I did a search and didn't come up with a solid result......

Just went through the extra screening here in TLH on my way to MIA this morning. I make this very same trip on average twice monthly. Today, while in the extra screening (which I'm picked for every couple of months), they asked the typical questions after the wanding and pat-down, but additionally, they removed all the contents from my wallet and looked at each item (credit cards, frequent traveler cards, health insurance card, etc.)

My question is a simple one.....is this common? I've never had someone rifle through my wallet like that, or have I just been really lucky?

Yes, it's common.

Were I you, I'd be on the phone with my elected representatives.

And this is why I do not travel with my wallet anymore.

They are hoping to find that thorn in their sides, the anonymous poster on the TSA blog. Tertiary Screening (TM) will probably be in order. Just leave your Bloggers Anonymous card at home.

Or the travel pages of my US Passport, like the TSA screeners at Fort Lauderdale (FLL) claim they can (and do).

They can go f themselves. They aren't touching my wallet.

Same here. I don't encounter this problem very often any more, but I resist strenuously -- and win every time.

Bruce

No way! That is a big NO-NO!!! I would not let them snoop at my wallet. That's illegal. They have no right! Wallet is HARMLESS, why bother snoop at my wallet? I'd be pissed off if h/she forces me to show my wallet.

I've never had it happen to me when I was SSSSed. Since most of my flights were either last minute bookings through work or for family emergencies, I was SSSSed more than a few times. (Never on a flight booked in advance with my frequent flyer number tho).

Then again, my wallet is attached to my keychain.

I'm assuming that they do at least occasionally go through a person's wallet or other identification items since they brag about catching misappropriated or forged ID cards, even when it's not a federal issue in some cases.

I don't think it's an appropriate use of authority, though. I may not want them to see my ACLU membership card, or my voter registration card showing my political party. Or a multitude of other things. It certainly seems that if the government is going to intrude as much as they have on my ability to travel -- which should be between me and the airline -- that their legal right to search and investigate should be limited in scope.

Moriah, that is exactly why TSA has no business going through a wallet as part of an administrative search procedure. Kudos to bdschobel for standing up to this almost certainly illegal practice.

I've never been asked to produce my wallet at a secondary but, to paraphrase the late Charlton Heston, TSA will get my wallet when they pry it out of my cold, dead hands.

When I travel my valuables, including my wallet, stay in my pockets. Occasionally they get feisty about items in my pockets, even if I don't beep.

Several times I've been asked to hand over valueables for an X-ray run. Each time my disposition changes and I boldly decline.

I take command of the conversation, explaining that they:
are free to search my valuables while I retain them in my hands
can call anyone they want to help
can take as long as they want until they're satisfied I have nothing that presents a risk.

Then I add that I'm as committed to security as they are, but my belongings will stay in my possession at all times.

This usually ends 30 seconds later when they take a quick glance through my stuff and let me go.

Could you give us some pointers about how you lead-off that convo with the screener?

Here's what I am surprised has never happened.

PAX: There seems to be a $100 bill missing now.
TSA: Well, I didn't take it. You saw me go through your wallet.
PAX: Don't know what to tell you, but I'm sure I'm now short $100, and I'd like to speak with a police officer.

So, PAX tells the officer he believes he is missing money, he thinks he had it with him when he left his house this morning, and he's pretty sure that he has not taken his wallet out of his pocket since he left the house......

I was on KL 651 AMS-IAD on 1 April; we left out of gate D47; at that gate, they have a magnetometer and luggage xray before you are allowed into the gatehouse.

The friendly security employee who watched me go through the magnetometer demanded that I take my wallet out of my pocket so that he could examine it. He looked inside--I bit my tongue and kept from saying something flippant that would give him an excuse to deny me boarding.

My conversations look almost exactly like this: