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Is screening a punishment?

September 19, 2006

A secondary screening by a Transportation Security Administration agent — being taken aside and given the once-over with a handheld magnetometer — is said to only happen under a specific set of circumstances. The passenger looks suspicious, acts suspicious or is traveling on a suspicious itinerary, like a one-way ticket paid for with cash.

But a secondary screening as punishment? I hadn’t heard of that until, well, it happened to me.

Here’s the scenario: I was at the checkpoint in Orlando, which historically has been one of the most efficient and user-friendly TSA operations in the system. At the station, I put my carry-on luggage in the conveyor belt and prepared to walk through.

“Your shoes,” a surly female agent barked. “Sir, you need to take off your shoes.”

Now, I know that my shoes don’t set off the magnetometer. And as far as I knew, taking off shoes was no longer required (apparently that changed on 8/10, but I wasn’t aware of it at the time).

I haven’t been “sird” since I taught Naval Academy midshipmen how to scuba dive. What’s more, I can’t stand it when someone demands that I do something indirectly, thinking that the order will somehow go down easier.

If I needed to take off my shoes, don’t you think I would have by now? Why not just ask me to do it?

I wouldn’t call what happened next a confrontation. I grudgingly complied. But not quickly enough for the TSA guard, who looked at me in the eye and announced, “I need a male screener over here!”

Wouldn’t you know it, I was whisked to the special secondary screening area and frisked with a handheld. The other TSA agents looked at me as if to say, “Next time, just fall in line. Don’t you know we’re at war?”

After what happened to my blogging colleague Edward Hasbrouck recently, I am afraid to question any TSA agent.

But I do wonder: Since when is secondary screening a punishment for dissent? I thought that passengers could only get screened under a very specific set of circumstances.

If, indeed, the TSA screeners in Orlando were abusing the secondary screening process, then how pervasive is the practice?

Have you gotten a “secondary” for no apparent reason other than your inquisitiveness?

As always, please post your comments or write to me.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

67 comments

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  • Linda Bator

    TSA has the right to check you as MANY times as they see fit. They don’t need a reason or an excuse, and they need make no apology for doing so. Instead of getting snippy when these people are already overtaxed with doing their jobs, merely complying will get you a lot further. And even if you DO get checked over a second time, roll with it. With rights come responsibilities, and we should never gripe about the importance of safety. I’m sure those we lost on 9/11 would have gladly cooperated to ensure their continued safety.

  • Jennifer Scoville

    I have been given the 2nd screening a number of times, and sometimes twice in a week.

    Once I asked why and I was given a verbal list of what it could have been, including that I was checked in late, but nothing applied.

    A week later, or so, it happened again. I have been a selectee at least 8 times since 2002.

    I traveled with Delta recently and I was pulled aside twice.

    This was the first time that there is no doubt in my mind that whatever was going on, it was punitive.

    My little 10 lb dog had been sitting silently in his travel bag till I took him out to uneventfully go through the metal detector with him in arms. I paid the full $50 for that little puppy jaunt. No fuss from either him or me as we went through the detector. Then they said to step over for more screening and I tried to slip the dog back in his bag and get over there. I couldn’t see myself holding my arms out, etc, as I’ve become so adept at doing, with a canine in one hand. And, he’s a dog with very short fur….nothing hiding there…and so far they haven’t started palpating internal organs, so…
    Anyway, as I’m thinking about this and stepping towards his bag on the conveyer, I hear this yelling:

    One of two TSA women standing over us – MA’M! I said to go there. NOW!! Go there (pointing) and WAIT. (Very rudely!)

    I said – Oh, sorry, you want me to stand here and just hold him here?… or something like that. “Ok then, I can do that.” I was cooperative, surely.

    (2nd TSA woman) Still not giving up the intimidating and so on, says: That’s what you do. I didn’t tell you to do anything else. Not everybody’s an animal lover either and this is an airport, not a zoo.

    This last part floored me. Over the top.

    Everytime I ask why I am screened (I wait till it’s over, I am polite, as well), they say to take it up with the airlines. This last time they showed me a code and said I was flagged for screening, but that TSA couldn’t tell me more. Somehow I wonder if it’s all the airlines…epecially with this treatment!

    By the time they finished, they went from beligerent to nice and I wondered what that was about. Did they realize they went overboard and that they were incredibly rude…or does it matter? Maybe they have their jobs till retirement regardless of what’s said and it doesn’t matter at all. These 2 women where quite a team…and very negative.

  • Biff Jones

    Last year I was in Kansas City (MCI) heading home to Atlanta. I am a white male, early 50s, born and raised in the Midwest.

    I looked nothing like a Middle Easterner and have about as much of an Anglo name as is possible.
    I am also retired Air Force and held a Top Secret security clearance.
    Of course none of that mattered on this trip

    I was wearing jeans and tennis shoes. As I walked through the metal detector nothing “beeped” but the female senior citizen TSA agent looked at me and said, “Go over there” pointing to the secondary screening area.
    I didn’t even open my mouth before she said, “And don’t try to tell me how to do my job!”

    Needless to say I complied. She was only about 5’2″ but looked too tough for me to mess with.

  • Douglas Stallings

    Screeners have been retaliating against fliers who won’t take off their shoes for a long time now. The same thing has happened to me in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I was wearing sneakers with absolutely no metal in them, so I declined to take them off (didn’t set off the alarm), and then I was told to go stand in the secondary screening line, where I was wanded. Of course, since August 10 taking off your shoes has been mandatory … it’s no longer “suggested.” I think the time when we will never again have to partially disrobe to get onto a plane is long past. On a more amusing note, I went to London in 2004, and when I asked the security screeners if I needed to remove my shoes, they just laughed and told me that I wasn’t in America anymore. Unfortunately, I think that’s changed now as well.

  • Dave

    I have flown both international and domestic. Each time I think that I have the “system” figured out. And each time one of these TSA people changes the rules. Just like Biff above, I held an upper level TS clearance in the Navy for 23 years. I am a civil servant for the Air Force. I look like I was born in the midwest but it never fails that I am treated like a less than desirable person by TSA. And that is when I’m nice to them. When I get tired of it all and start getting a little on the short side with them, then things really go downhill. I think this is how the term “jack booted thug” got started.

