plutchak joel peter wrote:

I've known some people who had problems with unlabeled,
self-capped homebrew being confiscated.

Never had this kind of trouble, yet qv. below...

Who knows what evil
substance they could have in those bottles? Of course, we
all know it'd be easy to recap a commercial bottle, so there
should be no difference, but I guess they don't pay airport
security people to think.

I'll second your point... last time I flew from London to Edinbugh, the
security lady threw a fit over a tiny pair of foldable scissors, of the
very blunt type, I had in my jacket pocket. I tried to ram into her wee
little head that her insisting I sent that back home was utterly
ridiculous, and that the only thing I could decently damage with those
was paper, but she held on firm to it. I then ventured further :

- BTW, you've noticed as well that my hand luggage contains a bottle of
beer. Now that's a dangerous weapon...
- Erm, no, bottles are not forbidden...
- But then it can obviously be turned in seconds into a dangerous
weapon... I could seriously hurt someone with that. You realise how
ridiculous your double standards are ?
- I'm only doing me job sir...
- Doing your job does not dispense you from using your brain, Madam...
....
and it went on on that mode for a few more minutes. Amazing logics,
isn't it ? All in the name of duty-free sales !

I finally got my bottle on board of the plane, and the Ileft the
scissors to this lady, arghuing that postage yould cost more than the
scissors... Yet NOBODY in airport security realised I had my Swiss Army
knife, along with my keys and purse (keys and coin nicely blurring the
x-ray image, thanks), in the side pocket (ie on top or bottom of the
x-ray image, whilst the person watching the screen tends to look in the
middle...) of my hand luggage all the time. ;o

Problem is with all this "war on terror" nonsense, security personel
tend to think that applying the rules by the book is the only way they
can save the world. Single-handed, of course. Bruce Willis Syndrome,
anyone ?
I strongly feel it's a sacred mission for any citizen to challenge this
kind of crap whenever encountered. ;o)))

On the other hand, there are some security agents of a more relaxed
kind... on the way back from Edinburgh to London, as I put my shoses
(whose metal eyelets tend to be beep whilst crossing the metal detector)
on the x-ray's conveyor belt, one of the security agents grinned and
said with a wink : " I think this gentleman flies too often..." )
Yes. It can also be done with a smile and a healthy dose of common sense.

Cheers !

Laurent

--
Warning : you may encounter French language beyond this point.

Un vent de démence souffle sur les alpages... Laissons souffler et abritons-nous...
(F'murrr)

Laurent Mousson, Berne, Switzerland