Why does the TSA assume you're a moron?

[Alexander]

We were flying home from Orlando on Friday 12/31. We had both kids, one with a stroller. The TSA put us in the family line (God help me!) where all of the foolish people who have no clue about flying go! Woman and her mother with 2 babies in double stroller loaded to the gills, carseats, and tons of crap. Never made an effort to get anything ready before reaching the security scanning belt--UGH!

We had our shoes and coats off, stroller folded, and laptops out of the cases and proceeded to stand there for 10 minutes while they got their %*#@ together and emptied everything. Then after security they were going to unload everything from the bins one at a time and slowly secure everything back in the stroller while standing at the end of the security scanner belt! I finally had enough and told them to get out of everybody's way (to which DH poked me in the back to shut up!).

Did we get put in that line because we had our kids with us? Seriously, we are seasoned travelers and my kids have flown 10's of thousands of miles.

 

[ancestry]

I feel your pain but you analysis is correct....you got put in that line because you had children with you (i.e. the family line is for families -- especially for those with younger children and/or the elderly). I'm sure that fact that you had a stroller with you didn't help either.

 

[Jestocost]

If it's any consolation, MCO is busy enough that I frequently see little rhyme or reason as to which lines people are sent to even when you can figure out what line you're in before it's too late to get out. In addition, there's no shortage of clueless morons in the experienced traveler lines.

 

[3BoysRDisneyFreaks]

My children are well trained for the TSA lines. I HATE the family line. That is for people who need extra time. We don't need extra time. I am very thankful next trip we will not have a stroller. I am hoping we can go into the regular line.

 

[loveysbydesign]

You think that's bad! We took our inlaws along for their 1st trip. On the way home they put us in the family line for security which I thought was great, as I had never been through it before and thought that way we needn't feel as rushed to get through.

However....the TSA proceeded to send our 3 children, ages 3, 8 and 11 through the detector and then shoved a woman in a wheelchair in front of us: me, dh and my inlaws. So we couldn't go through the detector to get to the other side to be with our kids(plus all our stuff had already gone through the xray machine and was piling up on the other side). This poor woman could hardly get out of the wheelchair to walk through the detector..then she kept setting it off while we stood there helplessly waiting to get through to get to our kids...who were still standing there, 15 minutes later, by themselves waiting for us on the other side. What a freakin mess!

 

[prncess674]

I feel your pain but you analysis is correct....you got put in that line because you had children with you (i.e. the family line is for families -- especially for those with younger children and/or the elderly). I'm sure that fact that you had a stroller with you didn't help either.

You are not required to join that line. They can not make you join a family line. I never seem to see any rhyme or reason to the lines at MCO. It just seems like a crap shoot what line you can be put in. I know that many parents with small children are fast, but you are fast for someone with kids, not fast for a frequent biz traveler who is traveling light.

You think that's bad! We took our inlaws along for their 1st trip. On the way home they put us in the family line for security which I thought was great, as I had never been through it before and thought that way we needn't feel as rushed to get through.

However....the TSA proceeded to send our 3 children, ages 3, 8 and 11 through the detector and then shoved a woman in a wheelchair in front of us: me, dh and my inlaws. So we couldn't go through the detector to get to the other side to be with our kids(plus all our stuff had already gone through the xray machine and was piling up on the other side). This poor woman could hardly get out of the wheelchair to walk through the detector..then she kept setting it off while we stood there helplessly waiting to get through to get to our kids...who were still standing there, 15 minutes later, by themselves waiting for us on the other side. What a freakin mess!

Why in world would you ever let your kids go thru before any adults?

 

[loveysbydesign]

You are not required to join that line. They can not make you join a family line. I never seem to see any rhyme or reason to the lines at MCO. It just seems like a crap shoot what line you can be put in. I know that many parents with small children are fast, but you are fast for someone with kids, not fast for a frequent biz traveler who is traveling light.



Why in world would you ever let your kids go thru before any adults?

We didn't...we were still putting the last of the luggage up to go through the xray machine and the TSA person made them go through!

 

[prncess674]

We didn't...we were still putting the last of the luggage up to go through the xray machine and the TSA person made them go through!

Once again you have free will in this country. I am sure they were rushing people, but next time stand up for your rights and clearly tell the agent that your children are to wait for their adult companion.

 

[loveysbydesign]

Once again you have free will in this country. I am sure they were rushing people, but next time stand up for your rights and clearly tell the agent that your children are to wait for their adult companion.

To my kids...the TSA look like police! We've only flown a few times...so when the TSA rep. told them go through, they did before we could even utter a word. Plus it's hard to stand up for my rights when my kids have already gone through the detector. They would not let us through to them or let them come back through to us. And the kicker is that the family line wasn't busy when we got placed into it. It was just us.
The kids went through and as we hurried over to go through the detector they made us stop and wheeled this lady up in front of us. Then the poor woman could barely stagger through it, I felt bad for her. Plus the TSA should know better then to tell our kids to go through without us...then put a lady who is having issues in between us.

