Hacker News Reader

Comment by EliRivers | Hacker News Reader

Until the U.S. get their act together regarding sterile transit, the international airports are going to continue to be forced to operate effectively with one hand tied behind their back. The sheer inefficiency of forcing everyone passing through to go through arrivals and then departures is ridiculous and must put a stupid, utterly unnecessary strain on the airport.

As an aside, I went through Changi airport (the current number one) and it really is lovely. I watched the Koi being fed and wandered around their butterfly garden in Terminal 2.

If the U.S. does in fact have sterile transit and I'm just misinformed, I stand by to be corrected :)

View on HN

Changi airport is exactly what airports should be like. It's a nice place to be instead of a horrible warehouse with lots of signs warning you that you're an accidental bottle of water away from being labelled a terrorist.

Um, every other sign in that airport reads "death for drug traffickers". That's not any more pleasant than the TSA.

It's WAY more pleasant.

I see the sign, it doesn't affect me, I am happy.

I see the TSA, they go through my stuff, they treat me like a terrorist, I wonder if they're going to steal something, they enforce arbitrary rules at their discretion, they take up my time, the whole thing is very unpleasant.

I wouldn't be so sure about that.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misuse_of_Drugs_Act_(Singapore...)

> The law creates a presumption of trafficking for certain threshold amounts, e.g. 30 grams of cannabis. It also creates a presumption that a person possesses drugs if he possesses the keys to a premises containing the drugs, and that "Any person found in or escaping from any place or premises which is proved or presumed to be used for the purpose of smoking or administering a controlled drug shall, until the contrary is proved, be presumed to have been smoking or administering a controlled drug in that place or premises."

Do you routinely carry 29 grams of cannabis through airports? I don't.

Do you ever rent an apartment on a site like AirBnB? If so, you could be guilty of drug trafficking.

That's not what it says. It says you are presumed to be in possession of drugs if you have the keys to somewhere containing the drugs. Is that a misread, or do you know of a law that states having drugs in your house is considered evidence of trafficking?

You are considered in possession if you have the keys to a property that contains a drug.

You are considered to be trafficking if you possess a certain quantity of that drug.

There is a mandatory death sentence if the quantity of the drug that you "possess" for trafficking is over a certain amount. In the case of cannabis it's over 500 g.

Singapore == scary laws.

People go to prison in some countries for grains of cannabis resin stuck to the sole of their shoe even if they have no trace of cannabis in their system.

Imagine the ease of getting someone legally murdered with 15g (less than a tablespoonful) of heroin, simply by getting it in/on their car or hotel room. Journalists in Singapore probably don't sleep very well.

I'd go for LSD, where in the US, you're charged with possession of the media as though it were the drug. A few sugar cubes later and you're in prison for life.

I've been to both Changi and SFO - in SFO i walked more or less straight from the plane and out. Same experience when I departed. In Changi i was detained because of reasons they would not tell me. I was placed in a room with a lot of seats and was not allowed to make phone calls or ask any questions. At one point I stood up to walk to the desk and ask why I was detained and they immediately said I had to sit down and be quiet.

Nonsense, I flew out of Changi last week and can't recall a single sign warning about the death penalty for drug trafficking.

The warning is on the customs form that you fill in when you fly into Singapore, as you'd expect. But comparing it to the TSA is facile as they're unavoidable if you're flying in the US.

There's one large warning sign as you freely exit the baggage claim area and walk out of the airport completely unimpeded and without additional queues.

> every other sign in that airport reads "death for drug traffickers"

Yeah, a few signs and only a light touch of enforcement. Coming in you show your passport, glance at the sign, and walk straight out. Done. On return, you show your passport, and a quick shoes-on bag screening at the gate. Queuing is rare and short.

Compare that to USA airports where you queue for hours, get 20 questions at immigration (admittedly by cheerful and well mannered staff), and go through more queues. On return you queue for hours, take various random items of clothing off, get irradiated, and generally pushed around and looked at suspiciously.

Yeah, I'll take the signs.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com