More TSA stupidity

OTOH, you know the bad guys already use kids as cover for smuggling drugs. Why not for weapons?

That's why my kids will only fly in big balloons

As a TSA Supervisor, I can assure you that procedure was not followed. The original poster or anyone else who has a problem should immediately ask for a Supervisor. This ladies experience does not represent TSA policy. We are specifically instructed not to separate children from their parents. Anyone with negative or positive interactions with TSA can contact the TSA by phone or through the TSA website and they will be responded to.

When Dad and Rennie flew out to CA to pick up the Ranchero, they didn't have time to check their bags. And of course, they had tools with them. The TSA took all of their ratchets, but left the razor blades and the hacksaw.

Tommy Suddard wrote: When Dad and Rennie flew out to CA to pick up the Ranchero, they didn't have time to check their bags. And of course, they had tools with them. The TSA took all of their ratchets, but left the razor blades and the hacksaw.

Tools are to be put in checked luggage, period. It just makes it easier.

Kendall_Jones wrote: That blog sounds like it was written by a total drama queen. Yeah, I have kids & I know the drill. I would have missed the f'n flight before anyone took my kids away. "they took my son" = you let them. I once flew from detroit to orlando to cali (and back) with a fully loaded clip from my glock next to my laptop (i totally forgot about it, honest). never a question or inspection. I've been in irish, british, & german airports where they publicly check underwire bras for "the wire" (done by women of course). never a question or drama blog because of it. 4 times I flew to europe & 4 times I got my baggage with a TSA "we searched you" note inside. I think the TSA is hit or miss, usually miss. I also think theres a spin on the story... Kendall

I think your right about the drama queen part. She called her husband, told him his kid was taken, then forgot to call him back, and had her mommy call him? I think my resonse would have been "hey, while you were sniveling like an idiot and popping pills on the bathroom floor (addict) you could have called and said my son wasn't still being kidnapped".

Why didn't she, during this alleged crime, shout in a loud voice "this man, a potential child molester, is trying to take my son away from me?". That would get some attention. Or even, "a child rapist is takeing my kid!!!" I'm pretty sure shouting something like that would get everyones attention. But no, she hyperventilated and started to black out. And called her mommy. Which makes me wonder, how did she have her cell phone? Wouldn't that still be sitting on the end of the conveyor, with the rest of her stuff? This is all very strange.

Not to defend tsa, cause I'm not. If they did what they are accused of, it's very, very serious. I just think nic tottally failed her kid.

Joey

TSA has posted the CCTV video of the episode. http://www.tsa.gov/blog/2009/10/response-to-tsa-agents-took-my-son.html
Seems the mother has some severe disconnection with the truth. To summarize: She begins to get annoyed in 30 seconds, and starts yelling after 2 minutes. All told, she had to wait 8 minutes exactly.

Notable discrepancies -- the son was not picked up by the TSA agent. The son was not moved out of sight by the TSA agent. And the lady didn't make any secret cell phone calls.

11:01:39 The mom goes through metal detector

11:02:00 She is asked to wait past metal detector. Her stuff is backing up the conveyor. The mom is visibly annoyed at this point.

11:02:48-3:00 Another lady moves the mom's stuff for her

11:03:30 The mom is yelling and waving to get TSA's attention

11:03:49 Female TSA agent lets her out of the first holding area

11:04:07 The mom is yelling

11:04:11 The mom covers mouth, looks like she's going to cry

11:04:32 The mom is sitting in the screening area with son on her lap

11:04:04 TSA supervisor (presumably) asks her to calm down, TSA is moving her stuff near her

11:05:28 Male TSA agent screens the kid while he's sitting on his mom's lap

11:05:42 The mom puts the son in the stroller

11:06:15-6:50 The female TSA agent screens the mom. The son is in the stroller 3 feet in front of the mom. The mom removes a knee brace from under her pants leg and puts it on the table.

11:07:20-9:35 The female TSA agent rescreens the mom (knee brace is returned at 11:08:35)

11:09:35 The mom is cleared to go. She loads her stuff and leaves at 11:10:29

joey48442 wrote: I think your right about the drama queen part. She called her husband, told him his kid was taken, then forgot to call him back, and had her mommy call him? I think my resonse would have been "hey, while you were sniveling like an idiot and popping pills on the bathroom floor (addict) you could have called and said my son wasn't still being kidnapped".

