When you check-in for your London flight or in fact any flight from a UK airport since the security concerns have been heightened you are asked a few simple questions. These simple questions are for everyones safety.

Did you pack your luggage yourself? This is usually the first question you get asked. This is to make sure that you know what is in the case and to make sure someone else didn’t put anything else in.

Have your bags been left unsupervised at any time prior to your arrival at the airport. This could be a hotel room or a hotel reception whilst you are waiting to go to the airport. This is to make sure that your luggage could not have been tampered with and that there has not been anything put in your bags without your knowledge.

Even though there have been many well publicized security issues at airports throughout the world and in the UK people still think it is amusing to say ‘there is a bomb in my bag’

Amazingly this wisecrack gets people arrested at airports throughout the country on a regular basis. Airport staff are instructed to take these comments seriously as are the police who must treat every incident as genuine.

Don’t be surprised if you read in the newspapers about someone getting a jail sentence or a fine and community service for doing this.

If the staff hears one of these comments it is not unusual for aircraft and even airports to be evacuated causing a lot of disruption and at great cost to the airlines and airport itself.

So after checking that you packed the luggage yourself and that it has been in your possession the whole time you only have to worry about any excess baggage charges unless someone travelling with you makes a bomb in the luggage wisecrack.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 at 9:40 am and is filed under Alaska. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.