Travel before Sept. 11, 2001

I miss liquids too. In the old days I filled a sixty-four ounce apple juice bottle with scotch whisky and carried it in my underseat bag. It usually lasted a good long time.

Awesome, Monte. Pat - I agree with you about the liquids. This has become a total moneymaker for the drinks industry. And I don't feel much safer despite all the "added" security. As soon as passengers had to start removing their shoes, terrorists began working on other tactics like the underwear bomb.

I rarely wear underwear so they can't hang me up on that.

Sarah, I miss bringing on liquids,, I like buying and bringin on cheaper liquids to drink then what you get stuck with purchasing after security( and I think its a totally dumb rule now too) I don't care about the shoe thing,, but feel sorry for older folks or young kids whos parents have to take shoes off babies and toddlers( dumb). I hate the extra security, and frankly, unlike some sheeple I do not feel safer with it since the security staff are still mostly poorly trained high school outs who don't seem to have a clue what to really look for cause they are too busy following a predetermined set of procedures and applying them unilaterally , instead of using some good judgment, intuition and some basic profiling( yes, I believe in profiling when done by properly trained staff,, please look to the security staff in places like Israel for an example) And sadly,, the next time a plane is used as a weapon , or hijacked, the fiends will have just thought of new ways to circumvent the safety procedures put in place now anyways. Cause thats what they do,, sit and plot.

We flew home a few days before 9/11 after spending 2 1/2 mos traveling in Europe. I miss bringing large bottles of good water on the plane but also large bottle of sunblock (forgot to take it out of carry-on last time and security took it - cost $25 and hadn't even been opened), lotion, shampoo, etc. Already mentioned, but I really miss friends being able to come to the gate with us or meet us there when we return. Like Pat said, it's all so stupid and useless that I have a very bad attitude when I go through security. Makes me feel like a bunch of idiots are running the show which makes me more anxious about the real dangers of flying.

I thought the liquid/gel restrictions didn't start until 2005 or 2006?

Like everyone else, the liquids. But these restrictions have made us all quite creative, and I suppose, have added more jobs to Airports so what can we do? Forget about the lax days and try to deal
with the restrictions. I do take a large empty bottle with me to fill up just before boarding since I tend to suffer from excessive thirst while flying.

Yes, that's right but the whole trip down paranoia lane started right after 9/11. We had tickets to Scotland and back for just two weeks after that, and maybe you remember the National Guard troops in all the airports. Our government played on the fear and paranoia we all had. Remember, we were all supposed to buy plastic sheeting and duct tape to protect the inside of our homes from biological hazards. It just kept growing. Shoes, underwear, liquids, scissors, knives, etc. My first flight was in nineteen sixty-two as a soldier in uniform. There was lots of leggroom, we could push back, have a cigarette, drink a cocktail and flirt with the stewardesses. And they would flirt back.

I miss liquids, too! Monte, you and I had the same strategy... except I tended to do vodka in Mountain Dew. :-) My first flight right after 9/11 wasn't just horrible because it was traumatic (I was downtown that day, and was a little freaked out) but also because of the heavily armed troops, the sense of impending doom, the relentless paranoia. The troops are gone, the paranoia has abated a bit, but the endless droning mind-numbing hassle of taking off shoes, dumping liquids, fretting over whether or not I've forgotten to throw out my corckscrew, shuffling through lines, etc., etc. - all of which make me feel NO SAFER - is kinda soul killing, isn't it?

Flying pre 9/11 really wasn't Nirvana. ; ) There were huge inconsistencies across the system. Yes, there are still some inconsistencies, but for the most part you know what to expect. So, for me, that's actually an improvement. I remember when there some airports that required computers out, some that didn't, some wanted wires in a separate bin, others didn't care about either. As someone who was flying a lot at that time, I found that variation annoying. Today, you really have to just not fight this stuff or you'll start every trip in a misery. I get to the airport reasonably early, have some good tunes on the iPhone, a good book on the IPad with the latest NYTimes a back up printed book for the electronics phases and I am good to go. If I were to miss anything from pre 9/11 it would be the prices and the space. Pam

The restriction on liquids actually started in 2006, so 5 years after 9/11. I was in London in August 2006 when some idiots decided it was a good plan to bring liquids on a plane, mix them together once aboard and blow the plane up over the Atlantic. Luckily they were apprehended before they could carry this out. London was in chaos for days, with many flights cancelled, etc. That event is what prompted the ban on liquids, not 9/11.