  • Chris Hachfeld

    I experienced an almost identical situation 2 years ago to the one you wrote about in your latest blog entry. I was flying home from Manchester, NH to Madison, WI via Detroit. I had on a pair of casual dress shoes, but they did not have a thick sole and had not previous set of any detectors. Also, I had flown across the country on several business trips while never being asked to remove them. The TSA screeners were suggesting (by this I mean “If you are wearing shoes that may set off the metal detector, please take them off know” or similar statements) that passengers remove their shoes. As I approached the metal detectors a female TSA employee asked me if I wanted to remove my shoes. I was a little late reaching the airport and wanted to get through screening as quick as I could so I said “Nope, they’ve never been a problem before” or something equally innocuous. She immediately called for a male screener, demanded I remove my shoes, and directed me to the secondary screening station. Since then, I’ve just assumed that any question or request from a TSA employee is an “order” and I usually follow it to avoid annoyance.

  • Laine Wightman

    I am ALWAYS hand searched when I go through security at an airport. I am a short, round 61 year old grandmother of Irish-English descent, with a mobility scooter. I don’t scare another soul on this earth….not even the dogs. I answer, when asked, that I can walk through the creening machine.

    The TSA personnel always tell me that I should stay on the scooter. They take all of my belongings away from me to put through the scanner… somewhere away from me, so I cannot keep my eye on them. They take me to the area, which is quite public, and take away my shoes, and any clothing which is removable, like a sweater, jacket, etc, that I am wearing. They then scan me and my scooter with a hand held item.

    Then they look under my scooter with mirrors, and wipe down scooter and me with some explosive finding cloths. THEN, they do a hands on personal search of my person. It all makes me very angry, but I don’t ever DARE to say anything, after reading about some other people’s trials and tribulations.

    These TSA people are ALL POWERFUL and a real scary bunch. I think the terrorists won on 9/11, and the government is all seeing and all knowing … I have to go to Florida tomorrow … don’t HAVE to, but DO want to see the grandchildren, and I am dreading the security check.

  • John Herrmann

    Actually, getting pulled out for screening can be a good thing. I was pulled out in Heathrow, in a line of maybe 250 people trying to check in. I was near the end of the line, too. The guy checked my luggage and then carried it to the front of the line and I got the next open slot. The checker actually did me a favor. Also, it was a Virgin Atlantic flight to NYC and because the flight was totally full in economy and because I had 36C as did a woman with a big mouth and ugly manners, I was taken up to first class and treated like royalty. Besides the rack of lamb and fine wines and such, a lovely gal came by with a clip board asking if I wanted to follow her upstairs for a massage. That was one of my best days ever of travel by air and it began with a special search of my bag.

  • Kelly Herrington

    Sorry, but I disagree with the reader, Linda Bator. On numerous occasions, I have been ‘wanded’ when traveling from our small airport (30,000 pop.) in Alaska. I don’t look suspicious – in my opinion. Nothing in my past to warrant the treatment. And when I ask why I am pulled aside, I am told it is a random check.
    I am courteous, but they can tell by my demeanor that I am not appreciative.

  • ronin

    Oh, yes, before shoe removal was mandatory (again), west coast screeners were notorious for this. Shoe removal was optional; only if you beeped would you have to remove them.

    However, woe to anyone who actually believed it was optional, no matter how frequently you had walked through non-west coast screens w/o incident. You would immediately be pounced upon. The very fact that you believed them that it was optional targeted you as the enemy.

    Worse: My son has diabetes and requires insulin. He wears an insulin pump, a $5,000 device the manufacturer says must not pass through airport x-rays. We point this out to the TSA’s before we pass through so that they can hand-inspect it.

    This is apparently so out of the ordinary to these bipeds that my young son becomes immediately a target for vengeful, close secondary (& tertiary?) examination. As if having to prick yourself several times a day for blood glucose readings and needing to stick insulin into your body forever is not punishment enough. These bipeds find it necessary to treat these victims as criminals.

  • Colleen

    Is secondary screening a punishment? Yes, I believe it is. I too, refused to take off my shoes as I knew they would not be a problem. This was before the new rules took effect and it was supposedly not mandatory. I questioned if I had to take them off and they said no, but it is highly suggested. Once I got through the metal detectors (without incident), I was pulled aside for a secondary screening. My shoes and carry-on luggage and every page of a book I was carrying was wiped with a cloth that looks for explosives. I passed the secondary inspection, but I feel this was done for revenge and for punishment for not taking off my shoes. I “thanked” them for cleaning my shoes for me, but they didn’t find this very funny. I was allowed to continue on my way without incident though. Even more frustrating is the fact that I’m a private pilot and I have already been thoroughly checked out by the FAA. I am not subjected to this type of behavior when I fly myself from the other side of their airport i.e. from the general aviation section. Showing them my pilot’s license only seems to make things worse — like I’m definitely a terrorist now because I can fly an airplane.

    I’ve also been subjected to a secondary inspection because I refused to take off my good jewelry which I know does not set off the metal detectors. It’s real gold, not metal, so I’m good even though I wear alot of it. They always hassle me b/c I won’t remove it. They’re always quite surprised when I pass with flying colors.

  • Joseph Carlet

    Yep. Its a punishment. Before I quit flying I always refused to take off my tennis shoes as a matter of principal (Its ‘voluntary’ don’t you know?) I always got secondary screening and often had to take off my shoes anyway. As well as loosen my belt, get wanded, patted and pawed. And I finally said enough. How many other fat, bald, fifty-ish, white, well dressed, platinum card frequent flyer men hijacked planes on 9/11? I must fit the profile! I quit flying two years ago and now drive everywhere within the U.S. (no more over-seas, or south of the border trips)

    If enough business travelers did the same those stupid, silly, false security rules would just…..go away.

    BUT. There are enough sheeple that’ll just roll over, say pat my belly and don’t send me to jail that’ll keep the airlines fying, the rules in place, and the slippery slope of privacy loss accelerating down to “Paper’s Please” just to step out of your house.

