I have traveled over a half a million miles, and hundreds of flights, since 911 and thought I had seen it all, but on our last trip to ORD, I was totally surprised when I was told that I must remove all of my jewelry. Since I always wear exactly the same jewelry, day-to-day, and have never set off an alarm, I just refused to do so. There is no way on the face of this earth that I am going to let my jewelry out of my sight, even to go through security. What was she thinking?

The TSA agent got into a huff, but I went through and set off no alarms, which made her even huffier. Do they lie awake thinking up ways to annoy us?

"they" implying that others have told you, you "have to take off your jewelry"? or was it in this instance alone?

also since you didn't take off the jewelry, did the agent stop you-or did she let you walk through?

I think it was just part of a lazy govrnment employee's philosophy of: "I'm going to make my job easy even if it means I have to make life difficult for you."

Think about how easier the screener's job would be if (s)he could pursuade, cajole, put the fear of God in, or otherwise convince anyone wearing jewelery, shoes, metal belt buckles, etc to to take them off as a matter of course. If it was in fact a regulatory requirement to do so, you probably would have done your post to FT from a holding cell.

I'm glad to hear you stuck to your guns and told her to take a hike. ^

This, robodeer, was the first time that any TSA agent has told me that I had to remove my jewelry to go through security.

Heretofore, the most common form of repeated stupidity that I have endured is TSA agents refusing to allow me to keep my purse in my presence throughout the screening process. Since the one infamous occasions where I was denied boarding at PDX for holding my ground on the "purse in sight" issue, the agents have always backed down when challenged, so I am assuming that the consequences of that original incident rippled through their systems and resulted in more in-depth education for TSA agents.

Giving people who are unfamiliar with power, small bits of power here and there is inherently dangerous.

Actually Yes, I keep a note pad next to my bed so I can write things down when they come to me.

Oh, yes the punki incident, we all know it so well.


Next time maybe you just lay down on the belt and go through the X-Ray. That way you can keep your purse in sight at all times.

In Dec 03 I had a similar experience at OKC. I was completely surprised when the TSA agent insisted that I remove my jewelry. I was also very annoyed by the request, but although I resisted briefly, I just didn't have the energy to argue.

I thought about this quite a bit afterwards but I still don't understand it. I had been wearing my *travel* jewelry -- which consists of a silver pendant, my wedding ring on my left hand, an industry award ring (similar to a class ring) on my right hand, and a modestly ornate wetern-style silver watch band. I have worn these same pieces through security at dozens of other airports all over the world at least a bazillion times. I have never set off any alarms, anywhere, with my jewelry. And I had never before been asked to remove it.

About 6 weeks later I flew out of OKC again, but this time I was prepared to hold my ground. When the TSA strongly suggested that I remove my jewelry, I declined. I was warned that I would receive secondary if I set off any alarms and I told them I realized this was a possibility. I stepped through the machine and NOTHING happened. No alarms. No secondary. Just like I expected. I grinned at the agent who then told me I was lucky because I had just barely made it through without beeping. Whatever.

I never cause trouble for the TSA. I take off my shoes and my jackets and I put my cell phone wherever they want it. But this was the last straw for me. I just don't believe that removing my jewelry makes me or anyone else safer and I run the risk of having it lost or stolen. If my jewelry doesn't worry anyone in TLV or FRA or LHR or anywhere else in the world, why does it concern the TSA in OKC?

Perhaps the screener thought it looked like the cheap metal wannabe jewelry that does set off the WTMD. Real jewelry won't set it off. Must have looked cheap.

Interestingly enough, oklAAhoma, I had my first serious run-in with the TSA at your home airport. After my purse had gone through security an agent began to remove articles from it during a hand inspection. He removed my ID and many credit cards and laid them on the table. When he saw my cash stash, he insisted that he had to rerun my purse, leaving me to watch my ID and credit cards which were lying on the table.

He took a good long time re-running my purse, which left us only enough time to run to catch our plane. When I was on the plane, I discovered that he had stolen a $50.00 bill from my purse. He was caught on tape and dealt with--not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I was reimbursed by $50.00.

I was at that time advised by the a TSA official from D.C. never to let my purse out of my sight, which instruction I followed, which led to my next ridiculous TSA incident--where I was denied boarding for refusing to allow them to take my purse out of my sight. Odd lot they are.

Ouch! That's a bit of a cheap shot. I'm not a regular of this forum but I'll assume you were *joking*. And no ...it's not cheap and it doesn't look cheap. (Not that I am opposed to cheap jewelry. It's just that I didn't purchase any of the pieces and the people who gifted it to me cough up more dough for stuff like that than I ever would.)

Now, I'll ask again. Why was my jewelry an issue in OKC starting in Dec 03? It never was a problem before then in OKC and it hasn't been a problem anywhere else before or since.

My assumption, oklAAhoma, was that the TSA agents in questions had just never before seen anybody wearing the real stuff.

DFW? What a horrible experience for you! Fifty dollars may not be a fortune but it's sure more than I would want to lose, particularly in such a fashion. I am glad the thief was caught on tape.

It makes me sad to learn that this happened at *my* airport. All in all, I find the TSA at DFW to be friendly, professional, and courteous. It is a shame to learn that there is (was?) such a bad egg there.

That must be the reason!

I am sorry if I was confused and/or unclear, the incident happened at OKC, not DFW. The OKC agent in question was fired and is no longer there. It was actually UA who reimbursed the money.

The $50.00 wasn't relevant, but it was scary to think that a TSA agent would steal money. Just dumber than dirt.

That's actually really cool that you know (and were informed) that the criminal was terminated. Actually very reassuring and gives me more confidence in TSA if that makes any sense. Too bad UA had to reimburse you for TSA's theft; Kudos to my favorite airline, but still kind of sad.

As for the denied boarding in PDX ^ ^ for standing your ground. I hope someone got fired there too for that violation of policy, but I doubt it happened.