PBH / Colombia / Forums (active) Travelguide Cheap hostels Pictures

Security Flaw at El Dorado

Coming back from Colombia I had to take my plane back to L.A. at El Dorado. You go thru three security check points. The main security is the same as most airports, then you go thru a second one where they go with the magic wand (hand-held metal detector) and check you out and also open and inspect your carry-on luggage.
Then, there's the third security point which is a big joke: Many of us were early so we were waiting in a big waiting room at gate 9. I estimate about 30 people were already scattered in the room. About an hour later security shows up with a metal detector and a scanner and installs it at the door, and then they asked for everybody to go out of the room and come back in to go thru the scanner and metal detector.
Do they really believe that if a terrorist inside is going to bring out of the room the illegal arms, bombs, whatever they are afraid of and check it in? Or do you think he (the terrorist) is going to stick it under a seat, go out check in and come back in to get it. That was the dumbest security flaw I've seen in a long time. The head of security at El Dorado should be demoted to Janitorial detail.

By mrgizmo on Oct 16, 2009, 09:45 in Friendly Talkzone.

alezzz says on Oct 16, 2009, 09:50:

hahah that's a joke! dumbasses!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Gator says on Oct 16, 2009, 09:51:

¿Usted un experto?

"Bene, cum Latine nescias, nolo manus meas in te maculare" .

0 funny, 0 helpful.

stocktrader says on Oct 16, 2009, 09:52:

I agree. However this is after the 3rd security chechpoint as you mentioned. In the States there's only one checkpoint. In national Colombian flights security is much much lower.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

mrgizmo says on Oct 16, 2009, 09:56:

No, I'm not and that's what makes it funnier because if a plain civilian such as me sees such a big flaw how do you think a potential terrorist (which I doubt they'd try anything at El Dorado) would see it?
It's like letting the passengers board the plane for one hour and then asking them to come out and check the carry-on luggage.
No one checked the waiting area. Just the passengers. Again, if anybody has any intention of bringing anything illegal that person is NOT going to bring it out of the room and have it checked

Behind every successful man, there's a nagging woman

0 funny, 0 helpful.

viajero123 (☼Travelguide writer) says on Oct 16, 2009, 09:58:

This 3rd security check usually only happens on flights to the US. Flights to other Latin American countries don´t have this 3rd check, nor did the flights to Europe a few years ago. I actually think it is carried out by airline security personnel as a requirement to fly to the US. It is the same in the UK, flights to the rest of Europe don´t have an extra security check at the boarding gate but flights to the US do.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Loggi says on Oct 16, 2009, 10:09:

I passed security with a leatherman wave. I almost had a heart attack when i saw in in my bag during the flight

Live for the moments you can't put into words

0 funny, 0 helpful.

ddluzdelsol says on Oct 16, 2009, 10:16:

Only 3? Lucky!! I had to go through 4 at El Dorado and 2 in the states!!!!

Christmas and New Years in Ibague!!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Aji1 says on Oct 16, 2009, 10:38:

This is did not happen in Colombia, but it is along the same lines. I recently went through a total of 8 different security check points carrying a key ring that has a 2 inch blade in it in my carry on. My home airport, Chicago, Hong Kong, Ho Chi Minh City, all the way back to Chicago before I took it out of my carry on and put it in my checked bag when I had to reclaim the checked bag after going through immigration in ORD. In Vietnam one of the guards even had it in his hand because they were rechecking everything in my bag. They were obsessing over my flash drive, meanwhile they had a knife in their hand and rescanned it and still did not notice it. It was at that point I noticed it and remembered I had meant to stick it in my checked bag. They are still slack everywhere I guess. I was really glad of that at the moment though. I will say this, because of all the security I have to arrive at BOG earlier than any other airport I have every been through. Their security is top notch compared to anywhere else I have been, but I have never been to Israel. It is my understanding that they are the best in the world on that note.

I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Miguel_Clavo says on Oct 16, 2009, 11:01:

But are bazuco and crack the same thing? or is it a dirty byproduct? Inquiring minds want to know! No, not want to know, demand to know! =)

RVW orderded me to remove my tagline congratulating the PBH Mods New Golden Boys. Lame.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

mrgizmo says on Oct 16, 2009, 11:01:

The main point I was trying to make is NOT the fact that they have three checkpoints, is the fact that they let you go in the boarding area at the gate and then have you come out again to recheck your carry-on luggage. Anybody carrying anything illegal would leave it inside the boarding area, they wouldn't be dumb enough to bring it out and have scanned.
This is meant to be constructive criticism (even though I think it's funny) and I hope someone will take notice and correct the procedure.

Behind every successful man, there's a nagging woman

0 funny, 0 helpful.

ranaquajo (☼Travelguide writer) says on Oct 16, 2009, 11:18:

... I used to think it was crazy, years ago, that we had to remove our shoes for security when leaving Bogotá... now I have to in every airport in the states, but not in Colombia...???

“The people using your software, even if you own it and pay for it, have rights and will behave as if they have rights. And if you abrogate those rights, you'll hear about it very quickly.”

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Papi de Alejo says on Oct 16, 2009, 11:30:

This past Monday, I flew from Bogota to Mexico City and all was as the OP noted. The exception that I observed was that during the time after the passengers in the waiting room had left, the airline personnel were getting down on all fours and looking under the seats and even moving the seats to ensure that no one had inserted anything between two seats. I noted this as the two that were on all fours were female. I had to look.

Live simply... Love generously... Care deeply... Speak kindly...

