Are you ever the "one" going through secruity? Share your experiences.

[Deesknee]

I've done the unspeakable. Put regular bottles of hair stuff in my carry on. They were really nice, just apologized & threw it out. I understood, I was mad at myself, at $8 for a 6oz bottle. I should have remembered to pack it in the checked luggage. I don't think I've spent that much on hair stuff since. I'm way too thrifty.

But, my favorite time is when my young son was pulled out because of his belt buckle. They brought him into the special room. He was so frightened he did the spread-um position. Too funny.

Then there was the time a friend had leant me a special medallion for me to take for luck on a trip. Well, I didn't want to loose them, they were irreplacable to him. So... I tucked them in my bra. Yeah, VERY embarrassing. Thank goodness the woman who "wand" me, assumed it was because of an underwire. hehehe. My dh was laughing sooooo hard.

Then there was the time they pulled my family of 6 out of line for the random intense search. Well they told dh to put his head up. He did. They said put arms up. He put head down, & arms up. they said no put head up. So, he did, and put arms down. And so it went. This went on 'til finally the guy says, PLEASE put your head & arms up at the same time!!! hahahah pay back for the medallions in my brazeer. This is the same time they forgot to check the baby in the stroller! haha. So to make up for what a goof he was dh reminds them! AND we were running late as it was. I swear this could have been an Abbott and Costello scit. hehehe. Plus because husband is a smart alec, when he was being searched, he asked if he could have the woman. (who was busy searching me & middle age & chubby (just like me ). Thank goodness they both had a great sense of humor.

 

[maxiesmom]

I have been patted down twice. One time, it was just that I was the lucky one picked. No big deal, they just wanded me, and when they did touch me they explained what they were doing before they did it. As in "I'm going to touch your bra hook now".

The second time it was because I had a gum wrapper in my pocket.

 

[deegack]

I had a box of ornaments packed for me a DTD. I went through MCO security once, not realizing that due to renovations there was no place to get food at the terminal. So I went out of security and had to go back through. They made me unpack and unwrap every ornament.

 

[BDL]

Next time, agree with him instead of taking the bet.


Disney hints: http://www.cockam.com/disney.htm

I keep betting ih the vain hopes that just for once I would not set it off. And the victory will be twice as sweet.

 

[AlexDurrani]

Every time I go through the detectors, I'm ALWAYS asked "Please step to the side sir." I could be standing there in my boxers and for some reason set of the detector and even the wand. And I have no metal parts in my body.

In fact, it got to the point where, whenever I'd travel with my buddy, he's bet me $5 that I'd be pulled aside. Needless to say, I was buying him a Whopper in the airport food court every time.

I wouldn't be surprised if those machines are sensitive to the iron in our red blood cells. Now that is disturbing.

To answer previous poster's ? I don't know what a barrette is but I think I had some metal pin or something on my clothes.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

I am surprised the inhaler was questioned. I have never even thought about taking mine out, and I have never been questioned about it.

 

[dis-happy]

4. the time I had my ds's cat in tow. It took a bit of time to get her out of the carrier and then through the scanner in my arms, and then back into the carrier. At least the people behind me were howling with laughter at my plight. They figured they had a good chance of being on the local news that night when the crazy lady with the cat had to chase said cat around the airport because the cat jumped loose!! The cat didn't, and all ended happily.

My mom travels with her cat coast to coast 3-4 times per year (cat only flies first class of course!). One of her favorite inane TSA moments had to do with the TSA agent saying he needed to pat down the cat---and he needed to hold the cat himself to do it. My mom wasn't too thrilled but she handed over the cat, who promptly dug her claws into the TSA agent's neck. She tried hard to control her laughter as she watched the pinpricks of blood trickle down toward that white TSA shirt collar. Cat passed the pat-down and thankfully hasn't had that happen again.


As for me, I'm ALWAYS the sacrificial mom who gets pulled from the boarding line for a last minute past-down. I think they need to check off one in that category per flight and I'm usually it. Of course, there's the time they didn't check the diaper bag too carefully---my ds aged 5 at time had stuck his pocket knife in there. We passed through the x-ray machine, the extra pat down search and I never even knew about the pocket knife until the flight home when they finally caught it on the x-ray.

