It's my first time posting on this forum and unfortunately my first post will be about one of the screeners at CLT being dumbfounded by two short strips of clear packing tape.
First off, I'm trying to travel carry-on only which I have not done frequently, so my biggest concern is the silly 3-1-1 rule and my fear that some buckaroo will confiscate my translucent solid stick deodorant (after all, if you can see light through it, it has to be a "liquid", right? - but that's another story...).
I'm traveling with a laptop which is primarily used for presentations in a conference room and little else. It's always plugged in when used as such, so to lighten my carry-on load I pull the battery and CD drive from the front of the machine leaving a pair of gaping holes but reducing the weight significantly. These remain behind at the office. I cover the empty bays with crystal clear packing tape (one strip each) to keep debris from contaminating the inside of the laptop.
Apparently clear packing tape is now a sign of something nefarious...
I send everything through the x-ray, complying with all the silly bagged liquid rules, shoes off, etc., knowing full well that it's not the screeners' fault that our legislators are idiots. Next thing I know "Bag Check!" is being screeched from behind conveyor. I'm not surprised, my bag has been inspected (with no resulting violations at all) in the last 3 of my 4 flights.
One of the screeners picks up the laptop and says something to the effect that it needs to undergo further screening. I just wave her off with a "sure, fine, go ahead" as I am trying to replace everything I had to undo for the "conveyor belt amusement park ride".
She swabs it and the magical sniffer machine gives the all clear... Then she stands there with my company laptop in her hands and says that she needs a supervisor to clear it before I can have it back.
??? Huh ???
To their credit, the supervisor came right over and asked what she needed. She says she's "never seen one like this" while holding out the laptop and pointing to the crystal clear packing tape which covers two obviously empty slots in the front of the laptop, and that he needed to approve that it was "OK".
His response? An annoyed "Why?" (I already like this guy)
She says "I've never seen one like this, I need you to approve it"
The Supervisor says, "Why? It's a dust cover."
"Well, I need you to approve it"
"Why?"
"OK, you can go." and she hands me the laptop back.
This had to be one of the silliest things I've seen in a while. It apparently wasn't the fact that the laptop had an unusual configuration (missing the commonly retained batteries and CD drive) but the fact that there was CRYSTAL CLEAR PACKING TAPE covering the empty slots which caused the alert and subsequent refusal to give me back the laptop despite the fact that it passed the additional screening.
On the return trip I removed the packing tape and Voila!, no problems. No "Bag Check!", no sniffer machine, and no supervisors.
Here all along I thought they were going to confiscate my deodorant... silly me!
Supervisor could have handled this situation better.
As EngIceDave pointed out, the laptop was out of the norm in that not only were the battery and hard drive missing, but the compartments were covered with tape. Nothing criminal here just out of the norm. TSOs are supposed to notify supervisors whenever they come across laptops that are out of the norm. Since 99.9999999% of the travelers do not pull out their batteries and hard drives out of their laptops, this constitutes "out of the norm." She notified her supervisor, and from what I gather, she informed him that the laptop cleared the ETD machine. All he had to do was give her the OK. Instead, he embarrassed her in front of a passenger and, more significantly, inhibited her from notifying her supervisor in the future. Real dumb move on his part.
If he thought it wasn't necessary to be notified, all he had to do was give her the OK and, once the passenger was away, pull her to the side and give her a better explanation, perhaps even explain a little more specifically when she should and should not notify him. Instead, if she comes across something else that isn't quite normal, she's going to hesitate before notifying her supervisor for fear of being humiliated.
I agree with Bart and the screener. The screener was attempting to screen passengers and not to simply obsess with objects. The screener and the supervisor should've been more discreet and/or professional about it.
Seems to me that screeners should not worry about things out of the norm, but rather worry about things out of the norm which things could be dangerous to aviation and passengers. Worrying about things out of the norm increases the number of false positives and detract from worrying about things that could be dangerous.
Yesterday at SAN, the x-ray operator saw something in my rollaboard. He called over one of the other screeners and said, "Can you tell what that is? I've never seen anything like it."
