TSA cifiscates a "grenade-shaped" perfume bottle and closes lane at PHX
 

http://tsanewsblog.com/13114/news/mo...erfume-bottle/

I wish I could say "unbelievable" but that's no longer possible with the TSA.

Yikes, would appreciate someone correcting my spelling in the title of this thread.

Here's a picture of the offending bottle from your linked article:

http://tsanewsblog.com/wp-content/up...-de-parfum.jpg

My first thought was, "Does that bottle hold more than 3oz?"

But after looking it up on the net, I see that this is a 2oz bottle.

Which then leads me to ask, "How BIG is this glass bottle that only holds 2oz of liquid?"

It's hard to mistake a Hot Wheels car for a real car, because of the pesky issue of scale. So, I'm wondering if there is a scale issue between a 2oz perfume bottle and a hand grenade, which I believe is about the size of a baseball.

Oh, well... I could spend days finding ways in which TSA acts stupider than the stupidest person in the stupidest country on the stupidest planet in the stupidest galaxy of the Stupid universe, but that would be kind of a dumb way to spend a Sunday evening.

Quick calculations:

2 oz is a sphere of about 2". Figure 1/8" thick glass and you have 2.25", the diameter of a cue ball.

The little grenade I have on my desk is 2.5" diameter (not the pineapple type), so it is close.

But, mine is not glass, it is OD green, and it has a pin and detonator plus a release lever. So, same size approximately but not at all similar.

Then there is that whole transparency thing...

The Totally Stupid Agency strikes again.

The optimum word here is Phoenix :td:

Yeah, that was exactly my thought.

This wasn't confiscated because it remotely resembled a grenade - it does not. It 'resembles' very expensive cut crystal (expensive because the faceted cuts are made through a layer of colored glass to expose the clear core glass. There are no 'protuberances'; it bears as much resemblance to real grenade as a small ('baby pine') pineapple does.

Much more likely it was confiscated because the screener recognized the 'Jimmy Choo' name and high price tag. I wonder what they would have said if she'd offered to pour the perfume into another 'non-grenade-like' container.

Someone should go through PHX with a bottle like this with a hidden tracker. It would be interesting to follow it's progress and verify where it actually ends up.

Certainly demonstrates how few TSOs, military experience notwithstanding, have actually ever handled a real grenade - or even gotten close to one.

Yeah, what a shame! :mad::mad::td::td: Why TSA doing it? They can't be touched her personal items. There is no reason to do it. I'm fed up with TSA!

Picture of artfully concealed weapon-bottle that shows actual size in someone's hands:

http://www.azfamily.com/news/TSA-con...&img=1&c=y&c=y

And The Secret Service tried on the perfume and then wrestled it to the ground....

Yet again, this sets a dangerous precedent.

TSA has confiscated an item because it "resembles" a prohibited item.

But the ONLY resemblence that the item, a spherical perfume bottle, bears to the prohibited item, a sperical grenade, is the overall shape.

Hence, any and all sperical objects may be confiscated because they "resemble" a grenade - at the discretion of the screeners, of course.

Tennis balls? Gone. Baseballs? Gone. Snow globes less than 3oz? Gone. Golf balls. Cheese balls. Feng shui balls. Decorative crystals. Holographic portraits. Just about anything round can be confiscated because it "resembles" a grenade.

They've already gone to the same ridiculous extremes with images of guns. Tiny replica in a Toy Story Woody doll's holster. Lightsaber cane. Teenage girl's purse with a raised image of a gun.

They've taken it to the same ridiculous extremes with LGA, as well. Cupcake in a jar - confiscated despite cakes and pastries being expressly permitted, because the icing is "gel-like" and "conforms to the sides of the container." Despite the fact that the same icing OUTSIDE of a container is permitted.

Every one of these cases that comes along demonstrates the abject stupidity of the TSA as an organization, and of EVERY one of its employees involved in the incident. EVERY TSO in this case, who saw the perfume bottle and didn't say, "No, that doesn't look anything like a grenade, it's perfectly permitted" is equally responsible for this incident, and is equally STUPID to the Nth degree.

If raw stupidity could only be harnessed as an energy source, TSA would take us to the stars.

Guess I better not take a cherimoya in my lunch next time I travel.

This isn't limited to TSA. I can envision a scenario where this woman reaches into her purse, pulls out her perfume, and gets shot because someone thinks she just pulled out a grenade - someone who has been conditioned to see threats everywhere.

WillCAD, you are absolutely correct. This (like tiny toy replica guns and medical nitro and light sabers) wasn't confiscated by a random rogue screener. These confiscations are sanctioned and supported all the way to the top, and every public statement of support further encourages even common-sense screeners to go over the top.

Speculate at will... None of you know what that looked like on the x-ray.

Not necessary to even care what it looked liked on the x-ray - it's what they saw when they pulled it from her bag that should have been the clue that it wasn't a grenade.

Think outside the box, the bottle caused a lot of delay at one checkpoint. If it was put back in the bag, it could have caused it again at a different airport.

More proof that you don't read:

Strawman allert!!
 

Please stop grasping at straws, eyecue. That is NOT WHY THE BOTTLE OF PERFUME WAS CONFISCATED!!! :mad:

And I suppose that you pretend to know the real reason why? If so please tell us.

It only takes once! The fact that it did not cause a problem before could have been related to several things but since you despise speculation, I wont go there.

