Originally Posted by
saulblum
The passenger would be arrested for interfering with the screening process (or for burning the TSO thug, if it was a hot drink) and would have a starring role in the "People Say the Darndest Things" section of the weekly TSA blog police log.
On a serious note, how should one fight back against this disgusting make-work scheme, that will not get a LEO summoned?
Hand over the drink, obviously (assuming you really are at the gate because you want to fly..
).
Hand it over, and as you do so, immediately stand up, gather your things and put some distance between you and the screener (just to be safe). Communicate. Make it clear that you are not happy that you just forked over $ to a vendor who sold you suspect goods. Make it clear that you intend to ask for a refund. Make it clear that you don't understand why the beverages sold in the sterile area are not screened at point of sale for the pax safety. Make it clear that you don't understand why you jump through hoops to enter the sterile area, but clearly the vendors and their wares are not screened. Ask if the testing is the result of particular intel or if it's just a new level of security implemented to cover up the fact that the vendors and their wares are a gaping security hole.
Above all, do not try to disguise your terror at being at risk of consuming a potentially harmful beverage (if it can damage a plane, think what it can do to your insides). Do not try to disguise your fright at realizing that the sterile area is anything but and that you are still highly at risk. Express your concern that there might be razor blades or other contraband in the paperback you just purchased at a sterile-side vendor.
Do not take the beverage back when they are through. If you are told to hold it, don't. For your own safety, place it on the floor and distance yourself, preferably hiding slightly behind another TSO in the immediate area. Make it clear that even after it has been 'tested' and deemed 'safe', you still don't trust the beverage, the testing, or the entire situation that puts a pax in the sterile area at risk from a vendor purchase. Make it clear that you are heading directly to the vendor for a refund - ask the TSO if he/she will accompany you.
Take it seriously. Very seriously. Out of an abundance of caution. Because you really do want to fly. Because they're doing this is a tacit admission that the other 21 layers of security aren't enough.