" Are you carrying anything for anyone else?"
 

What happens if you answer "yes" to this question when you check in for a flight?

It's never happened to me, but I imagine you then open yourself up for a lot more questions and your luggage will definitely be searched -- very thoroughly I'm sure.

Hi F,

>What happens if you answer "yes"...

You get to talk to the nice security people.

((I))

We said yes and explained that we were carrying gifts from our neighbors to the French family that had rented their house a year previously. It was not a problem, as the gifts were not wrapped.

In my experience: They ask you how well you know the person who gave you the items. They ask what the items are.

I tend to think of this question as posing particular problems for pregnant women.

I had the person in front of me answer "yes" at Gatwick. They had been asked to mail a camera case back to someone in the states who had left it at a small B&B. The package was wrapped and ready for mailing. The security people unwrapped it, determined that it was indeed an empty camera case and gave it back to the traveler.

I'm interested to read that people have actually owned up to this. We are going to a wedding and we've been asked to take a gift from some friends who can't attend. I wasn't sure whether answering "yes " would lead to us being refused boarding at worst or having the gift confiscated at best.

Just make sure the gifts are unwrapped and you know what's inside the boxes.

As long as you know what the items are then there is no need to own up to anything.

Is that right though AA? Even though I know what the items are then the answer to the question they ask has to be "yes". It is not "do you own or know what you are carrying?"

Let's be logical here.

If my sister asked me to carry a gift for our mom and it was a scarf in the box that was unwrapped, I'm not owning up to anything.

If I buy something at the airport shop and the store clerk wraps it up in front of me, I'm not owning up to anything. (after all, I should, as it was a stranger....)

If a stranger chats me up at the airport restaurant and I'm dumb enough to buy the grandma's story and carry the item to their waiting grandchildren at the other end, then I belive I should own up to the security procedure.

The answer is "no". Anything you are carrying is for yourself, wrapped or not, even if you are doing it as a favor for someone. That is assuming that you know exactly what you are carrying.

Any other reply wastes your time and it wastes security's time.

I always wonder about travelers who leave their luggage in storage for several hours at a hotel before flying. It's not as if the average budget hotel worker has to pass any national/international security screening check and the average traveler doesn't re-examine his belongings after retrieving them from hotel storage.

At least bags are x-rayed before flying and taking Eurostar trains. That's not the case with taking other high-speed European trains...Thalys, ICE. Oh well, best not to think about it.

When asked if I had left my luggage unattended (in Cologne), I truthfully responded it had been left in the hallway luggage storage area while we had breakfast.

It did lead to an extra search that took a couple minutes or so.

I figured it was best to be upfront when asked such a question.

Absolutely. I'd rather have an extra search that didn't turn anything up.

If memory serves, it seems to me that the reason the plane exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, was that a woman was unknowingly carrying a bomb disguised as a radio. Her terrorist boyfriend had given it to her.

Do I have that right?

How about the "Are you bring food" question on the little card? I once asked a flight attendant if chocolates and cookies count as food, and he said "of course not".

Fifi

Be careful if you are travelling into Australia or New Zealand. The question refers to all food. We ahve a show called Border Security and passengers get fined (quite heavily) all the time. Qantas hands out fresh fruit and customs & quarantine in Auckland fined a huge number of passengers $250 pp for taking apples off the plane and not declaring them.