If you think the TSA and the joke called airport screening is as much an unavoidable "reality in life" as the weather, I have very bad news for you. If this keeps up, either TSA is going to be completely overhauled or the air travel system in this country is going to collapse. I think you know which one is more likely to happen.

It's not childish to make those suggestions, it's childish to just keep your head down and accept a nanny state's absurd circus acts simply because they, at a cursory level, help you sleep better.

Bart, for the most part I respect what you've had to say on this forum.

However, when we have to change our way of dressing to get through airport security with the least possible inconvenience, i.e., women switching to bras that do not contain wire, then, indeed, the terrorists have won.

When we have to now allow 2-3 hours to get through security at the airport, the terrorists have won.

When acts such as the Patriot Act are passed by Congress, the terrorists have won.

Agreed. It's just so transparently true, I don't know what to say when people don't see it.

mahalo TSASuper.nice to know that some corrective action is taking place ^

I general, I don't have too much of a problem with what I'm asked to do. I do have a problem when I've put my laptop in one bin, my coat, cell phone, change in another, the rest of my briefcase on the belt, my shoes on the belt, and then I'm rushed on the other end to hurry up. I left my laptop in DEN at the beginning of an Asia trip that way, and I take as much time as I need to gather my belongings.

Can't we just put everything in one bin?

I'm certain I'll get a lot of different reactions to this. From a screener's viewpoint, what I've seen work best is the following:

Have your loose pocket items and cell phone already placed inside your carry-on bag, perhaps in an outside pocket, by the time you reach the security checkpoint. If you normally remove your shoes, remove them first and place them directly on the conveyor belt. They will be the first things you will pick up at the other end. Remove your laptop and place it inside of a bin. The laptop must be x-rayed separately; however, you may place your coat with the laptop as long as you don't have anything inside the coat pockets that may obstruct the x-ray view of the laptop. A suggestion here is to place your coat in the bin first and then the laptop on top of it. This will cushion your laptop. If a screener objects to this, patiently ask for a supervisor and inform him or her that you know this is an acceptable procedure.

Before you walk through, wait until you see the last of your property get pulled into the tunnel of the x-ray machine. At some airports, you need to show your boarding pass to the screener at the WTMD, so always have it in hand even if not required at other airports.

When you come through, your shoes should be at the other end ready for you and you can slip them on immediately; if they have laces, you can tie them later. As you put them on, your laptop and coat should either already have been examined or be in the process of being examined. The next item should be your carry-on bag. Since you will already have your shoes on, you have to pick up the laptop to put your coat on. Since your carry-on will probably be delayed briefly as the x-ray operator studies the image and clears it, you can either slip your laptop into its case or simply walk with it in hand. No need to worry about your other items because they will already be inside one of the pockets of your carry-on. You can go someplace beyond the checkpoint and remove your pocket items from your carry-on at your convenience and comfort.

This suggestion isn't my idea; it's what I've observed from experienced frequent fliers who breeze through the checkpoint without any hassle. The test of our patience and understanding comes with the infrequent travellers who stop and pause at the entrance to the lane to check if there's anything inside their pockets, then alarm the WTMD because they didn't consider cell phones, cigarettes, gum wrappers and a pocket full of quarters as things that might alarm the walk through metal detector. Please pardon my sarcasm, but I truly look forward to the non-tourist season when frequent fliers are the ones who mostly come through our checkpoints.

Bart and others - may I suggest that you try going through the WTMD with all the change you want in your pocket! It seems that the WTMD does not register U.S. coins.

I base this on a post here several months ago and personal experience over those same months. If I happen to have "friendly" TSA agents I show them my handful of change and they are all surprised but do not hassle me any further.

It's your choice on what you remove from your pockets. I'm just sharing tips for expediting you through the checkpoint.

I think that if the laptop is in a bin by itself it is less likely to fall out, compared with being on top of a bulky coat.

Take the time you need to gather your belongings without saying a word.

Bart's procedure makes sense...however on a recent pass through SJC's Terminal A they insisted that shoes go on top of the jacket in the bin. And this was a day with pouring rain, so shoes were soaked.

You know, I suspect that many of the procedures that so irritate us would be more or less acceptable if applied with consistency and a little thought, instead of the erratic zoo that is all too often the reality that the traveler faces.

