On Tue 26/10/10 12:57 PM , Ramakrishnan Sundaram [email protected] sent:
> On 26 October 2010 17:19, Badri Natarajan om> wrote:>
> > Nowadays airlines check visas of everyone
> boarding a plane to most countries because otherwise the government of the
> country in which the plane lands will impose a fine for allowing someone to
> get on the plane without checking their visa/immigration status for the
> destination.
> Yes, but this was before 9/11. Air travel was very different.
Indeed. Once when I was a kid (1991), I was flying to New York with my father.
We transited through Heathrow and went through security again and the security
officer found a large wooden knife in my baggage. It was a toy that I had
forgotten to take out when packing but it was six inches long and quite sharp.
In those halcyon days he didn't even confiscate it off me - just put it deep in
my baggage, smiled and said I shouldn't take it out till I reached my
destination..
If it happened now, we'd still be in jail..