  • Robert Johnson

    The “Trained Shoe Analysts” are an absolute joke. Most are wannabe law enforcement type who couldn’t pass the psych screen for a real Law enforcement job. To date the only thing they have thwarted is airline customers ability to begin their travel day with a positive and pleasant experience.

    The key to security is good solid police work not a bunch of law enforcement wannabe’s.

    This blatant erosion of basic civil liberties is what my uncle landed on Normandy to prevent. At least the SS had snappy uniforms.

  • Jan

    After the incidence with the UK citizen who boarded a plane with a bomb in his shoe, I for one as a UK citizen who travels frequently to the USA am not complaining about the removal of shoes to be passed through the x-ray machine, it is an inconvenience I agree especially if you are running late, but better to be inconvenienced than blown out of the sky……..I also have been pulled out of line for secondary screening, especially on Delta flights, but to date I have been dealt with in the main very courteously and quickly and if I have had any questions regarding the reason for the search it has always been explained to me.
    I automatically take my shoes off without being asked, or if there are no notifications saying you must do this then I ask before I reach the metal detector and am usually told that it would be best and will save time.
    In the end I look on all of the checks, double checks and screening as much for my protection and safety as for the rest of the traveller’s and I think maybe and this is said as an ex-security officer (not for the Air Industry) that although there is not always need for some of the TSA officers to be so rude and sometimes threatening toward’s traveller’s…..But I can see that they are under enormous pressure to keep the airlines safe for us all, and personally I would not like their job with the enormous resposibility for all our safety, and when any of them are a bit short I wonder how I would feel if someone on my shift got passed all the checks with a bomb or weapon and many people on board a flight died as a result of this.
    They are human beings like all of us and must work under tremendous pressure day in and day out to keep the airways safe, and I always feel if we are innocent and nothing to hide then it is nothing more than an Inconvenience for mine and your safety.

  • Rens

    Just back from a week in the US. Since I am a dutch citizen permanently residing in China and bought my tickets in Beijing obviously all boarding cards had the ssss sign on it. Does it bother to have the security people checking me again?

    Not really. I had a couple of time that I could pass the long waiting line for an extra two minutes checking which is much better than standing in line. Does it feel as a punishment? Not really. They do their job. The only glitch was that the machine that they use to check the cotton pads for explosives gave an alarm. Then it becomes obvious these people have no law enforcement education.

    Instead of trying another machine they have to start filling in my passport details in a book (what happened to connecting the immigration database so they just have to scan my passport?) which takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r. (does naam means name? is 11-11-1960 your birthdate?)

    I did hear some of the TSA people commanding passangers in a way that would have been the end of their career where I come from but one of the the passengers that was being bullied stayed very, very calm and reserved which made the TSA lady change her attitude immediately.

    I can understand that their job is not the greatest in the world but from what I have seen they do their best and a couple of rotten apples can always be found, in retail, law enforcement, service industries…you name it

  • Robert Johnson

    Ben Franklin said it best and I’ll paraphrase here. “Those who would trade a little liberty for a little security deserve Neither”

    I defy ANYONE to show me an incident post 9/11 where the TSA has found an explosive device or thwarted a terrorist plot at the security checkpoint.

    For 24 months I carried a small prohibited item through PHL Concourse C security checkpoint on a weekly basis and never once was my small screwdriver discovered. It was long enough to injure an adult and well placed possibly more.

    The whole program is a joke! Police work is what saves the day, not law enforcement wannabes coupled with the restraint of personal liberty at an alleged checkpoint all done to make Mom & Pop and their 2.2 kids feel safe on the way to see Mickey.

  • Jennifer

    Most of the TSA agents I have encountered have been silent if not courteous. However, at McCarran in Las Vegas, I had an experience with a TSA agent I can’t even begin to explain. This began at the entrance to the lines at the magnetometers where you show your boarding pass and i.d. There are 3 separate lines, one clearly marked “First Class Passengers Only.” Therefore, I like every other coach sheep, er- passengers, skipped the first class line. This agent at the First Class line started stating extremely loudly that we were stupid because we couldn’t see an empty line in front of us. She said people don’t have any common sense anymore. I guess she meant from her time as she was very elderly. I looked at the passenger behind me and we simultaneously said to each other, “did she just call us stupid?” The female agent repeated it to people who then did move the purported first class line. I then went up to the agent in my line and asked this question again. The agent told me to mind my own business or I wouldn’t get on the plane.

    Needless to say my agent somehow marked me and I was screened. Because of the lines, I wasn’t able to get the female agent’s name to file a complaint. Not that it would have done any good. There is no excuse for this behavior. They get paid decent salaries to sit on their rear ends on a power trip belittling people who ultimately are responsible for their salaries to begin with.

  • Joe F.

    Ok, I practice civil disobedience at the airport every chance I get. How? I follow the rules, just not the way they want me to follow them.

    Instead of a drivers license or passport, I use an state issued airport access photo ID card. This is in fact a ‘Government Issued Photo ID.” In my home state, every TSA offical has one in addition to the TSA Creds.

    Like Robt. Johnson sez above, this not about security, it is about making people feel secure.

    Ask yourself a couple of questions?

    We take off shoes off because Richard Reid tried to blow his shoes up. He was using matches. There were no wires or detonators in his shoes. Xray machines have no explosives sniffers. So, WHY do we take our shoes off? Why did they ban lighters but not matches even though Reid tried to use matches and not a lighter?

    Liquid explosives are impossible to create in an airliner cabin – there are several reliable sources to confirm this. Al Qaeda tried to blow up US bound airliners using liquid explosives in 1999. Why did TSA wait until Aug 2006 to ban liquids? Was it the threat or the report of the threat that caused the security reaction?

    Remember, every sez, just like our first comment above, that they are just trying to keep us safe and we should just accept their tyranny because it is for our own good. sorry, but when the Iraq War started many people questioned the justification for it. Many were not convinced by the Presidents’ case for war, yet, we were told “The government knows more that we do, so thats why we should trust them.”

