Man, I hate being made to look like an idiot!!!

[goofy4tink]

Okay...here's the scenario. My step-mother and I are getting ready to head to the airport yesterday morning. I look at the plastic bag of 'stuff' in her handbag. It's got all sorts of creams, lotions and lipsticks in there.....all stuff that should be in that magical quart sized baggie. So, I tell her to get me one and I'll put it all in...such a good little transportation person I am!!! She tells me that she has never done that...ever. All her stuff goes in a gallon baggie and into her pocketbook...in that baggie just in case something opens up. I tell her that's impossible...TSA will not let that go by. So, I load up the quart sized baggie.
Then....I look inside the plastic shopping bag thing she has loaded up with our 'lunch'....God forbid we go anywhere without food. Peanut butter sandwiches, animal crackers and cups of mandarin oranges...those little individual size ones all full of liquid. I tell her those aren't going through either. Oh, but they will, she says. She does it (again) all the time.

So, step-mother decides that she wants a wheelchair at the airport..her back is just too bad to walk to the gate. So, we reserve one. (by the way...I don't think she needed one). The guy comes with the wheelchair, loads her up, with her carryon bags on her lap and off we go, thru the crew/employee line at security. Of course, all the other lines are really short as well. (and this is the reason she wanted the wheelchair..they get you thru security faster!!!) I put my stuff on the belt, shoes and sweatshirt in a bin, with quart baggie on top. Backpack goes behind it. Oh no...that isn't working for the guy with the wheelchair. When I get done with the scanner, I see that all our stuff has been piles into/onto one bin. That damn thing must be about a foot tall!!! And nothing was questioned in any of her bags!!! Seriously????

I just couldn't believe that those mandarin cups went through, with no issues at all!!! They should have caused things to come to a standstill, taken out, and removed. But no.....that didn't happen. And as we got to the gate my step-mother looks at me and says...'See, you don't know everything. I knew they would go through just fine!!'' Looked like an idiot. Thanks TSA!!

 

[davedmaine]

So, step-mother decides that she wants a wheelchair at the airport..(by the way...I don't think she needed one).

Line of the day..

 

[Brian Noble]

Sometimes Security Theater is Off-Off-Off Broadway...

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

She will be caught one day. Be glad she wasn't when you were traveling with her; I'm betting she'll cause quite a scene. Better not to be around!

 

[keishashadow]

OP TSA is the one looking like an idiot in this scenario imo

ps enjoy the trip with your MIL

 

[hsmamato2]

nope,I've seen it happen like this before...."no you can't take that 3.2 oz squeeze yougurt through,it's a security risk" but then there are the multiple times when things a like a sharp dart in the bottom of my sons bag,or my DH forgets and goes straight thru with his good sized pocketknife..I could list more, but why bother? Oh,and I've noticed that some places enforce the quart size baggie,and others just don't care....

 

[sam_gordon]

When I flew a couple months ago, on my return, I forgot to take my 3-1-1 bag out before security. I just breezed right through.

 

[iluveeyore]

Lol, funny timing me reading this - my DD17 just got pulled aside last month at MCO because she forgot she put a fruit cup in her backpack for a snack while we waited at our resort all day. She looked petrified when the guy pulled her aside and asked her to unpack her stuff, and then proceeded to hold up her fruit cup like 'ta da', and then threw it in the garbage before letting her pass.

 

[seashoreCM]

(questions not meant to be answered in the next 45 seconds.)

1. Who remembers, or rather, did this TSA agent remember, the uproar that made the news when "granny in a wheelchair" had to get up at the TSA checkpoint while the wheelchair was dismantled and searched? And meanwhile (according to the story) others who in the minds of some "looked like terrorists" (it would be politically incorrect for me to quote the description of what they wore) breezed on by.

So, step-mother decides that she wants a wheelchair at the airport ... (by the way ... I don't think she needed one).

2. How many times did someone start a thread about someone else allegedly doing this at the WDW bus platform and the thread quickly erupted in flames?

3. Did the TSA agent notice the mandarin orange slices floating around in the liquid and make a snap judgment that those items were non-hazardous? (The agent encountered by the PP having made a snap judgment diametrically opposed after jumping to the conclusion that the liquid in which the fruit slices floated totalled over 3 ounces. Moral of the story: sip all the liquid and put the cover back on before going through security.)

 

[Ress76]

When I flew a couple months ago, on my return, I forgot to take my 3-1-1 bag out before security. I just breezed right through.

Same thing here. Last trip (I hadn't slept in almost 20 hours before starting my trip, so I was obviously a little out of it) I went through security with eyedrops in my purse and not one, but two bottles of 5 Hour Energy in my carry on. Scanner didn't even slow down.

That said, I was absolutely vigilant about making sure everything was properly out of my bag when I came home!

