TSA Week at a glance

[TangoWhiskey]

At the bottom of the main TSA web page, you'll find a weekly summary:

• 10 passengers were arrested due to suspicious behavior or fraudulent travel documents
• 19 firearms found at checkpoints
• 3 artfully concealed prohibited items found at checkpoints
• 8 incidents that involved a checkpoint closure, terminal evacuation or sterile area breach

19 firearms in a WEEK? And 3 of the items "artfully concealed"? That's disconcerting.

 

[steingar]

Billions of dollars and I bet they haven't caught even one terrorist.

 

[mikea]

3 artfully concealed shampoo or wine bottles.

Sleep safe America.

OH, BTW, they aren't bragging about losing TSA uniforms? http://www.komonews.com/news/30931164.html

 

[TMetzinger]

At the bottom of the main TSA web page, you'll find a weekly summary:

• 10 passengers were arrested due to suspicious behavior or fraudulent travel documents
• 19 firearms found at checkpoints
• 3 artfully concealed prohibited items found at checkpoints
• 8 incidents that involved a checkpoint closure, terminal evacuation or sterile area breach

19 firearms in a WEEK? And 3 of the items "artfully concealed"? That's disconcerting.

I'd have to see how these statistics are derived - i.e. does something that closes a checkpoint and cause a terminal evacuation count as one incident or two?

Still - how do you find 19 firearms and not have 19 arrests? I thought merely bringing the weapon to the checkpoint was an offense.

 

[TangoWhiskey]

Still - how do you find 19 firearms and not have 19 arrests? I thought merely bringing the weapon to the checkpoint was an offense.

There were 12 arrests. Does that mean some of the folks had more than one weapon on them?!

 

[Richard]

There were 12 arrests. Does that mean some of the folks had more than one weapon on them?!

Why the EEK face? It's hunting season....

Once I had a bus line try to confiscate a case of rifles because I didn't have the correct tags on the case. (Actually, the case didn't have the correct NUMBER of tags.) Never mind it was properly checked and packed according to their own guidelines.

What bothers me is that people look down on people who have guns. You should be happy not EEK'd that some folks still exercise their right to arm bears.

 

[TangoWhiskey]

Why the EEK face? It's hunting season....

Once I had a bus line try to confiscate a case of rifles because I didn't have the correct tags on the case. (Actually, the case didn't have the correct NUMBER of tags.) Never mind it was properly checked and packed according to their own guidelines.

What bothers me is that people look down on people who have guns. You should be happy not EEK'd that some folks still exercise their right to arm bears.

I don't mind folks having guns! The was that they'd try to get them through airport security, intentionally or not.

 

[wsuffa]

At the bottom of the main TSA web page, you'll find a weekly summary:

• 10 passengers were arrested due to suspicious behavior or fraudulent travel documents
• 19 firearms found at checkpoints
• 3 artfully concealed prohibited items found at checkpoints
• 8 incidents that involved a checkpoint closure, terminal evacuation or sterile area breach

19 firearms in a WEEK? And 3 of the items "artfully concealed"? That's disconcerting.

Disconcerting? No, it's all spin. Remember that this is not adjudicated, it's just the TSA's assertion of what they believe. Sorta like the FAA folks that would write up finding 8 bent propellors (when they really were Qtip props).

What's more disturbing is the 8 terminal dumps that they did....

 

[sba55]

I think the TSA is really confused.

What they're really saying is that we spent billions of dollars to find a couple of firearms and not a single person who actually intended to use them on a plane. Isn't that the definition of utter failure? What other program costs so much and accomplishes so little?

If I were them, I'd certainly not go around and broadcast this. It's embarrassing....especially considering that more TSA employees were fired because they stole property than the number of illegal property lawfully confiscated.

-Felix

 

[mikea]

I think the TSA is really confused.

What they're really saying is that we spent billions of dollars to find a couple of firearms and not a single person who actually intended to use them on a plane. Isn't that the definition of utter failure? What other program costs so much and accomplishes so little?

