What is the point of repeatedly testing your hands? That test is suppose to clue them in that you may have explosives and that's it. Do they think your hands are actually the explosives?

No, it's just to distract you while another TSO looks through your luggage for stuff to steal.

Mike

Posters #16 & 17 are right. Fortunately, if I can call it that, my adult daughter (and her baby) were with me on that incident. Daughter was able to keep a close eye on my bags as they pawed around in them. It made absolutely no sense whatsoever to keep testing my hands, but they did. They were bumbling around and chatting in the little room (2 female TSOs), while daughter and I were just sitting there very calmly. This is why I always get to the airport 2 hours before flying now. There's no telling what kind of nonsense the TSA will be up to. In that situation, as soon as I mentioned washing my hands in the airport, we were excused. The whole thing was ridiculous.

ABQ also makes it difficult to see your things while waiting for a groper when you opt put. I flew out of there on Feb. 27. I opted out and they asked me to step aside and wait close to the WTMD which was roped off. It took a while for the groper to come so I moved away from the minder and attempted to look at the x-ray belt as my things had gone through. There were large signs blocking my view and a large backup of people waiting for the nude-o-scope. I was yelled at to move away from the x-ray and come back into sight of the minder, and I yelled back I need to see my things and I'm not moving. After 5 minutes a female groper came by. There were now 6 people waiting to be groped. What a cluster f@#k. Glad I only travel through ABQ 2 times a year.

They were doing it again today. I have not seen this practice at any other airports except HNL. What gives?

I was just thinking about hand swabbing. I've had this as a "random" irritation at Dulles and SFO.

Wouldn't residue be much more likely to show up on bags or belongings? Given the porous nature of hands, sweat, etc., residue would be easier to find on the surfaces of a bag, or perhaps even a coat (not an inner layer of clothing, which is what is tested in an "enhanced" pat-down.)

So the question is: why does this make any conceptual sense?

"We're being unpredictable" isn't the answer. I'd like to know a scientific rationale.

It's done regularly at DCA. There's no opt out. No swab, no travel.

This isn't one of those field test kits which contain a reagent on the swab. This is simply a piece of sterile cloth which, after being swabbed, is inserted in the device and processed.

There isn't a scientific rationale, any more than there is a scientific rationale for the SPOT program (actually, there's more of a scientific rationale against that, but I digress).

Some company came to the TSA w/a machine & promised that if the TSA spent countless millions of dollars on it, the machine would find those wascally tewwowists that are apparently hiding behind every bush & shrub. TSA said good enough & wrote a check.

What is the alarm to actual explosives ratio? If you're not at 100% false alarm, you're close to it. So for a track record of 100% false alarm, you're taking people to the private hut to molest them. No assault, no travel.

Huh? It's done right out in the open. Either just before or just after the ID checker.

I was referring to your process after these folks alarm on the ETD swab, which has never yet yielded actual explosives. Are you saying the resolution to this is done out in the open?

Does anything about the TSA make sense?

+1

I've only seen this done at DCA when it's not busy. Apparently terrorists don't like crowds.

Kind of like how, when the MBTA in Boston decides to put on a show for the sheeple w/one of their random bag check set-ups, it's always after 8am-I guess tewwowists aren't early morning people either...

I suspect the same holds true in ABQ. The TSA here are amongst the worst in the country for standing around and being clueless*. The swabbing looks like make work or a side act to the theater. This is especially true since they have 3-6 people standing around watching the process. They often have ABQ P.D. or CBP folks watching as well. It's amazing how disgusting it can be.

* - As other have mentioned, the cues for the scanner become horribly long. It's outrageous to see a dozen clerks standing around chatting on the other side. They can't even pretend to do a gate check well, rarely doing anything. In one case, a crew of three didn't do anything or speak to a single passenger. The more senior person on the crew hid in a corner and played with his smart phone (before he found a seat for some much needed rest). The other two were hanging out chatting with him, occasionally looking at his phone and laughing. I'll guess YouTube.