    Just like Viet nam, Iran Contra, Iraq WMD and the list goes on and on and on, the government knows very little more than we do. Therefore, they should be required to justified their actions and not hide behind ‘if for security’ when you ask or challenge them on anything, including $12 an hour TSA officials who know little more than we do.

  • Michele

    Here’s the funniest thing that ever happened. A friend and I were leaving Midway to get to Arizona. It was early and we were plenty early to board. We automatically took our shoes off to save the hassle. My friend was pulled aside. The guy is asking her questions and she gets a twinkle in her eye. She says in the loudest and most friendly voice…you wanna see what I got on don’t ya. Well she had a very clingy, see through tank under her zippered hoodie jacket. Mr Wand Man Security looks over at me and I just bust out laughing because she now has the jacket off. He turns back around. She says well you’ve seen the foot surgery scars so we’re like old friends now. Some of the female agents in the area start smiling and he finally starts to laugh. I think she really caught him off guard. She offered to take off more if it would be in the interest of serving her country and protecting our discount flights. Luckily we had time enough to take what would be frustrating and create an opportunity for laughter. On another note, I’m glad someone came up with mailing envelopes so everyone’s confiscated goods can get a trip back home. Nothing burned me more than some guy who didn’t speak English very well try to form a sentence to ask me what my pocket tool was. It was a little larger than an eyeglass kit. I’m so sure he put it on his belt on my way through the terminal. The liars at Ohare used to have the nerve to tell you that you could retrieve your items on your return trip. After going to the city manned security area the officers inside nearly fell over laughing when I asked where do people pick up the items they can’t take through. An older cop told me Honey, we take most of the stuff to the station and it ends up at auction. The only items left were boxes of assorted lighters. I’ve been had a once and sometimes twice search but never any search when using first class…are terrorists only allowed in the cheap seats???

  • BK General

    Screening is a joke. TSA is a joke. Yeserday, at Detroit metro, when my wife, my just turned 1 year old son and I passed thru the security, we took out shoes/belts etc and the machine didn’t beep when we walked thru and yet everyone one of us including my 13 month old son was patted down and frisked. I wonder why?

  • inothernews

    I am a little disheartened by all the commenters who feel the need to precede their patdown story with extra disclaimers/qualifiers such as “I’m from the midwest” “I don’t look middle-eastern,” etc., as if if they were middle-eastern looking, it would be okay.

    I was born in America, as was my boyfriend, and in the midwest to boot, he in Kansas and me in Minnesota, where we both grew up all our lives. We are both also of Indian descent.

    And before anyone says something to the affect of “well, look at all the acts of terrorism, middle-eastern or Muslims are more likely to committ those acts” I’d counter with a few things:
    1)we are not doing, nor did we ever do, extra screening on white men following the Oklahoma bombings. It was understood they were an errant part of the population. This often changes when its a minority, black, asian, south asian, etc., suddenly its all of them are criminals.
    2)What does a Muslim look like? The Muslim world is wide and diverse, like Christianity, with devotees of many different races and creeds. Many Muslims either are white or look white. Many non-Muslims look middle-eastern.

    Look, I understand fear and the need for safety, but not at the expense of others. We need to be smarter about safety and not rely on our basest most reactions and fears. Do we want to be free or do you want to be safe? We can’t have both.

  • Navyguy

    My wife is 5 ft 2 in 120 lb blond. Always gets secondary screening. When I am traveling with her I get the treatment also. Out of London Gatwick last week it happened again. We were traveling on American AAdvantage awards in business class. I am lifetime gold. Does that seen like the profile of a problem traveler? When looking at all the characters on that flight, I surmised that we got picked because we looked neat and clean. Wouldn’t you rather get closer to a clean individual? Oh by the way she is 62 and I am 69. Don’t we really feel protected? I don’t mind the additional check, but a little profiling probably would be helpful.

  • Skip

    There is still little consistency among TSA stations, and I fault the feel-good gesture of the current administration for creating this situation. It was under President Bush’s watch that the TSA was created, then horribly mis-managed and underfunded (don’t you love huge government programs that get little or no money for implementation?). Even those agents with good customer service skills who take their job seriously aren’t allowed to do the job they were hired to do; meanwhile they’re surrounded by incompetent oafs who wrestle mothers for sippy-cups and place members of Congress on a Do-Not-Fly list while allowing real weapons on board because they refuse to follow procedure.

    Political considerations aside, that agent wa soutta line; no question. You had the right to report the incident to a supervisor and filled out an incident report. It may do little good at the time, but it does create a paper trail that can be used for systemic change.

    I’m not one to blindly knuckle under to nonsensical rules. That may be one reason I wouldn’t have made it through boot camp, but then I didn’t sign up for military service. I just need to fly. The TSA is supposed to serve the public and catch terrorists, not victimize innocent civilians off of their poor training and faulty equipment that makes false positives.

  • Andrew deLivron

    Punished for forgetting to remove liquids.

    I am a 55 Year old White Male.

    This past May I had the occasion to fly Southwest from Phoenix to Oakland.

    The TSA scanning operator requested a hand check of my bags. When the inspector started to open the bag I immediately asked the question. “When was the last time you changed your gloves?” The inspector looked at me and I asked the question a second time. He responded with “Are you asking me to change my gloves?” To which I responded immediately “Yes”. Well he located about 2oz of tooth paste, 2 oz. of hydrocortisone (over the couther cream) and Secrete Solid Deodorant (not a gel but a solid).

    Yes, I typically expect a TSA inspector to change gloves before going through my bags. I don’t know where they have been previously.

    As a result of not having the products in a clear bag I was being sent to the back of a the processing line for reprocessing. The line was approximately 30 minutes long. Also in the process of putting things back in my bag the inspector failed to place a leatherette folder in my bag. I called that to his attention before he sent me to the back of the line.

    I gratefully had 2 plus hours, but I was really ticked with this treatment. I immediately asked for a supervisor who informed me this was standard procedure for Sky Harbor. I went to the back of the line. Fortunately another TSA employee came up to me and offered me a high speed airline employee pass to the front of the line. When I reached my home airport (Albany, NY) I asked about this treatment and they were very surprised this occurred and they had never heard of such treatment of a passenger.

