"Your bag has tested positive for nitroglycerine"
 

That's what I was told last week at LAX after my backpack was swabbed. The screeners then examined everything in my bag and when they found nothing told me that glycerine lotion may have been the trigger.

Surprisingly, it did not seem to be that big of a deal but a supervisor came over to write down all my personal information. I asked her if this sort of thing was unusual and whether I would be put on a watch list because of it. She replied that the information would only be used if something happened on the flight that I was about to board, otherwise it wouldn't get into the TSA database.

Of course nothing bad happened on my flight (other than the inflight meal) but if the plane had crashed, for whatever reason, it is possible that I could have been blamed. It really didn't occur to me until later but I should have called a family member to tell them not to believe everything they might read in the paper. :)

Their machine registers a false positive yet your info is collected. :rolleyes:

The screeners may know what they are doing, but the management of the TSA is off the deep end.

The second bolded portion demonstrates a profound lack of professionalism on the part of the supervisor.

Hmm. A screener at MCI recently said she had to test my carryon bag (no wheels) after it went thru the machine. I didn't think much of it. I do use hand lotions. I guess nothing was noted because she returned it to me shortly. First time for that to happen to me. But I think it would be a good idea to make that phone call before boarding to tell someone that your info. was taken down & why. Thanks for the post.

LAX TSA is generally pretty reasonable so it's good to see they didn't overreact to this incident and basically just searched the bag.

The personal info collection unfortunately seems to be a standard TSA practice for these sorts of false alarms. If it happens again and you want to make a stink, you can demand under the Privacy Act to know under what authority they collect the info, how they are going to use it, if giving it to them is voluntary, what the consequences of not giving it to them are, etc.

See a great post by L-1011 a while back:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...74#post3129892

Based on posts here, most checkpoints are completely clueless about these Privacy Act requirements, and the TSA generally seems to be in total violation of the Privacy Act when recording this sort of information. It's a huge hole in TSA policy/training and something that management will probably only fix after a few nasty incidents.

Those pesky quotas. :rolleyes:

Same thing happened to me about a year ago at LAX. I had been on a camping holiday for some time, and I checked in my sleeping bag in its pouch separately. So they swabbed it, and then asked "have you been camping recently?" "yes...?" "because some of the the chemicals used on lawns etc probably set off the machine". They then proceeded to take down all sorts of info on me, and when I inquired as to what would happen to that info post-flight, was given the same answer as studentff....

Same thing happened to me on my return trip checking in at HNL, but my rolling carry on bag handle tested positive for TNT.

Did the same search through everything and then took down my information and told me the same song and dance as was told to renalt130. I specifically asked if I would become part of a “watch list” or a “no fly list” and they said no.

ummm
 

?????

Got to have so many "incident" forms filled out each month don't you? Of course, I am sure this information is "classified".

The machine didn't false alarm it alarmed on explosive traces which is what it's supposed to do. Unfortunately a lot of harmless things do use them same chemicals you find in explosives.

Nope, they are allowed to harrass as many people as they want now. I'm sure that a study was conducted and DHS determined that once the quota was reached, employees stopped harrassing innocent travelers so as not to over-achieve. :D The quotas were immediately removed "in the interest of security" and they now a free to harrass without artificial limits. :D

Humor...
 

Although apparently lost in translation.

Please drive home the Privacy Act restrictions when this happens again to any of us. It's been discussed ofter here, so do a search for additional threads that quote from the Privact Act itself.

My personal "cut line" is that the TSA is allowed (by me) to write down anything on my boarding pass, because I've already surrendered that personal information. Anything over & above this data is off limits without my consent. "Off limits" includes anything from my DL, SSN, phone number, address, etc. This is my #1 hot button -- right behind gropings.

Those of you who have been harassed like this can submit a Privace Act request to the TSA requesting copies of any personal information they have on file. Make sure you send separate requests to the HQ and to the offending FSD at his/her airport. Remember -- this is a Privacy Act request and NOT a FOIA request. There's a big diference, and the TSA will deny your request if you unwittingly ask for the wrong thing -- and they won't tell you you asked the wrong question. Give them about 30 days, and then send a copy to your Congressman.

Similar incident at CAE - Handled well by TSA
 

I was flying out of CAE, which is near Fort Jackson, an Army training base. There is heavy military traffic through this airport. A young woman, obviously in the military although not in uniform (travling with others in uniform) was having her bag swabbed. It tested positive. She realized that the bag she was using was the same bag she uses at the firing range.
They searched her bags and sent her on her way. No big deal. I guess being used to the military traffic, similar incidents may have occurred.
Nice to see them use common sense.

Good thing they didn't blow up your bag. :D

- Pat