Ress

 

[Muhlenberg]

I've had it go both ways. One trip I left the 3-1-1 bag in my carry-on because I forgot, and it breezed right through.

Last trip, I had a significant amount of yogurt left, so I FROZE it before heading to Tampa. I had frozen butter, and frozen whipped cream cheese. I forget what else I had, but there were other frozen items. It was all still frozen at TPA, HOURS later. It was in my backpack, but I had forgotten about it by the time I got to security and hence forgot to point it out to them. DH and I each had computers, he has a CPAP, we had my mom and all her stuff (no sky cap, but that's a different story), shoes, etc. (So LOTS of stuff on the belt, and things that had to be unpacked.) The backpack had to be searched cause it looked funny on the screen, understandably so. I told the agent it was all frozen, and I forget exactly what he said, but it was basically that it was a great idea. Then it breezed right through.

I've had them stop and search elderly parents. Yeah, *I* could have "hidden" something in the cane or the wheelchair.

So the 3-1-1 slipped through in the carry-on, but they searched frozen stuff. However, I completely forgot about the chocolate eclair I had bought in Epcot. Read...liquid inside. It made it through security in its natural unfrozen state. Go figure.

Your step-mother has been lucky! Just hang onto that "I told you so" for when she DOESN'T make it through.

 

[goofy4tink]

(questions not meant to be answered in the next 45 seconds.)

1. Who remembers, or rather, did this TSA agent remember, the uproar that made the news when "granny in a wheelchair" had to get up at the TSA checkpoint while the wheelchair was dismantled and searched? And meanwhile (according to the story) others who in the minds of some "looked like terrorists" (it would be politically incorrect for me to quote the description of what they wore) breezed on by.



2. How many times did someone start a thread about someone else allegedly doing this at the WDW bus platform and the thread quickly erupted in flames?

3. Did the TSA agent notice the mandarin orange slices floating around in the liquid and make a snap judgment that those items were non-hazardous? (The agent encountered by the PP having made a snap judgment diametrically opposed after jumping to the conclusion that the liquid in which the fruit slices floated totalled over 3 ounces. Moral of the story: sip all the liquid and put the cover back on before going through security.)

1. In this case, the wheelchair was pushed by an airport employee, who got scanned going through, as well as it being an airport wheelchair. And, my step-mother got out of the wheelchair to go through the scanner. Wheelchair went through a different scanner.

2. In this particular case, I am actually knowledgable about this person's health, and whether or not a wheelchair is/was needed. So, no flaming would be put up with. I know the facts, there would be no 'what ifs' to think about.

3. I have no idea what the agent saw. The offending fruit cups were in my step-mom's handbag, which was in the pile of coat/sweatshirt, shoes, quart baggie, backpack. Nothing was taken out for further inspection. So, I can't imagine the agent ever saw what it actually was.


Here's my issue. Why bother making policy if you aren't going to apply it to everyone. Does my step-mom look like a terrorist? Of course not. But, having said that, what does a terrorist really look like??

I have to wonder if things were lax because it was Ft Lauderdale, home of the aged rich folk.

 

[tjmw2727]

We flew out of Detroit last month and went through TSA behind a young woman who had left her hand santizer on her back pack and a large bottle of soda in the outside pocket - clearly showing 1/2 the bottle!

My dd asked me if she should mention it and I said no - just go about your own business. Low and belhold nothing was said - soda and sani went through with the backpack and out the other side without so much as a second look!

Some airports are so picky about things so minimal as to if they want your shoes in the bin or not and others just let everything through.

 

[NotUrsula]

I've had it go both ways. One trip I left the 3-1-1 bag in my carry-on because I forgot, and it breezed right through.

Last trip, I had a significant amount of yogurt left, so I FROZE it before heading to Tampa. I had frozen butter, and frozen whipped cream cheese. I forget what else I had, but there were other frozen items. It was all still frozen at TPA, HOURS later. It was in my backpack, but I had forgotten about it by the time I got to security and hence forgot to point it out to them. DH and I each had computers, he has a CPAP, we had my mom and all her stuff (no sky cap, but that's a different story), shoes, etc. (So LOTS of stuff on the belt, and things that had to be unpacked.) The backpack had to be searched cause it looked funny on the screen, understandably so. I told the agent it was all frozen, and I forget exactly what he said, but it was basically that it was a great idea. Then it breezed right through.

I've had them stop and search elderly parents. Yeah, *I* could have "hidden" something in the cane or the wheelchair.

So the 3-1-1 slipped through in the carry-on, but they searched frozen stuff. However, I completely forgot about the chocolate eclair I had bought in Epcot. Read...liquid inside. It made it through security in its natural unfrozen state. Go figure.

Your step-mother has been lucky! Just hang onto that "I told you so" for when she DOESN'T make it through.