    Personally I believe this was a little reverse discrimination especially since I challenged the inspector about changing his gloves. The employee and the supervisor were both black I am white. The employee who handed me the pass was white.

    Yes I did fill a TSA report and never heard from them.

  • Stewart Sheinfeld

    I had the same thing happen to me at O Hare more than a year ago before it was a requirement. TSA people were suggesting you take off your shoes. I didn’t, and even though nothing beeped I was pulled aside for secondary screening. It was clearly an abuse of power but of course there is no one on sight to complain to about the practice.

  • Jane Q.

    Just read your article about getting screened by the TSA…well here is an interesting story that happened to us over Spring Break.

    We flew to San Diego for a family vacation. The night before we were due to leave my 12 year old daughter broke her foot skim boarding with her brother. We spent the morning of departure at the hospital getting her in a cast and learning to use crutches, and getting pain medication prescriptions filled. She also needed a wheelchair. We flew Southwest and they were wonderful when we pulled up at the airport and I asked for help…they came with a wheelchair and whisked her over to the skycap check in. They joked with her and put a note in the record that she needed the bulkhead since she could not bend her knee. They even helped push her into the terminal, making jokes about wheelchair races! This was the end of our fun…

    We proceeded to the security line and hit the preliminary people who looked at all of our documentation. I explained that my daughter would not be able to get out of the wheelchair and walk. They told me to “get in the security line and tell them”.

    Let me preface this with a description of my daughter…she is blond haired, blue eyed and very obviously a little girl. We came up to the x-ray machines and we all took off our shoes (three kids, my hubby and myself), put them in the bin. I stayed with my daughter who was still in the chair.

    A gentleman came up to me and directed me to the side of the x-ray machine and told me that my daughter had to get out of the chair. I tried to explain that she had just broken her foot severely and could not put any pressure on it without extreme pain. He was relentless that she had to get up and use the crutches to get thru the metal detector.

    She struggled up and started hopping to the machine…he hollered “STOP”…we both did…”You need to take off your shoe”…excuse me, I said. Yes she had not taken off her thin flip flop and now he made her HOP up and down until she could slip off the shoe. I was holding onto her and bracing her so that she could get the shoe off. Yes, I did ask for a chair but there was not a chair in the area and they refused to bring her wheelchair back around since they had already “examined it”.

    Then to top it all off…they selected me for an ‘additional screening”. I never argued with them, I never questioned them and my poor child was scared to death. They took my purse and went thru every item and asked me what certain things were…camera battery, turned on my ipod, looked at my wallet. All the while my daughter is sitting on the side waiting for me. My poor husband was trying to round up all the other kids and carry on’s.

    On the plus side, Southwest went above and beyond in taking care of us on the flight home. They boarded her first and made sure that no one sat in the middle seat so she could elevate her foot for the duration of the long flight home. The captain stopped by and asked what she had done and they had a conversation about surfing vs. skim boarding. The flight attendants brought her a special treat, along with a blanket and pillow. I told them our story of the TSA and they countered with stories of their own. Not much love lost there, I could see. But they truly helped calm me down. I am a fan of SW for life after that.

    Truly it is almost enough to make you want to quit traveling.

  • Lois Schwartz

    I know it is wrong, but…….every week I fly r/t from Atlanta to Charlotte. I use my EXPIRED Ga driver’s license as my picture id. I use it because I don’t want to LOOSE my valid license by having to show it twice a week and misplacing it.

    Sometimes I get “caught” and need to show my real one, but………..in Charlotte (a much smaller airport than Atlanta), the same man checks my id every week. He now knows that I show my expired license and demands my valid license. He KNOWS me. He KNOWS my face, He KNOWS I am there every week, He KNOWS I have a valid id in my purse, but……….last time I was in his TSA line he “threatened” me with secondary screening the “next time” I showed him the expired license.

    I now use the “other” security line in Charlotte and have no problems.

    Where do I sign up for the $100 “pass line” security id?? I am sick of the b…s…t called “security” at the airport. It is a huge joke if people think we are safer because of it.

  • David Gast

    The most extreme case I witnessed happened sometime last year, shortly BEFORE it became mandatory to take off one’s shoes. I witnessed a man tell TSA (not in a hostile manner) that he was not going to take off his shoes. The reply (with a lot of nasty attitude) was something like this: “If you don’t take off your shoes, I will make sure that you miss your plane.” I then observed the man being taken off for secondary screening. I do n ot know if he in fact was made to miss his plane.

    This kind of stuff goes on all the time at Newark, at least in the concourse where the American Airlines gates are located.

  • Dave

    While traveling to the Dominican Republic from Orlando through Miami and onto the DR this past May, I also had the same encounter. I was wearing a pair of leather sandals, actually a pair of Kino’s made in Key West. And I must agree that being a fairly frequent flyer for business and leisure that the Orlando TSA operations are extremely efficient especially at busy times when compared to other airport that I must travel through. But when I was prepared to walk through the detector I was told, by who just has to be the same woman you had, “to remove my shoes.” Looking down at my sandals, I just had to ask, oh you mean my sandals?? And apparently I didn’t do it quick enough, and of course me shaking my head slightly and rolling my eyes probably didn’t help matters either…….but to make the story short, I to had to step over to the special area, for special people, and was checked with the little handheld light saber, I even had to take my belt off completely…….go figure. And when we were done, I was giving the male TSA agent a blank you’re a dumb ass look, I just wanted to say that I also have federal credentials and have a considerable higher security clearance than he has, and wasn’t this an entire waste of time and energy. But I was on vacation and heading to the DR for 10 days…….and nothing was going to slow me down.

  • Christina Nourse

    On Sun. July 22 we were returning home from a trip to the Biltmore via Charlotte, NC.

    I made the mistake of carrying a bottle of wine from the Biltmore in my carry on bag. I’ll be the first to admit that was my mistake. We had traveled through Italy last summer and brought wine back in our carry on, but I honestly forget about the change in rules.

