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Comment by bambax | Hacker News Reader

Bureaucracies love papers.

Two years ago I took an international flight with no checked luggage and had a bottle of mouthwash in my bag. (I'm used to this brand of mouthwash and apparently it's not available outside my own country).

The security guy found it and said it was forbidden aboard the plane for security reasons, except if I had a prescription.

I didn't have a prescription. So he threw it away. I thought "next time I will".

Now before taking a flight I just print a "prescription" with a random doctor name, saying in so many words that his patient (me) needs this mouthwash to travel, and sign it myself with a big, illegible signature.

I have used this meaningless piece of paper all over Europe, the US, Africa and it never failed to work.

Let's just hope the bad guys don't have access to a printer.

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Uuuuuuh, so you really want to take (albeit small) risk of commiting fraud and getting on the bad side of a organization able to detain you for hours/days to prove a point over freaking mouth wash?

I sure as hell value my time and sanity higher than that.

You are all a bunch of ridiculous cowards. The mouthwash anecdote is funny and refreshing. I will do that next time I fly.

I don't really care; I'm not trying to "prove a point", I just want my mouthwash.

I too value my time very much, that's why I don't want to either argue with pseudo-cops or go see a real doctor for something that doesn't concern them (and would waste their time).

That seems like way too high a risk for mouth wash. In most countries prescriptions are legally protected, so you're commiting fraud.

Instead not pretending it's a prescription and not signing it as if it's from a doctor should be about as effective an not illegal.

Forgery is a criminal offense. You may get thrown out of country, years after this accident.

most countries don't track incidents like these and they're treated on a case by case basis. i've only ever had exceptions on flights to the US treated with an overbearing amount of discretion. basically- feel free to use this method of "forgery" anywhere in the asias or the middle east or europe(apart from the g5) or south america. only japan and america could pose issues

So in order to use this "simple trick" you have to study law and law enforcement policies of each country.

Why not get real prescription, or split large bottle into smaller bottles?

they will stop you just the same if you have multiple smaller bottles(personal experience with energy shots) and get a prescription for a non-prescriptive medicine is basically asking a doctor to commit fraud for you non? what is the difference? vague ethical conundrums like this are not worth considering imo

also doesn't everyone study law enforcement policies before visiting a country? i know i never have anything with poppy seeds on me or eat any before travelling as a rule because of mild meanderings into research on chemical detectors and drug enforcement policies in the middle east

I get prescriptions for over the counter stuff all the time. Insurance covers it this way.

I don't know what "accident" (or even "incident") you're talking about. What happens is: the guard looks at the bottle, asks if I have a prescription. I show the (fake) paper, they look at it, nod and let me go. No record is ever made of this.

Most of the time, the guard doesn't even speak the language; I'm not sure they're even trying to read it, they're just ticking a box in their mind that says "there was a paper".

My guess is, it would work with any paper; I may try that some day (show a completely unrelated prescription, or something that isn't even a prescription).

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