Positive TSA experience

abqtj

abqtj

Pre-takeoff checklist
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abqtj
I know it's easy to bag on the TSA, but I had a great encounter this past week.

Flying to DAL Monday for work meetings. That AM I go through my backpack to make sure nothing that isn't supposed to be there is in it.

Get to the airport, check in at ticket counter, then to security. Head through the body X-ray and on the other side my backpack isn't there. Um what?

I ask an agent and he gets word from another that my backpack needs secondary screening. OK, no biggie. Pulls me aside and does the whole drill, can't touch bag while he's searching etc.

Instantly pulls out my Leatherman! CRAP! I missed it buried in a pocket.

Gets serious and explains big fines, have to leave it behind, etc. I apologize, tell him I know better and even checked my bag but must have missed it.

Then, he asks me how long until my flight. I still had about 75 minutes, so he said he would walk me and my backpack out so I could go back to the ticket counter and put the Leatherman in my luggage to check it through.

WHAT A SAINT!

Rush to the ticket counter, get up there and explain what's going on. Of course she said they aren't supposed to get our bags back for us, but I could check my backpack. Ugh,...I guess so. But them she changes her tune. She said "Weren't you just here to check in?" yup, like 7 minutes ago. So she said again, not supposed to but she'll see if my bag is still back there.

it was, let me put the Leatherman in it, and all was right in the world :)


So kudos to the TSA agent and to the SWA ticket counter agent for helping me out when they really didn't have to. 100% my fault, but there's some good people in the world.



tl;dr

Dummy left a Leatherman in his backpack, TSA let him put it in his luggage instead of tossing it in the trash.
 
I don't know if location matters but the TSA agents at San Antonio seem unusually nice. They actually smile and say have a nice day and stuff like that.
 
Before TSA you could walk through with that leatherman without a problem. But yes, it was nice of them to help you out. They just enforce the rules.
 
UngaWunga said:
Before TSA you could walk through with that leatherman without a problem. But yes, it was nice of them to help you out. They just enforce the rules.
Click to expand...

Which is why we have the TSA today. Every leatherman I have ever had came with a decent size blade. Much worse than the box cutters used on 9/11
 
I watched a TSA guy try to convince two kids that going through the metal detector it would give them a big shock. It was in Kotzebue, AK and there was only one security line, and the line had stalled because they had not opened the door letting passengers out across the ramp to the plane yet.

The two kids, about 6 and 8 I would guess, weren't really buying the idea that the machine would give you a shock, but were not going to go through easily. Dad didn't help anything buy faking a strong shock as he went through. Mom finally convinced them that running through would be the best idea, so when it was time the older one ran through and tripped on the bottom of the machine and fell flat on the floor. That convinced the youngest one that going through was not going to be a good experience, so he let out a blood curdling scream as he ran through, then started laughing when he realized nothing happened.
 
I know of a guy who forgot he had a 9mm handgun in his backpack carry-on. TSA never noticed.
 
My local TSA always offers people to bring stuff back outside to put in their checked bag (or they can choose to surrender it). Including gun magazines. They're not as bad as people make them out to be.
 
KaiGywer said:
My local TSA always offers people to bring stuff back outside to put in their checked bag (or they can choose to surrender it). Including gun magazines. They're not as bad as people make them out to be.
Click to expand...

I won't go quite that far but I will say that the airlines are now a bigger contributor to the misery of commercial flight. Having a known traveler number has made things a little bit better at the security line.
 
The TSA has a tough job and they are an easy lightening rod for ****ed off folks and late night comics. They have always been very good in the way they have handled my autisic son when he traveled.
 
abqtj said:
I know it's easy to bag on the TSA, but I had a great encounter this past week.

Flying to DAL Monday for work meetings. That AM I go through my backpack to make sure nothing that isn't supposed to be there is in it.

Get to the airport, check in at ticket counter, then to security. Head through the body X-ray and on the other side my backpack isn't there. Um what?

I ask an agent and he gets word from another that my backpack needs secondary screening. OK, no biggie. Pulls me aside and does the whole drill, can't touch bag while he's searching etc.

