bonoman

I was going to spend time jotting down a long story, but in the end, my question is pretty simple, so I'll try not to ramble on too much.

I went to fly out of MSP this morning, and admitting I'm totally at fault, left a multi-tool in my laptop bag after hunting this weekend. (Yes, I had to work remotely and took the laptop with). Consequently, I was pulled aside for a bag check. As the agent goes to walk away with my bag, I instruct him to stay in my sight and wait until I can grab my things off the belt.

After a couple residue wipes, he begins pulling things out of my laptop bag. Now, being that I'm an IT consultant, I carry a very wide array of cables with me, along with the typical nerdy gadgets. After about 4 items, he finds the multi-tool, which I immediately confess I know they won't allow and will return it to my car.

This is where things went downhill. I was getting tight on time to make it through security a second time after running it back out to my car. The agent proceeds to pull every tiny thing out of my back and I tell him he can stop as I clearly have to leave the secure area to return the item to my car. He tells me its their policy to keep going through my bag. I object and he calls a supervisor over. I get the same story from her, and vehemently protest that if I'm not going into the sterile area that the search is pointless AND I'm going to be heading to my car and will have to go through again anyways. The debate gets heated and I'm borderline either snatching up my personal property or calling over an LEO, but not being informed enough about my rights, was caught in a difficult place.

Two more interesting notes as I leave:

1) The supervisor asks for my boarding pass to which I refuse since at that moment I'm *not* going to be entering the sterile area and ask why she needs it. She said she had to write something on it. I refuse again and she continues to demand it and I tell her she's not going to write on my phone. So then she drops it. Like if she were going to put something on it that would flag me, I wouldn't just head to a kiosk and print out another BP?

2) Once I'm "escorted" down to the baggage area, I'm "warned" by the first agent not to bring my multi-tool again since its a federal offense. I tell him to take his lies and shove it since they clearly don't fine everyone that brings more than 3.4oz of liquid or knives or butane lighters, etc.

So I'm left with the question - what rights do I have once I choose not to enter the sterile area? I know that the agents can't legally detain me, though they could try to summon a LEO. But what rights do I have in regards to my property? Has anyone else experienced this?

Luckily I made it through another checkpoint without hassle and got to my flight on time. The odd part was I was probably in my least TSA-confrontational mood ever this morning.

SATTSO

As I understand it if you attempt to "smuggle" your prohibited item throgh the checkpoint after the first time you unknowingly brought it in, that is actually a crime. No, as far as I know TSA does not charge people when they bring prohibited items in the first time (there are exceptions). But we do get people who attempt to go through another checkpoint or lane with a particular item after they said they would mail it/pack it/ or give it to someone else. But it wasn't the TSOs job to tell you, though I believe this is what he was refering to.

I wonder, after finding the item, did they rerun the bag through the x-ray once again? And yes, when someone is allowed to repack or mail a prohibited item, we do escort them to the exit. Sometimes, if someone is not sure what to do or if they are running late, I will help them to the airline ticket counter or baggage to ensure they make their flight. But I don't thin it's what happened in your case.

We Will Never Forget

First of all, you committed a Federal offense. The TSA generally doesn't prosecute, so you get a freebie. Did you ever think that they search your bag for OTHER prohibited items to ensure you don't bring them to the checkpoint on your second trip? Seems to me it would have a side benefit of customer service.

As to the BP thing, no clue.

bonoman

Actually now that you mention it, that was quite weird - they did not rerun my bag though like they would if they found a soda or something I left inside from my previous return flight home.

You are correct, I didn't need help finding a ticket counter or anything. But I'm unsure why I had to go through the baggage claim exit instead of just back into the main ticketing part of the terminal. Who cares how I leave the sterile area? In my case, I just wanted to do it asap without being delayed unnecessarily.

ESpen36

The OP was clearly in the wrong. If I had been in that situation, I would have been extremely cooperative and apologetic.

As the OP noted, even if the TSO decided to scribble something on the BP, the OP always could have obtained a new one before going back through security.

In this kind of scenario, I would choose the path of least resistance, even if it meant surrendering the prohibited item so that I would make my flight (if timing was tight).

SATTSO

I don't know that airport. At SAT there is really one one exit from the checkpoint, and I is the baggage aim exit, and it is where we have to escort all people who wish to take a prohibited item it of the checkpoint.

If your bag wasn't rerun there are 2 possible reasons why: 1) lazy TSO 2) to save you time. You decide.

callalily

Since the agent pulled every tiny thing out of the bag, it's probable that neither reason is accurate.

SATTSO

Not really, because as said before there were a lot of cables on the bag, and the search continued after the knife was found. I have called for bag checks for multiple reasons, including the situation described here - something like a leatherman in a cluttered bag, which would required finding the leatherman, and going trough the entire bag. So both possibilities I described are just as valid as before.

daw617

I call baloney. Do you have a citation to the law? I doubt that accidentally forgetting a multitool in your baggage is a Federal offense (emphasis on the "accidentally"). Are you suggesting that there is some "strict liability" rule on the books in this area? I'm skeptical. I suspect it's more likely that your understanding of Federal law is inaccurate.

thebat

But the OP was just going to return to his car. Why didn't the search stop when he said that?

DevilDog438

Because the TSO got a wild hair up his ... and decided to retaliate by drawing things out as much as possible to make the OP miss the flight.

wharvey

I would think that once a search starts, the agent needs to complete the search. Just because one item was found... does not mean that is the only prohibited item in the bag.

Just a guess.

DevilDog438

TSOs have posted on here before that the process is supposed to be:

1. X-ray TSO calls for bag check
2. Bag Check TSO and Xray TSO look at image to view suspicious item
3. Bag Check TSO searchs bag for suspicious item and removes item from bag
4. Bag Check TSO runs bag back through X-ray
5. X-ray TSO validates that the correct object was located or calls for additional bag checks
6. If no additional bag checks required, Bag Check TSO advises passenger of options (confiscation or return to car)
7. Passenger chooses option and is cleared (confiscation) or escorted back to pre-security side of C/P (return item to car)

So, based on the OP's description, the TSO took it farther than procedure.

unLogical

In Canada we are supposed to do a full bag search, regardless of why we go into the bag or how fast we find the object.

SATTSO

TSA SOP requires us to finis the search an rerun the bag even if he wad going to return to his car or check the item in or give it to someone seeing him off. What I am saying is that it appears the TSO dis cut short the sceening process, eithe because he was lazy or gave him a break; per SOP there was more to do.