I'm writing an urban fantasy story, the plan being to set the first book in 1998/99 America and slowly advance forward in time. Vampires, among other beings, exist in this story, though humans don't know about them or magic in general. One of their abilities is the ability to hibernate, in which they become physically indistinguishable from a fresh corpse. The weakest vampires are forced to do this during the day, as even indoors the sun saps too much of their strength for them to stay conscious (and for them direct exposure is almost instantly lethal). I had this idea that one of my main characters (a mercenary who works an assortment of dangerous odd-jobs) starts the story working a job escorting one of these weaker vampires across the country by smuggling them into their checked luggage on a plane. Given this is pre-9/11, I know that airport security will be orders of magnitude laxer than they would be today, but I'm not sure they'd be lax enough that you could basically sneak what to any human observer would be a corpse into your luggage. So I just thought I'd check and get some perspective on this. How hard of a sell is this prospect?
Really no. Even before the threat of bombs, there were still drugs and other contraband, and checked baggage would still be x-rayed. Also, an average human being weighs what, 70kg? The limit for a single bag is about 30kg.
Maybe if it's a tiny vampire. Disguised as a teddy bear or something. Otherwise no. I don't think airlines allow you to carry on baggage big enough to hold an adult human being (or undead bloodsucker), or that weighs that much. Usually it needs to go into a rack over your seat, and those won't hold such heavy baggage.
What Naomasa and Xoci said! I won't get on my soap box, but post-9/11 airport security hasn't gotten any better, just more annoying. AT BEST it is now just less likely to hijack a plane the way the terrorist did that day.... sigh... anyway. Pre-9/11 airports still had metal detectors and x-ray scanners. If you tried to bring in a few ounces of an illegal substance into the country you could be detained for days just on suspicion. Getting a whole body on a plane undetected seems impossible. But... dead bodies are transported on planes all the time, I think you would smuggle vampires by pretending they are a dead bodies and following all the rules for transporting bodies.
I take it these vampires aren't shape-changers? But then I don't think you'd be able to smuggle a bat or wolf aboard either.
Well, some can shapeshift into cats, but those are all powerful enough to be able to survive direct sunlight with little issue, so they can take day flights normally.
The only way I see it is if you invoke the now common trope of vampires also having the ability of mind control (compelling in some settings), almost like Jedi against the weak minded e.g. "These aren't the bags you're looking for. Move along."
Oh, I understand now. This is like a familiar in some vampire settings. I think the most realistic 'cover' would be they just ship the vampire like it's a dead body being transported for burial or as some other type of cargo. I think animals can be transported but I don't know the rules on that. Basically anything heavy that could be closed from viewing inside but I guess you lose the smuggling intrigue and suspense if it's handled that way.
Depends on how your vampires work. Dracula (of the novel) could shapeshift into a dog, and he had to remain dead during the day.
Definately not. I flew plenty before 9-11 and there was still security. It wasn’t like a bus station. The fact that McClain had his gun on a plane in Die Hard was a little unbelievable even in the 80s. You’d have to ship his as biohazardous freight.
I'm curious: is there a reason why you prefer it be a plane? Frankly lots of things get smuggled within countries via a good ol' van/car. So long as you don't drive erratically I think you have a fairly low chance of getting caught. Of course plane is better if you have some Bane stuff in mind... "If I take the lid off this coffin, will you disintegrate?" "It will be extremely painful. For you!"
One of the obstacles I see to the OPs smuggling scenario is that if the vampire is carried as cargo or checked baggage it could easily be lost or misrouted and then the vampire would be on it's own during daylight. But if it's taken on the plan as 'carry on' you have space and weight limitations. But similar to your Bane idea, I could see a scenario where the vampire assistant is stopped by customs with the vampire inside a cello case à la El Mariachi/Desperado. "What's in the Cello Case?" "A...Cello". "Open It"
Really depends when, specifically, the story is set. If we're talking the 80s or 90s, you're right, that vampire will be caught. If we're talking, like, mid 70s or before? Airline bombings were hardly a thing and planes were seen as big luxurious buses rather than flying targets. There was virtually no security to speak of, in that time it pretty much was like a bus station. If that's the setting OP is working with, this could work.
Well, in addition to just finding the idea of exploring a pre-9/11 airport interesting, it's a lot faster than driving across the country.
If the vampire is centuries old and has an assistant, I assume he’s got a decent amount of money? Why not take a private jet? If you’re flying within the US there is no need for customs.
its worth remembering that there were also a shedload of hijackings and bombings well before 9/11... and airport security was defintely a thing even in the 70s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_hijackings... theres an interesting article here about how and why checks were introduced https://www.ibm.com/blogs/systems/a-brief-history-of-airline-security-hijackings-and-metal-detectors/ aside from security your major issue is the size and weight issue - unless your vamp can shape shift to weigh less than 25kg it isnt likely to be going in anyones hand luggage. if it can shape shgift to reduce size ands weight it would make more sense to send it DHL or Fed Ex
If he'd shown his police credentials, he might have been given a pass. But, really, corpses are shipped by plane all the time. It wouldn't be too hard to produce fake documentation and have the coffin transported by plane, accompanied by a "loved one" who is really your MC.
If your vamp has a resurrection ritual, what I would do is have him turn to dust, pack it in a jar, then at the other end, just add blood, hey presto!
I would suggest researching the vampire genre and its tropes in depth. Look at what fans of the vampire genre had to say about twilight. Those books succeeded, because of the tween and teen female demographic. The genre fans most common remark that I saw was "Vampires don't sparkle!"
It also depends on where you're flying from and to. If you're flying east to west, you can "chase the moon" - in other words, stay ahead of sunrise, and take off and land in the dark.
This is unlikely. If it’s within the US or Europe, you’d be pushing the sound barrier. The shadow of the earth travels across the equator at about 1000mph, at 45 degrees lat it’s still over 500. Commercial airlines don’t fly that fast.
It could easily be done, depending on the distance and timing. For example, a transatlantic crossing from London to New York takes 8 hours. Take off from London at 22:00, you'd land in New York at 06:00 London time - which is 01:00 New York time. You'd never see the sun. A modern long-haul aircraft cruises at over 600 mph. Just to verify, I checked - there's a Virgin Atlantic flight that takes off from Heathrow at 20:15 and lands at JFK at 23:20.
Oh you’re right I’m so dumb. You don’t have to outrun the sunrise, you just have to have a big enough head start that it can’t catch you.