Instantly pulls out my Leatherman! CRAP! I missed it buried in a pocket.

Gets serious and explains big fines, have to leave it behind, etc. I apologize, tell him I know better and even checked my bag but must have missed it.

Then, he asks me how long until my flight. I still had about 75 minutes, so he said he would walk me and my backpack out so I could go back to the ticket counter and put the Leatherman in my luggage to check it through.

WHAT A SAINT!

Rush to the ticket counter, get up there and explain what's going on. Of course she said they aren't supposed to get our bags back for us, but I could check my backpack. Ugh,...I guess so. But them she changes her tune. She said "Weren't you just here to check in?" yup, like 7 minutes ago. So she said again, not supposed to but she'll see if my bag is still back there.

it was, let me put the Leatherman in it, and all was right in the world :)


So kudos to the TSA agent and to the SWA ticket counter agent for helping me out when they really didn't have to. 100% my fault, but there's some good people in the world.



tl;dr

Dummy left a Leatherman in his backpack, TSA let him put it in his luggage instead of tossing it in the trash.
Click to expand...


First off I think in general the TSA do a swell job in a thankless task, and personally have never had a bad experience with US TSA, although have lost some nice things to security at non US airports.

But.

This post is a good example of Stockholm Syndrome, grateful that someone acted human and applied common sense, which has become rare, whereas in our pre-Stockhom days we expected it. Now we are pathetically grateful when they throw us a bone. Hope this is not taken as a snub or attack, but ask yourself, when did we start being grateful when these people treated us as humans?
 
35 AoA said:
I know of a guy who forgot he had a 9mm handgun in his backpack carry-on. TSA never noticed.
Click to expand...
That just reminded me of a sailor that took a loaded 9MM through the security checkpoint at the shipyard…..then, upon realizing he still had it in his bag, he walks back through security and pulls out the weapon to mock the security guards 'hey you guys missed this one!' That was a fun duty day….
 
Just ask TSA how many terrorists they've caught since being formed. What a useless waste of taxpayer money. Glad you were able to go back and put your Leatherman in your checked bag. That's something I carry in my flight bag and would totally forget about if I were taking it on a commercial flight.
 
hankrausch said:
This post is a good example of Stockholm Syndrome, grateful that someone acted human and applied common sense, which has become rare, whereas in our pre-Stockhom days we expected it. Now we are pathetically grateful when they throw us a bone. Hope this is not taken as a snub or attack, but ask yourself, when did we start being grateful when these people treated us as humans?
Click to expand...
Exactly - Stockholm Syndrome. There is no credible evidence that the TSA has or will stop terrorist attacks yet costs nearly $8 billion per year all the while engaged in arguably illegal searches and seizures.
 
My apologies for trying to post a positive story. Won’t happen again.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
abqtj said:
My apologies for trying to post a positive story. Won’t happen again.
Click to expand...

Let that be a lesson!

...in reality unfortunately as a frequent flyer myself your story is the exception and not then norm which is a sad state of the cluster that has been created in the name of security theater.
 
abqtj said:
My apologies for trying to post a positive story. Won’t happen again.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I apologize you are quite correct it is a nice positive story! I do have that feeling too when someone shows some kindness that you did not expect. I was overcome by a wave of sadness reading you post realizing how far we had fallen but that should not diminish the good that is out there. Again, sorry!
 
PeterNSteinmetz said:
Exactly - Stockholm Syndrome. There is no credible evidence that the TSA has or will stop terrorist attacks yet costs nearly $8 billion per year all the while engaged in arguably illegal searches and seizures.
Click to expand...

Curious how much was spent on airport security with the mish mash we had prior to the TSA. For the most part they're doing the same job, albeit with some rather heavy handed tactics at times and new policies of what can and cannot be brought aboard that seem onerous.

When 9/11 occurred, the president basically said that if we change our lives because of those attacks that the terrorist will have won. Based on the TSA and many of the knee jerk policies that have come out (shoes, liquids, small knives, pat downs, etc.), the terrorists have won handily.
 
