BWI TDC (playing BDO/SPOT) harasses, terrorizes, interrogates 3-year-old
#46
Join Date: Jul 2007
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I find the whole story ridiculous. I don't know any parent that would allow their child to be interrogated and/or terrorized and just stand there and do nothing, for any length of time. If the guy was so threatening, you tell him to back off - immediately. Since that was not the immediate reaction of the parents I suspect the "threat level" of the guy was at blue. Maybe yellow if he was really big and had a scary voice and a beard.
>>"Tell the nice man your name" I suggested.<<
Yeah-right. Parents who feel their children are being terrorized, harrassed, and interrogated aren't going to "suggest" anything - they're going to get between the child and the threat and grow fangs and go foamy. I think the author was just looking for something to bash the airport security guards over and could have done a LOT better than that if he put the effort in
>>"Tell the nice man your name" I suggested.<<
Yeah-right. Parents who feel their children are being terrorized, harrassed, and interrogated aren't going to "suggest" anything - they're going to get between the child and the threat and grow fangs and go foamy. I think the author was just looking for something to bash the airport security guards over and could have done a LOT better than that if he put the effort in
#47
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Location: BWI
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I find the whole story ridiculous. I don't know any parent that would allow their child to be interrogated and/or terrorized and just stand there and do nothing, for any length of time. If the guy was so threatening, you tell him to back off - immediately. Since that was not the immediate reaction of the parents I suspect the "threat level" of the guy was at blue. Maybe yellow if he was really big and had a scary voice and a beard.
>>"Tell the nice man your name" I suggested.<<
Yeah-right. Parents who feel their children are being terrorized, harrassed, and interrogated aren't going to "suggest" anything - they're going to get between the child and the threat and grow fangs and go foamy. I think the author was just looking for something to bash the airport security guards over and could have done a LOT better than that if he put the effort in
>>"Tell the nice man your name" I suggested.<<
Yeah-right. Parents who feel their children are being terrorized, harrassed, and interrogated aren't going to "suggest" anything - they're going to get between the child and the threat and grow fangs and go foamy. I think the author was just looking for something to bash the airport security guards over and could have done a LOT better than that if he put the effort in
You'd be surprised what people go along with at a TSA checkpoint just to get thru. Saw TSO's searching bags OUTSIDE the D checkpoint at BWI before the ID verifier. If you got some place you want to be, have an agency that's out of control and don't know what your rights are, I find it very plausible that the guy didn't step in simply because he didn't want to miss his flight and end up being arrested.
With the new cop uniforms, I believe many people think TSO's have more power than they actually do.
Super
#50
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#52
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Florida
Posts: 3,006
Fair is fair, and that is what I always try to be.
#54
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Recent TSA policy change on questioning children?
I traveled through Dulles at 7:00 this morning with my 14-year-old son. We went through the TSA checkpoint together. I handed the ID-checker both boarding passes and my passport. (Note that my son is too young to require ID, and he looks his age.)
The TSA guy flashed his magic light at my passport, then wrote a bunch of idiotic squigglies on my boarding pass. Then he turned his attention to my son. Neither of us had spoken a word yet to the TSA guy or to each other.
TSA guy: "Timothy. Is that your name?" [Hey, he's 14, knucklehead; don't talk to him like he's a 3-year-old.]
Tim: "Yeah."
TSA guy: "How old are you?"
Tim: "14."
TSA guy: "I'm sorry. Could you speak up? I couldn't hear you."
Tim: "14."
TSA guy: "Who are you traveling with?" [I'm still standing there watching this. Who did this moron think my son (same last name) was traveling with?]
Tim: "My dad."
TSA guy: "OK, have a nice flight."
What kind of idiocy is this? Incidentally, that was followed by the slowest x-ray line I've ever experienced. Each bag was examined multiple times, as the belt moved backward and forward at a snail's pace. Each person required as much as 5 minutes. Finally, I had to go through the metal detector three times. First, the guy said he wasn't looking (true!). Second time, I walked too fast! Third time, I crept through in an especially annoying manner. We gave each other death stares. I think that mine won. I'm still alive, obviously.
Bruce
The TSA guy flashed his magic light at my passport, then wrote a bunch of idiotic squigglies on my boarding pass. Then he turned his attention to my son. Neither of us had spoken a word yet to the TSA guy or to each other.
TSA guy: "Timothy. Is that your name?" [Hey, he's 14, knucklehead; don't talk to him like he's a 3-year-old.]
Tim: "Yeah."
TSA guy: "How old are you?"
Tim: "14."
TSA guy: "I'm sorry. Could you speak up? I couldn't hear you."
Tim: "14."
TSA guy: "Who are you traveling with?" [I'm still standing there watching this. Who did this moron think my son (same last name) was traveling with?]
Tim: "My dad."
TSA guy: "OK, have a nice flight."
What kind of idiocy is this? Incidentally, that was followed by the slowest x-ray line I've ever experienced. Each bag was examined multiple times, as the belt moved backward and forward at a snail's pace. Each person required as much as 5 minutes. Finally, I had to go through the metal detector three times. First, the guy said he wasn't looking (true!). Second time, I walked too fast! Third time, I crept through in an especially annoying manner. We gave each other death stares. I think that mine won. I'm still alive, obviously.
