Recent TSA & Delta experiences?

[sarabguerra]

When we fly, we always request extra assistance to travel through the security checkpoints. We also normally fly on JetBlue who has been incredibly accommodating for my autistic, high anxiety children. It's been a couple of years, and Covid changes everything. Wondering what people's experience with the process has been recently? We'll be flying out of LaGuardia on Delta, both for the first time. We normally fly out of Providence and know we've picked a MUCH busier airport. Our return experiences with special assistance at MCO TSA have been disastrous. Kind of bracing myself for a similar experience at LGA.

 

[DisSurfer878]

We have flown through Delta TSA at LAX 6 times since June. My husband is a diabetic who needs additional screening and help to get through TSA. It has been a freaking nightmare disaster every single time. We've been through SEA, BOS, SFO, LAX. Every time has been miserable.

 

[disneyseniors]

We only fly Delta. When we needed assistance due to mobility issues, we always notified the airline that we needed a wheelchair with assistance to the next gate. There was always an attendant and a wheelchair waiting when we landed.
As far as assistance through the lines at TSA, we never needed that. I wonder if you can prenotify them of a need of assistance, like the airlines?
I hope your future flights go well.

 

[AprilsZoo]

We only fly Delta. When we needed assistance due to mobility issues, we always notified the airline that we needed a wheelchair with assistance to the next gate. There was always an attendant and a wheelchair waiting when we landed.
As far as assistance through the lines at TSA, we never needed that. I wonder if you can prenotify them of a need of assistance, like the airlines?
I hope your future flights go well.

Yes you can pre-request assistance from TSA.
From the page @ https://www.tsa.gov/travel/passenger-support

TSA Cares — Passenger Assistance Requests

Contact TSA Cares
(855) 787-2227
Federal Relay: 711
Weekdays:
8 a.m. to 11 p.m. ET
Weekends/Holidays:
9 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET

I have only had one bad experience on Delta out of 50+ interactions over the past 5 years. I have flown out of or thru SEA, SLC, LAX & TUS to name a few.

Delta Airlines — Disability Services
There is a phone number at the link above… call them to have your needs notated on your reservation, for all legs of your travel.

Save that number in your phone, and if you need assistance at the airport & have difficulty or feel like your needs aren’t being met for anything not TSA related, call them & they will help you in real time.

If you have trouble with any TSA interaction, calmly and politely ask to speak to a supervisor, and ask that your party be moved to a private screening area to await their assistance. It is *always* your right to be screened in private, although it will be a more “hands on search”. Sometimes though, it creates less anxiety and ends up being easier in the long run.

If you use social stories, perhaps you can make or find one that deals with airport screening & appropriate behavior in the airport. There are also videos that show what happens at the screening area, if that might help you explain “what kinds of things might happen to keep everyone safe on the plane.” (<< This is how we worded it to our ASD kiddos to help them understand why their stuff had to go in the x-ray tunnel, & they had to walk thru the metal detector or body scanner. We also practiced how they’d go into the scanner & stand still with their hands up & count to 3)

Good luck & safe travels. Have a fun trip.

 

[AprilsZoo]

We have flown through Delta TSA at LAX 6 times since June. My husband is a diabetic who needs additional screening and help to get through TSA. It has been a freaking nightmare disaster every single time. We've been through SEA, BOS, SFO, LAX. Every time has been miserable.

I’m sorry you had so many hard times in your travels.
You can use the info on the TSA Cares page I linked above to report your experience and relate your concerns that caused the nightmare scenarios.

Remember that your experiences with TSA are unrelated to the airline, be it Delta or American or Southwest or whoever. The airlines have no control or authority as it relates to the TSA screening.

(Even the porters who help wheelchair users are employed by an outside company… they are paid by the airlines though so they will help with any complaints usually)

 

[DisSurfer878]

I’m sorry you had so many hard times in your travels.
You can use the info on the TSA Cares page I linked above to report your experience and relate your concerns that caused the nightmare scenarios.

Remember that your experiences with TSA are unrelated to the airline, be it Delta or American or Southwest or whoever. The airlines have no control or authority as it relates to the TSA screening.

(Even the porters who help wheelchair users are employed by an outside company… they are paid by the airlines though so they will help with any complaints usually)

I understand, but we have flown other airlines in that time and never had a problem. It's been specifically the Delta terminals. LAX for example has 3 terminals for Delta 2 of which are under construction so EVERYONE has to got through ONE security point instead of 3, that is relevant and airline specific because its a big part of the disaster.

