TSA Experiences

[JoSchmooze]

Having read all these responses, I would like to add my own two cents worth. I travel extensively because of my career. I have spent months on end going to the same place or flying as little as once a month. I have been doing this for a little over 15 years. I have seen all the changes since 9/11 and I agree with most of them.

Six years ago I had a titanium knee replacement. Since then I have been patted down or if possible, go through the backscatter machine. Now, in saying this I have found that before I go through the regular magnometer (screening machine) I indicate that they will have to call for a "female assist". The reason I bring this up is because even though I have not gone through any surgery, because of my size, hair stlye (spiky brush cut), voice and attitude I come off as male. All of the female TSA agents have treated me with respect . They explain everything they are going to do and will ask if you prefer a private screening. I treat the pat downs with a bit of humor by engaging with them by saying things like "you know you have to buy me dinner now" or "you know we have to stop meeting this way" but I always say it with a smile of my face! Most of the TSA agents in Tucson, AZ know me by face now and will have someone ready to gather up my belongings and escort me to a screening area. I have never missed a flight because of this process, nor have I been separated from my belongings. I am always able to see my belongings during a pat down. I actually missed packing up my laptop on my return home once but TSA contacted me that night (I have a business card taped to the cover of my laptop). When I went to retrieve it, all I ahd to do to prove that it was mine was start it up and enter the correct password (and show ID).

I do have one funny story......Recently I came through security in Frankfurt, Germany - not TSA but German officials. Of course, the magnometer buzzed when I went through and there were a male and female standing there with the handheld devices. I looked at the male and he was ready to start patting me down....I then looked at the female and said in my broken German "Ich eine frau"....I am a woman! He immediately stopped and her eyes got real big as she apologized profusely!!

Oh, and by the way....if you want to bring back cheese from Wisconsin home to your friends or family.....Be aware that it is the same consistency as C4 explosives. They will pull your carry on bag and ask to look inside! I spent a whole year going back and forth from Tucson to Milwaukee....I call that my "cheese smuggling trips"!

Relax and listen to the rules and there shouldn't be a problem.....

[Andrea]

ruff and Jo:

Did you watch the video? How do you feel about the number of TSA being charged with crimes? Do you feel it is proportional to the profession compared to other professions?

As a side question to you both: do you have any concern for the radiation put out by the backscatter machine?

Thank you for your input.

[JoSchmooze]

Originally Posted by Andrea

ruff and Jo:

Did you watch the video? How do you feel about the number of TSA being charged with crimes? Do you feel it is proportional to the profession compared to other professions?

As a side question to you both: do you have any concern for the radiation put out by the backscatter machine?

Thank you for your input.

Yes, I watched the video....
The majority of the crimes were not
related to being a TSA agent...
I think Morgan had a valid point in that you can look at ANY
profession and see corruption...I believe that it is
proportional.....

As for the radiation....
I have had multiple surgeries in my lifetime..
I now have a fusion in my neck, a knee replacement,
the other knee has been arthroscopically scoped
three times, a hysterectomy, a tonsillectomy, bilateral
pulmonary emboli, too many fractures to count...multiple thallium stress tests....

I ain't gonna worry about the minute amount of radiation
from a backscatter machine....

As a good friend of mine says...
"You can't get out of this life alive"....

[aishah]

it's pertinent to mention that i wore hijab (covered my hair and most of my body) up until about six months ago (on my id i'm covering so sometimes that still gets raised eyebrows). i'm also disabled and use a cane, but i don't "look disabled" (whatever that means, i guess because i'm 24), and so i usually encounter a lot of prejudice/disbelief because of that. also, one of my partners is an airport security consultant (he works separately from tsa - he's employed by the airport - but he helps run security and communications at an airport and also devises security tests for tsa).

since november 2010 i've flown out of tallahassee, jacksonville, philadelphia, charlottesville, kansas city, detroit, columbus, and miami, most of them multiple times. i always travel alone.

most security checkpoints don't have a plastic cane that i can use to go through the metal detector, and when they do have it, i can't use it to go through the full body scanner. normally things are hectic and they're not prepared to handle passengers with disabilities. i get separated from my carry-on luggage frequently. when i was covering i used to get my head and body patted down, no matter how small my scarf was or how obvious it was there was NO way i could be hiding a bomb under there because of my fear of being separated from my luggage and having things stolen (my partner has told me a lot of horror stories), i've never requested a private screening instead of the full-body scanner. i'd prefer it but i don't have the energy to deal with it.

i never bring anything unnecessary through the checkpoint. just my laptop, kindle, a notebook, my wallet, my phone. i wear shoes that are easy to get on and off and i never wear jewelry through the checkpoint. i'll go through extra pains to check everything else just so i don't have to deal with managing it through the checkpoint.

by far the worst experience i've had was in the jacksonville airport - i was put through the metal detector and the full-body scanner and patted down twice, then i was patted down again by every tsa agent that passed me on the way to the gate. having to put down my laptop case, figure out what to do with my cane while standing in the ridiculous pat-down position, and being humiliated in front of other passengers when it was obvious i was the only one being singled out for extra screening just made the whole experience pretty awful.

the good experiences mostly outweigh the bad. the good news is a lot of agents are too tired/overwhelmed to bother with a ton of extra screening, and every now and then i'll run into some who are really compassionate about the fact that i'm disabled and that makes screening more difficult, and who try very hard not to separate me from my belongings. even most of the ones who have made things difficult for me were at least not rude about it. it's made flying a rough experience which is kind of annoying because my amount of flying has been increasing a LOT, not decreasing...but i do love to fly. i just dread the security checkpoint a lot and i'm paranoid about making it to the gate in time to pre-board. i usually get to the airport 1.5-2 hours early just in case (1 hour is plenty of time for most people).

tsa is there to do their job. i get that. i have a lot of respect for them and everyone else working in airport security. but sometimes i question the efficacy of what they have to do (and i get that it's not their choice) - but, like, patting me down multiple times when it's obvious i'm not a threat rather than using some of that time/energy to pat down other passengers who might be? that doesn't seem efficient to me. but whatever. i don't have a grudge against tsa by any means. but i don't trust them with my belongings and i just wish their policies didn't make it so inconvenient for disabled passengers.

