2y ago

Why You Have to Take Your Shoes Off at Airports - Shoe Bomb (2001)

On December 22, 2001—just months after the 9/11 attacks—Richard Reid boarded American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami with homemade bombs hidden in his shoes.

During the flight, Reid tried to detonate his shoes, but he struggled to light the fuse. Crew members and passengers noticed and restrained him.

The plane diverted to Logan International Airport in Boston, and Massachusetts State Police officers took Reid into custody. Reid told FBI agents that he made the shoes himself.

This is the pair of shoes [Richard] Reid—also known as the “shoe bomber”—tried to detonate. FBI bomb techs determined that the shoes contained about 10 ounces of explosive material.

https://www.fbi.gov/history/artifacts/richard-reids-shoes

53 comments

No, we take our shoes off for security theater.
You want actual security? Have trained agents who observe all the people. Instead, we have shlubs sitting by monitors that they don't watch.
- I traveled recently and was surprised to find I had inadvertently got a pocket knife through security. Apparently forgot to take it out of my bag. TSA did not catch it.
  
  They caught a credit card knife I had left in my wallet forgotten about and made me throw it out this was years ago and I have yet to get another credit card knife because it was a gift lol
  
  Happened to me too. It was in my laptop bag, and nobody cared. But the bottle of water is a massive problem
- They don't want actual security. They want perceived terror and a populace that is used to being forced to do uncomfortable things that they know are pointless.
  
  Covid proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt. I'm old enough to remember the manufactured hysteria over swine flu, and SARS. It's like they kept trying every ten years or so and finally found a populous where a majoritt would buy into that horseshit.
- Exactly. Just have skilled people talk to people.
  
  But you gotta train and pay skilled people...that's not compatible with the stated objectives.
It's notable that this happened ONE TIME EVER IN ALL OF HISTORY and suddenly hundreds of millions needs to suffer for security theater.
- I know that Israel is not exactly in moral good graces right now, but I was always impressed by their airport security’s efficiency.
  They had a long weaving line where they’d walk sniffing dogs and have spotters to pull people out for in-depth screening. If you weren’t pulled out you just went through a metal detector and bags went in a basic x-ray.
  Very quick moving lines and none of theatrical humiliation of removing shoes and belts.
  
  Its primarily done via racial profiling. And given all weve learned recently about their attitudes toward brown people, it makes me question how much of the data theyve released is actually accurate, and not just "This guy was definitely going to blow up a plane, and we know this because hes from Gaza and lives next door to a guy capable of making a bomb".
  
  One of the key reasons for Israeli airport security efficiency is racial profiling though (see the Ben Gurion airport section of This page for details).
  
  Lived in Latin America for years. Pretty much the same there. Just be patient and go through line and you’re good.
- I don’t think you need to take off your shoes in Europe airports.
  
  Not all the time but you may be asked to. Had it happen a few times over the years.
Interestingly, most airports in Europe do not routinely make people take their shoes off. The way the TSA sticks to that policy implies they should have planes dropping out of the sky on a weekly basis.
- Swede here, I have only had to remove my shoes once when going through security, it was an airport in the UK, and I was randomly selected (I look like a Swede)
  
  Have you tried not looking Swedish?
  
  In uk airports I only take them off if they're particularly metallic and I think they'll trigger the metal detector
And yet we can keep our underwear on...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umar_Farouk_Abdulmutallab
- Don’t give TSA any ideas. They’re not all idiots working for a Federal jobs program; some of them are idiots with power in a Federal jobs program.
That guy was a dumbass. I'd be surprised if it did more than bust up his feet.
There was also Philippines Airlines 434 where components for a bomb were hidden in the culprit's shoes and then assembled on the plane. The plane managed to land safely, but one passenger was killed by the explosion and a number of others were injured.
- The answer to your unspoken question is money.
  Decades of checking shoes is decades of money in the hands of the few.
I haven't taken my shoes off in like 2 years and 8 flights. This isn't even a thing anymore in most airports.
- I fly like 20 times a year and I think the US airports I frequent still require it? I have precheck and whatever but I occasionally hear TSA saying not to remove shoes when things are backed up.
  Which is very funny to me. We all know it’s pointless, and they skip it when the lines are too long. Hopefully you’re right and it’s truly being phased out
  
  I mean there are a ton of airports, I believe You've run into it. I just didn't think it really was around all that much. ATL, PWM, DUL haven't had me take them off in forever 🤷‍♂️
- It's all dependent on the TSA agents. They're idiots with power to their heads. They make up rules on the spot and you can't do shit about it.
  I fly just about every month to different locations and it's completely random what you need to take off and take out of your bag.
  
  So true! In spite of this level of control, when tested by the fed I think something like 48 or 49 out of 50 "bombs" (obviously not real bombs) made it through TSA security checks.
  
  And they will act personally offended if you don't know automatically what they want.
- This depends on state. In Miami, they literally SCREAMED at me when I bent down to take my shoes off, and in Seattle, they were completely and utterly (like personally) offended that I didn't automatically take them off.
  
  I almost always have to take off my shoes, even when others do not. I'm not sure, but I think if your feet are bigger than the yellow footprint marks they have you stand on, it increases the likelihood of them searching your shoes.
  Just last year in Seoul I had a security guy chase me down like 5min after getting through security. He had me take off my shoes and then he just wacked them on the ground a bunch like he was playing drums. I gotta admire the commitment though, don't think I'd be investigating via ground slam If I thought a shoe contained explosives.
- The last time I flew was 5 years ago. Even then one of the airports didn't require me to take off my shoes. Now if only they could get rid of the 3-1-1 rule.
  
  The 3-1-1 rule is way more annoying. I actually don't mind taking off my shoes, getting ready to travel makes me anxious and that anxiety makes my feet sweat and stink. It's kind of pleasant to get an excuse to air them out... sorry everybody...
The podcast You’re Wrong About just did an episode on this: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1112270/14538729-the-shoe-bomber-with-miles-klee
Moral of the story: if you want something to reliably blow up, use an e-match
You take your shoes off? I only got called out because i left my Headphones in my backpack.
Most Airport security is theater anyways.

53 comments