TSA

TSA week in review: the pistol-in-the-potted plant

Airports, Guns,

I am always entertained and a bit frightened by the TSA’s weekly round-up of items found at airport checkpoints. I know it’s a bit of a PR effort on the TSA’s part to show off all the wacky ways – and all the bizarre stuff – people put in their carry-on bags, but it works for me… Some of this stuff makes me very wary of my fellow passengers.

In the guns-not-gotten-on-board category, between June 22 and June 27, TSA officers found “just” 23 guns, 18 of them loaded. That’s down from other weeks.

On its blog, the TSA also shared details of some wacky ways people tried to smuggle prohibited stuff on-board. Someone at Tampa International Airport (TPA) tried to conceal a knife by putting it in a sock stuffed into an envelope with dolls. A passenger in Greensville/Spartanburg (GSP) hid a knife in a can of tobacco. And, my “favorite,” a passenger at Portland International Airport (PDX) tried to dump his .22 caliber pistol
in a potted plant instead of checking it with his luggage.

(Photo courtesy State Library of Queensland, via Flickr Commons)

TSA tally: 40 guns among items found at airport checkpoints

Security, , , ,

Geeky, I know, but I really look forward to reading the TSA.gov weekly blog post offering a round-up of items TSA officers find at airport checkpoints. The list is always scary, alarming, puzzling and just plain sad. How can so many people just “forget” they’ve got a loaded gun and a large quantity of bullets in a purse or travel bag?

According to the TSA blog, last week 40 firearms – 29 loaded – were found in carry-on bags at airport checkpoints around the country. Some of the people carrying the guns received citations; others got arrested.

Other items on the list this week include 11 stun guns, including one that looks just like a cell phone, and a live blasting cap, a bomb component which TSA’s Blogger Bob Burns helpfully explains, is “a small explosive charge that sets off a larger explosive charge.”

Photos courtesy TSA.

TSA checkpoint finds: swords, knives, guns and one chastity belt

Guns, Security, , , , ,

Swords? Not in your carry-on.

The TSA’s Friday round-up of things found at airport security checkpoints is always mystifying, scary and entertaining.

Among the items nabbed between June 1 to June 7, 2012 were: 22 guns (18 of them loaded), swords hidden inside a guitar case and a cane, a multi-tool knife hidden in a thermos, Co2 distraction grenades and an inert detonator (whatever those are).

Among the illegal and prohibited items discovered on people during body scans: a punching weapon, strike anywhere matches, drugs, drug paraphernalia and a half full bottle of whiskey.

“And while it isn’t prohibited,” TSA’s Blogger Bob Burns wrote on the TSA Blog, “a passenger wearing a chastity belt alarmed the body scanner at one of our checkpoints. I’m sure you can imagine where an undergarment such as this might be a problem at a security checkpoint. Especially if there is no key.”

What did I tell you? Mysterious, scary and downright entertaining….

TSA catches man with knife in walker

Security,

I suspect the TSA only shares information about some of the ways people try to sneak items through airport security checkpoints. But the stories the TSA does share are getting kind of wild.

Like this one: TSA officers at JFK International Airport found a knife “artfully concealed” on the walker of a man passing through a security checkpoint.

“Walkers don’t pass through checkpoint metal detectors, and instead they are inspected by TSA officers,” the TSA said in a statement. “It was during the inspection process that an alert officer spotted the knife, which was tucked alongside the frame of the walker.”

Hassled by TSA? FlyRights app helps you complain

9/11, Air Travel, , , ,

A new app – FlyRights – offers a fast and easy way to complain about discrimination, profiling and other improper behavior by TSA officers at airport security checkpoints.

The app was created by the Sikh Coalition, which found that while only 11 complaints of improper screening by the TSA were filed during the first two quarters of 2011, many Sikh, Muslim, and South Asian travelers believe they are regularly profiled by TSA at airports.

At some airports, the coalition says, 100% of Sikh travelers report being subjected to unfair secondary treatment.

The Sikh coalition says it created the app “to bridge the gap between community frustration about airport profiling and official action,” and worked closely with civil rights groups in the Black, Latino, South Asian, Muslim communities to develop the tool.

The coalition says complaints filed through the app will be reviewed as official complaints by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

DHS currently takes complaints on-line through the Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (TRIP).

On TSA.gov, travelers who feel they have been profiled or otherwise discriminated against at an airport checkpoint based on race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability or sexual orientation are encouraged to submit a written explanation of their complaint.

In addition to allowing travelers to file complaints on-the-spot rather than after the fact, the FlyRights app includes links that go directly to the section of the TSA website that lists the current rights and screening procedures for travelers.

TSA finds a debrainer and guns, guns, guns

Airports, , ,

Once again, the TSA’s Friday round-up of prohibited, illegal and just plain wacky items found at airport checkpoints and in checked baggage is both entertaining and frightening.

On the list: something called a debrainer, inert shells from land mines, model rocket engines, automobile airbags marked “Explosive,” guns, stun guns, ammunition and knives.

And here’s a handy chart of ‘just’ the guns discovered in carry-on baggage at airports last week. The TSA says a lot of people “just forget” they have loaded guns in a purse or briefcase they take with them to the airport. Maybe I travel in far too innocent circles, but I find this hard to believe.

Destination wedding travel advice from the TSA

Weddings, , , ,

If you’re a bride planning a destination wedding, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) suggests you plot your trip through airport security as carefully as you plan that trip down the aisle.

That way, you’ll avoid wrinkles, both in the process — and in your dress.