[tapu]

There was this time when Tiny Son was about 5 and the TSA agent asked if we had anything flammable, and Tiny Son said, "Just shirts." His reasoning was that shirts could be used to start a fire. They told him shirts were okay.

[tapu]

Then there was this other time when Tiny Son was old enough to have discovered sarcasm and when the TSA agent said, Do you have any firearms or other weapons?, Tiny Son said, "Right, we have guns." He claims that I actually punched him in the chest, but I don't remember much from the time period immediately following.

[Andrea]

I truly appreciate the responses so far. Anyone else care to share their thoughts?

[aishah]

just thought i'd share that i'm traveling from kansas city international today (through dulles to charlottesville) and had a wonderfully painless experience with tsa a little bit of difficulty getting through the metal detector as they didn't have any way to assist me while my cane was going through screening, but it only took a minute so i could mostly walk on my own. it all went very quickly and i didn't get separated from my stuff, patted down, or not so randomly selected for additional screening. yay for good security checkpoint experiences!

[Andrea]

Originally Posted by aishah

just thought i'd share that i'm traveling from kansas city international today (through dulles to charlottesville) and had a wonderfully painless experience with tsa a little bit of difficulty getting through the metal detector as they didn't have any way to assist me while my cane was going through screening, but it only took a minute so i could mostly walk on my own. it all went very quickly and i didn't get separated from my stuff, patted down, or not so randomly selected for additional screening. yay for good security checkpoint experiences!

I am happy for you the experience was painless, and happy that you are able to walk without your cane for that minute. It is nice to hear of near painless experiences in addition to the bad ones.

[Corkey]

Originally Posted by aishah

just thought i'd share that i'm traveling from kansas city international today (through dulles to charlottesville) and had a wonderfully painless experience with tsa a little bit of difficulty getting through the metal detector as they didn't have any way to assist me while my cane was going through screening, but it only took a minute so i could mostly walk on my own. it all went very quickly and i didn't get separated from my stuff, patted down, or not so randomly selected for additional screening. yay for good security checkpoint experiences!

LAX isn't much better, tho I did have the assistance of an arm from a TSA agent.

ETA: I have a neuro stimulator and can not go through the machine, so I always get the "pat down", my cane however got the full treatment.

[Ciaran]

Originally Posted by Andrea

Anyone else care to share their thoughts?

As a generalisation, my experience of security checks through US airports has been worse than elsewhere (Europe / Asia). This is because, in my experience, there's more chance of being taken aside and, more importantly, the attitude of the officials has tended to be more formal and more stilted than the attitude of officials in other countries.

I'm not sure why but the new bodyscanners have thrown up particular problems for me. Anytime I need to go through one of these machines, I'm invariably pulled aside. Twice in the past six months I've had what I would perceive to be rather intrusive "pat down" of my buttocks region .. I may appreciate this in other circumstances but not at an airport.

No doubt I don't make things easy for myself - I don't do small talk with most folk, let alone TSA officials, I don't smile or act in a deferential manner and I wouldn't attempt to joke or be sarcastic with them as they'd likely not understand.

All-in-all, I'm not a fan. On my trips to the US, it's another reason for me to regret the lack of good rail travel !

[Andrea]

Originally Posted by Ciaran

As a generalisation, my experience of security checks through US airports has been worse than elsewhere (Europe / Asia). This is because, in my experience, there's more chance of being taken aside and, more importantly, the attitude of the officials has tended to be more formal and more stilted than the attitude of officials in other countries.

I'm not sure why but the new bodyscanners have thrown up particular problems for me. Anytime I need to go through one of these machines, I'm invariably pulled aside. Twice in the past six months I've had what I would perceive to be rather intrusive "pat down" of my buttocks region .. I may appreciate this in other circumstances but not at an airport.

No doubt I don't make things easy for myself - I don't do small talk with most folk, let alone TSA officials, I don't smile or act in a deferential manner and I wouldn't attempt to joke or be sarcastic with them as they'd likely not understand.

All-in-all, I'm not a fan. On my trips to the US, it's another reason for me to regret the lack of good rail travel !

Thank you for responding.

[flirtyokie]

My only tip is avoid wearing underwire bras or clothing with metal on it. I've flown quite a bit in the couple years for work (TUL, OKC, SFO, BWI, NWA, ATL, LIT, MSP, etc etc etc...)

I've never had a bad experience as long as I've remembered to pull my liquids out, pull out my computer, wear a sports bra and slip on shoes. If you're bringing any kind of food, just pull it out and put it in its own bin because they're probably going to check it. (If it's in its own bin, it saves them from having to search your whole bag.) Prepare yourself for an extra 5 minutes or so.

Remember, TSA agents (here at least) start around $10 an hour. They're not getting paid enough to deal with all this bullshit, so be nice.