My mother is home safely back from UK/France and 2/3 of my gifts were confiscated at the airport.

[shadowknows69]

Mom has traveled abroad many times, but she's getting on (one of those 70 year old, white, grandmother terrorists) and forgets to follow the post 9/11 regulations at times. Which seem to be enforced haphazardly according to her experience.

Lost- One jar of jam from Stonehenge and one letter opener from a castle she visited.

Saved- My container of sand from The Beaches of Normandy

She tried to take all these on in her carry on. The letter opener was kind of a no duh, but apparently it would have been legal in her regular baggage as it was clearly from a souvenir shop, but the baggage had already been dealt with before so they just kept it. This happened immediately at Heathrow as she was coming back. The jar of jam didn't alarm anyone until she got back to the United States of Paranoia.

So she made it from Heathrow to Dulles with the jam and sand, which was in a plastic water bottle, the jam being in a "Stonehengy" jar; and it was only going from Dulles to Syracuse Airport that they stopped her on the jelly because it was a "Gel" so of course could be bomb making material. Now I don't pretend to know airport protocol but it seems to me they could have just run it by one of those expensive drug/bomb sniffing dogs and let mom keep it, but again, it would have been fine had she remembered to pack it in regular baggage. Or so they told her.

Mom was so mad at this she said she almost demanded they smash the jar in front of her because she figured someone would end up just keeping it for themselves at the end of the day. Probably good that she held her tongue.

Somehow though a plastic bottle of sand, which to me could potentially be something more insidious than two sealed items from a gift shop got through no problem. Could have been a bottle full of brown heroin or gunpowder for all they knew because she said they gave her zero resistance or inquiry on that item. I guess it wasn't something the workers wanted to take home with them?

Just can't help but wonder how much of this goes on that isn't in the interest of security but more for personal gain. Some unknowing or inattentive tourists can sure bring back some nice, but suspicious stuff.

Without a doubt my mother didn't follow guidelines and she admits that, but I think there should be some allowance for at least letting people mail these things to themselves or something after they've been checked out as opposed to just taking them out of hand.

Reason #3752 why I'll never fly again

I'm glad I got my sand though.
-S

[Vinca]

1. Hey, hey, hey. I don't know about you, but I'm stockpiling

raspberry jam in hopes of making a great, big, gooey explosive. And I could use a few letter openers, too. (If the bomb doesn't work out we'll need them for making sandwiches.) Your poor mom - treated like a terrorist over jelly.

[shadowknows69]

4. I'll bet Stonehenge Jam rocks too.

Apparently my Hard Rock Cafe London shirts made it too, so I guess we went 50/50. Just remembered them.

[Javaman]

22. Personally, I'm stock piling molasses. Far more potent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Molasses_Disaster

[shadowknows69]

25. My mom makes a strawberry preserves that is DA BOMB!!!

[DaveinJapan]

28. My grandpa totally remembered that event...

said the city smelled like molasses for months.

[tocqueville]

102. WMD ? Weapons of Molassian Disaster ? n/t

[barbtries]

49. that's wild

i never heard of that before.

[orleans]

72. 21 dead and 150 injured??

omg!

(i'd like to see jelly try and top that!)

this is totally bizarre....

[Heidi]

2. It's not just airports and it's not just the US, for sure.

Last year between Thanksgiving and New Year's, my mom tried to send me a "CARE" package containing some of season American baking goods. Everything arrived just fine -- except the Kraft Mac-n-Cheese, which Swiss Customs removed from the package. Like Kraft Mac-n-Cheese contains anything remotely threatening, and least of all threatening to the enormous Swiss cheese industry; Kraft M-n-C doesn't even _contain_ real cheese, as far as I can tell. :grr: :rant-off:

Glad your mom made it home safely and you got your sand. Good morning! :pals:

[sinkingfeeling]

7. Swiss customs opened the package and took the Mac-n-cheese? Don't they have to

provide some type of explanation?