If I were them, I'd certainly not go around and broadcast this. It's embarrassing....especially considering that more TSA employees were fired because they stole property than the number of illegal property lawfully confiscated.

I had that conversation with a coworker. The TSA proudly shows the barrels of stuff they take away from passengers, but NEVER, ever, ever mention that they caught a guy with it that was intending harm.

WHOOOOOOOOSH!
------------->
(-|-)

 

[sba55]

I had that conversation with a coworker. The TSA proudly shows the barrels of stuff they take away from passengers, but NEVER, ever, ever mention that they caught a guy with it that was intending harm.

WHOOOOOOOOSH!
------------->
(-|-)

Yeah. If I were them, I'd just make up more more stuff that I could confiscate to show that I'm doing something. Or maybe they could start showing how they successfully decreased the number of airline passengers and thus potential terrorists? Same thing, really - neither one is actually a benchmark for success, but just a distraction.

 

[SkyHog]

Sneakingl lighters onto airplanes is easy, and is the only illegal thing I sneak on. Just keep it in your pocket, and take off all other metal, and the detector will not beep on it.

Take that TSA

 

[sba55]

Sneakingl lighters onto airplanes is easy, and is the only illegal thing I sneak on. Just keep it in your pocket, and take off all other metal, and the detector will not beep on it.

Take that TSA

Oh no. I hope you don't plan to fly anytime soon

 

[mikea]

Sneakingl lighters onto airplanes is easy, and is the only illegal thing I sneak on. Just keep it in your pocket, and take off all other metal, and the detector will not beep on it.

Take that TSA

Oh no. I hope you don't plan to fly anytime soon

I'd hate to ruin Nick's fun, but I think lighters were unbanned by popular screaming of a few congresscritters....

As of August 4, 2007, in an effort to concentrate resources on detecting explosive threats, TSA will no longer ban common lighters in carry-on luggage. Torch lighters remain banned in carry-ons.

Lifting the lighter ban is consistent with TSA's risk-based approach to aviation security. First and foremost, lighters no longer pose a significant threat. Freeing security officers up from fishing for 22,000 lighters every day (the current number surrendered daily across the country) enables them to focus more on finding explosives, using behavior recognition, conducting random screening procedures and other measures that increase complexity in the system, deterring terrorists. The U.S. is the only country in the world to ban lighters – all other nations, including Israel and the U.K., do not.

You may not bring matches in your checked baggage because of safety regulations. You may, however, bring one book of safety (non-strike anywhere) matches in your carry-on baggage or on your person.

For safety reasons, you may not bring "strike anywhere" matches at all.
http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/assistant/editorial_multi_image_with_table_0099.shtm\

"Approved lighter container" What insanity.

Oh. updated. http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/sop/index.shtm

No reason to remove the old inaccurate information, either.

Note how they protected America from 11,616,217 terrist lighters in 2006 alone.

 

[TangoWhiskey]

That's really funny... I can bring a lighter on board, legally.... but not a bottle of water. (sigh)

 

[Everskyward]

but not a bottle of water. (sigh)

You can bring a bottle of water on board as long as you acquire it inside the security area.

 

[vontresc]

So to take the liquids thing to it's logical obsurd conclusion, would the TSA confiscate a catheter bag because it contains more than 2 ounces of liquid????

 

[steingar]

The guys who were purportedly going to stage the big liquid bombing were never convicted of anything. I'm wondering if this is just another BS stunt by our wonderful security services; there have been others. I still can't figure out any reasonable chemistry on how they were going to produce a bomb secretly aboard an airliner from liquid components.

 

[mikea]

So to take the liquids thing to it's logical obsurd conclusion, would the TSA confiscate a catheter bag because it contains more than 2 ounces of liquid????

Medical equipment and medicines are exempt*, but the rules have to pass by the functional illiterate that has full discretion to make up any stupid personal call on the spot.

* I've heard that the prescription bottle better have a full label in your name, even if it's not a liquid. They'll look and see if it's worth stealing.

