TSA nonsense reaches a new low

[Gumby]

Hilarious. Reminds me of the time a buddy tried boarding a plane with a oil lamp in his bag (pre-TSA days when they opened and hand inspected carry-on luggage). The guard decared it "the makings of a bomb - a flask that can contain flammable liquid and a wick that can ignite it". My buddy explained that he bought it at a craft fair to put in his shrine to Buddha, but the agent wouldn't back down. So my buddy reached over and removed the wick (putting it in his pocket) and told the agent that it was just a vase. Upon second look, the agent agreed that it was just a vase and allowed him to board the plane with it... and the wick in his pocket.

 

[Lauffray]

One day we'll be laughing at this TSA stuff like a bad high school memory, until then I've had agents who were very nice and accommodating and others who were obtuse and irrational, it's just random enough to have a little suspense every time I go the airport 😀

 

[zuiko85]

So you cannot take a 16oz bottled warter past the TSA but once inside the bording area you can buy that same $1 bottle of water for $3.50, I think something more than security is at work here.

I'm so sick of flying that I'm seriously considering taking Greyhound for my next trip accross the country.

 

[Addy101]

I doubt the people he's talking about were following actual written rules--just the voices in their heads. The language of stupidity is universal and does not need translation.

Thank heavens most borderguards (TSA or otherwise) are nice, polite and don't listen to the voices in their heads 😀

 

[georadu]

So you cannot take a 16oz bottled warter past the TSA but once inside the bording area you can buy that same $1 bottle of water for $3.50, I think something more than security is at work here.

This is because they don't know if it is water or another substance.
But as one of my previous boss said: "I'm not allowed to get by with a plastic bottle of water but after security check I can buy a heavy bottle of wine made from glass that I can use to do a lot more "stupid" things in the plane.

I always have with me a laptop charger and a laptop. Lithium-ion batteries can be made to blow up.... but this is legal.
Let's hope that after reading this they will still let us bring laptops with us 😀

 

[noisycheese]

So you cannot take a 16oz bottled warter past the TSA but once inside the bording area you can buy that same $1 bottle of water for $3.50, I think something more than security is at work here.

I'm so sick of flying that I'm seriously considering taking Greyhound for my next trip accross the country.

I wonder how much Greyhound would charge for a round trip ticket from Indianapolis to Ulaanbataar, Mongolia?

I hope the crapper on that bus has a BIG waste storage tank... 😀

 

[Gumby]

Thank heavens most borderguards (TSA or otherwise) are nice, polite and don't listen to the voices in their heads 😀

Amen! .

 

[Frank Petronio]

I'd expect my local postal workers to be able to take down the TSA and SWAT teams. That would make a great reality show... Federal Worker Battles

 

[Pete B]

“if someone put gun powder inside this Rocket Blower, it can fly like a missile.”

I guess the problem here is the guy with the gunpowder. Perhaps he should be the priority. Put gunpowder in anything and it becomes a dangerous weapon. Next they'll be banning stewardesses from wearing underwear just in case someone put gunpowder in there...........mmmm, now wait a minute...
Pete

 

[pgk]

I have lots of entertaining stories about TSA but I have even more entertaining ones about airport security outside the USA.

We have our own share of security daftness here in the UK. A friend recently lost two short spanners, although exactly how a 3" spanner could have been used as a weapon more effectively than many 'legitimate' items is beyond me. Perhaps he could have unbolted the wings in flight?

I accept that there are rules and there is the interpretation of those rules and this is allied to the person involved, their behavior, etc., but there still appears to be little logic applied for much of the time. That said, some security staff ARE very clued up on equipment, especially the X-Ray people who surprise me by identifying some pretty obscure items.

