Tiny toothpaste and security
 

I just went thru security for an ultimately delayed flight to DFW (3760 if you were wondering). I haven't traveled since last month (went to RIO) and haven't opened my computer bag since then. For that trip I took a travel toothbrush and the small travel paste. These both made it thru several security check points last month. So it was with surprise that my bag today was pulled out because of containing some lotion. Turns out they caught my 1 oz of toothpaste that I forgot I had. When the guard pulled it out I explained truthfully that I forgot it was in there. He asked if I had a ziploc and I just told him to keep it. He wouldn't give it back unless I had a ziploc and he explained that we all get one and this was how they control things. I said keep it again but the nice lady beside me gave me a baggy into which I popped in my toothpaste and asked if it needed to be rescreened. They didn't say yes so I thanked the lady for her baggy, took my toothpaste out, gave her back the baggy and put the item back in my bag and walked away. Easy peasy. I admit I might have been slightly in the wrong but if my stuff didn't need to be rescreened, how much of a threat was it in the first place? Sorry this was so long, it just struck me as funny...and since my HOU-DFW is late anyway I had time to kill. Anyone else have similar experiences with potential contraband?

I had a similar problem going to LGA from MIA.

I went to Orlando for the weekend (driving) and had packed my regular sized toothpaste. I forgot it was there.

I flew MIA-LGA several weeks later - no problem. I cleared security in LGA for my return trip to MIA - no problem. When my MIA flight was delayed 2+ hrs I decided to go to food court for a bite to eat. When I went through security (Now the 3rd time), the TSA spotted it gave me a lecture about. I said I forgot it and told them to keep it.

Funny thing is that it cleared twice, one of the times the same LGA checkpoint.

Goes to show just how useful they are.

Zero.

I've had the same two (hotel size) botles of lotion in my bag for more than a year and never had a problem. My bag is hand searched (filled with electronics) about 50% of the time and even when they see the botles nothing has been said.

Interestingly, FlyerTalk provides a Travel Safety/Security forum where threads like this can/should be posted.

Well, I hate to, er, brush this off, but off to TS/S this thread will go for some more scrubbing and polishing in the appropriate forum.

JDiver, American AAdvantage Forum Moderator

The first thing to understand is that the TSA has absolutely no authority to take your property. You should have contacted a supervisor immediately.

It clearly does not make sense to require the bag if you only have one item of liquid of less than 100 ml.

SmilingBoy.

The only two liquids I carry these days, travel toothpaste and eye drops, go in my pants pockets.

I'm suppose my guilty visage will get me SPOTted soon.

If there's any reality to the Critical Diameter®™ concept, the kippey bag constrains the size of the container.

You are right, but just imagine a cylinder 1 mm high and 35 cm diameter.

SmilingBoy.

Actually its a significant threat. The whole TSA organization is based on the
assumption that toothpaste, lotions, baby formula, bottled water,
deodorants and even nail clippers are dangerous. If these things
were deemed safe, TSA's existence is at risk. Thousands of jobs are at
risk. Because of this, the convenience and common sense are banned from
TSA screening stations. I hope you understand and cooperate :rolleyes: :mad:

and yeah.. it has nothing to do with the aviation security...

The ziplock bag has magical properties - that's why the screeners require even one item to be in the bag. Once placed in the bag and run through the x-ray machine, the dangerous and volatile explosive chemicals they think are there in place of your tartar control Crest will be magically rendered inert.

The TSA's own scientists developed this theory on the heels of their claim that rogue, poorly educated terrorists can turn an aircraft lavatory into a multi-million dollar controlled environment for chemical processing and handling.

If you think of it, it is a multi-million dollar environment.... based on the
aircraft type.

True, but they can deny you entry airside.
The response from them would be "Do you want to fly today?"
Had it happen...... A supervisor would do nothing for you...

Great example a bag that is 1x35cm will not fit into a quart sized bag.
Assuming you meant 1x35mm (without measuring to verify a quart sized bag would accommodate--and again assuming that any of this makes sense--perhaps it's been determined that 50mm is the Critical Diameter®™. Constraining the size of the container solves the problem.

Now, I don't know how this prevents such scenarios as buying something airside which support Critical Diameter®™, or checking such a container with binary components that are known to dissolve a barrier on a predictable schedule, etc.

I did mean 35 cm, because this is more than the critical diameter (which must be defined by the size of the bag). A cylinder with 35 cm diameter and 1 mm height has pretty much exactly 100 ml.

SmilingBoy.

There is nothing magical about container diameter that is not in the public domain. TSA is not privy to some Secret Knowledge® that they are leveraging to protect us. Don't give them the benefit of the doubt.

this seems to be the case, as happend to me with TSA at TUL. I had my liquids (all less than 3 oz) in a gallon sized ziplock bag. TSA caught it in xray and told me it had to be a quart sized bag.
me: Um, OK, but I only have this gallon size bag.
TSA: then these items can't fly
me: so you have no issue with the contents of the bag ?
TSA: no, the contents are fine
me: then what is the issue ?
TSA: you need a quart size bag
me: since the contents are safe and have already passed your screening, can I just put them in my computer bag and catch my flight ?
TSA: not without a quart size ziplock bag.
me: can I speak with a supervisor ?
TSA supv: you need a quart size bag
me: so the critical security issue here is not the liquids, but the ziplock bag ?
TSA: sir, we don't make the rules, if you don't like them, complain to your congressman
me: are you empowered in any way to apply common sense and actually see that there is no threat to aviation security here ?
TSA: no, we are not.
me: throw them in the trash, I have a flight to catch.

This is how it actually happened.

Perhaps TSA or the Feds have a secret investment in the manufacturing of the plastic bags which helps them fund all their other smart initiatives. They needed to increase the sales of bags so that their return on the investment would increase. :D

I wish they were at least that smart.

Well, at least he was honest with you. No different than a bartender being forced to ask a 70 year-old for ID proof that they're over 21. Someone in charge of policy has indeed determined that their employees are, as a group, too stupid to apply common sense and make decisions based on their own judgement; so a set of unwavering parameters is instituted to take the human factor out of the equation.

As we all know, from the moronic Kip Hawley "interviews", that Kippie was "told by some scientists that volatile chemicals in amounts less than one quart would not pose a threat to aviation."; so the TSA then figured that if they limited the amount of liquids pax could bring on board to "as many 3oz bottles that can be stowed inside a 1 qt. ziplock bag with the zipper zipped, that the immutable laws of physics would then say that the total volume of liquid inside the bag could never be >1 qt."; and then they could hire anybody to do the checking, without having a degree in physics or mathematics; and we would all be safer for their efforts.

Did TSA ever consider that terrorists Abdul, Mohammed, Osama, etc. could each have 1 qt. bags filled with the dangerous liquids? Under the current TSA screening protocol, each could carry several containers in his own Kippie bag through the checkpoint. Once in the "sterile" area, the terrorists could then consolidate the contents with one terrorist or, to foil the gate checks, just waltz onto the targeted flight. Once on the target airliner, our intrepid terrorist chemists would then mix up a batch of binary explosives with the precursors they carried through the checkpoint in their Kippie bags.

TSA is such a bad joke, but at least it is employing over 40,000 individuals. The economy must be experiencing some stimulus from these workers.