Posted on 06/16/2011 6:56:17 PM PDT by reb1995
A new video making the rounds of the Internet shows two guys goofing around after hours at DFW International Airport.
What concerns some is that no one seems to do anything to stop them.
It’s meant to be funny, but not everyone is laughing.
For most travelers, airports aren’t really a fun place. But the video, posted Monday to the video sharing website Vimeo, shows two guys having some fun late at night in an empty terminal.
Photographer Joe Ayala and friend Larry Chen say they were stranded after their connecting flight out of DFW was cancelled. So they made a go of it — racing wheelchairs and doing stuff some travelers only dream of doing.
It was all under the watchful eye of DFW’s security cameras, but there is no sign of airport police.
CBS 11 showed the video to Taylor O’Donovan, who was catching a flight to Detroit. “I can’t believe there wasn’t some kind of security or someone walking around at all to even see that.”
Aviation security experts who have seen the video say it doesn’t show any major security concerns because the two guys were ticketed passengers who had already been screened by the TSA.
DFW airport board member Betty Culbreath says while it may have been a prank, it sent the wrong message. “It’s not funny. It’s not going to happen again as far as I’m concerned. It should not have happened because it gives the perception the airport is sitting out there unguarded and that’s why I was concerned, and am still concerned.”
At one point in the video, one of the men enters the kitchen of Pappadeux’s Restaurant in Terminal E and pours himself what appears to be beer.
Airport spokesman David Magana says the men didn’t have permission to be in there. He acknowledges the video raises questions of how well the airport secures businesses, and says they are looking into it.
Traveler Frank Myers wasn’t amused either. “If this were all staged on a set, I’d be laughing right now. That’s staged in a public arena, and they’re costing money for us travelers, and I don’t care for it at all.”
The airport says it’s too soon to determine whether they’ll file criminal charges against the men.
A spokesman for TSA says he hadn’t seen the video, and couldn’t comment.
CBS 11 tried contacting Ayala & Chen for this story, as well as the operator of the restaurant, but were unable to reach them.
American Airlines, the airline that runs most of the gates the men were playing around at, declined comment.
Interesting that the beer taps at that restaurant were available for the late night security guys ~ yes, there really are late night security guys, but they can’t cover everything all the time ~ but there’s the beer ~ to quench their thirst as they walk their dusty rounds (or drive them in one of those airport baggage/crippled person carts).
Great. I’m flying next week, just in time for the TSA to grossly over-react.
Stealing a beer is larceny. Stealing an airport beer is grand larceny.
I am DFW right now on my weekly cross-country trip.
TSA seems to be no different than normal.
I have had few problems with TSA over the years but I also note they, by and large, have little ability to discern. Modified automotive assembly-line robots could do the job just as well — in fact, better.
Great. I’m flying next week, just in time for the TSA to grossly over-react.
You got problems with TSA’s Body Cavity Exploration Corps?
;-(
Did you see anyone steal beer?
DFW International Airport: “Further proof of the success of our extensive security measures is the fact that we have photographic evidence of the images and actions of these individuals. As we speak, our experienced security personnel are reviewing the tapes and co-operating with really good law enforcement personnel.”
American Airlines: “Honestly, with the summer schedule, we don’t have enough intelligent people to even figure this out. Most likely, we cut all personnel from the terminal during those hours to save...OOOoops...Wait! Our attorneys just told us the tapes are bogus and the guys in it were Al Queida!”
Al Queida: Who are those guys? Find them and find out how they got through security...76 virgins for this...!!!!”
Manager of Pappadeux’s Restaurant in Terminal E: “Did anyone see what beer they poured? I bet is was Sam Adams summer ale...I love that beer. I mean ale...!”
The TSA: “There was never any danger to President Obama. At all times relevant to the incident, the FBI, CIA, OSS, National Security Agency, Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, YMCA, and NAMBLA were in full protective mode. They were fully aware of the situational circumstances and acted appropriately. Please extend your prayers for those so committed...and for Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright too, because they are so cool and Obama misses them.”
Pretty darn high production values for a “prank.”
Lol.
That was pretty funny. But please tell me the bedwetting reporter had to talk to 100 normal travelers who laughed at the video before finding two with sufficiently torqued sphincters that they were upset by it. Security problems? Costing travelers money? WTF are they even talking about?
Of course, I was at an airport today that had three security lines, with only the center one having the nude-o-scope and the other two having the standard metal detectors only. You could easily see which line had the ‘scope before getting into any line, and the TSA wasn’t directing people into particular lines. Yet just as many people got into the nude-o-scope line as in the other two. Airline employees have said for years that many people check their brains as soon as they get to an airport, and I’m beginning to believe them.
LMFAO !
Where was Pete Blart (Paul’s younger brother), airport cop, during that shift?
I saw that video last night. It was remarkably similar to what I and my friends did at DFW airport back when we were in college, 20 years ago. We would go down to the international terminals, ride the tram, have wheelchair races, didn’t find any open beer taps though.
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