 

[twinklebug]

'Lady, what do you have in there...a wheel of cheese????'

2. then there was the time I was bringing my ds's coin collection to him. Security at Providence was boggled to say the least. That bag got pulled so fast it made my head spin. The TSA agent asked me what was inside the box. I told her it was a coin collection and I went to open it up. The woman yelled at me 'Don't touch that mam....step away from the belt..now!' Yikes..just tryiing to help here. That woman very carefully opened the box and then saw the coins..some loose, some rolled. Must have been the rolled coins that made her nervous.

Providence huh? I think we went through the same lady's line that you mentioned above with your DS's coins.

DS decided to bring his toy monorail with him back to disney. He crammed every stuffed animal he owned as well as the monorail into his carry on and of course that was the bag pulled by security since monorails must look like pipe bombs. The security woman called to us asking if the backpack was ours and that she had to go through it. As she started removing the stuffed animals they all began to pop out. I went to catch DS's favorite tattered bunny and she yelled "Don't touch that!" and smacked me on the hand so hard I swore she was holding a stick. I know she was only doing her job and I appreciate that, but her approach to doing her job was in a very nasty manner. I now try to look and see that the line we go through doesn't have her in it. Not sure if they'd allow me to switch lines if it did.

 

[Dax]

As someone who goes through security 5 days a week...I am the "one" a lot...We of course have an employee line, and we are also allowed liquids, because we are employees and not flying. I usually will pack a couple of cans of soda or something to keep at work...I get 2 pass throughs on the xray a lot until they double check I am an employee..

I also get put in "time out"..thats the little plexiglass box right behind the xrays at least 1x per week to be swabbed...I got put in the box a few weeks ago with a 9 and 4 yo...poor kids had NO CLUE why they were there...poor things..I tried my best to explain...

I have been patted down at security a few times...and if you think the security is tight INSIDE, you should see if we go off site in a vehicle and try to come back in...goodness...full wand down...

 

[MinnieVanMom]

We were leaving on our first trip from Disney with our DS who has autism. We live in a small town and the TSA at our airport took the time with DS. However at MCO it was a different story. I had a tight hold on DS but the TSA agent insisted DS go through the scanner first. I said no that he has autism and will run. She didn't listen and things were getting ugly with several other agents coming up. So I let him go through....yep you guessed it...he ran. DH was behind me and he ran through the scanner, it beeped but he kept after DS who was at a full run for the little "train". Police with guns were pulled as DH grabbed DS. I was yelling at the TSA for letting DS get away and we were all taken to the room.

Of course it was all our fault and we violated all the rules. I say shame on TSA for not having an understanding of all people they will encounter especially children that have autism and don't understand to stand on the other side.

 

[maxiesmom]

We were leaving on our first trip from Disney with our DS who has autism. We live in a small town and the TSA at our airport took the time with DS. However at MCO it was a different story. I had a tight hold on DS but the TSA agent insisted DS go through the scanner first. I said no that he has autism and will run. She didn't listen and things were getting ugly with several other agents coming up. So I let him go through....yep you guessed it...he ran. DH was behind me and he ran through the scanner, it beeped but he kept after DS who was at a full run for the little "train". Police with guns were pulled as DH grabbed DS. I was yelling at the TSA for letting DS get away and we were all taken to the room.

Of course it was all our fault and we violated all the rules. I say shame on TSA for not having an understanding of all people they will encounter especially children that have autism and don't understand to stand on the other side.

The TSA at Orlando are low on understanding. Our family of 6 was split into seperate lines going thru security. No problem except that 3 of us made it thru a bit before the other 3. We were then forced (yes forced!) to go board the tram to the other side of the airport, leaving the other 3 behind. They didn't care that we wanted to wait for the rest of our family. I'm just glad we had an adult in each line.

 

[seashoreCM]

We live in a small town and the TSA at our airport took the time with DS. However at MCO it was a different story. I had a tight hold on DS but the TSA agent insisted DS go through the scanner first. I said no that he has autism and will run. She didn't listen and things were getting ugly with several other agents coming up. So I let him go through....yep you guessed it...he ran. DH was behind me and he ran through the scanner, it beeped but he kept after DS who was at a full run for the little "train". Police with guns were pulled as DH grabbed DS. I was yelling at the TSA for letting DS get away and we were all taken to the room.