[Heidi]

8. Yes. It basically said, in German,

"We confiscated your Mac-n-cheese." :shrug:

[flygal]

91. My mom sends that stuff here in Germany

gets through no problem. The only problem is I can't stand the stuff and she still sends it. I was going to write in the subject line that the Swiss did you a favor! LOL I stock piled 7 boxes and found someone here who really wants it. You can buy it at Rewe but it's like 3 Euro a box.

[Heidi]

92. I just found a place in Switzerland to buy it.

This isn't something I really crave, but once in a while... ;)

[AzNick]

93. My French mom mails the stuff now

They kept confiscating stuff and they made a good joke out of it, the purpose was obviously to mock her and to humiliate her, like they love to do with people carrying sex toys (it's apparently something they like to do).

For instance she brought some paté, and they confiscated it and yelled at her "no pork! no pork!" as if she was retarded and/or could not understand English. Issue is it was not all pork, and there was nothing wrong with the paté, it was pasteurized. Just that she was French and it was during the whole anti-French campaign of 2003.

The confiscated chocolate as well, because it was chocolate. Of course you can buy some at the shops in duty free, but who cares, confiscated.

They also confiscated my Gauloises without even telling me, once. They opened my luggage and took them out before going through customs. Either they were stolen or a sniffer dog got a false alarm on in and they got rid of it, but they were there before I closed my luggage, not after. There was nothing illegal about them, tobacco is not illegal to bring on a plane and through customs, so WTF?

So now my mom mails me all that stuff: paté, saucisson, cheese, all the good smelly stuff, along with chocolate, nougats and all the French stuff that I crave, and not once has the USPS or customs open the box to look inside and confiscate the goods.

[monmouth]

3. Your posts on the traveling nightmare are very instructive and I

thank you for them. Friend and I are planning our trip to Italy and we both said anything we purchase should just be sent to our homes via the mails instead of going through what your mother did. 70 is the new 50 you know...LOL...

[Tesha]

5. It's mostly all just "security theatre".

'Keepin' the rubes terra-ized while doing nothing
to prevent the dedicated from staging an actual
attack.

Tesha

[Hekate]

46. Bingo

[drdtroit]

71. It's a dog and pony show to give the appearance of ... who the hell knows? n/t

[BlueMTexpat]

6. The United States of Paranoia indeed!

Yes, there are terrorists and yes, they are bad guys (and gals). And yes, security measures are necessary, but ... and this is a BIG but ...!
The ones who do/did the most damage are already here for the most part, often already known to the authorities, as per many in the 9-11 group. Our own homegrown crazies are at least as bad as al Qaeda; think the KKK, Planned Parenthood clinic bombers, self-appointed righteous RW murderers, and Oklahoma City just for starters.
Hassling innocent people, which is 99 percent of what is happening right now when there are so many less intrusive means of guaranteeing our security, is no way to manage in a democracy. It is also hurting us in many unintended ways. One effect is that many multinational corporations have been quietly moving essential operations outside this country so that their business travelers are not constantly inconvenienced. Believe me, other countries are very glad to accept them.
Thanks a lot, * and Big Dick. You did more to ruin the US than any administration EVER has. What a pathetic and shameful legacy!

[sinkingfeeling]

9. I understand why the jam made it out of London, but got stopped in the US. Different countries

have different 'rules'. Two years ago the US dropped the 'no lighters' thing and I went to Peru. Flew a couple of times in country there and they had adopted the same rules as the US. Had my trusty lighter snagged in Ecuador on the return trip stop over!

[Warpy]

10. DHS rules are Byzantine

and people in boring screening jobs just live for the occasional thing they can bitch about and confiscate. The job is that stiflingly dull.

After both my parents were cremated, I looked into the paperwork it would take to bring them onto the plane as checked in "luggage" and quickly gave up. I mailed my parents' ashes to me, a much simpler proposition than jumping through a lot of incredibly silly DHS hoops. The USPS was more sensible if less dignified.

Clearly this is very wrong.

I was hoping one of the first things Obama would do is disband the DHS and rewrite sensible rules for airport screening. It's been a major disappointment that he hasn't.

[Stinky The Clown]

11. I ***DESPISE*** these stupid fucking rules when flying. I now ***HATE*** flying.

I resent these crotch sniffers.

I resent being treated as a suspect.

