Tourists banned from buying lighters in the USA

TRAVELING back from Intel's Developer Forum in San Francisco a few weeks back, we were reminded by a nice chap at the gate that it's now illegal to carry matches and lighters not only on your person, but in your stow baggage back to Blighty.

Zippo must be seething. Many tourists who go to the United States are lured by the prospect of Zippo in various guises.

One fellow traveler, on being told it was illegal to have matches in your stow luggage as well as your hand baggage started fretting, and unpacking his bag to find a box of matches he had in there.

He eventually found the box and breathed a sigh of relief, because the gate guard had told him he could be convicted of smuggling inflammable materials into the United Kingdom.

So how come you're able to buy Zippo lighters in the UK across the web then? Are containerloads being shipped via Shanghai? We think we should be told.

Incidentally, on the same fright back to Blighty, the nice blonde stewardesses on Virgin broadcast a message that you weren't allowed to put your cellphone into "flight mode". And you're not allowed to use headphones that fit snugly over your ears, although iSpod type headphones are permitted. We think we heard that right. Don't forget, you can always buy a rather classy Colibri lighter in London. µ