MSP with prosthesis
Oct 29, 2011 | 10:05 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: North Dakota
Posts: 82
MSP with prosthesis
Had to fly out of MSP yesterday due to a family emergency. Since I have a prosthesis on my leg, I am effectively forced into an opt-out style patdown regardless, so I chose my checkpoint on the basis of line length and location. I ended up at Checkpoint 5.
Interesting point 1: No NoS. All mags.
Interesting point 2: In my haste to depart (I literally had one hour from the time I booked the flight until I left my house), I had just tossed all my LGAs into a big cosmetic case - didn't even think about Ziplocs. A couple of small Bath and Body Works bottles in that case are labeled as 4 oz. As I was disrobing, pulling out my computer, etc, the dude asked me if I had any LGAs and told me I would need to put them in the bowl. I started to panic at that moment because I was afraid they would take them all away from me, and also, the whole cosmetic case was buried at the bottom of my bag. So I started unpacking and pulled out the case with all my bottles and whatnot (separate from my bag of makeup, which I didn't mention, and left in the suitcase). When I showed the dude that all my bottles were in this case, he made me run it through separately. I thought I was done for. But no, nothing. No questions asked on either that or the makeup, no lecture about baggies, nothing.
Interesting point 3: No CastScope. I had to endure one of these last year at MSP, so maybe they only travel with the NoS? But it does seem strange to me that last year, at a different checkpoint, "all people with casts and prostheses are suspicious and need to be xrayed", but simply being willing to walk farther in the terminal apparently absolves us all of this risk. ???
Interesting point 4: Patdown - I wasn't wearing socks (like I said, I left in a hurry), and the stand-on-pictures-of-the-feet mat was disgusting. I asked if I would be allowed to reach in my bag and get socks to wear before I stood there. Obviously the answer was no, but she seemed to not even understand the question. When I pointed out how gross the mat was, you could see that it didn't even register for her. She asked if I had any questions about the patdown, and I asked if she was going to touch my vagina. She was clearly horrified by this question (I'm thinking Minnesota Nice tends to preclude such awkward conversation), and once she had recovered, said, "Of course not." I explained that this had happened on my last trip through this airport, to which she responded, "Well, I'm going to run my hands up your thigh until I meet resistance at your body, so if that's what you mean, then yes, I guess I will." I raised my eyebrows, and just said, "Well then, there we are." For my effort, I earned the hallowed "karate chop" and the disgusting hair check. She also made me untuck my cami from my jeans and expose my back and stomach, and when her fingers were in my waistband, she literally hooked them under the sides of my underwear and pulled them out to look at my underwear. So hideous.
I whined and moaned loudly the entire time, and sucked in my stomach and whatever other body parts she was touching. She was entirely unmoved.
Swabbed the bottoms of my feet and tested them. Then swabbed my hands and tested them. And then, only then, was I "free to go! Have a good flight!!" Seriously, lady? Seriously?
But anyway: Checkpoint 5 to avoid NoS and CastScope at MSP - always a good thing.
Interesting point 1: No NoS. All mags.
Interesting point 2: In my haste to depart (I literally had one hour from the time I booked the flight until I left my house), I had just tossed all my LGAs into a big cosmetic case - didn't even think about Ziplocs. A couple of small Bath and Body Works bottles in that case are labeled as 4 oz. As I was disrobing, pulling out my computer, etc, the dude asked me if I had any LGAs and told me I would need to put them in the bowl. I started to panic at that moment because I was afraid they would take them all away from me, and also, the whole cosmetic case was buried at the bottom of my bag. So I started unpacking and pulled out the case with all my bottles and whatnot (separate from my bag of makeup, which I didn't mention, and left in the suitcase). When I showed the dude that all my bottles were in this case, he made me run it through separately. I thought I was done for. But no, nothing. No questions asked on either that or the makeup, no lecture about baggies, nothing.
Interesting point 3: No CastScope. I had to endure one of these last year at MSP, so maybe they only travel with the NoS? But it does seem strange to me that last year, at a different checkpoint, "all people with casts and prostheses are suspicious and need to be xrayed", but simply being willing to walk farther in the terminal apparently absolves us all of this risk. ???
