New irritating checkpoint people at MHT
 

Apparently, at the front of each security line, MHT now has "Granite State Volunteers" who are feeling the need to explain the security rules, and being really nosy and snotty about it:

GSV: "Here, you need a ziploc bag for your liquids and gels."

Me (just trying to get past her to the screening line): "No, I don't need one."

GSV: "Yes, you do! *All* liquids and gels need to go in this bag!"

Me: "I don't have any liquids or gels"

GSV (chiding): "Well, *sir*, *most* people think that, but then most people get to the front of the line and then the screeners find liquids.... tsk tsk!"

Me: "Really, I don't have any liquids or gels. I travel all the time, I know the rules."

GSV: "Really, you should take a moment to go through your bag...."

Me: "Stop talking to me."

GSV: "Well, you don't need to be rude...."

Great...

I travel a decent bit without liquids (in fact, I may be doing a trip out of MHT in a week or so where it'll just be me and my briefcase since it's a daytrip), so I'm sure I'm going to be "thrilled" when these folks try to slow me down at security (which is a routine I've got down pat).

Isn't it just quicker to take the bag, smile and move on? I often find trying to reason with other people is more difficult than assimilating and just accepting the offer of the free ziploc bag I can put my chewing gum into later on the plane.

A laudable spirit of volunteerism
 

Maybe you should offer some advice in return:

-- "Never put metal objects into a microwave"
-- "Avoid running with open scissors"
-- "Check your tire pressure regularly"
-- "Be all that you can be"
-- "Don't answer the phone while ironing"

They'll appreciate the reciprocal favor, I'm sure.

That conversation sounds like a Dilbert conversation :D

MHT is the only place where TSA found my 3.8oz toothpaste and confiscated it. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:


HTSC

I guess it's a good thing that I no longer fly out of MHT on a weekly basis as I did from 2004-2007. Those volunteers would annoy the piss out of me.

I still miss the ability to go from the car park through security to the smoking lounge in 15 minutes of less. That's something I definitely can't do at EWR (...and there's no smoking lounge...:().

I don't think I've ever taken a trip without something liquid in my carry on. Then again, I'm a girl and feel naked without a lipstick and hand cream.

That's what pockets are for ;)

Please continue this discussion in the New England forum. Thanks for your understanding.

Jouy31
TravelBuzz moderator

I guess I'd just take the bag and put it away so that I could use it next time I needed it. But I agree, the attitude is irritating.

Why shouldn't one answer the phone while ironing? :confused:

MHT has the craziest TSA, omg! Last spring I was harrassed for wearing a long sleeved tshirt. My fiance flies through there on a regular basis and has had more menacing comments and secondary screenings there than at the rest of the airports we fly through combined. Then last weekend, he flew through there and he reported rather forceful random security checks at the gate now. Great! Harrassment at the gate as well as the checkpoint! What is up??? :confused:

Oddly, in recent history MHT has been shockingly smooth for me, but that hasn't always been the case there (for a while they were shifting between always requiring you to put your shoes in one of the bins for X-raying, and other times insisting that you *not* put your shoes in one of the bins).

And, while it wasn't the TSA, I had a sheriff at the airport get mad at me for walking between the terminal and D lot (for those not familiar with MHT, the two biggest parking lots, C and D, are close enough to the terminal that you can often walk it in much less time than it takes for the shuttle bus to show up), even though there's no reason I can't walk it, and it even has a nice sidewalk and crosswalks the whole way.

MHT also requires that pax remove their wallets from their pockets and run them through the screener. I felt this was a little ridiculous, as I've never encountered this before anywhere else. When I confronted the chief TSA officer, he said that it's a directive from the head of security at MHT -- each airport gets to make their own rules in this regard, and this is what he felt was necessary.

'Live free or die' seems to have gone the way of the Old Man of the Mountain....

I flew out to MHT last week and didn't have to do this - is this more recent than that?

Oh yeah, the volunteers have quieted down but are still annoying.