Blame the victim?

It's true. There are two sides to every story. But just because there are two sides doesn't automatically discredit the first.

The TSA is known to have customer service issues because in the beginning they hired substandard agents. Maybe that's changed now? But that doesn't discredit this woman's story in my mind.

cwh wrote: TSA has posted the CCTV video of the episode.

How do we know it's the video of the actual incident? Because the TSA told us so? Sure. They tell also tell us that each complaint will be addressed. Sure.

When Your Name Is Mud at the Airport; System to Help Innocent Fliers Get Off Terrorist Watch Lists Hasn't Lived Up to Promise

I don't know you so I'll assume as a TSA agent you do your job well, etc, etc. But the truth is the TSA isn't needed and inconveniences people unnecessarily.

As I said before...the best defense against terrorism is a bulletproof bulkhead door for the pilots and passengers willing to take out terrorists on any flight.

Well the lady is delusional.

The bad part is her story seemed plausible, mainly due to the reputation the TSA has earned for itself. Bravo to the TSA for actually responding. They still have a long way to go though.

tinfoilhat How can we be SURE that was the woman in the video? /tinfoilhat

Datsun1500 wrote: The original blogger has removed the comments from below her story, think people were questioning her? Yesterday there were a bunch of "how horrible for you" comments, now nothing.....

Actually, the whole site is down; too much traffic

Her blog/rant was about her not getting the attention she deserved, but she's sure getting it now.

oldsaw wrote: Actually, the whole site is down; too much traffic Her blog/rant was about her not getting the attention she deserved, but she's sure getting it now.

Had a whole response typed and then realized I completely misunderstood your point.

Completely agree. Hopefully she's getting the word out about how this was mismanaged.

Xceler8x wrote:

joey48442 wrote: I think your right about the drama queen part. She called her husband, told him his kid was taken, then forgot to call him back, and had her mommy call him? I think my resonse would have been "hey, while you were sniveling like an idiot and popping pills on the bathroom floor (addict) you could have called and said my son wasn't still being kidnapped".

Blame the victim? It's true. There are two sides to every story. But just because there are two sides doesn't automatically discredit the first. The TSA is known to have customer service issues because in the beginning they hired substandard agents. Maybe that's changed now? But that doesn't discredit this woman's story in my mind.

cwh wrote: TSA has posted the CCTV video of the episode.

How do we know it's the video of the actual incident? Because the TSA told us so? Sure. They tell also tell us that each complaint will be addressed. Sure. When Your Name Is Mud at the Airport; System to Help Innocent Fliers Get Off Terrorist Watch Lists Hasn't Lived Up to Promise I don't know you so I'll assume as a TSA agent you do your job well, etc, etc. But the truth is the TSA isn't needed and inconveniences people unnecessarily. As I said before...the best defense against terrorism is a bulletproof bulkhead door for the pilots and passengers willing to take out terrorists on any flight.

I'm not blaming the victim, the whole thing shouldn't have happened. I'm just saying the victim reacted like a moron. She may not actually be the women in the video. Most likely she is though, The second story to come out certainly doesn't discredit the first, but on the other side, just because your story is first, doesn't mean its right either.

I AM blaming the victim for acting like an idiot (In her own story) at what could have been a very defining moment in her and her sons life.

Joey

Xceler8x wrote:

oldsaw wrote: Actually, the whole site is down; too much traffic Her blog/rant was about her not getting the attention she deserved, but she's sure getting it now.

Had a whole response typed and then realized I completely misunderstood your point. Completely agree. Hopefully she's getting the word out about how this was mismanaged.

You may not want to completely agree, as I suspect BOTH the mother and the TSA should have managed the entire situation differently..

Pitting one who comes across as somewhat of a drama-queen against indifferent beaurocrats often results in hurt feelings on one side and institutional indignation from the other.

Just sayin!

Xceler8x wrote: How do we know it's the video of the actual incident? Because the TSA told us so? Sure. They tell also tell us that each complaint will be addressed. Sure.