Interesting point 4: Patdown - I wasn't wearing socks (like I said, I left in a hurry), and the stand-on-pictures-of-the-feet mat was disgusting. I asked if I would be allowed to reach in my bag and get socks to wear before I stood there. Obviously the answer was no, but she seemed to not even understand the question. When I pointed out how gross the mat was, you could see that it didn't even register for her. She asked if I had any questions about the patdown, and I asked if she was going to touch my vagina. She was clearly horrified by this question (I'm thinking Minnesota Nice tends to preclude such awkward conversation), and once she had recovered, said, "Of course not." I explained that this had happened on my last trip through this airport, to which she responded, "Well, I'm going to run my hands up your thigh until I meet resistance at your body, so if that's what you mean, then yes, I guess I will." I raised my eyebrows, and just said, "Well then, there we are." For my effort, I earned the hallowed "karate chop" and the disgusting hair check. She also made me untuck my cami from my jeans and expose my back and stomach, and when her fingers were in my waistband, she literally hooked them under the sides of my underwear and pulled them out to look at my underwear. So hideous.
I whined and moaned loudly the entire time, and sucked in my stomach and whatever other body parts she was touching. She was entirely unmoved.
Swabbed the bottoms of my feet and tested them. Then swabbed my hands and tested them. And then, only then, was I "free to go! Have a good flight!!" Seriously, lady? Seriously?
But anyway: Checkpoint 5 to avoid NoS and CastScope at MSP - always a good thing.
Oct 29, 2011 | 12:42 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: An NPR mind living in a Fox News world
Posts: 14,343
Had to fly out of MSP yesterday due to a family emergency. Since I have a prosthesis on my leg, I am effectively forced into an opt-out style patdown regardless, so I chose my checkpoint on the basis of line length and location. I ended up at Checkpoint 5.
Interesting point 1: No NoS. All mags.
Interesting point 2: In my haste to depart (I literally had one hour from the time I booked the flight until I left my house), I had just tossed all my LGAs into a big cosmetic case - didn't even think about Ziplocs. A couple of small Bath and Body Works bottles in that case are labeled as 4 oz. As I was disrobing, pulling out my computer, etc, the dude asked me if I had any LGAs and told me I would need to put them in the bowl. I started to panic at that moment because I was afraid they would take them all away from me, and also, the whole cosmetic case was buried at the bottom of my bag. So I started unpacking and pulled out the case with all my bottles and whatnot (separate from my bag of makeup, which I didn't mention, and left in the suitcase). When I showed the dude that all my bottles were in this case, he made me run it through separately. I thought I was done for. But no, nothing. No questions asked on either that or the makeup, no lecture about baggies, nothing.
Interesting point 3: No CastScope. I had to endure one of these last year at MSP, so maybe they only travel with the NoS? But it does seem strange to me that last year, at a different checkpoint, "all people with casts and prostheses are suspicious and need to be xrayed", but simply being willing to walk farther in the terminal apparently absolves us all of this risk. ???
Interesting point 4: Patdown - I wasn't wearing socks (like I said, I left in a hurry), and the stand-on-pictures-of-the-feet mat was disgusting. I asked if I would be allowed to reach in my bag and get socks to wear before I stood there. Obviously the answer was no, but she seemed to not even understand the question. When I pointed out how gross the mat was, you could see that it didn't even register for her. She asked if I had any questions about the patdown, and I asked if she was going to touch my vagina. She was clearly horrified by this question (I'm thinking Minnesota Nice tends to preclude such awkward conversation), and once she had recovered, said, "Of course not." I explained that this had happened on my last trip through this airport, to which she responded, "Well, I'm going to run my hands up your thigh until I meet resistance at your body, so if that's what you mean, then yes, I guess I will." I raised my eyebrows, and just said, "Well then, there we are." For my effort, I earned the hallowed "karate chop" and the disgusting hair check. She also made me untuck my cami from my jeans and expose my back and stomach, and when her fingers were in my waistband, she literally hooked them under the sides of my underwear and pulled them out to look at my underwear. So hideous.
I whined and moaned loudly the entire time, and sucked in my stomach and whatever other body parts she was touching. She was entirely unmoved.
Swabbed the bottoms of my feet and tested them. Then swabbed my hands and tested them. And then, only then, was I "free to go! Have a good flight!!" Seriously, lady? Seriously?
But anyway: Checkpoint 5 to avoid NoS and CastScope at MSP - always a good thing.
Interesting point 1: No NoS. All mags.
Interesting point 2: In my haste to depart (I literally had one hour from the time I booked the flight until I left my house), I had just tossed all my LGAs into a big cosmetic case - didn't even think about Ziplocs. A couple of small Bath and Body Works bottles in that case are labeled as 4 oz. As I was disrobing, pulling out my computer, etc, the dude asked me if I had any LGAs and told me I would need to put them in the bowl. I started to panic at that moment because I was afraid they would take them all away from me, and also, the whole cosmetic case was buried at the bottom of my bag. So I started unpacking and pulled out the case with all my bottles and whatnot (separate from my bag of makeup, which I didn't mention, and left in the suitcase). When I showed the dude that all my bottles were in this case, he made me run it through separately. I thought I was done for. But no, nothing. No questions asked on either that or the makeup, no lecture about baggies, nothing.