    Nonetheless, I was not surprised when the agent, Gerald took the wine. In fact, I apologized for my mistake. What did ruffle my feathers was that when I asked for the bottle so I could throw it away the agent informed me that he had to take it and place it in a locked drawer with all the rest of the confiscated items. When I asked what happens to them he told me they take care of it at the end of each shift. I asked if he would be enjoying my wine and he indicated that they “divvy it up.”

    Hence my question – what does happen to wine and alcohol that is confiscated? Do the agent’s actually take what they want? And, why was I not allowed to dispose of my wine in the trash?

    Not really wanting to get my name on any “unruly passenger list” I let it go. And, after thinking about it, if I had to deal with passengers all day I would probably want to go home and open a bottle of wine. Do you think at the end of the day they really take what they want ?

  • Karen

    Ha! Just try getting through security being disabled, use a wheelchair and wear leg braces! The braces are so I don’t need the airline wheelchair and can get to the airline toilet in a timely manner.

    I’m always stopped, pawed and frequently have my clothing thrown up in public so some idiot can get a good look at orthotics. The last time I flew I said “watch out, don’t squeeze the urine bag!” That made the entire process MUCH shorter… and there was no urine bag!

  • KC

    A couple of weeks ago when I was searched in PHX, they skipped the normal wanding and went for the hand pat-down. I had to wait in a plexiglass cage for at least 10 minutes for a woman screener. When I asked why I was chosen, she said it was because I was wearing a dress. Yes, I was wearing a comfy t-shirt dress like one would wear to a beach destination which happened to be where I was headed. I guess it’s the new terrorist look. I’ll stick to sweats next time I fly.

  • Robert Johnson

    When you consider what you feel is poor treatment by the TSA, stop and think about who you are dealing with. The typical TSA employee is a law enforcement wannabe. This means that He/She has failed the the psycholigical Evaluation for:

    Dept of Treasury
    National Security administration
    Central Intelligence Agency
    Alcohol Tobacco & Firearm
    FBI
    State Police (usually in several states)
    Department of Corrections (usually in several states)
    Local Police (usually in several cities, towns and townships)

    The only rung lower than TSA is Mall Security Guard. SO my question is: Given the above don’t you feel safe now?

  • YA

    #
    On September 20th, 2006 Linda Bator said

    “TSA has the right to check you as MANY times as they see fit. They don’t need a reason or an excuse, and they need make no apology for doing so. Instead of getting snippy when these people are already overtaxed with doing their jobs, merely complying will get you a lot further. And even if you DO get checked over a second time, roll with it. With rights come responsibilities, and we should never gripe about the importance of safety. I’m sure those we lost on 9/11 would have gladly cooperated to ensure their continued safety.”

    oh boy. Just comply, no matter how abusive the screening. Don’t protest, or complain, you’re dis-honoring our heroes and helping the terrrrrrists. This is not your country, don’t you know the government knows what’s best, so shut up and fall in line. Well, unlike Linda here, I think you have the right to complain, and if you think you’ve been unfairly targeted, send a letter to TSA and to your elected representative and senator. This isn’t the Soviet Union. You don’t have to give up your civil liberties for the false sense of security provided by some thugs for rent.

  • Mike

    That magic word, please.

    I accompanied my father to the airport this morning. Back in the golden years of air travel he flew frequently enough around Europe with his suit bag containing his shaving kit and his necessaire complete with Swiss Army knife, tweezers, nail file and such accoutrements as a business man requires to present a good image to the people he will be meeting.

    As our liberty has been curtailed progressively over time even here in Europe, he has had to leave behind the handy travel knife and tweezers and purchase them locally as required.

    Today I was standing next to the screening zone, within hailing distance in case anything he was carrying might not pass muster, so that I could take it back home with me. Indeed the inch of toothpaste remaining in its tube and his bottle of Nivea Aftershave were removed from the transparent bag and thrown in the waste can. I think the surprise at never having had problems with these items before erased from his mind that I was there precisely for that. He passed through the arch without his belt, glasses, wallet but wearing his watch, which is why the arch beeped and he was screened and tested safe.

    My point is, this was all done with the utmost respect and professionalism. There was no nastiness at all and the process took all of three, maybe four minutes. And we’re talking Malaga Airport, which handles millions of passengers every year. All the passengers travelling nationally and to European destinations from Malaga pass through those six arches. Perhaps their method is better because their agents have been trained with public relations skills, I don’t know, but the value to the whole process is inestimable. If anything, I think the queues are shorter than they ever were before terrorism went too far. I ask; did it really have to take the deaths of so many on 9/11 to make all the governments of the world unite and finally do something about airport security instead of lamenting the sporadic hi-jackings of yore?

    Yet, have the terrorists won some kind of battle here? Wasn’t this the sort of stuff that sabotage was invented for? “Waste the resources of the enemy.” How much money is being spent looking for these people in the wrong places? How much of the world’s budget is NOT being spent on directly running these people to the ground?

    Certainly if there is a clear and present danger then passengers should be screened, each and every one of them, three times if necessary. But it can be done with respect for one another, without friction. If it is tiring to scan hundreds of people per hour, then make the turns shorter. Heaven forbid that a tired agent lets slip through the one person who can blow up a plane or hi-jack it.

    I think it is worth a few tax dollars to make sure that if those performing the intense yet dull job of screening passengers do not have the required people skills, that they be trained or be screened out themselves. Respect is a two lane street, one in each direction. Please and thank you worked for generations of Americans and there is no reason to forget them when travelling or managing travelers.

    And if the shoes are going to have to come off anyway, then don’t mince around with ambivalent language. Stick a sign up that says “Please remove your shoes anyway” and be done with it.

    Oh. A chilling thought: Given the insurgent tactics in Iraq, what difference would it make if a human bomb were to explode on the plane, having passed security checks, or standing idly in the queue, waiting like everybody else? Would not the same objective of scaring people out of our free skies be achieved?

