Saturday, November 28, 2009

How to Bring Explosives into Bombay Airport (or at least bypass Bombay Airport Security) with a $20 Bribe

Unfortunately as I was entering the airport a few minutes ago I realized that I forgot to bring a printout of my e-ticket, so I was stopped at the entrance gate. It's standard procedure at Bombay to only allow entrance to people with an airline ticket, which is inadequate because if you're a terrorist with an agenda you can (a) buy a cheap plane ticket and get in or (b) take an old e-ticket and modify the html to make it look like a current ticket.

However, let's assume for the sake of the plot that you don't bring an e-ticket printout, as I did. I asked the security guard what I should do and in typical Indian babu style, he said there was nothing I could do. Then he changed his mind and said talk to security guard #2 who has access to the passenger lists. So I accompany security guard #2 to the passenger list and find my name on it, only to find out that the guard isn't actually interested in verifying that my name is on the list. He's interested in a cash bribe. Seriously. So I pulled out a $20 bill, which in retrospect is stupid because of the 500 rupee bill that I also had. Twentyu dollars was enough to get me in.

P.S. If you're looking for the guard in question, he's the sardarji at the entrance to gate A tonight.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home