obviously aware of it as some small items had been bagged. Did they think they’d get away with the rest? That it didn’t matter? That they were somehow exempt?
There’s a story in there somewhere…
linda huber 
It’s funny what you can convince yourself makes sense… When we were moving to England, the Hub went first while I stayed behind until Child #4 finished school, the house was on the market, etc. But each time I went over to visit, I took a suitcase full of important bits and pieces. So I traveled a lot. I knew the rules. But somehow when I went to bring my silver cutlery, I thought it too risky to put in the checked bag. Much better in my carry-on, I decided. That was until the guy at the X-ray machine stared at me in total disbelief. “Lady, you’ve got TWELVE knives in there.”
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🙂 Were you arrested? Or was it in the days before they got so strict? And most importantly, do you still have twelve silver knives??
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I tried to explain that since they had rounded tips and would make hard work of cutting anything but butter, I didn’t really think of them as knives. There were nods until I blew it by saying you could probably do more damage with the forks. There was a muttered conference and then I heard, “And she’s got THIRTY-SIX of those.” Luckily they took pity and agreed to gate-check the bag. And even more luckily, all 12 knives and 36 various forks were still there when I got to Heathrow.
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A happy end – good!
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Poor woman. She’s obviously either clueless or thinks that she doesn’t apply to the rules. I kind of made people wait when I was flying home from Portland a few months ago. The security people warned us not to have liquids in our bags. “I don’t,” I said. But I had checked, and I didn’t. And then my bag was held up in security and I thought, “What the heck.” Everyone behind me shuffled and murmured–I was holding them up. Turned out that I had a full (gasp!) bottle of water that I had completely forgotten about. It was hidden beneath my jacket, and it was pretty embarrassing. The security person scolded me, too, which was even more embarrassing. Cheers and hope you’re having a great week.
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It’s easily done, isn’t it – I had a tube of handcream confiscated a year or two back. It was the sheer number of items this couple had that was so gobsmacking! You have a good week too – happy running! 🙂
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