Somehow, I lost both my govt. issued ID's while traveling this week and wound up having to go through secondary screening at SFO today.

I approached the ID checker and told her I had lost my ID. She directed me to a second checker who in turn directed me toward the checkpoint. I put my laptop and liquids in the plastic bins and waitedoff to the side. A TSA agent told me I could go straight ahead to the metal detector. I told her I had no ID. She misunderstood what I said and told me I didn't need to show ID twice. "F this!", I thought and went through the metal detector, picked up my things and began to leave the checkpoint. At that point I thought my actions might cause a terminal dump, and while I would like to make a monkey out of the fake security measures, I don't want thousands of people to be delayed/inconvenienced on my account.

I walked back and waved to the TSA agent that sent me through, motioning her to come towards me. I told her that I was trying to tell her that I had no ID and needed to go through whatever process they had in place for people like me. She seemed embarrassed but took me to the designated secondary screener and asked if it would be ok if she passed my bags through the x ray machine one more time. I agreed. She was very nice, asking if I had been secondary screened before and told me exactly what to expect, except the pervy stuff which we'll get to in a minute. When the bags were brought back to the secondary screening area, one agent began swabbing every electrical, battery operated gadget in my bag. Ipod, back up drive, laptop, phone chargers, phones, flashlight, bp monitor, spare batteries, electric toothbrush, laptop power cord, camera, everything got swabbed. Meanwhile, I got the most thorough patdown I have ever had. Hands all over, special attention to buttocks, belt area, groin, legs and, well everywhere really. It was quite obtrusive so I started shouting random words in spoof Cantonese at the agent whenever he touched what I considered to be a sensitive area. He was not happy that an apparently respectabe looking "fully grown adult" was making fun of him but he put up with it, probably figuring I was not happy about the obtrusive touching.

I was told to take a seat while practically everything in my bag was swabbed. The whole screening episode took 25 minutes which was quite a long time, but the agents were very polite, repeatedly apologizing about keeping me so long - especially the pervy one.

At the end of it, one agent asked me if I wouldn't mind repacking my bag, thanked me for my patience and cut two little man shapes in my bp to signify I had been screened.

Now really, why did you go through the trouble of alerting them to their mistake? I would have breathed a sigh of relief that I didn't need to get groped.

Bolding added by me in the following to show why he did what he did:

He alerted them because he didn't want a terminal dump (aka "another knee-jerk overreaction") that would delay/inconvenience thousands of people.

I think I would have just asked the last agent in the line whether I was free to go. If the agent said yes I would have just left. There is no need to waste 25 minutes getting groped. If they wanted to dump the terminal afterwards, so be it.

Thanks for taking one for the team.

Too bad you can apply common sense, but we can't expect the same from the TSA

As the unlucky participant of a terminal dump due to a knee-jerk reaction, I do appreciate the 'taking one for the team'.

But if I was marked as 'free to go' I wouldn't have worried about it.

Would the TSA have really dumped their terminal? I mean, who was going to have caught that you lacked an ID once you were past the checkpoint? I doubt the original ID checker would find one of the secondary-givers and said, "Did you ever do a secondary on that guy without an ID?"

This is one of the many thoughts that went through my mind during the 30 odd seconds when I realized I was able to leave the checkpoint without having my ID checked or undergo secondary screening. Foremost in my mind was... "Terminal Dump if I walk", next came "They'll never remember me", then "F 'em", then "got to get to the RCC and post this on FT", and finally back to "Terminal Dump on a Thursday evening - lots of PO'd consultants and lawyer types - not good"

Better on a Saturday just so the leisure travellers get an appreciation for this nonsense?

LOL! The only problem is they would see a chocolate face (i.e., me) being led off in handcuffs by police and would spend the rest of their lives talking about how the TSA saved them from a "real, laav terrist".

Hard to tell if I should laugh or mourn. The words you say ring more true than they should.

Has there ever been a successful terminal dump??? I mean one in which they actually found the person they were seeking?

None that I've been in.

Hear, Hear!! His thoughtfulness and consideraiton of his fllow PAX was altruism in action, and I would have certainly taken MKE's stance: If they say I'm done and they want to dump the terminal, that's their problem not mine.

RPh, you are certainly a better person than I am! Thanks for taking one for the team.

I was at PHX not long after 9/11 standing in line for screening when the TSA critter screamed at the top of his lungs, "BRAVO!!!!" and reached up and slammed shut a rollup door in teh WTMD that I never knew existed, thus blocking the path through the WTMD. The other moat dragons did the same and we all sat there wondering what kind of newsworthy event we would all be witness to. About two minutes later, the roll doors were opened up and everything started moving forward again. Never did figure out what happened, wonder if that was "almost" a terminal dump.

--PP

My thought here was, would they ever have known it was you who caused it? Unlikely.

You are SO noble. ^ Sorry you got such a thorough feeling up. One screener/groper told me it was like a free massage -- why didn't you enjoy it?

This question was part of the equation. The other part being, if they didn't know it was me, a terminal dump would still be bloody annoying! Unfortunately I have a "memorable face and voice" combination so I think I would have been nabbed even tough I didn't do anything wrong.

I wonder how many of them are child molesters?