Courtesy National Library of Wales

“Brides-to-be can definitely bring their wedding dress through a security checkpoint,” TSA employee and occasional blog contributor Lynn Dean wrote recently on the TSA’s blog. But she said if the dress can’t lay flat in its garment bag or box and fit through the X-ray machine, TSA officers will screen the dress manually.

If that happens, “Stay calm,” said Jack Ezon, president of Ovation Vacations, a luxury-focused Virtuoso agency that plans more than 200 destination celebrations a year. “Many dresses have wires and fake jewels and other decoration that may need to be inspected. And even through TSA agents wear gloves, you can ask them to put on a fresh pair before touching your dress.”

For the flight, Ezon suggests brides book a first-class or upgraded seat to get early boarding and first pick of storage space in the overhead bins or the closets. “I’ve had brides whose dresses were so elaborate that we even booked the dress its own seat.”

Ezon also said that while it’s important to protect a wedding dress on an airplane, there are other outfits to be concerned with as well. “You have the mothers of the bride and groom as well. They’re all focused on getting their clothing there, too.”

Beyond dresses, the TSA’s Dean notes other wedding-related items that may cause a checkpoint glitch for those on their way to getting hitched. Knives designed to cut wedding cakes should be shipped or put in checked bags, but wired bouquets are OK, “along with rice, birdseed, sand and candy-coated almonds,” she said.

Jewelry and other valuables should be packed in carry-on, not checked bags. And gifts for the bridal party should be wrapped at the destination, in case they require additional screening.

Another important consideration: identification. A bride may leave for her destination wedding with one last name but return to the airport with another. Current TSA rules require that the name on a ticket match the name on an ID exactly but, often, honeymoon tickets are made in the married couple’s name.

The TSA’s advice: “Take your marriage license with you in the event you booked your plane tickets in your married name but haven’t updated your driver’s license.”

Ezon isn’t totally comfortable with that advice. “It’s often left to the discretion of TSA or immigration officers whether or not to accept a marriage license as a legal document. But a wedding or honeymoon is such a big deal. You don’t really want to rely on that.”

Bottom line: Make sure your paperwork, like your partner, is a perfect match.

(My story: Planning a Destination Wedding? What to know before you go, was first published on msnbc.com’s Overhead Bin)

Tracking a toddler’s airport pat-down

Air Travel, Airports, Kids, Kids travel, Security, ,

I spent much of Monday morning trying to track down the parent who posted the video (below) of a 3 year-old in a wheelchair getting a very thorough pat-down at an airport security checkpoint.

It turned out the video was shot in 2010 and had been posted on YouTube over the weekend. But that didn’t stop it from going viral.

Here’s my story about the video – and the TSA’s response – that posted on msnbc.com.

A video shot in 2010 showing a 3-year-old boy receiving a pat-down from a TSA agent went viral today. The toddler was wearing a cast and sitting in a wheelchair.

In an annotated videotape of the incident posted March 17 on YouTube, the father is heard reassuring his son, whom he calls “Rocco,” while a TSA officer is seen patting down the squirming boy and taking swabs of the chair and the cast. After asking the parents to lift the boy’s shirt and offering them the option of going to a private screening area, the officer is also shown swabbing the boy’s back.

The video has been viewed more than 400,000 times. [updated]

Before conducting the check at the Chicago Midway Airport, the TSA officer tries to reassure the boy by asking what he likes — “Tigers? Animals?” — and then asks the boy to sit up. During the inspection he also tells the parents what he is doing and tells Rocco that he’s a good boy.

Comments added to the video by his father, said, “I was told I could NOT touch him or come near him during this process. Instead we had to pretend this was ‘OK’ so he didn’t panic.”

Reached Monday morning,  the boy’s father, Matt DuBiel, said the video was made in spring 2010 during a family trip to Disney World.

“We had a baby five weeks ago, and I was looking at some old family videos on Saturday night, and I got incensed and emotional watching it.”

DuBiel says he posted it on YouTube to share it with family members who have heard him talk about the incident but who hadn’t seen the video.

Noting that the incident took place more than a year ago, TSA, in a statement, said: “Due to the fact that this passenger was traveling in a wheelchair and had a cast he would have been unable to pass through the walk-through metal detector or imaging technology and therefore received alternative screening, a pat-down and use of explosives trace detection.”

“It doesn’t matter when it was,” said DuBiel. “That’s the TSA and that is my son. And he is wearing a body cast. The TSA agent did the best he could with a ridiculous situation, but someone should have stepped in and said, ‘That’s enough.’ ” He said he didn’t make a fuss at the time because he was worried about getting the whole family through security. The family was traveling to Disney World.

“At the time, they didn’t  have the rules in place for children that they have now. But, regardless of the new or old rules, my position is that it’s unacceptable to treat a toddler this way.”

Last fall, the TSA revised its rules for children 12 and under, saying they no longer have to remove their shoes at security checkpoints. The agency’s policy for Children with Disabilities states that “if your child is unable to walk or stand, the Security Officer will conduct a pat-down search of your child while he/she remains in their mobility aid, as well as a visual and physical inspection of their equipment.”

“While recognizing that terrorists are willing to manipulate societal norms to evade detection, our officers continue to work with parents to ensure a respectful screening process for the entire family at the checkpoint,” TSA said Monday.

 

What the TSA found at airports – last week

Airports, Security, ,

Once again, I find myself perusing the TSA’s weekly round-up of prohibited, illegal and downright bizarre items found at airport checkpoints and thinking… “What’s with people?”

Grenades, pistols, knives and my favorite from last week: thousands of hits of ecstasy stashed in someone’s underpants.

Here’s the photo of last week’s finds from the TSA.gov blog.  Wacky but, when you get right down to it, really quite alarming.