It's unfortunate that you had to experience this. It frustrates me that there are still screeners who don't fully understand the SOP. Shoes can either be placed directly on the x-ray conveyor belt or inside of a bin. If placed inside of a bin, they may be placed inside first with items such as coats, sweaters and jackets placed on top of them provided there's nothing metallic or electronic inside of the shoes or inside of the pockets of the clothing items. We want to get a clear view of the shoes. It makes no difference to us whether the shoes are placed on top of clothes, but from a practical standpoint, especially on a rainy or muddy day, the shoes should be placed in such a manner that they don't soil or stain the rest of your personal property.

The reason for nothing being inside of the shoes is simply because we want to make sure that the only things inside of the shoes are the shanks, nails and other unsuspicious items normally found inside of a shoe. When you fill your shoes with coins, keys and a wireless phone, it becomes difficult to clear the shoes through x-ray.

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I am female. I was traveling through CMH in a suit. I was traveling in a suit and carrying a raincoat. I mindlessly put change into the suit jacket pocket. There was so much confusion at the x-ray machine (people taking off their shoes, not having enough baskets, the TSA x-ray reader moving stuff in and out of the machine, the loud recorded announcements about who knows what--you eventually don't even listen any longer) that even had some recorded voice told me to take stuff out of my "pockets" I wouldn't have even heard them. So I go through innocently (I am 5'1'', petite in size, I was well-dressed) and the young man said to me, "Ma'am, you'll need to take your "coat" off and send it through the machine." I said, my coat is already on the other side. "No, ma'am [and he points to my suitcoat/jacket/blazer] and says "that", you have something in your pocket." I asked, "What?" "I don't know ma'am (God, I hate that word--it is so condescending and nasal) you'll have to send you coat through." "Can't I take whatever is in my pocket out and go through again?" "No, ma'am."

I had a sheer shell on that was too tight because I was in the middle of my monthly period and I was HUGE. So off I go to the glass prison cell, petrified because I had just refused to do something TSA told me to do. (Yes, petrified. I guess they have too much power over me and I don't like being rendered powerless, no woman does. Can't there be some civility in TSA to be sensitive to how WOMEN feel about this? We're not men and it really does make a difference.)

So they start moving chairs around, and I think, God, now what? For some reason I had to be searched facing the BELT and if I understood the discussion properly so another TSA WOMAN could "observe." Great. A freak show. The woman searching me said, "You're going to have to take of your jacket off or I will have to pat you down (or whatever the expression is that they use)" (By the way, I am in my stocking feet the whole time, my phone is lying on top of my real coat, and my purse and my bag are at the end of the belt just waiting for someone take something, and I can't talk because I'm about to cry. Even as I write this, I'm crying. I seldom cry so this really affected me badly.) She NEVER said .... only if the wand goes off. Never. It was either/or.

So she basically forced me to make a choice facing the entire TSA lineup which for some reason were standing at the exit of the belt watching. By the time I left, I was in tears and I cried for 30 minutes. I was a wreck. I could barely think about it for the four hours it took me to get to BWI without tearing up. And I was made to feel that it was my fault because I wouldn't parade through the gate with my jacket off. So as penance TSA puts me on public display.

I'm considering not taking the job even if they offered it to me because I no longer want to travel (and I love to travel hence why I applied for this job), especially through that airport. Is this what the government wants? For their own people to be afraid of them and for people to avoid airline travel?

Beyond the emotional aspect of this, I though I had made a legitimate request, to take the money out and walk through again. Why couldn't I just be treated as a human being forgetting to take something out of their pocket? I used to wait forever (yes, I know, pre-9/11) it seemed (when I was an FF) while men went back and forth, back and forth, through the detector gate and it was nearly always "change in the pocket" or the belt buckle. Why are we all guilty until proven innocent? Wouldn't it have taken less time to just let me take the change out, run it through, me through the gate and be done with it? Instead I have to be intimidated and put on public display? And this young man who told me to put my COAT through? Aren't TSA staff taught the proper terms for clothing? It was partly his error that scared me. I had no idea what he was talking about.

The U.S. criticizes Europe for "typing". At least there I'm treated as the honest person I am. In the U.S., democracy is now guilty until you're patted down and judged, and victimizated. Lord. What has the American public done to deserve this? Does it really have to be that way? Aren't you training people to use any semblance of common sense?

Not true. At CMH, change in my pocket set off the metal detector.

Just don't do it. Simple enough.

I put my stuff thru in a manner which is consistant with published TSA policy and what has been explained to me when asked. If not, everything gets it's own bin--one for shoes, one for jacket, one for laptop. I won't trash my stuff because some screener on a power trip wants that to happen.

vivalitalia...welcome to FlyerTalk and to the TS/S Forum!
Thanks for posting your recent experience at CMH. I�m sure you�ll find several others here who can identify with the situation you faced.