Originally Posted by
erictank
Quoted for relevance, emphasis added: "The TSO was rummaging through my bag with her back to me, without my permission or my ability to observe her, at a table about 8 feet away from where I stood on my side of the X-ray belt."
Many (most?) reports have screeners getting pretty snippy if they think you're taking measures to keep them from going through your stuff without your permission, and getting indignant over the implied insult - that they aren't trustworthy. The irony of this goes straight over their heads, as they ignore the proof that many screeners *ARE* untrustworthy, and as they treat each and every passenger they screen as a potential terrorist until temporarily proven not-guilty.
Going through a bag without a passenger present and watching is so against TSA SOP! Why wouldn't a passenger that sees someone, anyone, going through their bag without permission not yell "BRAVO" or scream out for a supervisor or get a LEO involved? TSA has no business searching ANY bag without the passenger watching everything that is going on. If this ever happens, use your voice, make a scene, stop this while it is happening. Don't be timid; report a crime in progress!