TSA molests a 13-year-old girl traveling alone
 

"My 13 year old daughter recently made a trip on her own to spend some time with my parents (her grandparents) in Florida. She was picked out for the extra screening and given a patdown. She called her mother and was hysterically crying because of the traumatizing event. When she could finally talk about it calmly she described how TSA groped her genitals and breast. The return trip was a long drive. "


Found in the comments section of the story at http://tsaabusestory.blogspot.com/20...pect-when.html

To be clear, the quoted text was a comment to that post, not in the post itself. It took me a while to realize that.

Jesus H. Christ, this is unbelievable. Was it really only 2 weeks ago that Andrea Abbott stood up to put a TSO in its place? Since then we've had Tom Sawyer II, the ORD gropedown video, Yukari Miyamae, the 97-year-old strip-search (dubious though the story may be, it did get attention), the amputee harassment, and now this?

I think I figured out TSA's new strategy - abuse people faster than we can alert Congress to their wrongdoing. Too bad it won't work, I have no qualms about sending a letter to my representatives about TSA abuse a month after the fact.

Somebody's either got guts or is nuts or both. Putting their hands on the genitals and breasts of an unaccompanied 13 year-old?

They truly do feel they are beyond reach to be insane enough to do something so patently stupid. Who in their right mind a) thinks that is okay and b) does it??? They don't even feel it's necessary to consider their own self-preservation.

This story breaks down, and raises concerns, at the same time.

Breakdown: If the 13yo was a UM, she should have had an adult with her through the security process at the departing city (adult would be an NPE... Non Passenger Escort), all the way to the adult hand-off to the FA. So there should have been no lack of awareness by an adult at the CP, or at the gate, for a UM.

Concerns: if the 13yo was not a UM, the check-in agent could have refused an NPE to the adult, and the adult could only have gone as far as the TDC. Then the 13yo would have been on her own, at the potential pat-downs at the CP, or the gate. Also, if there was a connection, even if travellng as a UM, there could have been a gate pat-down, which no adult would have had an option to walk the 13yo away from.

The issue is, a minor, specifically a young-minor, has no representation at a good portion of the security process. It's not like a 13yo can get to the gate at a connecting city, refuse the gate pat-down, be escorted out of the airport, and told "go rent a car, and drive home".

I just checked my usual carrier, WN, and this is their T&C:

If the other airlines are similar, at thirteen she could have been unaccompanied and a minor, but not within the technical definition of OM by the airline.

Complete WN T&C here.

The TSA actions are no less reprehensible.

Yeah. Seems like this summer I've seen more teens flying without UM paperwork. I was wondering why until I looked up the UM fees (note these are per leg, so it can be as high as $200 per ticket):

http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/blog/...ine-fee-chart/

I flew a lot when I was a young teen because my parents lived ~1,000 miles away from most of the family and I flew in the summer to see them. I hated the UM paperwork because getting on a plane was pretty simple and the airline escorts always seemed to want to be someplace else. (I'm old enough to remember that before TWA 800, anybody who could clear security could go to the gate.) In those days, all you had to worry about was the airline. These days, you have to worry more about getting your children to the gate.

Where is our Joseph Welch? Somebody to ask John Pistole the question: "Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"; see http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/...of_decency.htm)

There is nothing in the man's post to indicate she was traveling as a UM.

This is yet another reason why the procedures at the checkpoint have got to be given the light of day. Many parents whose children are traveling by air the first time may not be aware that their children are subject to having their private areas groped...and their children arrive vulnerable and unprepared. Some of this travel may not be optional -- court-ordered visitation, for instance. This is a problem whether parents are traveling with them or not, but it's absolutely insane to grope a child's privates outside at the very least making a parent aware.

Except that:

a) most people seem to be willfully ignorant that this stuff is even happening
b) some are gleeful that it is happening to "keep them safe"
c) a certain subset says one "should just follow the rules"
d) the parent cannot be made aware because, well then the terrorists will know the procedures. It is becoming more and more apparent to me that we are the terrorists in TSAs eyes, elsewise, why are these procedures not known?

Yeah--I flew alone at about that age and in today's security climate neither my parents nor I would have felt any need to bother with them getting a gate pass. I would have known what to do if I ran into an irrops situation.

e) Lots of people know it is happening. They don't think about the details too much (nut chopping, cleft-groping, etc) because that's upsetting. They are confident that it would never happen to them because, well, they don't look like 'terrorists', anyone can see that.

Deep down they think that the folks who are selected somehow deserved it ("If you just smile nicely at the checkpoint, everything will be fine". "You must have done something to make the TSO mad." "I always bla-bla and it never happens to me, so it must be something about you".

This kind of stuff just makes me more angry at TSA. This is why people need to WAKE UP!

This brings up an interesting point. If my child is traveling as an unaccompanied minor, can the airline employee give permission for them to be groped? I wonder what is the official policy?

Personally, if I turn a child (or a teenager) over to the the care of a corporation, and they allow/encourage/do not call the police when someone tries to grab her genitals, there is going to be a Category 5 s...storm.

Unaccompanied minor fee... $200. Forcing the airlines to take responsibility for their complicity with TSA abuses... priceless.

I'd suspect that the airline will have fine print that says that the person signing over the child agrees that the child will conform to any and all security procedures prescribed by the security authority. That would indemnify the airline, and it's the minor's word against the security authority.

Have all the Cat 5's you want, yet the only power we appear to possess right now is to fly, or not fly. Once the child is in the sterile area, and released to the airline, the guardian would appear no longer able to just walk away (the only control the pax has over the security process). Do remember ir-ops, terminal dumps, connecting city's gate pat-downs, etc.

That is down to the question what happens if the minor says NO. And/or get upset/hysterical?

Who is then responsible? And what is the out come?

I was once a 13 year olds girl . And I would never let anybody do this to me.

And can another person who doesnt not have legal guardian do this? Like an TSO and/or airline employee with the parent to say yes.