Practical Travel Safety Issues - SFO T1 hand swabbing

I guess just a new procedure for Team SFO. Hands are being swabbed right next to the TDC (priority lane). ~every other person get's their hands swabbed.

Happened at the T3 UA elite checkpoint on Saturday evening.. Clerk got a bit pissy when I asked him to use a fresh swab..

Aww... we've made up another new game! How special! :rolleyes:

This thread reminds me how fortunate we were to breeze through SFO in a deserted elite line after an international arrival the day before yesterday. We like SFO just fine once we're inside but don't like getting there.

It was so quiet the adjacent TSOs were doing groping searches on each other for practice... at least I assume that was their motive. ;)

Happened at the T3 UA elite checkpoint on Saturday evening.. Clerk got a bit pissy when I asked him to use a fresh swab..

Let's see. They want to make sure that nobody has been shoving dynamite into their crotch, so what they do is test you with some dirty swab so they don't know if you're the one who's got the dynamite or it's somebody they already let through.

Pshaw. The main point of course is to be seen to be doing something, not to actually do it.

Happened at the T3 UA elite checkpoint on Saturday evening.. Clerk got a bit pissy when I asked him to use a fresh swab..
Fresh swabs were used for each person, if I was the lucky one, I would've asked a fresh pair of gloves too.

This thread reminds me how fortunate we were to breeze through SFO in a deserted elite line after an international arrival the day before yesterday. We like SFO just fine once we're inside but don't like getting there.

It was so quiet the adjacent TSOs were doing groping searches on each other for practice... at least I assume that was their motive. ;)

They must have been transferred from one of the checkpoints with the Nude-O-Scopes! Instead of naked photos, they wanted to touch real people :eek:

Let's see. They want to make sure that nobody has been shoving dynamite into their crotch, so what they do is test you with some dirty swab so they don't know if you're the one who's got the dynamite or it's somebody they already let through.

Pshaw. The main point of course is to be seen to be doing something, not to actually do it.

+1 I tried to tell him that, but I think he got a bit confused :rolleyes: This happens every time something of mine is ETDd.. They just grab a swab that was previously used, and is now sitting on top of the machine.

One time at MCO, they were swabbing all laptops. The clerk asked me if I worked for TSA when I asked him to use a fresh one.. I suppose I should have said, "Do I look like I don't have a brain, etc..." ;)

Fresh swabs were used for each person, if I was the lucky one, I would've asked a fresh pair of gloves too.

That's nice. I was the only one going through the checkpoint at that time. I did see a three striper testing the WTMD, and I thought about asking her why TEAM SFO was making up these rules, that other stations don't do..

They must have been transferred from one of the checkpoints with the Nude-O-Scopes! Instead of naked photos, they wanted to touch real people :eek:



+1 I tried to tell him that, but I think he got a bit confused :rolleyes: This happens every time something of mine is ETDd.. They just grab a swab that was previously used, and is now sitting on top of the machine.

One time at MCO, they were swabbing all laptops. The clerk asked me if I worked for TSA when I asked him to use a fresh one.. I suppose I should have said, "Do I look like I don't have a brain, etc..." ;)



That's nice. I was the only one going through the checkpoint at that time. I did see a three striper testing the WTMD, and I thought about asking her why TEAM SFO was making up these rules, that other stations don't do..

I just spoke with an SFO baggage X-ray person this afternoon; he was adamant that he never touched pax nor wanted to. When I asked him what the screeners thought about the new rubdowns he said the SFO screeners absolutely HATED doing it.

I guess just a new procedure for Team SFO. Hands are being swabbed right next to the TDC (priority lane). ~every other person get's their hands swabbed.

If it is before the (trained) travel document check podium, tell them to do something else with their hands (but not in public). Ask them if they have ever learned the term "private screening".

Can pax opt-out of hand swabbing? What if someone either has a skin condition or simply draws the line at skin contact (assuming patdowns are always done through clothing)?