1 funny, 0 helpful.

RobbieRobNJ says on Oct 16, 2009, 11:31:

I saw a person leave a bag unattended in the waiting room ! The bag was discovered and he almost didnt make the flight ! They stripped him and tossed the bag ! No leaving a bag under the seat ! Actually he left the bag with an elderly colombian couple and ran to buy something then returned and the bag was still in the waiting room with security all around it The colombian couple was outside waiting to go back through security but they left his bag inside the waiting room !

0 funny, 0 helpful.

perezoso says on Oct 16, 2009, 11:36:

Yeah, the airline screeners are supposed to inspect the gate area after they clear out the folks already there; but before they screen them back in again. They probably didn't do it in your case - or you didn't see the employee who did.

The same routine happens elsewhere. Amsterdam comes to mind. I guess we need to fire the gigantic dumbass Dutch too.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

adrienne79 says on Oct 16, 2009, 11:57:

True story that happened on one of my first trips to Colombia as I was getting moved here. I arrived at DFW with my bags packed to the limits (since like i said I was still moving my things with me). Got checked in and one of my bags was overweight so I did some quick reshuffeling and threw some stuff in my carry-on. I did it so fast that I wasn't thinking about it. I then went ahead and went through security at DFW airport. They checked my bag on the screen and let me though. Crazy thing was, one the things that I threw into my carry-on at the last minute was an electric carving knife set. Yep, two very long blades were inside it. I was amazed at what had happened and wanted to say something but at the same time I wanted to keep my knife so I kept my mouth shut and continued on to Colombia with it in my carryon.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Aji1 says on Oct 16, 2009, 12:08:

Maybe they figured if they kept you away from a electrical outlet you would be no harm, jeje

I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Papi de Alejo says on Oct 16, 2009, 12:20:

What's even stupider was when we left Medellin for Bogota, the misses bought a soda or something in a bottle as we were about to enter the secure area. I started telling her that it wasn't allowed in there and that she would have to drink it fast or throw it out. The woman at the security station just waved her on after she asked her about the drink.

Live simply... Love generously... Care deeply... Speak kindly...

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Aji1 says on Oct 16, 2009, 12:49:

I don't understand the lower security levels even on the domestic flights. So the assumption is that Colombian terrorist like, oh i don't know, the FARC, would not like to bring down a plane. It was Avianca flight 203 from Bogota to Cali that was taken down with all passengers dying in 1989 by a bomb. I really do not get the difference.

I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

El Expatriado says on Oct 16, 2009, 14:05:

The dumbest security flaw I have seen is the flight from Atyrau Kazakhstan to Budapest, no security checks, no radar, Nada. Then Budapest to Frankfurt- no security checks because they assumed it was done in Atyrau to Budapest. Likewise Frankfurt to Calgary- Into North American air space in 20003 WITHOUT ANY RADAR OR SECURITY CHECKS WHASOEVER BELEIVE IT OR NOT:

That was before a host of terrorist bombings in Europe, however.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

tasco66 says on Oct 16, 2009, 14:22:

mrgizmo, same thing happened to me waiting for a flight from BOG to MIA with American.

I complained to the idiot AA manager, but apparently I was just wasting my breath...

The trouble with free elections is, you never know who is going to win (Leonid Brezhnev)

0 funny, 0 helpful.

coastalad says on Oct 16, 2009, 17:03:

during my first time visiting then leaving Colombia I had been on an overnight bus from the coast to Bogota the day before flying out. Unfortuneately my big backpack had been sitting in dirty water for 12 hours in the luggage area, so by the time i got to the airport it had that terrible wet smell.... no even worse than that... could smell it from 20 feet away.

So im standing in the check in counter and already security are eyeing me off and asking what im carrying.... me trying in my best spanglish to explain i am not smuggling anything.. i just have a stinky bag that was wet... Im pretty sure they conducted every test possible and after 90 mins they reluctantly let me through.

Strange thing for me was that when i picked up my bag in the US they didnt even ask to look at it at customs. no amount of febreeze ever quite got that dam smell out!!!

always avoiding white picket fences

0 funny, 0 helpful.

FreakyG says on Oct 17, 2009, 11:41:

The security "experts" are behind the curve and usually wait until something happens or almost happens, then take measures to make sure it doesnt happen again. Richard Reid is a perfect example. Dude had a bomb in his shoe -a very high grade plasique explosive and to ignite this, he had matches. Fellow passengers saw him trying to light his shoe with a match and jumped his ass. If he had a 99cent lighter that plane would have blown up more than likely. A week later I am in an airport taking my shoes off so security can check that I am not walking on bombs. I used to design security systems for federal court house buildings and spent hundreds of hours analyzing the designs trying to find any cracks in my system. Proactive thinking is the only way to beat the bad guys. Makes me wonder if the think tanks in washington are actually drinking clubs.

Thank You Eversomuch, and then some

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Robert Jorge says on Oct 17, 2009, 23:50:

FreakyG, plastique can't be exploded by fire. It takes a trigger which is forceful kinetic energy to start the bigger explosion, hence the use of blasting caps and other detonators, etc. If you light plastique on fire, all you will have is a fire. If Dickhead Reid was trying to light his shoe, he was a dumbass. Unless he was lighting a triggering device like a blasting cap made of smokeless powder or something similar to then trigger the plastique. Actually a regular old fire-cracker could potentially be used to detonate a high explosive. Maybe he had one of those shoved in there?

"You can not take the barrio out of the girl you really can't." Oneforamillion

0 funny, 0 helpful.