Reaching A Human Being

[KARL]

I am trying to reach anyone who can connect me to the hand baggage search people at Edinburgh Airport (before gates/airside), or best of all themselves direct, to ask for clarification. The premium number for the airport appears only to lead to various recordings and I have already spent a tidy sum to no avail. There appears no choice leading to a switchboard or whatever. Among the many attempts, I did in desperation in one of them select the menu option for the police but got a police call centre off the airport where I spent several minutes in a queue until I hung up. Through other searches I have spoken to different offices such as lost baggage, handlers of various types, etc. but they could not help as they were direct numbers. I do not want a recording, only a person at the airport (not elsewhere) because I do not want to be caught by an obscure interpretation of the restrictions, as I have been in the past.

[boxtops]

That's a bit of a sweeping statement, lamb - we don't know why Karl doesn't want to tell us what he's carrying tomorrow. (and no, I wasn't thinking of saying that at all)

[237SJ]

One thing`s for sure. I bet the police will be really, really happy with people phoning them to ask about hand baggage issues (and they won`t know, anyway)

[DJHawkes]

one of the girsl at work has the same job at manchester airport, i would ask her for you but can't be bothered in case you don;t like my reply

[DJHawkes]

actually she's on my facebook right now, i'll ask her if you give m specifics but i'll not give you the reply unless it's legal

[boxtops]

OP doesn't seem to want US to tell him, dotty, he wants your mate's direct phone number

[jno]

the OP wants exactly what he has asked for: any way of speaking to a human being rather than a machine. He's well within his rights to ignore answers that aren't answers. In particular, he's not asking if X can be taken onto a plane because he doesn't want ABers opinions on this, he wants the airline's.

[douglas9401]

Just take the train.

[EcclesCake]

I'm wondering if you made it through security Karl?

Haven't seen anything on the news so presumably your mystery object passed muster???

[KARL]

The development of this thread since I last looked at it is intriguing. That there are/were four removed answers (what on earth was in them - the question was not designed to draw in undesirables) is to me astonishing. If only everyone had jno's clarity of vision (only one thing missed there: I wanted to contact the security people, not the airline). I failed to uncover a way to contact the search people from outside the airport but my sample of dry mineral powder/dust went through without comment. The situation varies from country to country but, presumably due to the customary lack of accessibility and openness in Britain, it is more difficult to get hold of people "behind the scenes" here than in many other countries. At Edinburgh and (some/many) other UK airports it is apparently now impossible to penetrate the wall of recordings designed to keep you from talking to anyone, which amounts to a lack of (reduction in) service. My attempt to reach the police was made as the last remaining menu choice on the airport's telephone system and in the hope of getting from a person there advice on how to speak to someone at airport security, not ask them anything about allowed/permitted items, any more than asking airlines or ABers.

The worst that could ever have happened was that my mineral would have been disallowed. What I was proposing to carry was not a secret of any kind but it was not relevant to my question and, at the point of search in the airport, quoting advice from AB would have cut no more ice than an answer from any airline. The trouble with the published lists of allowed and prohibited items is they are not a definitive list - i.e. they (deliberately ?) do not form the whole story and instead potentially leave you in the dark and the final decision to the staff. Hence my desire to ask directly rather than "suck it and see". In particular the prohibited list(s) can be read as being "not limited to...", while sometimes the allowed list actually says something like "...but you may still not be allowed...". It is at least difficult if not practically impossible to compile a comprehensive list plus the authorities presumably want to retain the final say. All of this is a good reason to attempt to get the most reliable advice - "from the horse's mouth".

Unlike some scenarios implied in this thread, there was nothing dark involved but I am acutely aware (too many examples to mention) that a person with power can and sometimes does make an ill-informed decision which then cannot be reversed even when wisdom illuminates the situation - all because a face needs to be saved and/or "respect for authority" maintained, as opposed to an admission of error becoming evident. Hence the "...you may still not be allowed ...".

I can never understand why when I go to a shop and ask if they stock something in particular (i.e. a very specific item, say an electrical plug) I am then asked what I am going to use it for even before I receive a simple yes or no (you may doubt me but it happens almost everywhere except at the supermarket). What I want in such situations is usually/always a simple yes or no - a helpful suggestion of an alternative if the first choice is not available is appreciated. Similarly, if I ask a question on AB I most of all want a direct answer to the question, although I am not against genuine attempts to be of assistance - so long as they are directly relevant. I am grateful for all such replies to my OP.