Of course it was all our fault and we violated all the rules. I say shame on TSA for not having an understanding of all people they will encounter especially children that have autism and don't understand to stand on the other side.

From what you said I heartily disagree that it was your fault. They caused the problem.

 

[clanmcculloch]

We were leaving on our first trip from Disney with our DS who has autism. We live in a small town and the TSA at our airport took the time with DS. However at MCO it was a different story. I had a tight hold on DS but the TSA agent insisted DS go through the scanner first. I said no that he has autism and will run. She didn't listen and things were getting ugly with several other agents coming up. So I let him go through....yep you guessed it...he ran. DH was behind me and he ran through the scanner, it beeped but he kept after DS who was at a full run for the little "train". Police with guns were pulled as DH grabbed DS. I was yelling at the TSA for letting DS get away and we were all taken to the room.

Of course it was all our fault and we violated all the rules. I say shame on TSA for not having an understanding of all people they will encounter especially children that have autism and don't understand to stand on the other side.

As a parent of an autistic child I can certainly sympathize. I'd like to suggest that next time your DH goes through first followed by your DS then you. Basically, sandwich him between you so somebody will be on either side of him to catch him should an attempt to bolt happen. If DH gets pulled for extra screening, ask if you can let others go by you in line until the extra screening is done. {{{HUGS}}}

 

[POOHsie]

I have a prosthetic leg and have to be hand-wanded. In Honolulu, they put me behind a curtained area and made me pull down my jeans so they could see my prosthetic, which goes up to my groin. It was humiliating sitting at airport security in just my undies!

 

[bumbershoot]

As a parent of an autistic child I can certainly sympathize. I'd like to suggest that next time your DH goes through first followed by your DS then you. Basically, sandwich him between you so somebody will be on either side of him to catch him should an attempt to bolt happen. If DH gets pulled for extra screening, ask if you can let others go by you in line until the extra screening is done. {{{HUGS}}}

Yep. That's what we do, when traveling altogether, ever since DS was old enough to walk through the metal detector.

To answer previous poster's ? I don't know what a barrette is but I think I had some metal pin or something on my clothes.

That'll teach me to not look at usernames. A barrette is a hair clip. In my case it was an inch long and very thin, and it was strange that it set the machine off. It never has again.

 

[2shortpeopleruleme]

When DH and I were on our way back from our visit trip with our baby Daughter in Guatemala in 2006 when we both got pulled. We had taken a bouncy seat for her and we put it together in the hotel room. We sent it back with her foster Mom. We totally forgotten that DH had brought a pocket screwdriver to put the thing together. In our heart break of leaving her behind it ended up in one of our carry-ons.

We were standing there telling them to just keep it, no problem, we don't it. It is a gut sinking feeling you get as you see the armed soldiers just beyond that check point 'notice' you. In the end they kept and we just kept our eyes down and walked as quickly as we could to the international gate!

She is now home This has become a story we tell almost every time we fly.

 

[honeymo78]

Here are a few of our airport "fun times." I love the bar soap they sell at the basin store at DTD and had purchased about 10 bars and put them in my carryon. Apparently 10 bars of soap can look suspiciously like a big liquid so I had to open it up and one woman said I would have to throw them away. After I explained to her and another woman that they were actually soap bars, they let me go. However one TSA agent really want my "monkey business" banana soap cause there was a little soap monkey shape inside it.

On returning from Jamaica, DH went through Jamaican security with a lighter in his pocket. He realized it was in there before getting on the plane and threw it out, however nothing was stopping him from bringing it on the plane. Later, when getting ready to board the plane, DH was pulled over for last minute carry on check. I had accidentally grabbed his carry on and he had mine. They wouldn't let me wait with him and i had to get on the plane, worried that he might not join me since it was taking him a long time. Apparently, my little sewing scissors nearly got confiscated (they barely cut thread and my moleskin patches, let alone could do more damage than a spoon). Dh argued with the security agent for about 10 minutes before they finally let him, and the scissors through.

 

[gunnert]

Every time I go through the TSA line they put me in the plastic box because of a replaced knee and the plates in my head, you should try to explain this to them.

