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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
When I was leaving a conference at Spokane Airport, flying out with exactly the same items that I flew in from Seattle with three days earlier, they freaked out on my toiletries and threw about $50 or so of products away or suggested that I check my bags if I wanted to keep it. That would have been a long walk. When they took the stuff, they rescanned my bag, but, separated contents so that I would not be able to see both my bag and the items left out of the bag. I had jewelry in the bag. I yelled at them to stop and informed them that I believe I have a right to have my belonging all where I can see them at one time. Actually, I don't know if that is true under TSA rules but I said it with enough authority that they went back, replaced the items before they rescanned my bag. The fellow who did this to me looked like a thug you might meet at an AA meeting after having spent a huge chunk of his life hanging out in dirt bag bottom shelf bars.
Honestly, I can't imagine how they could make such a big deal out of a couple of tubes of off the shelf brand shampoo, conditioner and a can of hairspray. I am a short woman who looks like she is somebody's grandmother. Yeah, they really are using our resources to catch terrorists.
I've been given the go over and had my briefcase and computer handled by people who had all the personality of the working end of a shovel. Whatever the theory is for who they decide to look at further, it doesn't make sense in my experience to harass passengers instead of actually developing some level of discernment about the actual source of danger. They sure don't make me feel safer.
Wow, I've never jumped into the pilot's thread before, it feels strange but...I just got back from vacation! And actually, nothing terrible happened this time, in fact, I stupidly "snuck" some items through screening that, exactly a year ago, at the same airports, got taken away from me, when I forgot they were in my bag, and thrown away. (Stupidly expensive sunscreen and hair conditioner. The truth hurts, but it matters.)
Rather than feeling relieved, I felt just insanely irritated. The inconsistency is part of what's so abusive, but also, it's just the abuse! Even though nothing was taken away this time, it was the indignity of, at one airport, take off the shirt you have over your tanktop, at the other, the shirt is fine; and yes, overall, it's just the indignity of people pushing you around, because they can. Like others on this thread, I looked at people rushing their jackets into bins after being barked at, and chiding their children for not taking off their watches, and thought, Are we sheeple?
Sigh. Thanks, Patrick!
Several years ago, screeners confiscated a tiny wrench that was on my keychain, which I used to tune my drum head. It was about 3 inches long -- about the most inoffensive item you could imagine.
'No tools.'
'Come on, it isn't a hammer, it's just a tiny wrench. It's a KEY CHAIN for christsakes.'
'No tools.'
'What possible neferious use could I put this to? Am I going to disassemble the plane in midair with one 1/2" wrench?'
Suspicious look.
'No tools.'
I won't even bother renewing my US visa (visum?) anymore.
Bad enough here in Australia, but they are just trying to get up there with the US.
And isn't it strange, the crappier the country, the harder it is to get into!
Top countries:
Canada = straight in, passport only.
Scandinavian countries = straight in, passport only.
Western Europe = straight in, passport only.
Shit countries:
Australia = visa plus hassles, fill in forms and other.
USA = visa plus hassles.
TSA, taking your shoes off, cabin crew acting like Basic Training Sergeants, the stories of tarmac waits of 1 hr plus, luggage restrictions.........the possibility of not being allowed on a plane (common name).... Ad nausum.....
Another concern is that airline personal such as pilots & maintenance crew & traffic controllers are pushed beyond reasonable limits.
......we haven't flown since Sept 10 2001. We now fear the Bush administration and the above stupidity, more than OBL. As has been observed by others, Osama is sitting in his reinforced cave/mud hut, cackling with laughter. The neo-cons were conned by Osama & Sadam, who knew how to play poker better than Cheney.
Hope that the coming change in administrations will eventually stop some of this nonsense! VOTE for OBAMA!!!
I once had a 5 mm allen wrench confiscated by airline security. They offered to let me take it back to the check-in counter and put it in my luggage but I figured these folks are on the front lines. You never know when they may need that little baby to fight terrorists.
I was on a recent flight. I had to get my laptop out of its bag. The TSA wanker picks it up, dropped it (by accident) and broke the wireless card. She picked it back up and threw it on the conveyor without a word of apology.
I was in Dallas when they put in the full-body scanners. Who needs porn when you get to see real people naked?? They don't have gender-segregated lines, so male TSA are watching naked women come through the line. What a job for a perv!
The TSA is incredibly reactionary. We don't have a coherent policy on flight safety; we just have a series of rules based on past happenings. Lockerbie -- take out your electronics. Shoe bomb -- take off your shoes, etc. So of course, it's arbitrary and silly. If we ever get a rational being in charge of Homeland Security, perhaps they could come up with a policy that would make sense to the airlines and the public.
Just wanted to join the bitch fest and share.
Ultimately the best way to pressure the airlines, and therefor the TSA, is to stop flying unless you really need to. If they are smart enough to run billion-dollar businesses, they should be able to figure out that people don't appreciated being treated like cattle.
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