  • Hawaii Travel Agent

    I’m a travel agent here in Hawaii and have a 13 year old son that frequently flies to the outer islands alone. Until now he has always flown Aloha Airlines because they allow me an escort pass to take him to his gate. During his last flight (11/12/07), we arrived early to check in for his flight and when I asked for an escort pass the ticket agent seemed a bit put out by my request. I didn’t check my ticket until we were standing in the screening line when I noticed the dreaded row of ssss.
    Seriously? On an escort pass? You’ve got to be kidding me?? So we wait in line for almost 30 minutes and I was then told to go wait on the side for extra screening. I tell my son to stay in the regular line and just go through to his gate and I’ll meet up with him when I’m finished. Six people ahead of me in the special line, and an agent comes by every 5-10 minutes to take just one or two of us.
    Long story short, my kid’s flight left before I even got through the screening. I called him on his cell to make sure he was fine and left swearing to never use Aloha again.

  • MrBadExample

    Why blame Aloha for the antics of the moron agency and it’s moron leader Kip Hawley?

  • A Traveler

    I removed my shoes to go through the metal detector at the Memphis airport and was waiting my turn. When I went to walk through apparently my socks on the floor seemed slippery that day and one of my feet slid. I ended up bumping against the side of the detector and learned that touching the detector at all sets it off. I was not allowed to walk through again after explaining I had just slipped and was sent off for my extra screening just for being a klutz!

  • Ed

    Part 1:
    My wife and I were going from Boston to Miami. The TSA clowns are yelling “We recommend you take off your shoes!” I did not because my sneakers have never set off the alarm. A TSA came by and said, “Sir, we recommend you take off your shoes.” I still did not. He came by again and screamed in my “Take off your shoes!”

    Part 2:
    Returning from Miami. There is a sign that says the shoes don’t have to be taken off. The TSA guy tells me to take off my shoes. I point out the sign. He yells, “Hey, we got alive one over here!” I take off the sneakers.

    Part 3:
    Still heading back to Boston. We have another security check point. We are very warm because we have done a lot of walking. I unbutton my shirt and pull it out so it hangs outside my pants. As I prepare to go through the security the TSA guy tell me to remove my sweater. I tell him it’s a shirt. He repeats the instruction. I ask him if he can tell the difference between a shirt and a sweater. He yells for backup. I remove the shirt.

    if there are any educated and intelligent TSA people reading this blog, I ask you now—How does it feel to work with turkeys? How does it feel to work with power-mad and stupid [a dangerous combination] individuals?

    At least these fools aren’t IRS agents.

  • ts

    “Instead of getting snippy when these people are already overtaxed with doing their jobs, merely complying will get you a lot further. And even if you DO get checked over a second time, roll with it. With rights come responsibilities, and we should never gripe about the importance of safety. I’m sure those we lost on 9/11 would have gladly cooperated to ensure their continued safety.”

    You’re saying we should just do as “authority” says, whether or not they have any rational or legal basis for making these requests.

    You do understand, do you not, that this is the very definition of a police state?

    Now, *if* thought these people were doing a halfway competent job, I might be prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt. But I travel quite a bit and it’s clear to me that these people are doing a terrible, terrible job. Certainly, they are tested periodically, by other US government security forces, by journalists and by private individuals purposefully and accidentally — and they fail almost every time — almost every time people would have been allowed to bring weapons onto a plane.

    I agree with Franklin: “He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.”

    (PS: I just changed my name on this posting to something anonymous — it says a lot about this country that I fear for repercussions from simply exercising my free speech — as if anyone reading this wouldn’t know in *one second* that I wasn’t a terrorist!)

  • mike

    The TSA is a farce, a joke, at best, a reactive agency bloated with bureaucracy and rife with job-justifiers.

    Imagine – what would be doing in pre-screening if Richard Reid had tried to blow-up that airplane by igniting his undergarments instead of his shoes?

    Someone tries to blow-up a plane using liquid chemicals – the media over-hype dies down and some pin-head at the TSA says, “Saaaaay…..” — now you can’t bring toiletries on-board.

    The lack of imagination, intelligence, and creativity exhibited by the TSA and it’s parent agency, da Bush gubbmint, is truly terrifying.

    Trying flying out of San Jose – where Minetta makes all the new “toys” and policies available to the there-but-for-the-grace-of-McDonalds-go-I employees first.

    Who’s the real terrorist organization?

  • Elmer Gantry

    Yes, the TSA is a joke in its current form. Safety? Why does everyone in the smoking lounges on the concourses at ATL have a lighter if they are supposed to be banned? Why does security differ so much between airports? I can put my carry on though screening at ATL with anything I want in it-water bottle, toiletries, lighter, etc. So how is it that I get pulled out of line and have the batteries and memory card pulled form my camera and wiped – or something similar – every time I fly out of Minneapolis?

    Why do I see people with Lacrosse sticks boarding?

    And why all the attitude?

    Frustrated cop wanna bes.

  • MrBadExample

    Kip Hawley is a moron, pure and simple.

    My Uncle landed on Normandy some 64 years ago to preserve freedon and liberty. When I stand in a TSA line I see what he fought to avoid.

  • Paul

    Minneapolis TSA is a joke! Half of them are standing around bullshitting or watching the other agents “work”. Just before Christmas, while I was waiting in line for the first security check point (the one where they look at your ID and boarding pass), this one female agent who is off the corner gossiping with another toy cop decides she is going to “help” the one doofus match names on ID and boarding pass.

    Well she just plops down next to the guy and starts staring me down. I’m like 8 people back in the line and she is not paying attention to anyone else but me. By the time 3 people have moved by her and she’s still staring at me I decide to stare her down as well. What else am I going to do? I want to get the fuck through there and onto vacation. Anyway, I get to the doofus and he does his thing and lets me through. Coincidentally this bitch, who has had me on radar lock since I’ve been in line, goes back to gossiping in the corner as soon as I passed. WTF?!

    This is the first time in my 30 years that I’ve been made to feel less than a law abiding citizen and more like some kind of criminal. I guess when your skin is a little browner than most in Minneapolis some of these assholes think you may be carrying an acme tnt belt. What annoys me more is this bitch looks like she came straight out of Montezuma’s asshole and she is profiling me?? LOL

    LEAH…LIEGHA…was her name. I won’t forget it!

  • Kathleen V.

