Hi all,

Having gone through several check points throught USA in the past 2 weeks, i like to gauge your opinion to the shoe carnival before i write in a serious complaint letter and perhaps follow throught with their HR.
I am a non-US citizen so please excuse my ignorance if im not familiar with the slang being used or the culture.

I entered the USA on 5 July 2005 and exited on 15 July 2005.

Throught my entire stay, i flew from LAX to ORD(Los Angeles to Chicago)
ORD to IAD(Chicago to Washington Dulles Airport)
DCA to LAX via ORD(Washington to LAX)
LAX to HNL(Los Angeles to Hawaii, return)

Throught my trips, i encountered a few TSA folks, The friendliest, i have to stay is at Chicago who did things by the book, politely, sensitively and efficiently. as well as Hawaii.

The worst was at DCA. There is an incident i like to relate to you all and have your opinion before i write in.

For the sake of shortening this message, the TSA folks wanted me to take off my shoes. I was wearing blue sneakers which were less than 1 Inch. I asked for the supervisor and she threatened me that if i do not take off my shoes, i would go through secondary. She then says to let them do their job in a sarcastic manner. She further says that if i wish to fly today, i have to take off my shoes even if its less than 1 inch. What i did was to mention the 1 inch rule and asked twice if she was sure she wanted to do this and whether she approved the actions of the TSA agent. She answered yes to both questions. At all other check-points, i was never asked to take off my shoes.

The impression given to me at DCA airport is that TSA folks are allowed to exercise their discretion but they are also allowed to be rude and abusive to customers even if they are foreign nationals. I have also noticed discriminatory treatment towards me and other foreign nationals. We were talked to in a loud, threatening manner. At no point, was cultural sensitivity observed. For the record, i am not muslim and i look chinese.

My question to flyertalkers is this:
For the rule of 1 inch, its not a published rule. Is there any proof that only shoes less than 1 inch need to be taken off. If so, is there any official website that can back this up.

Personally, i am quite upset by the whole ordeal and felt extremely insulted as i was given the impression that tourists are not welcomed in the USA and especially in Washington DC. The TSA agents were VERY rude. Furthermore, i was given the impression that even though rules exist for teh behaviour of TSA folks, they do not have to follow it and can decide who to be nice and who not to be nice

Your opinions please,

Thank you