coastgirl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2006
- Messages
- 2,552
I got good advice about leaving from MCO with my son, who is on the autism spectrum, so I wanted to share the outcome in case the information helps someone else.
I contacted the call center for the TSA (855) 787-2227 (info available here: https://www.tsa.gov/travel/passenger-support), two days before we were scheduled to depart. Note the site advises 72 hours, but I forgot—and calling 48 hrs out didn’t cause an issue in my case.
I explained the issue to the lady who answered the phone. In our case, I was more concerned about the line up than the actual screening. Ds has sensory issues, and last time the unpredictability of the line was very difficult: I couldn’t be sure how long it would take, and there was not a clear queue for the first part, which meant other passengers could, and did, cut line ahead of us. In addition it’s very overwhelming from a sensory perspective. So by the time we got to the screening, he was very close to a melt down, which could potentially appear threatening to the agents if they don’t know what’s going on.
The lady on the phone wasn’t sure there was much she could do before the checkpoint, but advised me to identify myself to an agent when I got there and ask for a Passenger Support Specialist or a Supervisor. She filed the details as well, and sent me an email with the same information.
When we got there, the line wasn’t nearly as bad as last time, but I decided to ask for help anyway, as it’s still unpredictable. The agent I spoke to knew exactly what I was looking for and immediately went to get the Passenger Support Specialist. (I wonder if he’d seen the case report already.) It took maybe 5-10 minutes for her to get there, but we were waiting on a bench slightly to the side of the queue.
She was very nice. Her initial contact with my son was a little patronizing to him, but it’s really, really hard to know how to approach someone on the spectrum without a LOT of individual information beforehand. She did adapt well and quickly once she realized he was very verbal and cognitively able.
She explained things every step of the way. She took us to the head of one of the lines to have our documents reviewed, then we were also led directly to a short line for the examination. We still had to do “all the things” (take off shoes, take out our devices, stand in the machine thingy) but she got us through quickly, and the other officers saw her and knew to be kind and low-key rather than their usual gruff demeanour. The screening still seemed really…ugh…confusing with all the bins and bags, I had to do the “tube” a second time, and got an extra pat-down and a chemical wipe-screen thingy (I always do—50something moms must be a high risk group), and busy and chaotic. But then our PSS fussed the others away and got us to a bench and brought us all our stuff.
Dh and I talked about it afterwards; ds HATES being singled out for his autism, and I think he’d rather try to fly under the radar than have the lady treat him like a child (though as I said, she adjusted quickly). Because the lines were shorter than usual, we might have made it through ok this time. However, you never really know what you’re going to encounter, so I think it was worth it.
Others suggested getting TSA pre. We aren’t American citizens, so I didn’t pursue that. There is Nexus for Canadians, but he only flies about once a year, so not really worth it for us. And I do think it helped not just to get through quickly, but also to have people be a little gentler and kinder.
I hope that information is useful to someone. Please ask if you have questions, and I’ll answer if I can.
I contacted the call center for the TSA (855) 787-2227 (info available here: https://www.tsa.gov/travel/passenger-support), two days before we were scheduled to depart. Note the site advises 72 hours, but I forgot—and calling 48 hrs out didn’t cause an issue in my case.
I explained the issue to the lady who answered the phone. In our case, I was more concerned about the line up than the actual screening. Ds has sensory issues, and last time the unpredictability of the line was very difficult: I couldn’t be sure how long it would take, and there was not a clear queue for the first part, which meant other passengers could, and did, cut line ahead of us. In addition it’s very overwhelming from a sensory perspective. So by the time we got to the screening, he was very close to a melt down, which could potentially appear threatening to the agents if they don’t know what’s going on.
The lady on the phone wasn’t sure there was much she could do before the checkpoint, but advised me to identify myself to an agent when I got there and ask for a Passenger Support Specialist or a Supervisor. She filed the details as well, and sent me an email with the same information.
When we got there, the line wasn’t nearly as bad as last time, but I decided to ask for help anyway, as it’s still unpredictable. The agent I spoke to knew exactly what I was looking for and immediately went to get the Passenger Support Specialist. (I wonder if he’d seen the case report already.) It took maybe 5-10 minutes for her to get there, but we were waiting on a bench slightly to the side of the queue.
She was very nice. Her initial contact with my son was a little patronizing to him, but it’s really, really hard to know how to approach someone on the spectrum without a LOT of individual information beforehand. She did adapt well and quickly once she realized he was very verbal and cognitively able.
She explained things every step of the way. She took us to the head of one of the lines to have our documents reviewed, then we were also led directly to a short line for the examination. We still had to do “all the things” (take off shoes, take out our devices, stand in the machine thingy) but she got us through quickly, and the other officers saw her and knew to be kind and low-key rather than their usual gruff demeanour. The screening still seemed really…ugh…confusing with all the bins and bags, I had to do the “tube” a second time, and got an extra pat-down and a chemical wipe-screen thingy (I always do—50something moms must be a high risk group), and busy and chaotic. But then our PSS fussed the others away and got us to a bench and brought us all our stuff.
Dh and I talked about it afterwards; ds HATES being singled out for his autism, and I think he’d rather try to fly under the radar than have the lady treat him like a child (though as I said, she adjusted quickly). Because the lines were shorter than usual, we might have made it through ok this time. However, you never really know what you’re going to encounter, so I think it was worth it.
Others suggested getting TSA pre. We aren’t American citizens, so I didn’t pursue that. There is Nexus for Canadians, but he only flies about once a year, so not really worth it for us. And I do think it helped not just to get through quickly, but also to have people be a little gentler and kinder.
I hope that information is useful to someone. Please ask if you have questions, and I’ll answer if I can.
