"Screener discretion" and "Final say"
Jul 15, 2017, 2:27 pm
#31
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 3,526
In theory one has a "choice" - but not if the screener just confiscates items as we know happens very often.
Jul 15, 2017, 6:15 pm
#33
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 3,526
I asked a TSA agent at LAX to throw away my item while I watched. She refused.
Last edited by petaluma1; Jul 16, 2017 at 7:22 am
Jul 15, 2017, 8:37 pm
#34
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And in theory we know that TSA screeners don't sexually assault travelers but real world experience proves that wrong. My point was, if a screener confiscates a food item try to find a way ruin it. I'd bet dollars to donuts that confiscated items do find its way into screeners pockets
Jul 16, 2017, 11:13 am
#35
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: RDU
Posts: 5,228
And in theory we know that TSA screeners don't sexually assault travelers but real world experience proves that wrong. My point was, if a screener confiscates a food item try to find a way ruin it. I'd bet dollars to donuts that confiscated items do find its way into screeners pockets
Edit: Dr. zitsky says, "Don't worry about it. I've never had a problem. [Why would you?]
Last edited by zitsky; Jul 16, 2017 at 11:20 am
Jul 16, 2017, 5:54 pm
#36
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Denver CO
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...A very unhappy important looking man came into our presence asking what the problem was. The screener said that I was trying to take drill bits on the plane. I said the screener was an idiot because it was screwdriver bits and not drill bits. Well, I did not say idiot, but I did not say he was a genius either. Anyway, the FSM overruled him and said they were OK. However, he gave the screener permission to check everything in my bag. Everything. He used enough little swabs on a stick to wax a Lincoln. It took a loooooong time, but I had plenty and I was enjoying this. The FSM stood there the whole time. In the end, I thanked him for coming, but he did not seem to have gotten a bit happier.
Jul 16, 2017, 7:06 pm
#37
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Several years ago, I actually called a TSA screener an idiot. I was flying and I had a bullet key chain. Keep in mind this was a souvenior key chain that traveled all over the world with me. He said I wasn't allowed to carry ammunition through a checkpoint. Um, its a keychain and I have never had a problem before (including that same checkpoint). That didn't sway him and I said, "you all are a bunch of idiots." That apparently didn't sit well and he called over a coworker and told him I called him an idiot. Then he called over a local police officer. After a short lecture about not calling TSA screeners idiots, he let me go to my gate. And he threw away my key chain.
Back in the wanding days, I had a clerk use the wand on my bare arms & legs (wearing shorts in the summer). I told him, "Do you realize you look like a complete idiot wanding bare skin?"
Jul 17, 2017, 10:23 am
#38
Join Date: Feb 2010
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Jul 17, 2017, 11:53 am
#39
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 12
So your counsel would be to just lay back and enjoy it, right?
When a person challenges a screeners authority or knowledge of SOP that does cause the screener to "look bad". It shows that they don't know their job nearly as well as they think they do. It could lead to a remark on an evaluation or extra attention from management.
When a person challenges a screeners authority or knowledge of SOP that does cause the screener to "look bad". It shows that they don't know their job nearly as well as they think they do. It could lead to a remark on an evaluation or extra attention from management.
Jul 17, 2017, 2:42 pm
#41
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Jul 17, 2017, 2:42 pm
#42
Join Date: Nov 2010
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Well, judging by the number of confiscations of harmless and permitted items, punitive gropes, and baseless police calls, I'd hazard a guess that those who DO care about having their "discretion" and "final say" challenged when it violates the rules, seem to outnumber those who don't.
Jul 18, 2017, 10:38 am
#43
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 959
Jul 19, 2017, 6:33 am
#45
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 3,526
TSOs have a set process they follow. The disposal process at each airport is designed and implemented by that airport. TSA has regulations that determine what happens to the different types of items, but the actual process of walking the item from voluntary surrender by the passenger, to final disposition is different at each airport.