 

[ScottM]

So to take the liquids thing to it's logical obsurd conclusion, would the TSA confiscate a catheter bag because it contains more than 2 ounces of liquid????

You can have up to 3oz, 100ml on international flights. But medical and medicines are exempt if you have the prescription types. Cannot bring that 40oz bottle of NyghtAll on board.

The whole 3oz thing is so stupid. I can bring a quart bag will with little jar each with 3oz of fluid. So I in reality can bring almost a quart of liquid. If I get a friend or two to be conspirators we can get all kind sof large quantities of stuff on board.

What is even more interesting and fun to think about is if 3.1oz of a fluid is dangerous. Then when the TSA confiscates it and throws it into the trash, is not that trash respepticle really a hazardous waste depository? Should that stuff just be thrown into the landfill, shouldn't it only be handled by trained hazmat experts?

 

[Ken Ibold]

Coming back from Germany my carryon got flagged twice -- in Frankfurt and after clearing Customs at Dulles. In DC they wiped down the inside of the backpack with a piece of cloth and put the sample pad into a scanner, since some of my contents were showing up as explosives. They were a couple of decorative candles. They were deemed OK after a simple visual inspection that did not include feeling them or opening the packaging at all.

Another time I got stopped for having two jars of "Better than Bullion" in my carryon. Ain't liquid. Ain't gel. Ain't on the list. But still a no-no. I was given the choice to throw it away or return it to my car. Heaven knows we can't have the terrorists making soup!

 

[ScottM]

Coming back from Germany my carryon got flagged twice -- in Frankfurt and after clearing Customs at Dulles. In DC they wiped down the inside of the backpack with a piece of cloth and put the sample pad into a scanner, since some of my contents were showing up as explosives. They were a couple of decorative candles. They were deemed OK after a simple visual inspection that did not include feeling them or opening the packaging at all.

Another time I got stopped for having two jars of "Better than Bullion" in my carryon. Ain't liquid. Ain't gel. Ain't on the list. But still a no-no. I was given the choice to throw it away or return it to my car. Heaven knows we can't have the terrorists making soup!

my scuba gear bag gets flagged all the time for special explosives screening. I was talking to a TSA agent about it once and he is a diver. He told me that one of the chems they look for is urea......Well there are two types of divers. Those that have pee'ed in their wetsuits and those that lie about it

 

[mikea]

my scuba gear bag gets flagged all the time for special explosives screening. I was talking to a TSA agent about it once and he is a diver. He told me that one of the chems they look for is urea......Well there are two types of divers. Those that have pee'ed in their wetsuits and those that lie about it

EEEEEKK! OVERSHARE!!!!

 

[steingar]

TMI!!​

 

[gkainz]

why do they call it a wet suit if you're not supposed to "wet it"?

 

[ScottM]

why do they call it a wet suit if you're not supposed to "wet it"?

See Greg gets it!

 

[rottydaddy]

Disconcerting? No, it's all spin. Remember that this is not adjudicated, it's just the TSA's assertion of what they believe. Sorta like the FAA folks that would write up finding 8 bent propellors (when they really were Qtip props).

Or if they wrote up damaged pitot tubes on airliners at gates when in fact the TSA had been climbing on them...

 

[rottydaddy]

Well there are two types of divers. Those that have pee'ed in their wetsuits and those that lie about it

LOL- first time I ever wore a wetsuit, borrowed for an impromptu late-season surfing lesson, my friend must've read something in my face as we sat on our boards in the cold water waiting for a set... she just said "it's okay, just pee if you have to..."

 

[wsuffa]

I had that conversation with a coworker. The TSA proudly shows the barrels of stuff they take away from passengers, but NEVER, ever, ever mention that they caught a guy with it that was intending harm.

Think about this: TSA claims all liquids may be dangerous, may be explosives, and therefore they confiscate them. Where do they put them? They throw 'em in a giant trash barrel.

That tells me that either one of two things are true: 1) the liquids are, in fact, not dangerous, or 2) that TSA is outright violating hazmat laws and endangering the lives of everyone at an airport (if that barrel is full of explosive material, it's going to cause a HUGE problem....).

