the-ca-goat
Jan 8, 03, 8:47 pm
Returned late Monday night (well actually early Tuesday morning) from a wonderful trip on CO and NW. For some odd reason I decided not to cut it as close as I normally do and got to LAX like an hour an a half before my 7:00am outbound flight on Dec 31st. I was really glad to be there so early as everything was in chaos at T6 that morning, as it appeared to be in the preceeding 6 terminals. The lines were crazy (okay the economy class lines were crazy, and I felt for the people who had to stand in them) and no one seemed to know what was going on—not the pax, not the CO agents, and definitely not the TSA folks.
After an e-ticket machine spit out my boarding passes, I waited for a CO agent to find time to slap the barcode thing on my bag (I had to check it as I was bringing my dad shish kabob skewers that I got him for Christmas.) No one seemed to know what was to happen next. I was about to suggest to the agent that she place my bag on the conveyor belt, give me directions to gate 69, and bid me adieu when, after some checking around, it was finally determined that a TSA employee would need to look at my bag on one of the new stainless steel examining tables that had been erected in the check-in area. (It seems that they were implementing the new security measures that day at LAX and since it was 5:30am I was lucky to be among the first test dummies.) A friendly fellow in a TSA uniform was found among the sweaty masses and proceeded to swipe the outside of my bag with cotton cloths; my bag passed with flying colors. Boy was I proud! The same swabbing deal was repeated on the inside of my bag. After the cotton cloth was inserted into the tester a red box appeared on the screen: EXPLOSIVES DETECTED. I was pretty sure that I had left all of my C4 at home, so I wasn’t nervous; I just thought to myself this could be a hassle. I didn’t know what the TSA guy would do next though I didn’t expect him to say “oh” and run away (which is I probably what I would have done in this situation if I were in his shoes.) Needless to say, I guess they don't cover this sort of unordinary thing in TSA training, so he disappeared into the crowd came back a minute or so later with another TSA guy, a supervisor I assume, who advised him on how to handle the situation—hand search the bag, run more tests. Luckily, all those in the vicinity who were wondering about the goat’s underwear preferences didn’t have to wonder anymore. More importantly, no bomb was found, the contents of my bag were hastily shoved ever so lovingly back in to their home, and I was on my way to the gate with plenty of time to spare.
The whole experience didn’t turn into a hassle, but left me to wonder: What if I really did have a bomb or some other sort of contraband? It would have been easy to blow everything up right there or run off like the TSA guy and be well on my way before he returned. Though it seems like a good idea to let us watch as our things are being rifled through, I don’t know how well this method would play out when it really counts.
BTW, the service was really great on my flights in both directions and the check-in on the return was much smoother. Thanks, CO & NW.
After an e-ticket machine spit out my boarding passes, I waited for a CO agent to find time to slap the barcode thing on my bag (I had to check it as I was bringing my dad shish kabob skewers that I got him for Christmas.) No one seemed to know what was to happen next. I was about to suggest to the agent that she place my bag on the conveyor belt, give me directions to gate 69, and bid me adieu when, after some checking around, it was finally determined that a TSA employee would need to look at my bag on one of the new stainless steel examining tables that had been erected in the check-in area. (It seems that they were implementing the new security measures that day at LAX and since it was 5:30am I was lucky to be among the first test dummies.) A friendly fellow in a TSA uniform was found among the sweaty masses and proceeded to swipe the outside of my bag with cotton cloths; my bag passed with flying colors. Boy was I proud! The same swabbing deal was repeated on the inside of my bag. After the cotton cloth was inserted into the tester a red box appeared on the screen: EXPLOSIVES DETECTED. I was pretty sure that I had left all of my C4 at home, so I wasn’t nervous; I just thought to myself this could be a hassle. I didn’t know what the TSA guy would do next though I didn’t expect him to say “oh” and run away (which is I probably what I would have done in this situation if I were in his shoes.) Needless to say, I guess they don't cover this sort of unordinary thing in TSA training, so he disappeared into the crowd came back a minute or so later with another TSA guy, a supervisor I assume, who advised him on how to handle the situation—hand search the bag, run more tests. Luckily, all those in the vicinity who were wondering about the goat’s underwear preferences didn’t have to wonder anymore. More importantly, no bomb was found, the contents of my bag were hastily shoved ever so lovingly back in to their home, and I was on my way to the gate with plenty of time to spare.
The whole experience didn’t turn into a hassle, but left me to wonder: What if I really did have a bomb or some other sort of contraband? It would have been easy to blow everything up right there or run off like the TSA guy and be well on my way before he returned. Though it seems like a good idea to let us watch as our things are being rifled through, I don’t know how well this method would play out when it really counts.
BTW, the service was really great on my flights in both directions and the check-in on the return was much smoother. Thanks, CO & NW.