THE report on April 14 brings to mind two of my encounters with airport security ("No lapse in screening of envoy with gold bars").
My family and I went to San Francisco last June and made a transit stop in Hong Kong.
I was unaware that my 15-year-old son had taken along his training butterfly knife.
While clearing security at the airport in Hong Kong, an officer spotted the knife as my son's bag went through the X-ray machine.
The officer and his supervisors concluded that even though the training knife had a blunt blade, they could not permit us to carry it on board the plane.
They made arrangements for Singapore Airlines to take the knife back to Singapore.
On another flight, this time from Bangkok back to Singapore, my son was stopped by Thai security officers as he had a can of body spray in his backpack. Aerosol products were among items prohibited in hand-carry luggage.
In both incidents, how was my son able to carry the knife and aerosol can on board the plane from Changi Airport undetected? How were these other airports able to pick up these items but not the security checks at our own airport?
Security checks at Changi Airport need to be made more stringent, and officers need to be more vigilant, in order to ensure safe air travel for everyone.
Bernadette Chang (Ms)