There have been a few "sting" operations to assess the efficacy of the TSA and they're screening process. Something on the order of 95% of the stuff they're supposed to intercept makes it through. If you look at their website they've confiscated everything you can imagine but have never actually stopped an actual terrorist. Your tax dollars at work.
 
I don't think we know whether the TSA has stopped any terrorists, because there doesn't seem to be any way of knowing how many terrorists have been deterred from making the attempt.
 
I think it is all just a plot to make you leave your less expensive beverages outside do you have to buy the high dollar ones inside.
 
Palmpilot said:
I don't think we know whether the TSA has stopped any terrorists, because there doesn't seem to be any way of knowing how many terrorists have been deterred from making the attempt.
Click to expand...
We know fer certain that at least one terrorist wasn’t stopped...
 
Palmpilot said:
I don't think we know whether the TSA has stopped any terrorists, because there doesn't seem to be any way of knowing how many terrorists have been deterred from making the attempt.
Click to expand...

One can look at the rates of such attacks before and after formation of the TSA. These are very rare events, but based on that data, no evidence of a change in rate due to the TSA.

One can also examine how easy it is to imagine ways to defeat the TSA screening. It is easy and there are many, so again, no reason to think the TSA procedures work.
 
Yeah, the TSA has a terrible rate of actually catching the items that get run through during random testing. It's security theater at it's finest, and they likely haven't prevented much of anything.

That being said, the front line guys usually aren't the problem, they're just enforcing the rules they are provided with. As a frequent flier (fly at least one commercial flight per month for the past 5 years), I can only think of one or two times when the experience was anything but pleasant. When it was unpleasant, was usually just when a second screening is needed and they're already backed up with secondary screenings. I've never had the TSA personnel be unpleasant to me. I do use TSA Pre-Check, so that speeds up the process considerably.
 
SkyDog58 said:
I think it is all just a plot to make you leave your less expensive beverages outside do you have to buy the high dollar ones inside.
Click to expand...
That’s what Jerry Seinfeld says too. He thinks the entire aviation industry is just a front to sell $28 tunafish sandwiches.
 
Palmpilot said:
Can you provide that data?
Click to expand...
Yup. I think many here speak out their butt about this.
There is no way to know what deterrence the TSA may have, other than no major attacks since 9/11.
 
My doctor is not a small guy and his finger is smaller than whatever the TSA used to ram up my
 
Kritchlow said:
Yup. I think many here speak out their butt about this.
There is no way to know what deterrence the TSA may have, other than no major attacks since 9/11.
Click to expand...

Seems to me that passengers have deterred more terrorists since 9/11 than the TSA.
 
Sure, there have been 4 incidents where non-crew members destroyed a plane in flight departing from a US airport since 1961. They were in 1961, 1962, 1987 and 2001. So if you work out the rate of such attacks before the TSA (including the 2001 attacks), that is 4 per 40 years, or about 1 per 10 years.

Given that frequency, it is not that improbable that 16 years might elapse without such an attack. (One can work that out more precisely of course, but I think one can see that it is not that unlikely for 1.6 10 year periods to go by without an attack when one only expects 1 per 10 year period).

Thus the argument that the TSA works since there have been no attacks since 2001 is, statistically speaking, invalid.

Given the lack of good evidence that the TSA works, and plenty of other evidence to suggest their procedures are not effective, spending $8.1 billion per year on this "security theatre" seems a very severe mis-allocation of resources. If one wants to spend that kind of money on saving lives, there are likely 100X more effective ways to spend it.
 
I was traveling to New York and was checking my rifle when TSA said that I needed two locks on it instead of the one I had. Apparently the rules had changed as I had used one lock for a long time. They didn't have any for sale at the airport that were large enough to fit the case. The TSA agent took me back to his locker and took his personal lock off the door and handed it to me. I asked how much I owed him and he said "nothing, have a nice trip." I don't carry cash but that day I had $6 in my wallet for some reason, I gave it to him and thanked him for his hospitality and saving my trip.
 
Anymouse said:
Can you work that out with mere hijackings?
Click to expand...

A good question. I’ve been meaning to go through and classify incidents along these lines and compare with total passenger miles. However, given other issues presently, I would anticipate at least 6 months before I could do that.
 
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