 

[dudspizza]

This is one of my favorite movie clips of all time!

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3413378841/

 

[briar_rose_59]

This is one of my favorite movie clips of all time!

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3413378841/

That clip is awesome. Probably one of the main reasons I even went to see that movie lol!

 

[dudspizza]

That clip is awesome. Probably one of the main reasons I even went to see that movie lol!

That movie so reminds me of our long lost friend, Bavaria!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

A couple of years ago DS and went to visit my mom. DS was 12 or 13, he had flown PLENTY of times before, we didn't have a laptop with us, we could have cleared security in about 8 seconds. Nope. Family Line. Behind a woman traveling by herself with 3 little kids. Her DD was wearing a belt that kept setting the detector off because it had some big metal doo-dads on it. The doo-dads also made it nearly impossible to get the stupid belt OFF, because they got stuck in the belt loops of her jeans. So we stood there, and stood there, and stood there, while all the people in the other lines blew past us.

If they made the Family Line voluntary NOBODY would go through it because it sucks. So I guess forcing people into it based solely on the presence of children is their best plan.

 

[ChickenCarlos]

I do alot of flying and it never fails, every single time i get to security check, there are idiots everywhere that have know clue what to do or how the procedure works, BUT, over the christmas holiday i was flying out of Burbank, ca airport, and they had something there i had never seen before, they had an im and "idiot" line and never fly, and a im a season vet at flying let me through line, it was awesome, the only down fall was that both lines met at the same spot for the person to check your id and ticket, which defeated the whole purpose because they took one person from each line one after another, but i thought the idea was genious

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

We didn't...we were still putting the last of the luggage up to go through the xray machine and the TSA person made them go through!

this is another reason to pack light. I see this a lot at airports because people are trying to carry on more then they can quickly handle.


However, I think that at 11 your oldest could be trusted to stand there with the other two for a few minutes......

 

[disgrajak]

Wow. Some people don't fly very often---doesn't make them idiots necessarily. Talk about sweating the small stuff. If this was the biggest problem I had on my trip, I would be thankful. And btw loveysbydesign--I can totally see how that could happen. TSA screwed that one up--not you. It's not like you purposely abdicated your control over your children.

 

[dudspizza]

However, I think that at 11 your oldest could be trusted to stand there with the other two for a few minutes......

plus, they are always in view just on the other side of the scanner...

 

[bumbershoot]

If they made the Family Line voluntary NOBODY would go through it because it sucks. So I guess forcing people into it based solely on the presence of children is their best plan.

We voluntarily chose the family line at MCO, and it worked out very well!

We are all seasoned travelers (the only questions that come up are due to the differences in specific procedures from airport to airport), but when you have 3 people and the stuff of three people, you are carrying an exponentially higher amount of stuff. carryons, stroller (not needed for disney at last! retired stroller now), carseat (to gatecheck), shoes, laptops (I had mine for fun and DH had his for work, just in case), and coats ends up being a LOT of stuff!

So we were happy to choose the family line, so that we weren't holding up business travelers, as we did our thing.

Of course, we're always aware of those behind us, and we'll always let quicker people go by if they want to.


Anyway, the family line worked out well for us. We were in an unfamiliar airport and we didn't know their exact procedures...and it turned out that they could fit DS's carseat through the supposedly standard xray machine opening (seatac, san diego, and LAX haven't been able to fit it through!), so their procedures (and xray machine opening) were a bit different, and it all worked out.

(by the way, the carseat doesn't have a recline feature that changes the way it fits, that's been tried before, and the amount it doesn't fit through the gantries varies from SEA to SAN to LAX...MCO must have the biggest b/c they didn't even have to wedge it, it just went on through)

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I finally had enough and told them to get out of everybody's way

Wow. That was really rude and a terrible example to set for your children. I can see why you were annoyed, but you need to learn to chill. Even if you are seasoned travelers, when you are traveling with children and a stroller, I can guarantee that you'll take longer to get through security than a "seasoned traveler" without kids.

 

[keishashadow]

I have 3 kids, i.e. im not anti child, jmho that the family lines are essential as even the most perfect little angels (yes, I realize all our kids here fall into that category) can be unpredictable, especially in unfamiliar circumstances. Let's call the odds more of an increased probability factor vs murphy's law.

Shouldn't subject those who know the drill and fly often for business (but don't qualify for the 1st class line) to be forced into the same line as families. Those folks are the bread & butter of the airlines & their pricier fares help keep the casual flyer's rates low.