How humiliating! I felt so violated! 
I donât know whatâs scarier, your puppet or how accurate his depiction of a TSA agent really is.
Jacquie and I are flying to Michigan tomorrow; the busiest flying day of the year. No matter how hard I think about it. I donât think the person looking at my body scan, or the person running their hands up and down my body as one of thousands they have to grope every day, really wants to do either. Itâs too early for the TSA to be populated by people with groping fetishes. At least for nowâŚ
âI donât think the person looking at my body scan, or the person running their hands up and down my body as one of thousands they have to grope every day, really wants to do either. Itâs too early for the TSA to be populated by people with groping fetishes. At least for nowâŚâ
No but they do seem to be populated by A) bored people just going through the motions, or B) people with serious âpowerâ issues.
Ok, to be fair there is a portion who are alert, attentive, and courteous in doing their job and I give them an internet pat on the back for doing a job that would turn me into either A or B above. What a thankless job. (Iâd rather be the guy with the rifle and the dog)
Until two years ago I traveled by air for business almost weekly. In fact I flew home from Saudi Arabia two days before 9/11, so I have seen all the changes, for better and worse.
Many of the changes I fully agree with and support. But many have started the erosion that becomes the classic âslippery slopeâ and we are seeing the result now. And worse much of it is a dog and pony show.
Do not mis-read me.
As a used to be frequent business flyer I have a deep empathy for the mostly business flyers on those early morning flights on 9/11. I have been on those same early morning flights hundreds of times. Changes were needed and many have been implemented. Some well known like the reinforced cockpit doors and the scanning of ALL luggage now, and others are less well known like the face scanning software that is âwatchingâ you walk though the Security Checkpoint.
But âweâ have lost our fricken minds.
One nut job tries, with no legit ties to any terrorist group, to light his shoes on fire (and fails to do so) and now everyone has to take their shoes off for the rest of time?
I mostly traveled with a rolling case of electronics. Only ONCE was I asked to open it for a cursory look, and that was the day after San Diego airport failed a security test and let a fake bomb through. These were not easily recognizable electronic gadgets. These were industry specific sensors, security, and wireless notification equipment in generic electronic housings. Worth a second look after scanning? Only once out of probably about 50+ flights. Hundreds if you consider the flight in both directions.
BUT EVERY man, woman, or child with a laptop has to pull it out of its bag.
On an informal trip I carried on a piece of martial arts equipment called a 3-sectional staff by saying it was circus equipment. While this weapon was too long to be useful in an airplane the TSA had zero concept that this was by all definitions a weapon with no other useful purpose (unless I needed an old fashioned ârice flailâ) and would only be available from a martial arts supply company. I was not even asked to take it out of its bag.
Meanwhile a âMomâ is being told to empty her childâs 6oz âsippyâ cup because its more than 4oz of fluid.
In what universe does this make sense?
IF someone raises suspicion for some reason,THAN start questioning the contents of their water, the legitimacy of their laptop, etc.
Perhaps some motivated person should make lapel buttons that says: Iâm Innocent - for those who donât wish to exercise civil disobedience in the security checkpoint lines.
Iâd rather people enjoy their job âŚ
In the same universe that nearly gave us Sarah Palin as president.
Whenever I wonder how we got where we are today⌠thatâs all I need to hear.
The stupid people are in high places of power these days.
Bake Someone Happy : )
Last week I saw a woman go through the whole TSA routine with an entire pie. It is apparently acceptable to bring an entire pie on board an aircraft.
It does seem that the sheer volume of a pie is far in excess of the 6 oz " sippy cup" that ezas mentioned, but far greater minds have assessed the policy.
Even if the nefarious characters which populate the âfriendly skiesâ do not seize on this security lapse to catastrophic ends, it is a risky practice compared to a sippy cup which, by design, can not even spill benign liquids significantly.
Imagine a scenario in which Billy The Mountain were sitting in his assigned seat, quietly reading The New Yorker, and the woman with the pie were to stumble and launch the pie full into the face of Billy The Mountain. While few would consider this a tragedy of epic proportions and many would feel Billy got his âjust dessertsâ, there does seem a disparity in the logic applied.
Even if this is not an apple to apple or even a lemon to key lime pie comparison, it is a possible security glitch the TSA should address.
I admit that it is unlikely this scenario would ever be inclusive of Billy The Mountain and mostly âpie in the skyâ wishful thinking on my part.
i think youre giving a pretty thorough cavity search there
haha, I think Jack Squat would agree! 
âŚ
Foolproof⌠I think that one lady has something hidden in her hair.
haha, I think Jack might agree with that!
Terry this has always bothered me, never had the presence of mind to ask
is the whole,âhand up the dummyâ joke/comment/thing an overused and tired joke (akin to scottsman being asked about their underwear habits)
Itâs been said thereâs only 7 original jokes, and everything else is just a variation of those! My variation seemed to be a perfect âfitâ, relating to the new pat down procedures of the tsa. So when I complained about being âgropedâ, his response had to be, âwell now you know how I feel!â, etc.
fair point
cool thanks for clearing that up
Did something change?
Whatâs she supposed to do, put it in her checked bag?
I suppose the question generated by that would be when does a liquid stop being considered a liquid? But I suppose, just as you can hide a file in a cake, you could hide a ziploc bag of liquid explosives in a pie.
But you could hide liquid explosives in all sorts of other containers in your carry-on. If the machines canât detect it, no amount of physical checking is going to find it all. I have accidentally walked through with stuff the size of a can of soda (but not the can; that would show in the X-ray).
Even in the naked people scenario, Gilby pointed out one hiding place. Others are sinus cavities, mouth, stomach, and inside our other orifices. Drug mules have been using their bodies for years. So I guess it all falls back on how much searching makes sense?
Meanwhile, back on the day before Thanksgiving we breezed through security at Terminal A in Sacramento. Possibly the most efficient trip through airport security Iâve had in a long time, and all the TSA people we came into contact with were bright-eyed, fresh and very pleasant/polite. Terminal A does not have one of the new scanners at their security checkpoint, so there was also nothing to opt out of. While we were there, I saw one person being hand-wanded, but I donât think anybody was getting the pat down.
Many of the places that had the rapiscan machines didnât use them that day. The news that evening reported that there werenât any problems resulting from any protesting/opting-out and claimed that the new TSA rules are being widely accepted by the sheeple.