Well, how do we know that the allegations that she made were true? It is only fair for TSA to respond; one person's bad experience spread to an audience of millions can do some real damage. This says a lot about hiring the right people, too... you get what you pay for, and with the dawn of the internet, one employee can do a lot of damage to a company's reputation.

joey48442 wrote: I AM blaming the victim for acting like an idiot (In her own story) at what could have been a very defining moment in her and her sons life.

oldsaw wrote: You may not want to completely agree, as I suspect BOTH the mother and the TSA should have managed the entire situation differently.. Pitting one who comes across as somewhat of a drama-queen against indifferent beaurocrats often results in hurt feelings on one side and institutional indignation from the other. Just sayin!

You guys both make sense.

Mama shouldn't have let go of the kid.

Being dramatic doesn't get results when dealing with a bureaucracy.

The TSA shouldn't make flying more difficult - my contribution.

I do find it humorous that people are now going after the TSA for their procedures as shown in their video

Out of curiosity, I checked the D-Q's site and it's back up with a new "apology" blog entry:

http://www.mybottlesup.com/

Basically, she's "sticking to her guns" and laying the blame on the TSA. I'm sticking to mine and saying both parties are at fault.

I really dont like this new form of internet retaliation. She was probably figuring out a spin for her blog while in TSA "custody".

I've seen time & time again - people just "Stick it out" while the dealer / shop / seller does their business & then unloads when they are no longer face to face.

Kendall

In reply to Don49:

I hear alot of stories about "rogue" TSA agents not following procedure. Given how confusing alot of procedure is to agents (what qualifies for a deadly weapon, a flip open key, a 3 inch boyscout knife, a bottle of baby formula), it is not surprising how badly agents behave because they could get fired for using common sense as opposed to reprimanded for being ludicrous in the name of "better safe than sorry". I have lost my faith in the TSA to do any sort of proper job in protecting air travelers and wish the whole system was disbanded and security handed back to the airlines, who atleast have the job of keeping their clients happy rather than tasking them to the point of ridiculousness. You can defend the TSA all you want, but I think we've made their job so preposterous that incidents like this are isolated, they're systematic faults in the system we've created.

I looked this over with my "professional" eye, the video the tsa posted is not quite right. while it would be expected to have to splice the different camera shots together, the time block remains constant in every shot, which seems a bit odd to me, as time blocks are adjustable. also, there is an overhead shot over a search area and the time block i s partially obscuring the search counter area, just about any security pro would see that as a bad idea, as it would negate the ability to properly investigate and claims of employee theft of customer goods. If the TSA wanted true transparency, i would think they would have posted the surveillance video in raw, quad view. Instead they posted an edited version, with some not so obvious discrepancies, seems very odd to me and lends credence to the complainants story. could just be poor editing to make it easier to view, or it could be an "adjustment" of the video evidence, not for me to say, but it raises more questions than answers for me.

Kendall_Jones wrote: I really dont like this new form of internet retaliation. She was probably figuring out a spin for her blog while in TSA "custody". I've seen time & time again - people just "Stick it out" while the dealer / shop / seller does their business & then unloads when they are no longer face to face. Kendall

The TSA is not a business. It does not answer to customers, it answers to government. In cases other than this, sticking up for your rights in front of the TSA will get you delayed to your flight at best, arrested at worst, all without any consequences to the TSA. Sure, people may file complaints, but you can also file complaints with the DMV too and see how far it gets you. UNlike businesses that want to get customers to come back, the TSA doesn't care if 5 million or 5 are served by them. They get paid either way. Their tolerance for customers is very small because of that.

I guess this is why I don't plan to ever fly again ( if I can't go private....) I really don't like being hassled, especially when there is no possible means of retribution, no way to protect yourself from a$$hats and bureaucratic idiots...

Looking forward to the Health-care TSA agents that are about to come our way

Doc_1 wrote: Looking forward to the Health-care TSA agents that are about to come our way

Really?

Joey

Another tip - thoroughly check out new shoes. When I went to Montreal earlier this year, I took some new boots. Normally when flying I make sure I have no significant amount of metal on me, but I didn't realize these boots had big metal emblems on the bottoms. I didn't pass through the US so it didn't cause a problem, but that could have been bad...especially combined with the pic in my Canadian passport