Peruvian Aviation Authorities Even Stupider than American Ones
Update: If the comment from my friend Al, below, is true, which I don't doubt since he's a reliable source, I owe the Peruvian aviation authorities an apology.
When I made my connection from Lima to Cusco I thought the Peruvian authorities were more level-headed. After I had cleared immigration I had to go through security again for my domestic flight. I had a bottle of water in my carry-on, and nobody made any attempt to confiscate it, and there were no signs announcing that one couldn't bring water through security. I thought to myself, at least the Peruvians aren't afraid of water.
Then, 8 days later, when I checked in for my Lima to New York flight everything was different. There were collection bins before security to discard water bottles in. Fine, just like the U.S.A. So I bought a couple of bottles of water after security for the flight. But as I was about to board the plane, airport security personnel were checking everybody's carry-on bags. They found my bottles of water. "You can't take these on the plane," they said. "But I bought them after security," I said. "I threw out my other water before I went through security."
"Sorry," they said, "no liquids allowed."
"That's ridiculous," I said. "If that's the case they shouldn't be selling them, or at least there should have been signs somewhere." But I didn't want to hold up the other passengers, so I gave up my water and boarded the flight. Next time I'll know enough to transfer a half liter of water to six 3-oz. plastic bottles and put them in a 1-qt. ziploc baggie, thereby rendering my water harmless.
So it looks like the Peruvian authorities don't give a shit if you plan to bomb a domestic flight with a bottle of water, just one that's leaving the country.
As I told the flight attendant when I asked her for a glass of water so I could down some downers for the overnight flight, "There are bigger things to worry about than bottles of water."
1 Comments:
The no liquids rule is a U.S.-imposed one. I had pretty much the same experience flying out of Seoul to JFK last summer, after having flown in from Beijing a couple of days earlier with a bottle of water. I had purchased the water from a stand practically right in front of the gate (inside security) and complained until they sent down a supervisor who patiently explained the policy to me. And when I still didn't believe him he showed me the notice they had from the FAA (which I don't think I was supposed to see), that indeed made no allowance even for sealed water purchased inside the security area.
Post a Comment
<< Home