Originally Posted by
chollie
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When was it the norm?
Everyone I've ever seen in the NoS has been told to pose with empty open palms. When I get my gropes, I am told to keep my palms open and empty.
Was TSA making exceptions and allowing all those folks to get scanned or groped while holding their phones or their BPs? Or did the TSOs take the BPs/phones and hold them until the scan/grope was over?
It was the norm for a while at BWI, right around the time the NoS was first being deployed, say around 2009-2011 or so. The TDC, at that time, was closer to the beginning of the queue, with more unsecure roped-off area between the TDC and the actual beginning of the c/p, so it actually made a tiny bit of sense in TSA-land - there was a large swath of unsecure queue after the TDC where people could, in busy and crowded times, sneak into the queue without going past the TDC. So they started requiring travelers to show either the BP or ID at the NoS (I forget which, but it was only one).
After a while someone finally wised up and we got the current setup, where the TDC is at the beginning of the secure (relatively) part of the c/p and the long queue is prior to the TDC. Even so, for a couple of years after the change, I kept my ID and BP in my hands when going through the NoS. I have finally started putting them into my carry-on after the TDC does the magic squiggle.