Interesting point 3: No CastScope. I had to endure one of these last year at MSP, so maybe they only travel with the NoS? But it does seem strange to me that last year, at a different checkpoint, "all people with casts and prostheses are suspicious and need to be xrayed", but simply being willing to walk farther in the terminal apparently absolves us all of this risk. ???
Interesting point 4: Patdown - I wasn't wearing socks (like I said, I left in a hurry), and the stand-on-pictures-of-the-feet mat was disgusting. I asked if I would be allowed to reach in my bag and get socks to wear before I stood there. Obviously the answer was no, but she seemed to not even understand the question. When I pointed out how gross the mat was, you could see that it didn't even register for her. She asked if I had any questions about the patdown, and I asked if she was going to touch my vagina. She was clearly horrified by this question (I'm thinking Minnesota Nice tends to preclude such awkward conversation), and once she had recovered, said, "Of course not." I explained that this had happened on my last trip through this airport, to which she responded, "Well, I'm going to run my hands up your thigh until I meet resistance at your body, so if that's what you mean, then yes, I guess I will." I raised my eyebrows, and just said, "Well then, there we are." For my effort, I earned the hallowed "karate chop" and the disgusting hair check. She also made me untuck my cami from my jeans and expose my back and stomach, and when her fingers were in my waistband, she literally hooked them under the sides of my underwear and pulled them out to look at my underwear. So hideous.
I whined and moaned loudly the entire time, and sucked in my stomach and whatever other body parts she was touching. She was entirely unmoved.
Swabbed the bottoms of my feet and tested them. Then swabbed my hands and tested them. And then, only then, was I "free to go! Have a good flight!!" Seriously, lady? Seriously?
But anyway: Checkpoint 5 to avoid NoS and CastScope at MSP - always a good thing.
Fellow humans: never subject yourself to the CastScope.
Oct 31, 2011 | 3:44 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: North Dakota
Posts: 82
The CastScope is also an x-ray device. It is as least as dangerous as the Backscatter Cancer Box. It has never received the same level of public scrutiny and outcry as the backscatter machines. I've never seen any documentation suggesting that it has been independently tested in its operational configuration.
Fellow humans: never subject yourself to the CastScope.
Fellow humans: never subject yourself to the CastScope.
Oct 31, 2011 | 5:08 pm
#4
Moderator: Information Desk, Women Travelers, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Chicago, IL, USA
Programs: AA Gold
Posts: 16,210
I asked if she was going to touch my vagina. She was clearly horrified by this question (I'm thinking Minnesota Nice tends to preclude such awkward conversation), and once she had recovered, said, "Of course not." I explained that this had happened on my last trip through this airport, to which she responded, "Well, I'm going to run my hands up your thigh until I meet resistance at your body, so if that's what you mean, then yes, I guess I will."
Nov 1, 2011 | 8:12 am
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: An NPR mind living in a Fox News world
Posts: 14,343
Unfortunately, if you are at a checkpoint that has it, there is NO opting out. Believe me, I tried last year. It was truly a "If you don't do this, you don't fly" kind of situation. But hey, we all know the TSA is ADA-compliant and happy to be of kind, friendly, helpful customer service to passengers with disabilities.
Nov 2, 2011 | 6:23 pm
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: North Dakota
Posts: 82
I'm no TSA apologist, but to clear up any anatomical misperceptions, she didn't touch your vagina, which is an internal organ. She did touch your genitals (or, more specifically, your labia) through your clothing.
Got the same shocked and appalled look (and response) from the woman at DCA this morning.
There MUST be a way to challenge this -- OSHA, EPA, GAO, DOJ, DHS IG as a minimum. Anybody have any ideas???
(Although the sequence of events today was rather odd (and rude): I unload all my crap into the bins and whatnot, shove it through, step towards the mag, am directed to the NoS, at which point I tell them that I'm opting out. They tell me where to go stand (landside), and I tell them that I can't see my stuff over there. They basically tell me that's too bad, because, "you shouldn't have put your bins into the xray if you weren't ready to walk through". Then we had to stop the xray and redo my stuff because apparently my coat and liquids (now in a ziploc) in the same bin as my computer is a giant NO-NO (at least there, I did it that way in MSP and no one seemed to care). I did ask the woman doing my patdown if she wanted to wear a dosimeter so she would know how much radiation she was exposed to and she stared at me blankly for a moment and then carried on with her spiel as though I hadn't said a word.)
Back home safe and sound, I suppose. I hate this.