Originally Posted by Brattflyer
Yesterday at the hotel I buried my baggie at the bottom of my carry-on and forgot about it. I didn't think of it till I was in the middle of the security line. I did a brief search of the top of my bag to try and find it, couldn't, and decided to deal with it after it went through the x-ray. The x-ray screener did not call for a bag check. I thought, "maybe a lucky random occurance".
Flash forward: my plane is delayed for two hours and I decide to go out of airside and have a real meal (this is at DCA). On going through security the same thing happens with a different screener. I don't take the baggie out and they don't say anything.
Is this a trend, I know they can see my baggie items in the x-ray, can they see the baggie? Do they know now it's not worth the time to check if all they will see are the items in a baggie? Is this just a DCA thing?
Doesn't surprise me at all, and as a Lead TSO, doesn't concern me at all. During the first week of the new baggie policy, lots of screeners got a good "look" at what a bag full of 3 oz containers look like. What the paper-pushing weenies at TSA headquarters don't know (because they've never stood in front of an x-ray machine screen) is that it doesn't take long before a screener is able to identify these same baggies in or out of a carry on bag. The official policy remains unchanged, but I am not surprised that there are TSOs who are exercising judgment by reserving bag checks for truly dangerous or actual prohibited items. And I know that some of these same screeners will call an occasional bag check just to keep up the appearances of enforcing the baggie policy.
This is much like the shoe screening policy. By the strict letter of the law, shoes have to be placed inside the x-ray by themselves flat with soles down and with nothing inside the shoes or above/below the shoes. However, many screeners can clear a pair of shoes even with cell phones or jewelry stuffed inside of them or if the shoes are on their sides. (I've had a couple of anal-retentive supervisors who complained about this practice; I promptly put the supervisor on x-ray for a couple sessions; end of complaints.)
I know some in here are going to whine that this is just another inconsistency in TSA procedure. I applaud it as some TSOs having the courage to exercise judgment and discretion.
My prediction is that TSA will unofficially back off strict adherance to the procedure, but without doing it in writing. This will become one of those don't-ask-don't-tell issues (still cracks me up that some passengers who turn in their checked luggage for screening voluntarily tell us that they have a lighter inside <stomping foot twice>).