Daughter was going through a "secondary screen" at MSN on her way to a conference in PHL. When asked to hand over her rollaboard for inspection, she stated, "Please be careful. I've packed it so full, I think it's about to explode". Yikes. Bad choice of words, my dear. Luckily, the TSA agent understood that she is just a 21 year old college student who meant no harm. Whew!

Although this seems to be a positive sign that the TSA is capable of understanding the English language in actual context (e.g. "My bag is so full its about ready to explode" is not indicative of the same threat level as, say, "I'm going to explode this bag after takeoff").

Nice to know common sense is prevaling at the TSA. Maybe they can educate the INS.

INS at YYZ is (in)famous in India for denying entry to a famous Indian actor who told them he was going to LAX to "shoot a movie". Evidently "shoot" violated their zero tolerance policy.

This can�t be true... Did that really happen?!?

Reminds me of the taking the cockpit joke that Flakefan used on the upper deck of a UA 744....

Last night my friend was stopped and checked at EVERY point before boarding. In the jetway while waiting to board, I said "You must have that terrorist look". Everyone around me was shocked I used the T word. FOR GOD SAKES, listen to how I used it. I didn't say that he WAS a terrorist.

While I think there should be no tolerance of joking around like "I have a gun" or "I am a terrorist, I do think that we cannot simply make certain words forbidden.

Your daughter's comment was on the boarderline though. I still think that she was fine in saying it.

As much as I agree that this should be a harmless comment, I wouldn't be surprised if it DID lead to a trip to the Body Cavity Search Room.
No tolerance policies mean just that and are
often used as a justification for the small-minded to check what little brains they have at the door.

The less they have to think, the easier it is toss you into one either the Good Box or Bad Box and the quicker the line moves. Which what we're all really interested in anyways right?

JD

True enough...

As a crew member who is a very frequent flier of the security folks - I can attest to the fact that they are MUCH friendlier and helpful. They actually say things to us, ask how we're doing, ask where we're going and actually seem to care about their jobs. They also seem to have a bit of a brain in the heads they wear too. Every once in awhile there is the idiot who seems to think they are in a very high powered position and has a superiority complex. These are the kinds of people that treat crewmembers like we've never been through security before. Now, I understand they're just doing their jobs, but hello? I KNOW I have to take everything out of my pockets and I know I have to remove my hat.

In BOS last week they were so cool to me as I got the "special" search as a flight deck jumpseater. There is a new security directive out that removes uniformed or ununiformed crewmembers with a badge from the special screening at the gate. When the agent forced me to do it - as the captain stood by and shook his head and educated her in the new directive - the TSA people were like "Uh... you're a pilot, uh.. you're a crewmember - why are you here?" My response like a good little untrusted crewmember was "I can't argue, complain or refuse or I'll get fired. Search me !!"

I'm still miffed that they make more than me and that there are always TONS of them sitting around on breaks.


AZJ

I'm still miffed that they make more than me and that there are always TONS of them sitting around on breaks.


Do you mean their base pay is greater or their pay with overtime is greater?

I mean their BASE pay is greater. Like in the neighborhood of $25-35K - which is more than many "regional" airline pilots make in a year, for the first several years of flying.


AZJ

Amen to that. And, as you said, there always seem to be a lot of them just sitting down talking...waiting for something to do or avoiding it....