Of course that gets a bag check. I'm at that point sure it's the large portable hard drive I sometimes travel with, as I've had screeners scrutinize it before (to their credit, the guys at MRY could tell exactly what it was, and the x-ray guy explained to the trainee with him that I had lots of photo gear and it made sense I had such a large hard drive).
Nope, it's my camera monopod. The lady is completely confused and asks me, "Do you know what this is?"
That question had to be the all-time dumbest I've ever gotten from the TSA. Do I know what something I packed is?
I tried to explain, "A camera monopod--you know, like a tripod but just one leg," but I could tell she wasn't getting it. She tried to figure out how to extend it, etc., and looked like she wanted to call a supervisor--then she looked at how badly backed up the line was, shrugged, and repacked my bag.
Supervisor could have handled this situation better.
As EngIceDave pointed out, the laptop was out of the norm in that not only were the battery and hard drive missing, but the compartments were covered with tape. Nothing criminal here just out of the norm. TSOs are supposed to notify supervisors whenever they come across laptops that are out of the norm. Since 99.9999999% of the travelers do not pull out their batteries and hard drives out of their laptops, this constitutes "out of the norm." She notified her supervisor, and from what I gather, she informed him that the laptop cleared the ETD machine. All he had to do was give her the OK. Instead, he embarrassed her in front of a passenger and, more significantly, inhibited her from notifying her supervisor in the future. Real dumb move on his part.
Or not. A laptop with a lithium-ion battery is about 1000 times more dangerous than a laptop without one. I bet that the supervisor knew this and reacted based upon that knowledge.
It's hard to operate with knowledge of what is dangerous or suspicious, and knowledge what must be portrayed as dangerous or suspicious in politically charged security theater. An actor bungled a line, but no harm was done.
I think this is the only time I feel sympathy for the screeners, when they have to juggle truth and the mistruths that they must act upon. Hard work.
Last edited by whirledtraveler; Dec 16, 07 at 8:40 am.
Or not. A laptop with a lithium-ion battery is about 1000 times more dangerous than a laptop without one. I bet that the supervisor knew this and reacted based upon that knowledge.
It's hard to operate with knowledge of what is dangerous or suspicious, and knowledge what must be portrayed as dangerous or suspicious in politically charged security theater. An actor bungled a line, but no harm was done.
I think this is the only time I feel sympathy for the screeners, when they have to juggle truth and the mistruths that they must act upon. Hard work.
One of these things is not like the other.
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Not a very complicated thing to figure out. You miss the point: the supervisor could have handled it better by giving the screener a little bit clearer instructions rather than to show his a$$ in front of the screener and passenger.
Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop without battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery. Laptop with battery.
Not a very complicated thing to figure out.
Shame it wasn't a consequential thing.
When you give screeners bonehead criteria like that, you end up with the joke we've been paying for for years.
When you give screeners bonehead criteria like that, you end up with the joke we've been paying for for years.
Again, it's a matter of effective communication that comes from sound leadership. It's something that is evident in any enterprise whether it's the screener at the checkpoint or the sales clerk at the department store or sales representative at the conference room.
But you overlooked the point about the next time the screener sees something out of the ordinary. And that's the sad part of the story and the reason I am so highly critical of that three-striped clown who failed to show an ounce of leadership when the situation demanded it.
Again, it's a matter of effective communication that comes from sound leadership. It's something that is evident in any enterprise whether it's the screener at the checkpoint or the sales clerk at the department store or sales representative at the conference room.
But you overlooked the point about the next time the screener sees something out of the ordinary. And that's the sad part of the story and the reason I am so highly critical of that three-striped clown who failed to show an ounce of leadership when the situation demanded it.
"Out of the ordinary" is poor screening criteria. It's what you do when you can't think of anything better. Terrorists would make their implements look as ordinary as possible.
"Out of the ordinary" is poor screening criteria. It's what you do when you can't think of anything better. Terrorists would probably make their implements look as ordinary as possible.
