Wow. If what you are saying is true - that retaliatory actions were taken against a disabled traveler by SATTSO simply because you asked about a previous incident - this person should not only be fired, but prosecuted for harassment.

And are you suggesting that SATTSO might try to find out who I am? And take retaliatory actions against me? Because of my posts in FT? Wow. That would be stalking. If he is doing these things, he is one sick individual indeed.

Fortunately I don't have any reason that I can think of in the foreseeable future to travel to San Antonio, so I don't think I'm going to be encountering him any time soon.

I think SATTSO has identified as 'male'.

I think it's curious that four of our most prolific self-identfied TSOs are male and yet all four seem to be experts on female frisks - how they are conducted, how female TSOs feel about them, how female pax feel about them, whether or not they are 'sexual assault', etc.

(For that matter, one is also an 'expert' on how frisks will necessarily require pain or fear (autistic or similarly severely handicapped). This is an 'expert' who allegedly has a background in foster parenting and who advises folks to practice at home with autistic or severely handicapped children who might be upset at the invasive frisking.)

I would like to hear from a female TSO who has handled the frisk of someone with breast prosthetics. I would like to hear from a screener (of either gender) who has actually handled the frisk of someone with an ostomy bag. I would like to hear from a female screener who herself was a victim of sexual assault - I would like to hear how she felt when she cross-trained screening and being screened by her fellow TSOs. I would like to hear how she feels when she runs her hands up to the point of 'resistance' and realizes the 'resistance' is a feminine product.

At the risk of breaking some kind of rule...I'm not sure I'm allowed to disclose something that's said to me in PMs - but I feel it necessary to do so in this case. I will not actually POST the PM, but I will share with you, in essence, what this person told me. So I believe this means I am within the Terms of Service, since I'm not re-posting PMs, just sharing the essence of them.

I also don't mean to hijack this thread away from the discussion of zip-locks, but this seems to be the direction of this meandering conversation so hopefully the mods will give us some latitude here.

This whole PM conversation with SATTSO began because I apparently made the grievous error :rolleyes: of telling the OP of this thread that I knew how she felt. I was specifically referring to the fact that she, as a survivor of sexual assault, is fearful of the TSA checkpoint and does not want to subject herself to the pat-down.

This elicited an outraged PM from SATTSO in which he told me that he is a sexual assault victim himself (!), and he apparently felt, for unknowable reasons, that I was saying I know how all sexual assault victims feel about their sexual assaults, including himself. I replied that I never said anything about knowing how he, or anyone else, feels about anything...I was speaking directly and only to the OP, about her feelings towards, and fears of, the TSA checkpoint.

This elicited yet ANOTHER outraged PM from SATTSO in which he started giving me all kinds of unwanted details about his sexual assault, which I do not care to know. I will say that I'm disgusted that someone who suffered such an incident as a child, would work for an organization that perpetrates sexual assaults on innocent civilians every day...in fact, I'm horrified by that. I would HOPE that anyone who survived something like that would have even MORE empathy for how it feels to have your body, your sex organs, violated by strangers, and how offensive it is to previous victims of assault.

He then continued with his rantings that what the TSA does is not sexual assault. In spite of the fact that strangers are touching and rubbing our genitalia without our consent, which is, indisputably, the very definition of sexual assault.

The whole thing just makes me even more uneasy about the people that the TSA has hired. Not only are they uneducated, unskilled, and generally unintelligent, they are also emotionally disturbed! :eek:

How sad is it, and how bad is the whole situation, when none of that is surprising in the least?

For about the last year, I've stopped taking my freedom baggie out of my roll-aboard for screening. No one has said a thing. Granted, its in an outside pocket, with no objects of substance above or below it. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure an X-ray viewer would be able to tell if the baggie was inside or on top of my roll-aboard (they probably can).

I went through SAT yesterday. Again, no questions.

Two weeks ago at SFO, the screener loading bags into the X-ray asked me if I had any liquids in my bag. I decided to answer honestly and said 'yes.' The screener said "small ones?"; I nodded yes. He said 'fine' and push my bag into the X-ray.

I do not hesitate to say that the tso in question has not dealt in a healthy manner with being sexually assaulted. From how you described his PM's to you, he is extremely angry with what happened.

If I wasn't afraid of violating Terms of Service, I could post more from those PMs that would make your hair curl. The idea that this person is given power over our bodies, over our freedom to travel, over our belongings, and in fact is given the right to touch our sex organs, makes me quiver in fear.

It is "sexual assult" cause "we " cant return the favor. I am like "you do it to me I should do it to you" . If i cant do that YES it is an sexual aasult.

Hope you are doing fine after your"assult".

Thanks for asking...and again, sorry to hijack this thread. Frankly I'm NOT doing well with it - I'm angry. And I'm partly angry at myself for not fighting back more.

I haven't posted back to that thread yet because I'm still sorting out my feelings about that incident. But I will be posting to it again soon, elaborating on how it's affected me.

Great to hear. And again. All "sexual assult victims react differntly". So for Sattso to say he thinks your "statment/opinion" is wrong Is wrong. We are all different. Males and females.

I am also a rape "victim". And I am/would be very assulted if "they" touch me without my consent.

I would go "nuts".
Private parts are for a reason private parts.

I flew through LAS on Wednesday and used a gallon size bag (as usual) with no problems. I have never used a quart sized bag and never been asked about it.

I have flown this week with a bag similar to the OP's (not exactly the same one) with no problem. Not to LAS, though.

By the way, both the OP's and my bag are clear, plastic, quart sized, and zip top. If you google "zip top," almost every shopping result is a bag with a zipper.

I don't recall any female ones posting here, but I do know of one female TSO who very rarely posts on a leisure travel message board. Even before last November she was rarely posting and then only to offer up basic facts. I actually interacted with her via PM a few times and she seemed level headed and decent. I don't know if she is still a TSO or if she still posts.

I also recall one of the LTSOs here being candid about the challenges TSA has in recruiting and retaining female TSOs, and the issues it can cause female passengers (ie delays due to lack of staff, and I would also offer up a lack of quality amongst that group in general because the pool of females is much lower) That too was pre-November 2010 so I can only imagine that things must have become even more challenging.

Then there was the female ex-TSO who posted a rant on her blog which talked about the passengers and sadly represented the attitude I have encountered from many female TSOs over the past year. We women often have a reputation for being cruel to each other and displaying bullying behaviour; unfortunately I see this with many of the female TSOs over the past year. I also noticed that they tend to be from either end of the age spectrum - ie very young, or appearing to be senior citizens, with few falling into the 30-50 age group. (I may well be wrong, or that may only be the case at the many US airports I transit at the times I transit those airports)

I think the term is "reintegrated"

No one writing "Pistole Is A Moron" on their baggies?