Matthew Maddock wrote:

> Frank F. Matthews wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Bert Hyman wrote:
>>
>>> Fly@Guy.com (Fly Guy) wrote in news:42B96A68.6B68A9AA@Guy.com:
>>>
>>>
>>>> (Doesn't Volkswagon also have "switchblade" type keys?)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Since Audi and VW are made by the same company and most VWs are
>>> slightly downscale Audis, I'd bet the keys are identical; the
>>> description in the article matched my VW Passat key.
>>
>>
>>
>> It also matches the current keys for Volvos & Alfas. Probably most of
>> the modern cars. Strangely it is a security thing.
>>
>>
>
> Loads of cars in the UK now come with those style keys - VW, Audi,
> BMW, Citroen, Porsche, Land Rover / Range Rover to mention the few
> that I know about!
>
> How the hell is that type any more dangerous than any other type
> of key?! In fact, I would have thought it was less dangerous because
> if you intended to stab someone with it, it would fold back on itself!
>
> Matt.

It's not any more dangerous. Thus the story is about silly TSA idiocy.
However, as II remember, the key locks open and you push a button to
permit it to fold shut.

 

Hmmm, interesting.... I have flown quite a bit since I bought my Audi -
and have even been through DFW - with no issues. I guess in the future
I'll carry my spare key (which has no 'fob') or even the plastic key,
and lock the fob in the car.....

Dan D
'04 A4 1.8Tq MT-6
Central NJ USA

 

Hmmm, interesting.... I have flown quite a bit since I bought my Audi -
and have even been through DFW - with no issues. I guess in the future
I'll carry my spare key (which has no 'fob') or even the plastic key,
and lock the fob in the car.....

Dan D
'04 A4 1.8Tq MT-6
Central NJ USA

 

Hmmm, interesting.... I have flown quite a bit since I bought my Audi -
and have even been through DFW - with no issues. I guess in the future
I'll carry my spare key (which has no 'fob') or even the plastic key,
and lock the fob in the car.....

Dan D
'04 A4 1.8Tq MT-6
Central NJ USA

 

Hmmm, interesting.... I have flown quite a bit since I bought my Audi -
and have even been through DFW - with no issues. I guess in the future
I'll carry my spare key (which has no 'fob') or even the plastic key,
and lock the fob in the car.....

Dan D
'04 A4 1.8Tq MT-6
Central NJ USA

 

I've never had a problem with them wanting to confiscate my Audi key. But
I did have another problem with it. I have it on a keychain which has a
pretty good sized chunk of silver on it:

http://www.tiffany.com/images/produc...4485066_xl.jpg

Since its too thick for the Xray to see through, every other time they'd
want to check my bag until they found it. Once I figured out what was
going on, in the 100+ flights I've flown since then I always take it out
of my bag and send it through the Xray separately along with my phone,
laptop, etc. They never look twice at the Audi key attached to it. So
maybe those with Audi keys should try that, since when you get "selected",
they never pay much attention to the small items you throw in the tray,
they want to dig around in your carry on and examine the contents of every
little pocket, even the ones only big enough to hold a few business cards!

Another idea might be to send your keys through the Xray with the key out,
so it is obvious that it is a car key. They won't think of it as a switch
blade if they first see it with the key out, it is seeing it with the key
in and being apparently surprised to find there's a key inside that makes
them think of a switch blade.

Or maybe AoA needs to educate the idiots in charge of TSA so they will
send a letter out to all the airports telling them not to confiscate car
keys, even if they can operate like a switchblade. Wait until they
realize that a credit card with one edge sharpened can slit someone's
throat far more efficiently than either a nail clipper or an Audi key
could kill, and they'll start wanting us to fly with credit cards in
checked baggage!

--
Douglas Siebert dsiebert@excisethis.khamsin.net

"Pure democracy is three wolves and two sheep voting on what to eat for
dinner." -- Benjamin Franklin, on why the US is a Republic and not a Democracy

 

I've never had a problem with them wanting to confiscate my Audi key. But
I did have another problem with it. I have it on a keychain which has a
pretty good sized chunk of silver on it:

http://www.tiffany.com/images/produc...4485066_xl.jpg

Since its too thick for the Xray to see through, every other time they'd
want to check my bag until they found it. Once I figured out what was
going on, in the 100+ flights I've flown since then I always take it out
of my bag and send it through the Xray separately along with my phone,
laptop, etc. They never look twice at the Audi key attached to it. So
maybe those with Audi keys should try that, since when you get "selected",
they never pay much attention to the small items you throw in the tray,
they want to dig around in your carry on and examine the contents of every
little pocket, even the ones only big enough to hold a few business cards!