 

[sarabguerra]

Thank you everyone for your input! I always call TSA Cares prior and will do so after the New Year as our trip isn't until February. I know they are operating on low staff and holiday travel increases. I also have a reminder in my phone to call Delta. They keep changing our flights, all legs, so I felt it was easier to wait until closer as we shuffle through all the flight changes. Usually the agents on the Cares lines are awesome, but when we get to the airport we encounter issues (MCO especially) because they either weren't expecting us or we were sent to the wrong screening area by the phone agent. They typically call the day prior to departure, and if we're in the park, or the last night on a cruise ship, and don't reach us, they cancel our accommodations. I did escalate that issue to a supervisor at Miami last time when we were refused previously arranged assistance. This time we will require special screening as DX will be wearing AFOs and will probably need a wheelchair until we get to the gate and from our final destination gate to the curb for transportation pick up. We've never flown from LGA so the unknown is particularly hard.

I have a great social story from previous travels but we're a little beyond needing that level of preview. Typically verbal preview of the order of events is enough. But you make a great point that we probably should preview all the ins and out anyway, even if the 13yo rolls his eyes at me! I'm hoping our guardianship comes through for DD18 before we travel, but we should probably have her support team working on airline travel skills between now and then. So hard because each one of them initially presents as typical, healthy teens, but anything beyond superficial interactions requires adult support.

 

[AprilsZoo]

even if the 13yo rolls his eyes at me!

Hey, don’t you know, is great exercise for the ocular muscles. I always tried to make sure I created plenty of opportunities for eye workouts.

You have a right to ask for a private screening, instead of the regular one, whether you’ve made prior arrangements or not, or whether they do or don’t know about any arrangements you tried to put in place.

If I already know that I’m gonna be pulled & given “extra attention” no matter what, I just tell the agent as soon as I get to the bins, that I prefer a private screening please. I may have a short wait while they get a female agent to take me aside, but then they take me & all my belongings behind a screen. Once there, my carry-ons & sometimes my shoes are taken back over to X-ray, and in the meantime, I get wanded, any braces I’m wearing are swabbed, as are my hands, and they give me a different chair to sit on while they do a quick once over on the one I was using… sometimes the chair is also swabbed. By that time, my carry-ons have been returned to me. Lastly, I get my pat-down and bibbidi-boppity-boo, I’m on my way. (<< all pre-Covid… it’s possible some things have changed…. But you can still ask for a private screening, that hasn’t changed.)

Most of the time, if I request a private screening, the whole affair takes less time than having me slowly hobble thru a scanner, after which I usually end up needing a pat down and swabbing anyway.
And it’s definitely less stress than having my belongings go thru x-ray while I’m stuck waiting for them to get around to bringing me thru in my chair and trying to keep a watch on my stuff that’s now out of my control.
I do admit though, that it’s been quite a while since I was basically non-ambulatory, and needed to travel with my own chair. I rarely have to go that route recently. I have been able to go thru the scanner more or less normally for the past couple years, except for a couple months in a boot for an ankle injury. So, it’s possible there have been a few changes with Covid, etc. But I would expect the majority of procedures to be largely the same.

Perhaps when you call TSA Cares, you can inquire about the current procedure used in a private screening, and clarify what you should do if you get there & the agents seem not to know anything about whatever assistance you’ve pre-arranged.

So hard because each one of them initially presents as typical, healthy teens, but anything beyond superficial interactions requires adult support.

Believe me, I get it…

 

[sarabguerra]

Believe me, I get it…

Thanks for the love! As we venture out into the world more and more, we are encountering all sorts of new barriers. Or realizing that we've regressed on barriers we thought we'd conquered. And it's comforting to know there are people out there who get it.

 

[JeannieNM]

Have you considered getting TSA pre? It is $85 for 5 years. I’m a paraplegic and it has simplified travel for me incredibly. Instead of the pat down and all the hoopla. They simply test my hands, do a pat down of my wheelchair and test the wheelchair. No show removal, no personal pat down. Very quick. I fly very delta out of LAX frequently.

LGA has always been a cluster…. Allow lots of extra time.
good luck.

 

[AprilsZoo]

Have you considered getting TSA pre? It is $85 for 5 years. I’m a paraplegic and it has simplified travel for me incredibly. Instead of the pat down and all the hoopla. They simply test my hands, do a pat down of my wheelchair and test the wheelchair. No show removal, no personal pat down. Very quick. I fly very delta out of LAX frequently.

LGA has always been a cluster…. Allow lots of extra time.
good luck.

Believe it or not it’s cheaper to get Nexus (Canadian border express entry) which automatically includes the TSA pre-check as a “bonus” because the requirements are the same. Global Entry (Mexico border) is also cheaper— as of a year or so ago, it was $55 for Nexus, & I wanna say $65 for Global Entry.
The 5 year renewal is the same on all of them. I think the TSA pre-check is preferable to 3rd party services like ‘clear’ because pre-check is good at all US airports where the 3rd party ones are not.