@:-)The TSOs at this particular checkpoint, at this particular airport were IDIOTS! That is precicely why this innocent, harmless bottle of PERFUME (not an explosive grenade, not a "replica" of a grenade, not even CLOSE -- looks more like a decorative egg with a cap on top to me!) was confiscated.

Again, had you read the article, you would know that:

The above "reason" seems to be a replacement to the TSA's "out of an abundance of caution" statement that we've been hearing for years.

The bottle had been through many checkpoints without a problem. The lack of consistent training or experience is what led to the problem at this checkpoint. It should have been a training opportunity for the TSOs involved and she should have been allowed to keep it, IMHO.

I am curious - supposedly the bomb squad was called. I suppose that means that the particular checkpoint didn't have swab/test equipment? Or the test strips used to test infant liquids and formula?

I'm not trying to beat up on you, eyecue, I just think that this was badly handled and defending it just makes the agency look foolish.

BTW - I know it's probably SSI, but surely TSA is on red alert for inflatable plastic fake 'grenades'. After all, deflated, they're probably not obvious on an x-ray, but if someone got one on the plane and inflated it, think what could happen.

Yea, I can hear the ominous threat now:

"Come any closer, and I'll make this whole airplane...er...smell really good!"

So they closed just one lane because they figured it was a really, really small green-aid??

The azFamily.com news article states:

I wonder who this "bomb expert" was. Was it a TSA "bomb expert"? Was it the local law enforcement "bomb expert"? I doubt it was local law enforcement as they would have laughed in the TSOs faces.

My speculation (and this is purely speculation since the article didn't report that fact) is that the "bomb expert" was from TSA and knew someone who would like to have an expensive bottle of perfume, or he/she wanted to keep it.

Of course, someone wanted the parfum and/or bottle. There was never a moment when anyone thought this thing presented any danger to the airport or to the flight. If TSA had genuinely thought it presented a danger, the item and the humans present would have all been handled in a way far different than closing down a single screening lane. :rolleyes:

Cost of doing business. It's either prohibited or it's not. "Perfume bottles that look scary on our x-ray screen, but are otherwise non-threatening" are not on the list of prohibited items - nor should they be.

A passenger should not have to try and guess whether their non-prohibited items will scare a TSA screener looking at it through an x-ray. Get better equipment and/or train your people better.

I once traveled from Europe to the U.S. with a lead-crystal vase wrapped in a towel and stuffed in my carry on.

That caused lots of problems at the security checkpoints because the x-rays saw the lead-crystal as a very dense object that appeared black on the screen. They thought it was a bomb, but upon closer examination, cooler heads prevailed, and I was allowed to board the plane.

I'm too lazy to read about this particular perfume bottle, but does someone know if it was lead-crystal?

I've been in the same situation, and I wondered the same thing.

However, visual inspection clears lead crystal. The contents were within LGA limits, she had it in the protective plastic baggie. It isn't clear why the bomb squad was called instead of using an ETD swab of the bottle and a strip test of the contents 'out of an abundance of caution'.

Well, it's really as clear as the bottle label: Jimmy Choo isn't cheap stuff. There's no way that went out with the trash that night.

Neither do you.

But who cares. Once it came out of the bag, ANYONE could see that it was a glass bottle of perfume. It might have looked like a snuke on the x-ray, but once it came out of the bag it became completely visible to everybody.

I dunno what kinda MESSED UP box you're trying to think outside of, but in Rational Non-Stupid Land, the delays caused by this perfume bottle are entirely the fault of the rank, unadulterated stupidity of a group of TSOs. Of course, if you're trying to say that such immense, blind, almost unfathomably deep stupidity exists at all c/p's throughout the nation, well, I guess you have a point. So, well played, sir. Well played.

EYECUE: perhaps with your expertise, you can explain why TSA in PDX made someone confiscate a very ornate pocket watch?

As per local news KOIN on 3-17-14

perhaps in your opinion, they may have been able to turn he hands backwards to make time go backwards

It may have actually been turned into lost-and-found.

I don't have to speculate, I know exactly what a grenade and a glass bottle look like under an xray and on visual observation. I've disarmed and blown up thousands of them. They do not even remotely look alike. The EOD/HDS guy who made that call should have his badge ripped off and drummed out in disgrace.

I am, however, speculating that the perfume was presented to a girlfriend or wife as a gift.

It wasn't. It was turned over to the state as all confiscated items are for resale or disposal.

That was how the news found out. The state is trying to find the owner.

My question to Those Standing Around with their thumbs where the sun don't shine, why was this confiscated in the first place ???:D

The job of TSA is now to remove delays to flight travel?

Ahem... Should I point out something to you?

Or would I be wasting my time?

I suppose I should be concerned enough that I should leave my Blanton's minis at home

https://buffalotracegiftshop.com/images/BT2022.jpg

^BINGO! We have a winner!!!:D

Dallas TSA stops me every time for my water filter which they claim looks like a pipe bomb to them. Never mind that the interior configuration and material density are all wrong. They are the only airport of the many dozens I visit every year with that opinion. Are you suggesting that DFW TSA should confiscate it?

The filter in question: http://www.amazon.com/MSR-56425-Mini...rds=msr+filter

The news report I heard said the state lumps confiscated goods (that TSOs didn't take home) together with airport lost and found items for disposal.

Very artfully concealed. Pull up on the horse's tail and the Blanton's is ready to fire you up. You'll never get away with it, Ink.