Another idea might be to send your keys through the Xray with the key out,
so it is obvious that it is a car key. They won't think of it as a switch
blade if they first see it with the key out, it is seeing it with the key
in and being apparently surprised to find there's a key inside that makes
them think of a switch blade.

Or maybe AoA needs to educate the idiots in charge of TSA so they will
send a letter out to all the airports telling them not to confiscate car
keys, even if they can operate like a switchblade. Wait until they
realize that a credit card with one edge sharpened can slit someone's
throat far more efficiently than either a nail clipper or an Audi key
could kill, and they'll start wanting us to fly with credit cards in
checked baggage!

--
Douglas Siebert dsiebert@excisethis.khamsin.net

"Pure democracy is three wolves and two sheep voting on what to eat for
dinner." -- Benjamin Franklin, on why the US is a Republic and not a Democracy

 

I've never had a problem with them wanting to confiscate my Audi key. But
I did have another problem with it. I have it on a keychain which has a
pretty good sized chunk of silver on it:

http://www.tiffany.com/images/produc...4485066_xl.jpg

Since its too thick for the Xray to see through, every other time they'd
want to check my bag until they found it. Once I figured out what was
going on, in the 100+ flights I've flown since then I always take it out
of my bag and send it through the Xray separately along with my phone,
laptop, etc. They never look twice at the Audi key attached to it. So
maybe those with Audi keys should try that, since when you get "selected",
they never pay much attention to the small items you throw in the tray,
they want to dig around in your carry on and examine the contents of every
little pocket, even the ones only big enough to hold a few business cards!

Another idea might be to send your keys through the Xray with the key out,
so it is obvious that it is a car key. They won't think of it as a switch
blade if they first see it with the key out, it is seeing it with the key
in and being apparently surprised to find there's a key inside that makes
them think of a switch blade.

Or maybe AoA needs to educate the idiots in charge of TSA so they will
send a letter out to all the airports telling them not to confiscate car
keys, even if they can operate like a switchblade. Wait until they
realize that a credit card with one edge sharpened can slit someone's
throat far more efficiently than either a nail clipper or an Audi key
could kill, and they'll start wanting us to fly with credit cards in
checked baggage!

--
Douglas Siebert dsiebert@excisethis.khamsin.net

"Pure democracy is three wolves and two sheep voting on what to eat for
dinner." -- Benjamin Franklin, on why the US is a Republic and not a Democracy

 

I've never had a problem with them wanting to confiscate my Audi key. But
I did have another problem with it. I have it on a keychain which has a
pretty good sized chunk of silver on it:

http://www.tiffany.com/images/produc...4485066_xl.jpg

Since its too thick for the Xray to see through, every other time they'd
want to check my bag until they found it. Once I figured out what was
going on, in the 100+ flights I've flown since then I always take it out
of my bag and send it through the Xray separately along with my phone,
laptop, etc. They never look twice at the Audi key attached to it. So
maybe those with Audi keys should try that, since when you get "selected",
they never pay much attention to the small items you throw in the tray,
they want to dig around in your carry on and examine the contents of every
little pocket, even the ones only big enough to hold a few business cards!

Another idea might be to send your keys through the Xray with the key out,
so it is obvious that it is a car key. They won't think of it as a switch
blade if they first see it with the key out, it is seeing it with the key
in and being apparently surprised to find there's a key inside that makes
them think of a switch blade.

Or maybe AoA needs to educate the idiots in charge of TSA so they will
send a letter out to all the airports telling them not to confiscate car
keys, even if they can operate like a switchblade. Wait until they
realize that a credit card with one edge sharpened can slit someone's
throat far more efficiently than either a nail clipper or an Audi key
could kill, and they'll start wanting us to fly with credit cards in
checked baggage!

--
Douglas Siebert dsiebert@excisethis.khamsin.net

"Pure democracy is three wolves and two sheep voting on what to eat for
dinner." -- Benjamin Franklin, on why the US is a Republic and not a Democracy

 

Fly Guy wrote:
> Interesting exerpt:
>
> "Paperwork, of course, was required. His driver's license and other
> identification papers were photocopied."
>
> Since when do security agents record personal information at a
> screening checkpoint?
>
> Maybe because they are going to send this guy's keys back to him in
> the mail? Or maybe this guy's name is going to be put on a watch list
> now?

More likely the latter.

My DH flies often for work and one time they said they found explosives
or something on one of his bags. He had no idea how, unless it was
fertilizer from the garage, when he set his bag down, or from the back
of my car from the bag riding in it. They did the same thing - made
him fill out a shitload of paperwork and photocopied his DL. He gets
harassed all the time at check points anyway - it may just have been
another incident of the same.

-L.