E.g. the woman maknig her flight out of DFW this afternoon.

I'd arrived on AA 1110, and was going back thruogh security. She had just beed dropped off by her daughter - AA terminal A, entry about gate 29 or so? She was asked to step aside - and spoke no English, as she was just up here for a visit. She had found good shopping in the area - as evidenced by the metallic sound of her two carry-on bags.

Seeing the attempts to communicate, I offered to translate. Results:

First run through the x-ray and hand check: six scissors with sharp ends (she bought LOTS of toilet items!), four serrated-edge steak knives.

Re-run of baggage: two more serrated steak knives, two screwdrivers, one pair needlepoint pliers.

Fortunately, her daughter was dutiful and stayed just outside security to see if her mom got through - she went home with some of mom's US-purchased booty. Mom got to take the levered cargo straps, forks and knives (sans knives) and a ton of personal hygiene items, home.

Amazingly, everyone was quite civil... though I find the shoe carnival served with a side of intimidation pretty aggravating.

Talk about now being aware...

Unfortunately, I think this could be SOP for those who don't fly on a regular basis. We all become very short-sighted (I don't think that's the correct term, but can't come up with what I want just now) and believe because we know something to be true the rest of the world knows it also.

I can assure you that had this been my mother and had I told her she'd never get through security with all the sharp, pointy things, she would have argued with me that, of course she will get through because she had no ill-intentions. Believe me on this. Perhaps the daughter of the woman in question had had the same discussion with her mother and that's why she was waiting to see that the woman got on the plane.

In a way, it's the same thing as the shoe carnival - we know we are not secreting a bomb and it's hard for us to be treated as if we are.

Nevertheless, it never ceases to amaze me how naive some people are about "the facts of life" - but it's not out of the ordinary at all.

"Myopic", perhaps?

The bottom line is that these are the kind of people the suits in DC LOVE to come up and see that the TSA is doing "everything" they can to protect us.

My mother was very annoyed that Canadian security in Vancouver found a pair of nail scissors in her carry-on, because that same pair of scissors went through undetected in the same carry-on a few days earlier in SMF.

If it was OK with the Americans, then the Canadians had no business having a problem, especially at her age of 81 (that was the logic).