Can pax opt-out of hand swabbing? What if someone either has a skin condition or simply draws the line at skin contact (assuming patdowns are always done through clothing)?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Hitchhiker%27s_gesture.jpg

I have no objection to hand swabbing; of all the things the TSA does, this is one of the least intrusive and it actually detects explosives unlike the NoS.

I have no objection to hand swabbing; of all the things the TSA does, this is one of the least intrusive and it actually detects explosives unlike the NoS.Sure, but do it after I have submitted to screening (i.e. put my belongings on the belt, walked through the WTMD or opted out of the NOS) and not before such time.

I have no objection to hand swabbing; of all the things the TSA does, this is one of the least intrusive and it actually detects explosives unlike the NoS.

I would agree, except that a false positive from say, a malfunctioning machine (apparently very common), a dirty swab (laziness), or contaminated gloves (filth) presumably earns one a "more aggressive" genital rubbing, some reports indicate the "resolution" "patdown" may even include brief, but "imagined", genital penetration. Because, of course, if one has a bomb the first thing they're going to do is stick it in their crotch.

One time at MCO, they were swabbing all laptops. The clerk asked me if I worked for TSA when I asked him to use a fresh one.. I suppose I should have said, "Do I look like I don't have a brain, etc..." ;)

"No, I have a real job that requires real skills, not just a willingness to mindlessly follow insane orders to molest people."

I have no objection to hand swabbing; of all the things the TSA does, this is one of the least intrusive and it actually detects explosives unlike the NoS.

It also detects hand lotion that contains glycerine, among any number of other things that will contribute to a false positive (not the least of which would be the TSAs re-use of swabs...)

If the TSA were really concerned about your safety (or that of their own employees, for that matter!) would they really be searching for actual bombs by deliberately crowding as many people as possible into a choke point?

It also detects hand lotion that contains glycerine, among any number of other things that will contribute to a false positive (not the least of which would be the TSAs re-use of swabs...)



My husband's CPAP once got swabbed with a false positive which I can only figure was caused by a different brand of dish soap I was using to clean it on vacation. (Unless it was a dirty swab, we didn't know about that at the time.) He only got a cursory frisk, but this was a couple years ago.

agreed. fix the swabs. a crappy piece of technology on the TSA's part should not mean we get our genitals felt up.

Anything TSA uses should not yield false positives, or do so only rarely given the invasiveness of the resulting search.

If the TSA were really concerned about your safety (or that of their own employees, for that matter!) would they really be searching for actual bombs by deliberately crowding as many people as possible into a choke point?

Of course not. This isn't security, it's a sham.

I have no objection to hand swabbing; of all the things the TSA does, this is one of the least intrusive and it actually detects explosives unlike the NoS.

Soap and a heart patient's nitroglycerin are things it is good at.

I had a swab once that came up positive.

The TSA Supervisor was called over and wanted random items of mine swabbed, one of which included my BlackBerry. I tried to tell her that if my hands alarmed, that the probability of the BB swab alarming was probably pretty high. Naturally, I was right.

She shut down that lane. Two hours later, after three Chicago police officers, the BDO (conveniently in another terminal), four TSA street-clothed supervisors and ten other TSA occifers were called and every single item in my two carry-ons taken out and strewn on the now-closed x-ray machine and examined, they let me go.

BTW, it was the hair conditioner that did it.

I had a swab once that came up positive.

The TSA Supervisor was called over and wanted random items of mine swabbed, one of which included my BlackBerry. I tried to tell her that if my hands alarmed, that the probability of the BB swab alarming was probably pretty high. Naturally, I was right.

She shut down that lane. Two hours later, after three Chicago police officers, the BDO (conveniently in another terminal), four TSA street-clothed supervisors and ten other TSA occifers were called and every single item in my two carry-ons taken out and strewn on the now-closed x-ray machine and examined, they let me go.

BTW, it was the hair conditioner that did it.

They kept you for two hours? I wonder if they were the same clerks from PHX that held Stacey Aramato past the departure of her flight.. :eek:

BTW, it was the hair conditioner that did it.