Bruce
#55
Suspended
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 4,953
I traveled through Dulles at 7:00 this morning with my 14-year-old son. We went through the TSA checkpoint together. I handed the ID-checker both boarding passes and my passport. (Note that my son is too young to require ID, and he looks his age.)
The TSA guy flashed his magic light at my passport, then wrote a bunch of idiotic squigglies on my boarding pass. Then he turned his attention to my son. Neither of us had spoken a word yet to the TSA guy or to each other.
TSA guy: "Timothy. Is that your name?" [Hey, he's 14, knucklehead; don't talk to him like he's a 3-year-old.]
Tim: "Yeah."
TSA guy: "How old are you?"
Tim: "14."
TSA guy: "I'm sorry. Could you speak up? I couldn't hear you."
Tim: "14."
TSA guy: "Who are you traveling with?" [I'm still standing there watching this. Who did this moron think my son (same last name) was traveling with?]
Tim: "My dad."
TSA guy: "OK, have a nice flight."
What kind of idiocy is this? Incidentally, that was followed by the slowest x-ray line I've ever experienced. Each bag was examined multiple times, as the belt moved backward and forward at a snail's pace. Each person required as much as 5 minutes. Finally, I had to go through the metal detector three times. First, the guy said he wasn't looking (true!). Second time, I walked too fast! Third time, I crept through in an especially annoying manner. We gave each other death stares. I think that mine won. I'm still alive, obviously.
Bruce
The TSA guy flashed his magic light at my passport, then wrote a bunch of idiotic squigglies on my boarding pass. Then he turned his attention to my son. Neither of us had spoken a word yet to the TSA guy or to each other.
TSA guy: "Timothy. Is that your name?" [Hey, he's 14, knucklehead; don't talk to him like he's a 3-year-old.]
Tim: "Yeah."
TSA guy: "How old are you?"
Tim: "14."
TSA guy: "I'm sorry. Could you speak up? I couldn't hear you."
Tim: "14."
TSA guy: "Who are you traveling with?" [I'm still standing there watching this. Who did this moron think my son (same last name) was traveling with?]
Tim: "My dad."
TSA guy: "OK, have a nice flight."
What kind of idiocy is this? Incidentally, that was followed by the slowest x-ray line I've ever experienced. Each bag was examined multiple times, as the belt moved backward and forward at a snail's pace. Each person required as much as 5 minutes. Finally, I had to go through the metal detector three times. First, the guy said he wasn't looking (true!). Second time, I walked too fast! Third time, I crept through in an especially annoying manner. We gave each other death stares. I think that mine won. I'm still alive, obviously.
Bruce
Makes me wonder if the screener involved reads FT and figured he'd try the same thing as the screener at BWI.
#56
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I had to balance my contempt for the TSA with the need to treat my son like an adult. If I had answered on his behalf, my son would have been resentful, as you might imagine. If he were 3, it would be a whole different story, of course!
Bruce
Bruce
#57
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Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: BOS and vicinity
Programs: Former UA 1P
Posts: 3,723
Then he turned his attention to my son. Neither of us had spoken a word yet to the TSA guy or to each other.
TSA guy: "Timothy. Is that your name?" [Hey, he's 14, knucklehead; don't talk to him like he's a 3-year-old.]
Tim: "Yeah."
TSA guy: "How old are you?"
Tim: "14."
TSA guy: "I'm sorry. Could you speak up? I couldn't hear you."
Tim: "14."
TSA guy: "Who are you traveling with?" [I'm still standing there watching this. Who did this moron think my son (same last name) was traveling with?]
Tim: "My dad."
TSA guy: "OK, have a nice flight."
What kind of idiocy is this?
TSA guy: "Timothy. Is that your name?" [Hey, he's 14, knucklehead; don't talk to him like he's a 3-year-old.]
Tim: "Yeah."
TSA guy: "How old are you?"
Tim: "14."
TSA guy: "I'm sorry. Could you speak up? I couldn't hear you."
Tim: "14."
TSA guy: "Who are you traveling with?" [I'm still standing there watching this. Who did this moron think my son (same last name) was traveling with?]
Tim: "My dad."
TSA guy: "OK, have a nice flight."
What kind of idiocy is this?
Starting over the next few years, there will be a growing population of American adults who have no memory of flying without presenting government ID and passing through a government checkpoint. With the new ID rules, TDCs, SPOTters, and BDOs, they will have no memory of not having to interact with government agents to fly.
If the patriots and civil-libertarians don't start to turn the tide on these issues within a few years, it will be much harder to reverse in the future. The de-sensitized younger generation will have no problem accepting checkpoints on their daily commutes or to enter a shopping center.
And they probably won't care about stories from old codgers (their parents and grandparents) about the days of free (as in speech) travel without government permission or interviews. They'll just see those as stories of a "lawless" and "insecure" past no different from how we now look at the "wild west."
#58
Suspended
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 4,953
I totally understand that! I would like to think that if it had been me, I would have said to my minor child, in a loud voice so that the screener could hear, that he did not have to answer any questions.
#59
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 684
Sounds to me that there are now two making moutains out of mole hills incidents. The first one I find highly suspect since it is a reporter for a newspaper that specilizes in civil rights violations. Looks more like Dad was more interested in having a story to print than protecting his upset three year old. As for both incidents two questions is hardly an interogation.
Some of the posters need to spend less time reading books by the black helicopter/one world government lunatics.
Some of the posters need to spend less time reading books by the black helicopter/one world government lunatics.
#60
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Bruce