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Don't wear that Transformers shirt through security
I hear a lot of complaints about the TSA, especially since the liquid bans were put into effect, but I'm usually pretty gentle with them. Most of the TSA officers seem to have the right intentions and are willing to work with you. Most of the time they're just enforcing rules set by the DHS and you have no reason to give them a hard time.This instance, however, is not one of them. Last week a guy traveling through London's Heathrow airport, a notoriously strict hub, got stopped and questioned for wearing a t-shirt with Megatron on it. If you're not familiar with the program that was on the telly, Megatron is a fictional evil alien cartoon robot that's on Transformers. A fictional cartoon robot with a gun for an arm.
Airport security didn't like the fact that there was a gun on this guy's t-shirt, so they made him change it, saying that they would arrest him if he put it back on.
Hey Chertoff: I know you don't like depictions of weapons onboard your flights because someone could get confused and mistake it for the real thing. That's fine. But this is a CARTOON ROBOT DRAWN ON A T-SHIRT. Don't you think we could let this slide?
[Mind you, I realize that the TSA, proper, is not responsible for security at LHR -- several commenters keep pointing that out. The UK's own homeland security take care of screening at British terminals. The point is that the US & UK (and their respective agencies) share many ridiculous rules about prohibitions onto airplanes. Check out this article for a similar instance in the US. -- GM]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Oranji Jun 1st 2008 4:37PM
Transformer T-shirts: More than meets the eye...
Howard Jun 1st 2008 4:39PM
Hey Grant Martin, If you thought about anything before committing it to print you would have realized that the TSA has not one damn thing to do with Heathrow airport. It's in England. dips*&t
Nick Hawkins Jun 1st 2008 6:18PM
Good point. Don't blame DHS for something the Brits are doing. Even if this did happen at an airport in the US, it's an individual screener's error - not DHS policy.
TravelBot Jun 1st 2008 10:03PM
Good point! DHS has nothing to do with security in the UK. Different countries.
Grant.Martin Jun 1st 2008 10:07PM
I realize that DHS and UK Homeland Security are separate entities, but both agencies share many of the same policies and rules (3oz liquids etc) as well as collaborate on much of their security infrastructure.
Rather than confusing the lay reader with different heads of Homeland Security and agencies, I figured it best to refer to them both as the same for this argument; this is, after all, a blog and not an Op Ed.
Please try to refrain from name calling and think from a broad perspective.
Grant
TravelBot Jun 2nd 2008 1:51AM
There is no "UK Homeland Security" department. UK airport security is handled by the Department for Transport. General UK security falls to MI5.
If the lay reader has difficulty understanding that different countries have different agencies with different heads then I doubt they can use a computer.
Chertoff, while a dork, has nothing to do with LHR. Period.
Even though this is a blog, there's nothing wrong with a little accuracy. And not assuming your readers can't deal with the fact that different countries are, well, different.
Emily Jun 2nd 2008 9:35AM
Sounds like the time the elementary school kid in the US was expelled for drawing a gun on a piece of paper and cutting it out and playing with it during recess.
Nick Hawkins Jun 2nd 2008 11:57AM
You do realize that the additional edited link is not in the US, but in Canada (you know, that soverign country to the north of the US)?
So, you cited two instances of passengers being in trouble due to symbolic weaponry, none of which were in the US and decided to blast Chertoff. Nice.
The first rule of holes is to quit digging when you're in one.
wd4000 Jun 2nd 2008 1:44PM
The actual t-shirt has optimus prime not megatron
Jack Sep 15th 2008 8:13AM
Why trouble a blog with any actual facts...