You use hair conditioner? :eek:

Let's see. They want to make sure that nobody has been shoving dynamite into their crotch, so what they do is test you with some dirty swab so they don't know if you're the one who's got the dynamite or it's somebody they already let through.

Pshaw. The main point of course is to be seen to be doing something, not to actually do it.

Contaminated swab means (5 or more) people get a "positive"
which equals
they caught 5 (or more) 'terrywrists'
thus meaning
the whole program is statically a success!

And that leads to more funding!
Totally logical!:rolleyes:

Let's throw out what most kids learn in 3rd grade science class about isolating single variables for good lab work. Or at least when I was in 3rd grade we were learning about using clean swabs for each petri dish....

I had a swab once that came up positive.

The TSA Supervisor was called over and wanted random items of mine swabbed, one of which included my BlackBerry. I tried to tell her that if my hands alarmed, that the probability of the BB swab alarming was probably pretty high. Naturally, I was right.

She shut down that lane. Two hours later, after three Chicago police officers, the BDO (conveniently in another terminal), four TSA street-clothed supervisors and ten other TSA occifers were called and every single item in my two carry-ons taken out and strewn on the now-closed x-ray machine and examined, they let me go.

BTW, it was the hair conditioner that did it.But at least you had a minion mynyan ;) (and I don't' have to worry about hair conditioner as God made so many perfect heads and the rest she covered with hair ;))

Two hours later, after three Chicago police officers, the BDO (conveniently in another terminal), four TSA street-clothed supervisors and ten other TSA occifers were called and every single item in my two carry-ons taken out and strewn on the now-closed x-ray machine and examined, they let me go.

And people wonder why the TSA wants more money and "manpower."

What a colossal waste of time for you and the LEOs, and money paying a gaggle of knuckle-dragging mouth-breathing TSA employees to molest you.

Mom and brother just told me that the lines are terribly long b/c they are swabbing EVERYBODY.

I had the hand-swabbing at Burlington VT, the home of the toughest TSA security I've ever seen. They initially told me to come over away from the xray machine but I said I wanted to keep my belongings in sight, including the laptop I am typing this on right now. They at least let me do that.

This is the TSA station that says you can have nothing in your pockets for the WTMD. They don't have nude-o-scopes but they still insist on nothing in your pockets. I set off the WTMD with nothing in my pockets. I had the same watch and wedding ring that set nothing off ever before.

I guess they're worrying about radical Quebecois or something.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8830/4.5.0.138 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

I had the hand-swabbing at Burlington VT, the home of the toughest TSA security I've ever seen. They initially told me to come over away from the xray machine but I said I wanted to keep my belongings in sight, including the laptop I am typing this on right now. They at least let me do that.

This is the TSA station that says you can have nothing in your pockets for the WTMD. They don't have nude-o-scopes but they still insist on nothing in your pockets. I set off the WTMD with nothing in my pockets. I had the same watch and wedding ring that set nothing off ever before.

I guess they're worrying about radical Quebecois or something.

I would be, too, with the election coming up on May 2nd!

Scenario - I am corn-growing NRA-member Farmer Joe
I fertilized my hobby pumpkin patch, then went to the shooting range to practice with my Glock, and then take a flight to Washington DC to join a protest rally with the Tea Party.

All three activities

Handling fertilizer for commercial and personal use
Ability to keep and bear arms
Right to peacefully assemble and petition the government

were legal - the last time I checked.

But now the smurfs will harass me for trying to earn a decent livelihood and exercising my first & second amendment rights :mad:

While the TSA might be a good idea in principle, the execution has failed miserably.
If I may ask (and God bless Nappy's heart), do the smurfs gather around a campfire and use the Constitution as fuel? :rolleyes:

Disclaimer - The above scenario is purely hypothetical for discussion. Any person that bears any resemblance to the attributes described is co-incidental. The scenario does not endorse or censure any political ideologies real or implied.