I think the origins were probably sexist, yet not entirely misconceived: can’t you see some problems with creepy old men being security guards and “frisking” women a bit too much?

Are airplane electronics systems really that delicate?

Plenty of devices DO spew out all sorts of noise. Sit in front of a sensitive HF radio some time and tune the bands. We can tell whether our furnace is on by listening to the ham radio, for example. There’s a lot of use of radio for direction-finding and all, where spurious emissions could cause major problems.

Do I believe that my iPod is going to crash the plane? Not at all. Especially not inside a metal tube. But I can understand the motivation behind banning electronics.

Has anyone searched through the wreckage of a plane crash and said “Look at this. A Bose headset turned on. I think we found the cause of this crash?”

I don’t think it’s ever that clear-cut, but I’m sure that numerous plane crashes have been the result of electronic malfunctions/failures. You can’t really trace down RFI after something is blown up. I’m not arguing for a minute that Bose headsets have caused any crashes, it’s just that you’re not going to find evidence of interference.

I have a peanut allergy and a lot of airlines still give out peanuts on flights. One of these days that is going to cause me serious problems.

I’ve never understood why peanuts are the one thing you’re almost guaranteed to find served on a plane. I’d rank peanuts as “mediocre” on the scale of snack foods, and yet of any of the thousands of snacks that rank more highly, you’d be hard pressed to find one that has half as many allergy issues.

Flying back from Accra, they announced that, “It’s come to our attention that a passenger in row 23 has peanut allergies… Therefore we will not be serving peanuts three rows in front of, or behind, row 23.” I guess they get an A for effort, but an F for avoiding awkward situations for row 23.

If they want me to feel really safe they’ll let me bring a loaded gun and ban the peanuts from the plane.

But what about when you pull out that Epi-Pen after an insensitive clod sneaks peanuts onto the plane anyway and hits you in the face with them accidentally, and the idiot on the other side of you sees you pull out the Epi-Pen, assumes you’re a terrorist, and shoots you in the face?

Disclaimer: This post is for entertainment value only.

The same goes for a large part of my comment.

Except for the plea to ban peanuts on planes. And even that you can take with a grain of salt.

That’s the best way to take peanuts, though. *rimshot*