There is a difference between someone instinctively reaching into their bag, and a person actually interfering with the process. People will reach into their bag and say "I know what your looking for" and start digging. They will be told to not touch their items please. Usually that person says "Oh, I am sorry. But my curling iron is in that pocket. (It is never the curling iron that we are looking for, but whatever).Someone interfering will ignore the requests to keep their hands out of their bags, they will not step back when requested, and they try many times to get their hands in their bags. Huffing and Puffing the whole time, making it impossible to do the bag check. You can tell the difference between the ones trying to be helpful, and the ones trying to be a PITA.

I'll agree with all of that, and that most problems are the result of hostile passengers annoyed by crummy rules, and, by proxy, the enforcers of those rules.

I will add that the degeneration from friendly interaction to hostile argument is frequently a team effort.

- A bag check is called. TSO opens bag.
- Passenger tries to "help"
- TSO scolds passenger, later asks about something else.
- Passenger, now somewhat annoyed, again tries to help.
- Either passenger or TSO takes an angrier tone of voice, as does the other party.
- TSO, feeling somewhat threatened by the verbally confrontational passenger, asks him/her to step away from his/her possessions.
- And so on...

The fact that you don't seem to understand why a person might wish to maintain close proximity and visual contact with THEIR OWN BELONGINGS is a real problem, SgtScott. Or is it that you just don't CARE? Either is unacceptable in a public servant, though the former might just be due to ignorance and could potentially be correctable.

Anyone in a public capacity who has problems with a non-criminal (say, for example, a member of the flying public) maintaining a CLOSE watch over someone who's examining their belongings needs to find themselves another job where they aren't required to interact with the public.

Do you deny that TSA has a serious problem, both in public perception AND IN FACT, with those particular issues (among others)? Both charges have been documented repeatedly, and any "bad press" or ill-will the TSA as an organization has to deal with as a result leaves me, at least, somewhat less than concerned for their delicate sensibilities. Perhaps if they could keep their own house in order, they might not be facing QUITE so much resistance.

I want to carry my 16oz. bottle of water on board. Someday, the stupidity saying I cannot will end. but until then, I don't.

Virtually all checked bags are inspected outside of the view of their owner.

Even before the TSA idiocy, I wouldn't have dreamed of standing shoulder to shoulder with the bag inspector. I stand back to keep a wider field of view, and watch intently.

The women in the video was stupid on just so many levels.

And to repeat - I loath much of what DHS/TSA have done to our country.

I have had my carry on searched countless times at the screening station, and I have never been asked to step back. If that were ever to happen, I'd immediately ask for a supervisor.

I completely understand why the passenger questioned how she was treated.

Being in close proximity doesn't mean standing on top of the screener. You can be close, and maintain visual contact without interfering. I see it done every day.

I don't deny that the TSA has a serious problem with public perception, or that the other situations you've mentioned have happened. It is a shame, but the instances are few and far between. There are bad eggs in every organization and background checks can't predict future behaviors or future screener stupidity.

The design of the screening station in the video virtually requires that TSO and passenger stand side by side. Normally the screener is behind a table and the passenger is in front. The TSO should expect passengers to be standing beside him as he rifles through their bags. Asking them to go away is silly under the circumstances.

Are you argumentative when you are having your bags checked? Do you repeatedly try to reach into your bag? If not, that is probably why you have never been asked to step back.

No. But I have witnessed several situations where an inexperienced - or incompetent - TSA screener elevated a situation to the point of conflict that should have never happened. In one instance, after a passenger was horrendously abused, I gave him my business card and told him that if he wanted to report the incident, I'd be happy to serve as a witness.

Are many - if not most - of these outbursts triggered by passenger attitudes?

I'm sure they are, but that doesn't excuse an overreaction by security personnel.

Sorry, but TSA employees work for the public. It's not the other way around.

Some screeners have a bad attitude regardless. But yes, most escalations I have seen are due to the passengers attitude. I have some screeners that are cheerful and happy no matter how rude a person is to them. I give them credit for that, I don't always understand how they do it.

I would expect any reasonable person to want to maintain a close proximity or visual contact with their belongings. TSA also knows this when they bring someone aside for secondary screening. I'm not sure about the setup at this airport, but where I work, the table is off to the side and the person is taken to this area WITH THEIR BELONGINGS. Could this not possibly be a situation where she wanted to go through her belongings before the TSA could possibly even get her to the secondary area? Could it be that she refused the secondary screening and told them to p*ss off? Both are strong possibilities. Why? because normally people that try to be helpful with TSA do not end up where she did (i.e. being arrested). Several on here have mentioned how they attempt to help TSA or grab their belongings before they realize they are not supposed to. That's never been an issue. The TSO's I've seen simply remind them that they are not to touch their belongings until the secondary process is complete. Now given, I'm not in the Terminal every day, nor at the checkpoint the full 8hrs I'm on shift, but I have never been called to the checkpoint for those who instinctively touch their belongings when they were not supposed to.

The only problem I am going to have are with those who make a conscious decision to enter the security checkpoint and refuse to follow the rules, become loud and belligerent, and resist law enforcement when they are told they are being arrested. If you have a problem with someone going through your belongings, then I would not expect you to come through the security checkpoint with any baggage, because 99.9% of the traveling public know that there is a high probability someone is going to go through their luggage during the screening process. The same 99.9% know that secondary screening occurs and you may not go through your luggage until the secondary is complete.

I do not deny that they have their own problems internally (aside from policies the public despise), but they are not any different than airline personnel stealing from luggage, department store employees taking merchandise and/or money, and LEOs who lie about a case and/or evidence. They are isolated incidents that definitely hurt the rest of the honest ones in the eyes of the public, but I see much more bashing on the TSA than other organizations with similar issues. Point is, if she was worried about theft and wanted to be closer to her luggage, there was definitely a more civilized way to handle it. As I have stated, my assumptions about what occurred are simply those, ASSUMPTIONS. But from being in this line of work for several years and observing checkpoint operations and the passengers that come through them, given what little video is available, I have advised my best guess as to what occurred. If she would not follow instructions from TSOs and LEOs regarding her bags, then she would physically be kept from them. If she resists, she is going to end up arrested.

Virtually every escalation I have ever observed was the result of a screener being careless with a passengers belongings.

It is irrelevant who has the original bad attitude. The screeners work for the public, and if they can't deal with passengers with bad attitudes, they need to find another line of work.

My experience with secondaries is that your belongings stay on the belt and you are separated from them.

You can ask to have your laptop etc protected or guarded and about 50% of the time they agree and move them for you. They rest of the time they get belligerent and tell you you cannot be near your things until you clear secondary. Many times it is not a very good experience.

I don't know what video(s) you people are watching, but it seems obvious to me that the procedure there was for the passenger to sit it the chairs (like the woman in yellow) while the screener searched the bag. Equally obvious is that the screener could then block the passengers' view of what was going on. Watch the video again.

I wouldn't sit still (heh) for that either, but then I'm a TSA 'hater'.