They are so full of it their eyes are turning brown.

Coming back from Germany my carryon got flagged twice -- in Frankfurt and after clearing Customs at Dulles. In DC they wiped down the inside of the backpack with a piece of cloth and put the sample pad into a scanner, since some of my contents were showing up as explosives. They were a couple of decorative candles. They were deemed OK after a simple visual inspection that did not include feeling them or opening the packaging at all.

Another time I got stopped for having two jars of "Better than Bullion" in my carryon. Ain't liquid. Ain't gel. Ain't on the list. But still a no-no. I was given the choice to throw it away or return it to my car. Heaven knows we can't have the terrorists making soup!

Ken, I've had chocolate, fudge, and fine crystal checked-out by the TSA as they claim it shows up as "explosive". In the first two cases I assumed they were hungry. For the crystal, they wanted me to put it in a checked bag (uh huh, so your associate can steal it... I DON'T THINK SO), it took a little escalation, but I got to carry that on.

 

[fgcason]

[*]10 passengers were arrested due to suspicious behavior or fraudulent travel documents
[*]19 firearms found at checkpoints
[*]3 artfully concealed prohibited items found at checkpoints
[*]8 incidents that involved a checkpoint closure, terminal evacuation or sterile area breach

Based on my 2 months as a preboard screener way back in college one summer that plus a lot more sounds like a routine ho hum week at a major airport. Woopie puppy poo.

Artfully concealed? Probably more like "just threw something totally harmless in the bag with some other stuff" and it looked weird on the xray machine.

The was that they'd try to get them through airport security, intentionally or not.

Cattle are just plain stupid. Guns range from, "oh #$*& I'm a federal agent on official business and forgot and should know better" (those guys are usually hilarious between the time they screw up and realize it until someone finds the cannon) to "but I just got off another flight with it in my bag" to nobody is capable of being that dumb.

The best you've got to be kidding me incident: A guy walks up to the xray machine before entering the terminal and says "I checked a gun in my checked baggage at the counter over there when I got my ticket." Ok sure whatever dude that's why you do it over there. The gun isn't coming in here right? Yes. Great. Everybody is happy. So he puts his bag on the belt and a few seconds later the xray person stops the belt and stomps the alarm for the police. Turns out he got his ticket and hung onto his bag because he wanted to get a book out while eating at the snack bar inside security. He KNEW the hand cannon was in his posession and thought by telling security that everything would be ok. Sheesh. The guy was completely harmless but they ended up detaining him long enough to miss his flight many hours later just because he was so dumb.

In two months I obtained a staggering amount of amusing yet incredibly stupid cattle stories.


When I fly internationally in a couple years, I'm seriously thinking about departing and arriving through Canada or Mexico just to avoid some of the unreasonably silly games that I hear about nowadays.

 

[Anthony]

why do they call it a wet suit if you're not supposed to "wet it"?

Greg,

That reminds me of something. Many years ago I had a pipe break in the basement of my house. Water everywhere. I ran down and saw my dive bag with my SCUBA gear in it and yelled to my stepson. "Don't let my dive gear and wetsuit get wet!!!"

I then thought about it and laughed. Of all the things in the basement that's the one bag whose contents was DESIGNED to get wet!

To keep this on topic, I have lost more of those little keychain multitools to the TSA. You know those little Leathermen Squirts?

 

[mikea]

Or if they wrote up damaged pitot tubes on airliners at gates when in fact the TSA had been climbing on them...

Wel, actually, they wrote up Midwest because the "highly trained" weeks on the job TSA inspector was able to enter the cockpit (FROM THE TSA-SECURED TARMAC) by climbing up on and possibly damaging the port.

It was a case of battling press releases once Midwest showed they had security camera footage of the goof.

 

[Ghery]

So to take the liquids thing to it's logical obsurd conclusion, would the TSA confiscate a catheter bag because it contains more than 2 ounces of liquid????

I wondered about that, but I got rid of the catheter before I had to travel again. Thank goodness!