I resent having my dirty underwear fondled by some pervert in an ill-fitting uniform.

I resent not being able to pee when flying unless there is no one else in the aisle waiting.

George Bush. This is all GEORGE FUCKING BUSH.

[Mimosa]

82. This stuff was happening before Bush

When I was flying frequently in the late 90s and early 2000 the searches were on. I'm a female and I'd have to take of my belt and the carry-on luggage was searched which made for slow lines. It was Al Gore who'd come up with those questions about 'did you pack your luggage yourself, did anybody ask you to carry anything?' This all happened after the Lockerbee crash.

[Gormy Cuss]

104. It was totally different and EASY pre-9/11 to understand and comply with the rules.

I flew frequently beginning in the 1980s. Yes, the belts and other objects with enough metal needed to be removed but I didn't have to walk around in stocking feet in order to get through security. There was no asinine 3-1-1 rule when it comes to liquids nor were we required to walk through security holding an ID AND boarding pass.

Those old carry-on checks? - that's nothing compared to the delays these days with most of the airlines charging for checked bags.

[scheming daemons]

12. I had a snow globe taken from me at Denver International airport

I was flying home from Reno.

The Reno security folks had no problem with it... but when I had to change planes in Denver and had to go through security again, they decided the snow globe had more than 3 oz of fluid in it, so they confiscated it.

I'm 100% sure that the TSA agent sold the thing on EBay or kept it for his kids.


It's a bullshit racket.

[Speciesamused]

101. It is how they pay out Bonuses, Lol.

they actually have stores throughout the
country like thrift stores they sell all our
stuff at. http://www.breakitdownblog.com/buying-airport-confiscated-items/
You are correct another racket. Mob mentality in business today. The government too.
One-

[NJCher]

13. I can't do it anymore, either

Reason #3752 why I'll never fly again

I've pretty much quit flying, too, because of this. I only fly once a year to see my parents.

I used to travel a lot--all around the states on vacations plus European travel. But no more and it is because of this type of behavior.


Cher

[secondwind]

14. If I'm not mistaken, I think you ARE allowed to mail your things to yourself rather than have them

confiscated.

[shadowknows69]

18. I don't think my mother thought to ask at the time

But they damn sure didn't offer to tell her either. That was the first thing I suggested when she told me about it for future trips. Before she gets to the airport. Might cost some extra money but at least you get to keep your friggin things.

[WillieW]

65. US customs can confiscate at their discretion - even if you mail it to yourself.

They took a hard salami fom me.

[mgc1961]

15. Two things to briefly mention.

First, the items in question, gels and liquids in cases mentioned here, do not have to be dangerous in and of themselves. It's their explosive potential when combined with other substances, possibly brought in by another person, that pose a threat to the passengers and crew.

Second, I have a locker at the airport littered with sentimental knives, lighters, and even a small compressed gas canister people have left with me at the last moment vowing to retrieve them when they return. Some of these items have been in there for years and still no sign of their owners.

[shadowknows69]

19. Jam? I'm kidding. I understand, and Mum knew she messed up

It just seemed weird they didn't make any fuss about the plastic bottle full of sand like material.

[mgc1961]

29. We're essentially in agreement here.

Certainly on it's face jam is innocent. But what if something has been mixed in with the jam? There's not nearly the space here to do so plus, I'm not completely at liberty to discuss all the different ways that were demonstrated to me in training that innocuous items can be used by an imaginative and determined criminal. Sometimes, the carrier (person) may even be completely in the dark as to their role in the plot.

We (I'm speaking as an airline employee) sometimes have to make yes or no decisions on items that don't neatly fit into an established catagory of restricted article.

Anyway, I'm glad the sand made it to you.

[WolverineDG]

40. My cousin the science teacher disputes that

and I trust her more than I trust anyone involved with TSA, the government,&/or the airlines who are more concerned with figuring out new ways to harass passengers & charge them for $20/an hour breathing on the plane than something silly like our "safety."

dg

[mgc1961]

41. Disputes what?

[WolverineDG]

43. The fact that someone could bring on liquids,

mix them up, & cause an explosion. It would take much larger quantities, a lot of time in the bathroom, no turbulence, steady hand, & would create a smell that would permeate the aircraft, letting you know something's up in the lav. Oh, yeah, & to do the mixing, they'd need to light a match & aren't there smoke alarms in the lavs to prevent this anyway?

