TSA agent: "I'm sorry, the picture on your GE card isnt acceptable"
 

Odd one....

Yes, it is a crap picture. I didnt know what the agent was doing when he took the picture at my GE inteview. But, CBP approved the pciture and sent me the ID. I use that instead of a DL for TSA.


After 200 or so trips, one agent said "this isnt an acceptable pciture, it doesnt show your whole face"

huh?

Indeed, a bit of my chin is cut off. But I pointed out that CBP issued the ID, none of it was my doing. He asked 'do you have another ID?'

"No"

(I had DL and passport)

Supervisor called. They spoke for a bit, super didnt understand what the issue was becuase the agent was saying the ID wasnt valid. Super finally unerstands the agents issue with the picture.

I though the supervisor wa going to smack him.

I get waved through, as I am walking to the belt, the supervisor walks along side and mutters "sorry. Im dealing with a moron there"

LOL. But another proof the whole organisation is rotten from the inside...

Some DHS employees told some people with an infant's passport that the passport with the photo of a smiling baby is not acceptable ID because smiling isn't allowed in passport photos but that they'll let it pass those times but they should get a new passport.

If DHS employees weren't so serious in those kind of comments, then it would have been something else. But the DHS employees were serious -- even as infants aren't required to show ID to be processed at the TSA screening checkpoint, even as passport photos for infants are allowed more official latitude by issuing authorities than passport photos for older minors and adults.

It's almost like someone had told DHS employees about how to try to detect "fake passports" or something like that and recalled that smiling photos aren't allowed since it doesn't show a "neutral expression" or something like that. So much for completed education. ;)

Granted the picture on my GE card is the relatively worse when compared to my DL, passport, and retired military ID that are all acceptable forms of ID. I used it a couple of times after I got the card and while it was never refused I could tell the TSA ID checker was less than thrilled. I might have been reading more into their reaction than I should have after my GE interview. I was warned, in a derisive manner, by the CBP GE interviewer that while it was acceptable some TSA personnel had problems with it. While it didn't or hasn't happened to me I think one of the best story about the acceptability of the GE card, and I think reported here in some thread, is the TSA checker who refused to accept a GE card as ID because it was issued by a foreign government.

Send TSA a compliment regarding the supervisor. Describing what the supervisor did well, leaving out the "moron" comment (which was not appropriate for the supervisor to say to a third party), will likely generate more action than a complain about the line Officer.

I would separately send a note to the DHS Inspector General. Both CBP and TSA are DHS agencies and unless the GE card was mutilated or defaced, it ought to be acceptable. Make a point of noting that the card was in good condition (presume it was).

The picture on my GE card is terrible. I got GE pretty early on, and I don't think the CBP agent was particularly familiar with how to use the handheld webcam - it's mainly a picture of the office. You could literally cover the picture of my face with a pencil eraser. Had TSA folks say something to the effect of "wow, terrible picture" on several occasions, but always in an amused, rather than "I can't accept this" way. For a while, I occasionally got pushback on the GE card as ID, but haven't for a couple of years.

Can a new, with updated picture, GE card be obtained>

This is when I wish I was Pastafarian.....not sure what the TSA goons would make of that.

A nice bolognese? :)

RAmen, my friend, and may you be touched by his noodly appendage.

Personally, I'm thinking of taking up Frisbeetarianism.

Mike

My GE photos is without a doubt the most poorly taken picture ever. That's why I use it at checkpoints.

I wasn't even looking at the camera for mine.

Precisely.

My passport (book) photo from 2009 has me with a smile showing teeth. TSA Officer in 2011 when I presented it to them said "you know, your photo doesn't meet the rules, you can't smile in passport photos". I just shrugged and that statement was the end of it.

My passport book photo taken two years later, I was told, no teeth showing, so that was fine.

My GE photo from 2013 was taken at DTW on one of those Logitech orbit webcams (one of those ancient ones in a spherical shape, a little ball on a plastic stand). The photo is horrible due to the abysmal quality of the webcam - the right side of my face is distorted and is bigger than the left, it's slightly askew (tilted), and my teeth are showing (actually, the CBP officer encouraged me to smile). No TSA personnel has ever commented on it, and for domestic travel, it's always the ID I present at the checkpoint.

It shows how little the TSO knows about passports.

If s/he knew anything, s/he would understand that like driver's licenses, ultimately the agency issuing the document decides whether or not the photo meets their standards.