cigarette lighters... TSA gets their head out of their ass

[lil_freak]

Re: cigarette lighters... TSA gets their head out of their ass

I have had a pat down a few times. The longest it has taken, including waiting for them to come over to the pat down area, is about 5 minutes.

Good to hear, I'll plan an extra 30mins for myself then.

I had one at the airport in SLC, and let them do it in public. Had to drop my pants a bit and take off my belt. It took a few minutes. It took them more time to look over the items I put up for scanning than it did for them to search me.

I was told I could be searched in public or behind a screen. I'm going public, I figure it might be faster, besides I could care less if people want to stare at me.

The scanning part will be a problem for me, as most of my carry-on items can't be sent through an x-ray machine, so that should an interesting experience for me as well. I am adding an extra 30mins to my arrival time for this as well.

[punkrokk]

Re: cigarette lighters... TSA gets their head out of their ass

I think it's hilarious that they can't just lift the ban immediately. Instead we have to wait a month for them to communicate it.

What if tmrw item X was deemed a risk? I'm sure they'd have no problem banning that in days (hours)...

[jeremycec]

Re: cigarette lighters... TSA gets their head out of their ass

Today, the TSA turkeys at Norfolk, VA took away my Crest Whitening Expressions toothpaste. I had everything in a zip lock bag just like they asked. I had a 4.6 oz. bottle of this liquid-ish toothpaste that was less than half full. It had a transparent container such that you could easily see this. Here is roughly what transpired:

TSA twit: "This toothpaste is 4.6 oz."
Me: "No, it's not. Look at it; it's less than half full. It's only about 2 oz."
TSA twit: "We have to go by the size listed on the bottle. Heheh. We're not going to measure out the contents."
Me: "Yeah, but can't you use some common sense? What if there were no quantity listed on the bottle? Wouldn't you have to eyeball it then?"
TSA twit: "Sir, I'm not going to argue with you. Do you want to check your bag?"
Me: *Sigh* "You know, I have taken about 10 flights in the past two weeks with that same bottle of toothpaste, and you are the only one to give me hassle about it."
TSA twit: "Just doin' my job."

And they really think that--that not thinking is somehow accomplishing the job of security.

If they're so imprecise about measuring the contents of bottles, how did they arrive at that precise value of 3.4 oz. allowable for liquids anyway?

Also, why is baby formula allowed, but tooth paste is not? That seems rather random...

Oh well, I'm still fuming about my 2 oz. of toothpaste. GRRRR!

jcec

[KeLviN]

Re: cigarette lighters... TSA gets their head out of their ass

People seem to forget that the x-ray is good for detecting liquids, and the metal detector is good for finding... umm.... metal.

between 1 in 100 and 1 in 250 people are pat down. so things that are non-metal will be fine in your pockets (non bulky)





(edit: section removed because i dont want any body pointing their fingers at me when they get caught)