It's not what I miss before - it's what I miss after 9/11, which is my friend's brother who died on one of those planes that hit the WTC. So before someone posts how they could pack a 10" chef's knife in their carryon so they could freely enjoy their little picnic lunch pre-9/11 but now those "drop outs" screening for the TSA confiscate their Swiss Army knife with the 2" blade, or make them remove their shoes and toss their water bottles, think about how some people wish the tighter security measures were put in place by the government a lot sooner than they were (like when they knew a future attack was highly probable and before thousands of people had to die).

We were supposed to fly on September 12, 2011 but were instead put on one of the first transatlantic flights from Denver, leaving on Sept. 21. An eerie experience. Armed soldiers were patrolling the terminal. And at check-in, we were each given a one-gallon size plastic bag and told to put everything we needed for the flight (books, eyeglasses, whatever) into the bag. Everything else was checked ... purses, briefcases, everything. The result was amazing: that huge Lufthansa jet loaded in about 5 minutes! And we all did just fine, with just our little baggie of necessities. Every time we board a plane now and watch people struggle to fit their carryons, and hold everyone up, we think that perhaps that extremely paranoic post-911 rule was actually pretty sensible!

I grew up in NYC and remember watching the WTC being built. Even though I lived 15 miles away in Queens, on a clear day, I could the twin towers from my house. (No Sarah Palin references.) On 9/11 I was living in a different state. A few weeks after, my first flight was to NY. Our approach to LGA was directly over lower Manhattan. I looked out the window and down to the streets below. Each block was packed with high rise buildings so common to the Manhattan skyline. And then I saw a big, hole with massive amounts of debris scattered about. The whole thing suddenly became very real.

There is no debate,, 9/11 was horrible, but are we any safer. Not really.
Eviel always finds a way. I miss carrying back my wine,, dam I hate packing it in a suitcase,, don't want a bunch of pink clothes.

I flew to St. Martin/St. Maarten in 1999 and remember how terrified I was on the return flight. There was almost no security whatsoever at the airport, I went through the metal detector, it beeped and went off, the personnel didn't even look up. I am also glad that airline staff are free from being sexually harassed by customers, and I'm glad that we do not assume what a terrorist looks like based on their skin color or clothing - particularly since terrorists can come in all skin colors. Do you guys know which country has the largest population of Muslims and is becoming increasingly radicalized? Hint: it's not an arab country. Meanwhile Sikhs were being targeted because their skin color and clothing fits what some ignorant people think of as "muslim terrorist." And of course, not to mention - not all terrorists are radical Muslims, there are plenty of white terrorists all over the world. So profiling based on race or clothing or religion just doesn't make sense nor does it keep us safer. I'm fine with going through annoying security processes that treat everyone fairly. There are some that are problematic (the body xray scans) but most of the processes make some degree of sense. We don't have an inherent right to fly. I'm more concerned with the government in my private life and the surveillance state than I am with having to go through a security checkpoint before entering a vehicle that can be used as a mass murder weapon.

We flew back from Portugal a few weeks before the Liquid ban. All we thought was how bummed we would have been to show up at Heathrow and have them tell us that the 6 liters (8 bottles) of really good Port in our back packs could not be carried on the plane.
Since then, when we travel with wine, we just buy the styro shippers, and check as baggage. Haven't lost a bottle yet.

Before 9/11 I always carried a Swiss Army Knife in my carry-on. I miss that; so much more convenient (and less wasteful) than having to find one after landing and ditch it before coming home. I also miss being able to dress for the flight, with my carrry-on, and go straight through security without taking off my shoes, jacket, belt, wallet, watch, ring, pocket change...shirt, pants... I hate taking everything apart for security, then trying to put everything back together, without losing anything, to proceed to my gate.

Jeff, I think you really captured it. The combination of security theater, crowded planes, less legroom, no food, and cranky fliers seems to have sapped the adventure from flying. It used to be exciting to arrive at the airport. Now it's just a big hassle. What a shame. There is no denying the tragedy of 9/11, but responding with the ridiculous implementation of the TSA has not solved the problem. We need security; being in African airports last summer with virtually none reinforced that for me. But patting down grandmas in diapers ain't it. I suspect the largest measure of safety these days lies with the passengers on the plane. The few times there have been problems on board since 9/11, everyday folks have sprung into action and helped keep others safe-an incident happened on my mom's plane in 2005. (And good lord, if they ever make one of my boys go through the nudie scanner, you'll probably see me on the evening news.)