Originally posted by SueM in MN
It makes sense that you should keep it on you just in case (further down the line from the initial checker) something somes up that makes them want to check it.
Maybe that's so, but putting it into the bucket is a very good way to lose your boarding pass (I've seen it happen). It would also make sense if you had not been yelled at in another airport for carrying it in your hand.
As for inconsistencies in how things are done, IMHO, part of it is probably just human variability & experience, partly training, partly to keep people not knowing exactly what will happen (so they have more trouble figuring out how to circumvent the precautions) and I suspect that there might be different levels of what they do based on what the "terror alert level" currently is.
You are a much more forgiving person than I am!
I've seen too much creative rule-making now. As for there being different levels of what they do based on the terror alerts, of course, that is the case. But don't you think that in general security rules/measures should be consistent, and that the flying public should be able to rely on the TSA's own published rules? Why does CarolA's compact or my VW key (the kind that has the key & the remote door opener all in one) arouse suspicion in one airport, but not in like 20 others? Why did my 1 inch long nail clippers -- specifically ALLOWED per the TSA - get me in trouble one day, but not the 15+ other times it has flown with me? How about the clock that was given to my colleague as a gift? No wires, no batteries in it, but nope, not allowed to bring in on board in his carry-on. No offense, I could go on & on.
I am not sure what you do for a living, but I have to fly multiple times every week to do my job. Maybe you do too, and you are just less aggravated by it than me. I go thru security with a smile on my face, and strip down. I ask - nicely - jacket on or off, boarding pass away, or in hand, shoes off, shoes on, belt covered with hand, belt off, yada yada 5, 6, 7 times per week. I have 2 pantsuits that I wear to travel - no pockets, no zippers. I also try to wear a non-underwire bra. I do what they ask, and I never question it at the airport. The TSA is just doing its job, I know, and I would never take my frustration out on them. I need to so my job, so I cannot risk missing a flight. But can you imagine, every single time you went into your office, if you had to go thru this and to top it off, have the rules change depending on which door you chose to use that day? Imagine this conversation: "Oh well, here at the back door, we think it is a risk for you to wear an underwire bra, you don't mind if we get to First Base with you today, do you? I don't care that over there at the front door, they don't do that, here at the back door you'll do what we say or we'll put your name on a list and you won't be able to come here anymore."
Sorry to vent here, but understand that I do not believe that we are safer today on an airplane than we were pre-9/11 (with the exception of the checked luggage now being screened & matched to passengers). Why? Because every single thing the terrorists brought onto those airplanes was "legal" - they exploited our system, and could do it again. I don't think we were inherently unsafe before, and I don't think we're unsafe now, I just don't think we're "safer".
That's it from me!! Let the flames begin.