 

[verticalchaos]

I was "that person" at MCO in February. I had flown out of LaGuardia (not my choice...I MUCHLY prefer JFK, but my parents bought the ticket) and we were specifically told that electronic readers like my nook could stay in our bags. I didn't think twice about leaving it in my bag at MCO because seriously, I figure they're going to be MORE strict in NYC, right? WRONG! The person screening stares yelling "Who left a dvd player in their bag?", which I ignored at first because I don't have a portable DVD player. She finally held up my bag and proceeded to yell about how I should have known if a computer had to come out it did too. I apologized and explained politely why I'd left it in and she just rolled her eyes and said "Well, here you have to take it out." Ok. Fine.

Now when I fly I ask the person checking ID/tickets what the policy on e-readers is today. Thankfully they've had a good sense of humor about it. One even said "It does get confusing how it changes doesn't it?" very sympathetically.

I remember when I was in 6th grade we went on a cruise over Spring Break. I'd just gotten braces and was TERRIFIED they would set the alarm off (WAY before 9/11 or either of the Gulf Wars) no matter what my parents and orthodontist said. So I went through the scanner with this big goofy, toothy grin on my face so the guard could see that I had braces and that's why I set the alarm off. Which I didn't. LOL. He did comment that he saw that a lot, so I wasn't the only neurotic, braces-wearing preteen he'd encountered.

 

[LisaCat]

Sunglasses?? Truly? What is suspect about sunglasses?? I always have a pair of sunglasses in my carryon bag..it's never been an issue before.
But....there have been times I have been 'the person'..and I did apologize to those behind me.
1. there was the time I refused to leave 3/4 of a birthday cake that I had paid $125 for at WDW for my dd's 13th birthday behind. The GF boxed it up beautifully, used about 8 handtowels to surround the cake so it wouldn't move around inside the box. This cake was about 10" across, and about 10" tall, with about 1/4 of the cake missing. I put the box into my carryon bag..fit perfectly. That bag went through the xray scanner, then it stopped, went back through, back and forth about 5 or 6 times. The TSA guy yelled over to a friend working an area about 10' away...'Hey, Bill....come over here and check this out!!!' They all stood there, peering at the screen...I am trying to find a crack to hide in. Finally, they say..'Lady, what do you have in there...a wheel of cheese????' They died laughing when I told them it was a birthday cake. Just let it go through then.

2. then there was the time I was bringing my ds's coin collection to him. Security at Providence was boggled to say the least. That bag got pulled so fast it made my head spin. The TSA agent asked me what was inside the box. I told her it was a coin collection and I went to open it up. The woman yelled at me 'Don't touch that mam....step away from the belt..now!' Yikes..just tryiing to help here. That woman very carefully opened the box and then saw the coins..some loose, some rolled. Must have been the rolled coins that made her nervous.

3. then there was the time a roll of quarters got stuck in the lining of my carryon bag....they had to empty my entire bag, trying to find what was setting the alarms off. And I had completely forgotten about those quarters.

4. the time I had my ds's cat in tow. It took a bit of time to get her out of the carrier and then through the scanner in my arms, and then back into the carrier. At least the people behind me were howling with laughter at my plight. They figured they had a good chance of being on the local news that night when the crazy lady with the cat had to chase said cat around the airport because the cat jumped loose!! The cat didn't, and all ended happily.

Yes, I apologized to those behind me on every occasion. The vast majority of people were fine and didn't seem to be too put out, but it was pretty embarrassing for me each time.

The cake cracks me up.....

I shudder at the thought of taking my cat on an airplane. Getting her OUT of the carrier would be INSANE. There would be NO PROBLEM getting her back in, as soon as we could get her out from under my skin where she would undoubtedly try and hide. She's a little paranoid. LOL

I squish pennies and trade pins. I almost ALWAYS get my bag pulled. I usually volunteer the info as they start staring at the screen. Sometimes, knowing what it is supposed to be is enough for them to recognize it. However I had my bag pulled for my TOOTHBRUSH once. Regular old Oral B in a plastic travel "tube" like they sell at Target and WalMart and everywhere else. Screener told me not to use those as they look suspicious on the xray. WTH?!