Interesting. My DS always tries to carry frozen "liquid" items through security, and most of the time he has no problem. The one airport where they NEVER let it through is ... [drum roll, please] ... TAMPA!

 

[KrazeeK120]

The airport in my hometown is a regional airport...very small, hardly ever any lines...but somehow we have direct flights to both MCO and Sanford!

Anyway, when I was flying last month, I forgot to take the bag o' liquids out of my carry on before I put it through the scanner. The guy stopped the belt, backed it up, and made me take it out. I must have had that "D'oh!" expression on my face because he kind of laughed at me, but they do take their job pretty seriously here. I also forgot to take my barrettes out of my ponytail before I went through and the female TSA agent had to "check my ponytail" before allowing me to continue.

I don't fly too often so sometimes I forget things. You better believe I didn't make any mistakes coming back through Sanford though!

 

[CPT Tripss]

Interesting
You were so lucky that all those violations ofAirport Security Screening rules did not lead to a terrible outcome. So glad you made the flight safely. Did you lecture her on the great danger she caused for other pax by her disregard of TSA's well thought out logical rules?



Makes me wonder what else the joker on the X-ray missed. What a joke the whole process is.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Okay...here's the scenario. My step-mother and I are getting ready to head to the airport yesterday morning. I look at the plastic bag of 'stuff' in her handbag. It's got all sorts of creams, lotions and lipsticks in there.....all stuff that should be in that magical quart sized baggie. So, I tell her to get me one and I'll put it all in...such a good little transportation person I am!!! She tells me that she has never done that...ever. All her stuff goes in a gallon baggie and into her pocketbook...in that baggie just in case something opens up. I tell her that's impossible...TSA will not let that go by. So, I load up the quart sized baggie.
Then....I look inside the plastic shopping bag thing she has loaded up with our 'lunch'....God forbid we go anywhere without food. Peanut butter sandwiches, animal crackers and cups of mandarin oranges...those little individual size ones all full of liquid. I tell her those aren't going through either. Oh, but they will, she says. She does it (again) all the time.

So, step-mother decides that she wants a wheelchair at the airport..her back is just too bad to walk to the gate. So, we reserve one. (by the way...I don't think she needed one). The guy comes with the wheelchair, loads her up, with her carryon bags on her lap and off we go, thru the crew/employee line at security. Of course, all the other lines are really short as well. (and this is the reason she wanted the wheelchair..they get you thru security faster!!!) I put my stuff on the belt, shoes and sweatshirt in a bin, with quart baggie on top. Backpack goes behind it. Oh no...that isn't working for the guy with the wheelchair. When I get done with the scanner, I see that all our stuff has been piles into/onto one bin. That damn thing must be about a foot tall!!! And nothing was questioned in any of her bags!!! Seriously????

I just couldn't believe that those mandarin cups went through, with no issues at all!!! They should have caused things to come to a standstill, taken out, and removed. But no.....that didn't happen. And as we got to the gate my step-mother looks at me and says...'See, you don't know everything. I knew they would go through just fine!!'' Looked like an idiot. Thanks TSA!!

You seem to think the TSA is an effective agency. Now you know the truth.

They are CLUELESS.

But if they had been hungry your food would have been GONE. LOL.

 

[cruisingkat]

You seem to think the TSA is an effective agency. Now you know the truth.

They are CLUELESS.

But if they had been hungry your food would have been GONE. LOL.

Hubby has 2 metal hips. He always sets off the metal detector. TSA asks him to go through again - he says he has metal hip replacements and will get the same result again - so they wand him. He has had both hips replaced - same type of replacement. The wand only recognizes one of them. He tells the TSA there must be something wrong with the wand as it was only recognizing one - sure enough, they bring another wand over and it registers metal on both sides.
This has happened several times - so we really wonder how effective their equipment is.

 

[strmtroopr96]

Huh, I guess I never realized that you were supposed to take the 3-1-1 bag out before putting things through the scanner. I usually use one but have always left it in the carryon bag. Actually, I don't even think I used a baggie the last time we flew (things like eye drops, lotion, etc).

Watch, next time I will forget to do it and probably get in trouble. LOL

 

[Sherrkel]

Love the story!!

TSA in PHX is pretty sharp - went through the line with my favorite Burts Bees chap stick in my pocket. The agent had me remove it and I handed it over. After getting through and putting everything back together, putting my shoes, on, etc., one of the agents is standing there with a DOGGIE bowl in his hand, holding it up, saying "is this anyone's" and I'm like, no, who would bring a DOGGIE bowl thru the checkpoint?

Then he lowers the bowl, and in it is my favorite chapstick.

Now that's when I felt like an idiot. But seriously, who puts their chap stick in a doggie bowl??