TSA "Pilot Program" re: Paper Products
Mar 6, 2018, 10:39 pm
#151
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After a rather poor experience with a TSO I printed out and bound a copy of the TSA "Screening Management Standard Operating Procedures" (it's from 2008 but the cover still gets the message across) and started carrying it with me when I traveled. It got selected for a paper test a few times. One TSO gave me a smile and seemed to acknowledge the situation and one other had me pulled and called airport police who after a very brief conversation with me told him they had better things to do with their time. Now I only carry it when traveling through specific airports/terminals.
I had a deadheading FA sitting next to me once and she saw it and asked me about it. I explained why I had it and then she asked if she could read it. We had quite a nice hour long conversation about different points addressed in it and her coworkers gave me a few free drinks.
I had a deadheading FA sitting next to me once and she saw it and asked me about it. I explained why I had it and then she asked if she could read it. We had quite a nice hour long conversation about different points addressed in it and her coworkers gave me a few free drinks.
Mar 7, 2018, 2:43 am
#152
Join Date: Sep 2016
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Mar 7, 2018, 3:50 am
#153
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I carry papers and magazines a lot — including stacks of printed material with coated surfaces of various sorts — but I have not had any such material of mine result in any extra searches by TSA at US airports in 2017 or 2018. I less often carry books, but I do own a copy of The Anarchist Cookbook and various other such books and am not shy to travel with them domestically. I wouldn’t be surprised if some TSA employees may think it to be an actual cookbook for say fans of the cable TV cooking shows/channels, but I don’t really worry about those paranoid about the content of books. Maybe I should find some of those writings by Donatien Alphonse François, more widely known as the Marquis de Sade, for domestic US transport by common carrier flights — just to see what excites the TSA.
Mar 7, 2018, 7:35 am
#154
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I'm tempted to bring along Mrs Flies' Hebrew Old Testament she needed while in seminary. It has a bunch of handwritten notes in English she made during class. She still uses it, which is why I've not actually done it yet. Yes, Hebrew isn't Arabic, but I'm willing to bet that a vast majority of TSA employees couldn't tell the difference.
Mar 7, 2018, 8:42 am
#155
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I printed out a copy and purposely left it in a bin at the Dulles checkpoint. I was a good citizen and stacked my bins when finished, so the one with the document was in the middle of the stack. I had a second copy with me that I left at an unoccupied gate on one of those folding tables the clerks like to use for gate gropes.
I'm tempted to bring along Mrs Flies' Hebrew Old Testament she needed while in seminary. It has a bunch of handwritten notes in English she made during class. She still uses it, which is why I've not actually done it yet. Yes, Hebrew isn't Arabic, but I'm willing to bet that a vast majority of TSA employees couldn't tell the difference.
I'm tempted to bring along Mrs Flies' Hebrew Old Testament she needed while in seminary. It has a bunch of handwritten notes in English she made during class. She still uses it, which is why I've not actually done it yet. Yes, Hebrew isn't Arabic, but I'm willing to bet that a vast majority of TSA employees couldn't tell the difference.
Going ballistic, ordering punitive searches, or treating a traveler any differently merely because they are carrying reading material in a particular language - that I can't forgive.
Mar 17, 2018, 3:46 pm
#159
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IIRC, TSA only 'pulled back' on this practice in the blog.
Based on prior history, nothing stated on the blog is absolutely binding at the airport. Supposedly the initial emphasis on books and paper was by a civilian contractor that was, like FSDs, allowed to impose more stringent security screening methods. That contractor operates under the direct oversight of TSA - but not the Blog.
Based on prior history, nothing stated on the blog is absolutely binding at the airport. Supposedly the initial emphasis on books and paper was by a civilian contractor that was, like FSDs, allowed to impose more stringent security screening methods. That contractor operates under the direct oversight of TSA - but not the Blog.
Mar 19, 2018, 5:18 am
#160
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Join Date: Aug 2012
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IIRC, TSA only 'pulled back' on this practice in the blog.
Based on prior history, nothing stated on the blog is absolutely binding at the airport. Supposedly the initial emphasis on books and paper was by a civilian contractor that was, like FSDs, allowed to impose more stringent security screening methods. That contractor operates under the direct oversight of TSA - but not the Blog.
Based on prior history, nothing stated on the blog is absolutely binding at the airport. Supposedly the initial emphasis on books and paper was by a civilian contractor that was, like FSDs, allowed to impose more stringent security screening methods. That contractor operates under the direct oversight of TSA - but not the Blog.
Jul 2, 2018, 2:48 pm
#161
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Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 3,526
Hot off the press from @AskTSA
So I guess they are not looking at reading materials because they can look like explosives on the x-ray but rather to find prohibited items between the pages. I wonder how many they have found.
It boggles the mind.
Our officers may screen books, magazines and other paper products to determine whether a prohibited item is contained between the pages. Our officers are trained to look for prohibited items and aren't reading information in paper products or books they screen.
It boggles the mind.