 

[Rangefinderfreak]

You are all laughing at this, but consider it from our/europeans side: Everytime we come to US, we are questioned, look at this recent affair with the female Indian Diplomat, she was stripped nude and threated to jail because "Her visa was a fake"... Diplomat with diplomatic rights.. I have a frend, one of the most famous architecs in Finland wit a career "almost as prominent as Frank Gehry", his good friend. This finnish guy has been a frequent lecturer in universities in USA.. Everytime he arrives, he has this two hour interrogation by one of these morons: How are you financing your stay ?: I have a gold Amex... Where are you staying ? In the most prestigeous universities in USA and so on..
Finally he said: Don`t you have computers, check me in google or whatever, You are supposed to be the leading technology country in the world. When my collegues arrive in Helsinki airport and hand out their passport, the computer figures out in 30 seconds who they are, when they have been previously in Finland and also if they have an international criminal record...

 

[Uncle Fester]

So you cannot take a 16oz bottled warter past the TSA but once inside the bording area you can buy that same $1 bottle of water for $3.50, I think something more than security is at work here.

I'm so sick of flying that I'm seriously considering taking Greyhound for my next trip accross the country.

I took Greyhound cross country in 1981, Norfolk VA to San Francisco due to the Air Traffic Controller's strike. I'd recommend the train if possible as a much better alternative.

 

[Lauffray]

I took Greyhound cross country in 1981, Norfolk VA to San Francisco due to the Air Traffic Controller's strike. I'd recommend the train if possible as a much better alternative.

I have to say I really like taking trains, but here in North America we're not spoiled with a good railway network 🙁

 

[Lauffray]

You are all laughing at this, but consider it from our/europeans side: Everytime we come to US, we are questioned, look at this recent affair with the female Indian Diplomat, she was stripped nude and threated to jail because "Her visa was a fake"... Diplomat with diplomatic rights.. I have a frend, one of the most famous architecs in Finland wit a career "almost as prominent as Frank Gehry", his good friend. This finnish guy has been a frequent lecturer in universities in USA.. Everytime he arrives, he has this two hour interrogation by one of these morons: How are you financing your stay ?: I have a gold Amex... Where are you staying ? In the most prestigeous universities in USA and so on..
Finally he said: Don`t you have computers, check me in google or whatever, You are supposed to be the leading technology country in the world. When my collegues arrive in Helsinki airport and hand out their passport, the computer figures out in 30 seconds who they are, when they have been previously in Finland and also if they have an international criminal record...

Alright, let's take a breath. I think we can all agree that security guards, airport agents and such can be obtuse because their job requires them to follow orders and apply rules. You have a European passport ? fantastic my friend. Try travelling with another less desirable passport even to Europe, it's not all fairies and unicorns

Again, I've had it both smooth and rough dealing with airport agents all over the world, generalizations don't help anything

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

Edmund Burke (1729-1797): "those who don't know history are destined to repeat it"

Good old Edmund. If he'd been born forty years ago, instead of nearly three hundred, he'd have a successful blog, be tweeting five times an hour and quite probably have been kicked upstairs into the House of Lords, to keep him out of trouble.

I'm not so sure that 21st Century Burke would have been such a big fan of a TSA ridden US as the real one was of the unspoilt, eighteenth century colonials. He certainly wouldn't have liked a world where an MP's constituents expected him to do their bidding.

 

[Ronald M]

Clearly TSA are not rocket scientists in more ways than one.

I will never board another public flying cigar tube being the kind of person who will turn out a looser at the hands of TSA. They have God like powers, I have nothing.

 

[Zorkiiglaza]

I have had no trouble with mine. I have taken it on international flights for 2 years now in my carry on camera bag

 

[shootar401]

I used to have a job were I did a lot of traveling. I can't tell you the number of times some high school dropout - now TSA agent game me crap for something harmless in my bag. I swear you give someone with low self esteem a uniform and a little authority and they abuse it all they can.

I've gotten Letterman tools through TSA at the same time have had disposible razors confsicated. There is no rhyme or reason for why they do what they do. It's all about abuse of power.

Political correctness and the fear of racial profiling has gotten us in this situation.

 

[finguanzo]

This post lasted longer than I thought it would.. Impressive...

 

[Pablito]

wonder how much life this thread has left in it....