I would't be so sure. When two screeners found my travel size half empty toothpaste at FLL last week, they even held it up in the air to show their colleagues they made the big catch - you would think they caught a grand slam homerun ball at Game 7 of the World Series. It was pretty pathetic.

A couple of weeks ago, there was a woman behind me as BOS who had a bottle of water discovered in her carry-on bag. The TSAer didn't seem as if he made "The Big Catch," but he did talk to this (about) 40-year old woman as if she was entering pre-school next week.

That would explain things. Just voted. We're still at 55% but dropping quick.

Interesting thing is that the poll seems to indicate that the nation is pretty split on this. I would say that the 12% it depends folks are the ones who disagree with the ban but are afraid to actually sneak something through the checkpoint.

I think it depends on the screeners. I've walked past them with things in my carr on. (cream and water) nobody bothered to open my bags or ask.

I have already done it 8 times. I have a new routine where I transfer lotion, toothpaste, and chap stick from my pockets into my carryon post security...the whole thing is indeed a joke.

I was at DCA reading the article after I remembered that I had a banned item in my carryon and was sitting at the gate next to a pregnant women using chapstick. I resisted the urge to tackle her as a terrorist because I had the same contraband but they will never get my mini-bottles of Tobasco. It is 3.7 ml or 1/8 fl oz.

BOS recently was a strange experience. I was "nailed" for having a gelstick deodorant - I asked what is "solid" if that was one piece and was told "It's powder-ish ..." He told me I could check my bag (if it meant that much to me), and then insisted that the now-deodorantless bag had to be re-screened. He had also set aside my 15ml bottle of store brand eye drops. When I pointed out they were allowed, he made a show of reading the label, stating: 'I'm letting you keep this." I was left with wondering whether he was an authoritarian control freak, or whether he was using a flat stern tone because he knew nothing he was confiscating was dangerous and distancing himself was the only way he could deal with all this?

The previous screener elsewhere had whizzed through my deodorant with no problem at all.

I'm regret to report that from my observations, increased gate-screening will be the trade-off on any relaxation for toothpaste, etc.

To paraphrase what Lumpy has said here many times, your experience is clearly out of the 'dignified' and 'professional' screening handbook.

Gate screenings are useless; dodging them is rather simple.

Why the re-screening?
 

The guy had just gone through my bag! Was this some sort of "penalty" for me?

Why not take the bag and the item, go to a different checkpoint (or go away for 5 minutes, come back, and use a different screening lane), and try again?

But this was at the gate, wasn't it?

I guess one could still take the bag off and say, "Sure, I'll go ask for a personal items box from the airline and check my deodorant..." and then just walk away for a while, and re-board. Wonder if the screener would bother re-checking the bag to see if the item had been checked? I am betting the screener would escort the pax out of the airside area, though, making it impossible to check the bag and still make the flight. :(

No, this was not at the gate. The idea of "trying again" confounds me? I would stand a chance of getting the exact same person running the X ray machine, as well as the same person who went through my bag. I still don't get why he had to run the bag through the X ray after he had just gone through it?

Like I said, this is only what I know from the screeners I talk too. Most of them think its a joke. But, to be able to "not see" certain items, you have to know who your working with.

A joke as in they don't believe this makes any difference whatsoever and likely never will? Or that it's funny to inconvenience passengers?

A joke as in their doing things that are totally unnecessary. The TSA has gone totally overboard. Most of the screeners I know would love to be able to profile, to be able to question passengers they really thought might be a threat. This uniform "everybody gets the same screening" is a waste of resources. The TSA is too worried about being politically correct to do anything of value. No one I ever worked with thought it was funny to inconvience passengers. But what you have to understand is that the screeners don't make the rules. You will never see the ones that do make the rules at the airport.