TSA

Since 911, Airport security has been heighted to no end. All their work is in an effort to keep us safe while flying to our desired destinations. Personally, I recognize and value their labors. After all, they are there to make traveling safe for everyone. Many times, they get a bad rap because of what they have to do to keep us safe. The reality is that they have to be right every time while a terrorist only has to be right once. We should all do well to remember this while traveling.

Anyway, I thought I would pass along my interactions both going to LA and returning from LA with the TSA screening process.

Traveling out Saturday morning, we get to the air port early and checked our bags. Then, we headed for security.

They checked our boarding passes and my id. I let my daughters go through the screening procedures first so if there are any issues, I could help them. Well, we make it through to the other side and the TSA agent is standing there with one of my daughter's back packs. Each of them packed their own back pack so they would have some stuff to pass the time while on the flight out to LA. He asked me if the back pack contained anything sharp. This particular back pack belonged to my middle daughter. I look at her and she shakes her head. He then asked if it has a note book computer. I say no. She doesn't even own a note book computer. He pulls everything out of the back pack. Nothing but her itouch is in the bag. He then looks very puzzled. He goes back to the guy scanning the carry-ons and then comes back with my oldest daughter's bag. He asked if he can go through it. Sure, I say. We have nothing to hide. He searches through it and finds her notebook computer. Heck, I didn't even know she was taking it. And, I didn't even think to ask her. He takes her bag and the computer and runs them through the screening again. No more issues. We pack our stuff and head to the gate.

But on the flight out, this started me thinking; how many times do they pick up and examine the wrong bag. They find nothing and let the person or persons proceed through security. Maybe this one time was just a fluke. They caught my daughter having her computer in her bag. Maybe what puzzled me even more was they said nothing about my back pack. Because inside of it, I had an iPad, iPod, cell phone, a camera, and more plugs and cords than I know what to do with. I can only image what it must have looked like on the x-ray machine. Yet, it passed through without complaint. Leaves me to wonder what prompts them to check certain bags while letting others pass through. And are they only looking for the obvious rather than the unexpected.

Well, a little over a week has passed and our vacation is over. We again attempt to run the gauntlet called TSA security for our returning flight home.

We head in to the screening area at LAX. After checking our boarding passes, they direct us through to a separate screening area just for families. Honestly, I didn't complain since the normal screening line was quite long and the family screening line looked rather short.

Same procedure as before, I send my daughters through first. But this time, we know better and take out her notebook computer. This is one less thing to cause us to be singled out. I step through and I am immediately told that I have been "randomly" selected for additional screening. There goes the speedy family line. After waiting for what seems like forever, a TSA agent comes up to me and tells me that I need to tested explosives. I am suddenly left thinking that putting gas in the rental car before returning it might have been a bad idea. I have no idea what their test will find so I might just end up in jail because there might be residue of gas on my hands. Within a few minutes, she comes back tells me that I passed and can go. Time to wipe the sweat from my forehead has finally arrived or so I thought. I walk down to where my daughters were waiting and find another TSA agent waiting for me.

What now?

She tells me that my daughter's bag needs to be checked and tested for explosives.

Since my daughter isn't 18, they have to ask my permission first. Yes, they do ask for permission but somehow I don't get the impression that they are really asking me but telling me they are going to check my daughter's bag if you know what I mean.

So they started pulling the stuff out of her bag. They get down to the bottom and find this rock which is probably 3 inches by the 3 inches. We had been to the beach earlier in the week and my daughter found this nice black shiny rock that she wanted to take home. As most any dad would do, I told okay but stick it in your checked bag. Either she wasn't listening or didn't understand, but she put in the carry on. The TSA pulls out the rock and I try to explain that my daughter picked it up on the beach and wanted to take it home. I guess my excuse sounded just dumb enough to be believable because she tested it for explosives and then let us put it back in the bag. I was almost sure that she would either confiscate it or make us throw it in the trash.

As we walked to the gate, I was left to ponder. They have a sign saying that you cannot bring scissors, knives, guns, or explosives on to the plane. Not that I can think of a good reason to carry on any of these items on to a plane, but maybe they should think about adding rocks to their list. One can never be too safe.

On a side note about pat-downs, the news carries lots of reports about people not taking well to the TSA pat-down process. While I wasn't patted-down during my screen process, I did witness a woman being patted-down. First, the TSA agent offered to do the pat-down in private, but the woman agreed to do it right there in the screening area. But why they singled her out, I don't really know. She was wearing this short tight dress. If she was hiding anything, I have no idea where. They brought over this female TSA agent to do the pat-down. With each step the TSA agent told the woman where she would be touching her and how she would be touching her. I thought the pat-down was pretty aggressive but then what do I know about pat-downs. The whole process took maybe 90 seconds. Then, they checked the woman's hands and luggage for explosive reside. Everything came up clean and she was free to continue on her trip. Interesting process and I am glad it wasn't me.

 

Sharing one thought at time,

The Cool Down Runner