    Denver (DIA) vs. Chicago O’Hare -2005 to 2007…2 years of travel

    I traveled every Monday from DIA to O’Hare, and returned from Chicago to DIA every Friday afternoon. I always took off my shoes, my coat, my suit jacket – they all went in the tub, no need to ask or remind me – I’ve had it ALL down.

    I even figured out that at DIA you can put your boarding pass in your purse/pocket once you get thru the initial screening – you see Denver agents who man the arch and conveyor belt areas figure that you have already SHOWN your license and boarding pass, they don’t need to see it again.

    HOWEVER, don’t put that boarding pass in your pocket at O’Hare – the TSA agents manning the conveyor line/and wanding areas there want to SEE that boarding pass as you go through the arch and there will be hell to pay if you even THINK about putting that boarding pass in your pocket. You will be yelled at and humiliated!
    So why can’t the rules be the same at both airports? Well I asked TSA agents in Chicago – the answer is, and I quote – “If all of the airports had the same rules, then potential terrorists would easily be able to figure out the rules! So each airport changes the rules so that terrorists are continually challenged and are thus unable to circumvent the rules!” Let me save you O’Hara travelers time/frustration. SHOW everybody your boarding pass – every TSA agent (heck, just show it to total strangers in line) stick it to your forehead because everyone wants to see it over and over.
    And while I’m on a role here, whatever you do, DON’T

  • Keith

    You were rescreened because you showed questionable behavior. Your hesitation could have been simple recognition that they were wasting your time, or it could have been a quick thought of “Now what, they must know all about what I’m sneaking aboard!”

    Since we’re dealing with TSA burger-flippers, they don’t know anything more than “This guy isn’t acting like everyone else,” so they red-flag you.

  • Joseph

    One thing; wouldn’t an actual terrorist go to great lengths to fit in, not ask questions, conform, so as to actually reach his/her intended target (the plane)? The guy who “isn’t acting like everyone else” is not the terrorist…the conformist is.

    Case in point: every successful assassination of a U.S. President has been committed by a white man with short hair wearing a coat and tie. Why? Because the assassin wants to actually reach his target, not to get pulled aside and searched by a suspicious policeman.

    Way to give the terrorists exactly what they want, TSA! Just as our President has given Bin Laden exactly what he wanted, by invading Iraq and turning the entire Arab world against us. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

  • MrBadExample

    I try to tweak them (TSA) every chance I get. Refusing to speak when they say “Good Morning” is always good for a reaction!!!!

    Coming home from BUF I got this young lady so upset she went a got a supervisor because I wouldn’t acknowledge her “Good Morning” He aske, “Why” I simply told him, “TSA rules require me to comply with all requests, they do not require me to exchange pleasantries, are we done here?” He was floored and mumbled “yes” and I gathered up my stuff and left. It was such fun.

    Another fun thing is to answer questions with questions just to break ballz. Yes Sir or Ma’am in the most condescending tone of voice possible is another good way to tweak the LEO wannabe’s. As long as you comply with their requests promptly and leave enough time if they start all their gestapo tactics there is really nothing they can do.

    I was putting my shoes back on and apparently I wasn’t doing it fast enough and the TSA Goon said something, Not thinking I said “Hold on Col Klink, you told me to take them off you’ll wait until I get them back on” Guy didn’t say a word.

    It’s like anything in life, you get what you allow people to give you. Don’t take it fight back. Even if it costs you. Remember you’re on Video tape the whole time and that tape is YOUR supporting evidence.

  • Doc

    I fly at least one round trip a week out of DFW, and the TSA people there range from good to incredibly bad. I have been enjoying these horror stories, as many mimic the experiences I have had at DFW. I travel with a rolling computer case and indeed more than the usual amount of electronics, chargers, cables, adapters,software, etc. All is packed grouped in zippered containers so I am not surprised when my bag sets off the usual fart in the henhouse when it goes through the Xray. The response from these knuckleheads has been everything from “May I inspect your bag, sir?” to “You ain’t neva gonna git aboard no plane with that much stuff! Whatchoo doin with all that ‘tronics?”. To the former, I reply “Why certainly” to the latter, I merely ask for a supervisor, making sure my words are spoke with clarity for the recording system. If they refuse to summon a supervisor, I just stand at the receiving line waiting for my boots, coat, hat and laptop, take my time retreving them and putting my wallet etc back in place, boots on, etc. Usually someone will see that there is a blockage, and only one time have I not gotten a reasonable response. Sometimes teh “supervisor” will unload each and every thing from my bag, go through these great gestures of beng thorough, then I take my own sweet time repacking the bag at the check station. That’s why I show up at the airport 2 hours early. When they tell me to move along or go somewhere else to repack, I just tell them that they unpack my back on their time, I’ll repack my bag on their time. They mumble and threaten to call the cops, but I’ve never met an airport cop who could stand these buttholes.
    I still get a chuckle over the guy who looked at my office and workbench in a briefcase and said “Man, why don’t you check that thing?” When I responded “Check a bag? through Dallas? ON AMERICAN? Can I have a hit of that?” The look on his face was hilarious, just before he broke into a guffaw.

    Ahh the joy and glamour of air travel for a living. And to this day they have never found my pocket screwdriver set which snuggles into the handle pocket.

    – Doc
    7.5 Million AA miles
    Really.

  • miss tsa

    This may sound very simple, but I have to say it anyway. Why does the average person blame the screeners for just doing their jobs. I’m not taking up for screeners with poor attitudes, however you find people with bad attitudes every where. And in my experience I found them coimg to the airport. I’ve been called every name but a child of god in the 5 years working for TSA and you wonder why we are not just jumping over ourselves to help you. Within this blog the offense is enough for me to mount A proper defense against the majority of you. I dont make tsa’s rules I just ask you to follow them, cuz dats how i b making mi munie. If I let every passenger speak to me and treat me the way ( Doc who apparently has an issue with ebonics, and mrbadexample who for whatever reason wants to make it difficult for me ) does and care, i would go home pulling out my hair. when you come to the airport you are on my turf, i have home court advantage nothing you can say or do upsets me. Call me what you will, but it will not be unemployed. You don’t like the rules DON”T FLY either way we are still here.

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