BOS lets men wand and frisk female passengers
 

I passed through BOS terminal D today. My evil airline selected me for SSSS harassment. I got selected because I'm flying on their award ticket which is only available as a one-way booking. Ever read Catch-22, Airtran?

Anyway, a male screener actually tried to conduct the hand-wand search on me! I refused and asked for a woman to do the search. The TSA complied, but I thought that same-gender screening was supposed to be standard for all passengers. As I was completing the screening, two attractive teenage girls who were both SSSS were about to be molested by the same male screener. On what planet is this acceptable?

The woman who screened me ended up feeling my underwire from one end to the other, making a U-shape to feel completely underneath each breast. The TSA would have let a male government agent touch me in that way if I hadn't complained. This is utterly repulsive. What does this have to do with security? And why hasn't the TSA learned its lesson with regard to letting men screen women?

To the best of my knowledge, only in extreme situations, i.e. no female screeners on duty at that moment, cross-gender wanding can be conducted. This is generally performed by the screening supervisor or Lead screener with the presence of a female from the airline or police department to play the role of witness. The male screener must fully inform the passenger of the situation and offer private screening. To just allow the males to screen females with plenty of other female screeners present is not permitted. Remember, this is to the best of my knowledge. I've had this discussion with my higher-ups just last week on this topic. But as I have learned plenty of times, things within TSA can change rather quickly and sometimes without warning. Hope this helps.

The idiot in charge (FSD) of Boston thinks that rules do not apply to him or his staff. Please, PLEASE file a complaint about this incident.

They don't even do that in Frankfurt.

Why do you say that? More details please.

Here in FL we have women actually request men ;)

BOS is one of the worst stations in the country for screener attitude. That comes from the top. It is NOT the "Northeast Attitude" as the screeners at MHT are amongst the best on the country. The screeners at BED (Hanscom Field) are also arrogant surly Bas***ds. Guess what, same idiot in charge (FSD).

BOS had a screener show up to work with a LOADED handgun. The idiot in charge (FSD) somehow convinced the State Police to not press charges.

The idiot in charge (FSD) did, however, have a teenegaer arrested after that teenager put a note in his luggage asking the TSA screeners if they had found any bombs yet. (I admit, the teenager was wrong, but I hardly think that this offense is as serious as brining a LOADED handgun to work).

There are many more instances of the idiot in charge (FSD) in BOS being negligent, but I guess being a former Coast Guard Admiral gives you all kind of leeway with the rules.

Thanks, CameraGuy. I will file a complaint. I knew it didn't seem right when I was there, but guess I didn't realize that letting men wand women while there were female TSA staffers on duty was an actionable offense. Putting letter #2 in the mail to the Office of Civil Rights at TSA...

Gladgirl,

Can you clear some things up for me, please.

1) Did he ask you to stand or left your feet in the air for the HHMD screening?

2) As far as SSSS goes, I know when females at my airport get backed up, I'll go to the WTMD pick up the female passengers bags and such and bring them to the back. I'll then tell her that I'm going to screen her items but I make it a point to explain that I can't screen her. Did he possibly say something like this but just didn't make it a clear?

3) Did you see him start screening the other two females as far as wanding goes?

Before I get people jumping down my throat and saying I don't believe her and it's disrespectful and such. Her story is exaclty clear here in my view so I've asked for some clearing up of it before telling her what she might want to do.

The male screener escorted me to a chair and asked me to lift one foot, then the other, wanding them as he did so. He still had the wand in his hand and he said, "Okay, now stand up and put your feet on the mat," indicating the little black mat with the yellow feet outlines. At this point I said, "I'm sorry, can I have a woman do this part?" He said, "Oh, alright, then." Only at that point did he call a female screener over. The female screener asked me to sit again. She repeated the foot wanding part before she did the body wanding and breast touching part. The male screener definitely did not notify me that I had the option of having a female screen me until I asked.

As I saw the teenagers enter the checkpoint, I stopped to tell them that they had the right to ask for a female screener also. The first girl did not ask the male screener to stop, and I watched him wand her feet and then start to wand her body. I didn't stay long enough to see what happened to the second girl.

screening
 

as far as that case... cross gender screening only if there is no same gender screener available...Exagent circumstances only....
and yes weve had females try to sneak weapons past the checkpoint by putting them in the bra area....

At present, AirTran (f.k.a. ValuJet) is the only airline operating out of Terminal D at Logan. Can you believe that before 1972 that was the International Terminal?

Sorry to hear about it GradGirl. Glad you did not have to summon one of the Mass State Police (who wear those oddly familiar uniforms: http://tinytroopers.tripod.com/msp.html). They are allowed to carry Machine Guns!

Complain for sure then Gladgirl.