The probability of it happening is so low, it's ridiculous. Sorry, I'm tired of being told to be afraid of my toothpaste & shampoo.

dg

[mgc1961]

54. This is about more than just explosive liquid.

1) Smuggled bomb making components can be comprised of more than just liquids or gels.

2) Small amounts of liquid can indeed be a dangerous explosive in a pressurized cabin. They can also be combined to make a deadly gas.

Now for an actual event. Though not intentionally done to bring down an airplane, a passenger checked an undeclared wet cell battery at the airport where I work. The case broke or otherwise leaked in the cargo hold causing a noxious vapor that alerted the crew to a problem. The plane, without returning to the gate, was evacuated and discovered to have severe interior damage from the corrosive liquid inside the battery that would probably have proven catastrophic if it had not been discovered before takeoff.

[WolverineDG]

62. Then why are you only searching for liquids or gels?

If you're not banning the other ingredients, then the only thing you are getting with these crappy rules is pissed off passengers tired of being harassed & hasseled with all the airlines' bullshit.

And if there was such a danger with all that shampoo & toothpaste on board, why were there no recorded explosions on airplanes due to too much shampoo/toothpaste/water/cokes/etc on board?

a passenger checked an undeclared wet cell battery--seems to me you guys need to start looking at the checked bags more closely & stop harassing the passengers!

dg

[mgc1961]

81. The battery incident was before TSA existed.

As I said the tube may not contain shampoo and toothpaste. It's more about the quantity. The smaller amount, the smaller the pop if indeed it's intended for explosive/corrosive use. The same rule applies to hair spray. It's ok in small amounts but sometimes beauticians attempt to carry multiple large cans of the stuff. All of which has a flammable propellant and is under pressure.

Off the top of my head, here's a sample of the things found after bags are checked or passengers attempted to check without notifying TSA or the airline of it's dangerous contents (I have been directly or indirectly involved in all of the following): Loose ammunition, guns, lawn mowers, chainsaws, a model jet engine, highly flammable lubricants/adhesives in aerosol cans, glue, paint, and dry ice. All of those items are highly dangerous either as an explosive, they're flammable, they create vapors that are dangerous in a confined area, or they use highly flammable fuel.

The system is not perfect. It never will be. Do you have any suggestions as to how it can be improved in such a way that both the airlines and the traveling public are adequately protected?

[WolverineDG]

84. Why not focus more on what goes in the hold, then

instead of coming up with more ways to inconvenience & harass passengers? Everyone knows the whole "go through security" routine has more to do with making you "feel" safe & does little or nothing to actually "make" you safe.

The more stupid the rules get, the more pissed off & less-cooperative people will get. And the exploding toothpaste/shampoo crap is the dumbest of all.

dg

[mgc1961]

88. The reason is both are important.

Criminals/terrorists/smugglers will carry or check depending upon which method they deem most likely to succeed. If one method is ignored, let's say checked luggage, then they will try to carry it on and vice versa.

[WolverineDG]

97. well, right now, you're ignoring the checked luggage

in favor of harassing people.

dg

[mgc1961]

98. If you say so.

[sledgehammer]

103. The paranoia comes from this event

(There was also a recent scare in 2005/2006 (transatlantic flights) when they thought this plot had been resuscitated. Of course, that could very well have been a standard Cheney scare tactic.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bojinka_Plot

The "Mark II" "microbombs" had Casio digital watches as the timers, stabilizers that looked like cotton wool balls, and an undetectable nitroglycerin as the explosive. Other ingredients included glycerin, nitrate, sulfuric acid, and minute concentrations of nitrobenzene, silver azide (silver trinitride), and liquid acetone. Two 9-volt batteries in each bomb were used as a power source. The batteries would be connected to light bulb filaments that would detonate the bomb. Murad and Yousef wired an SCR (silicon controlled rectifier) as the switch to trigger the filaments to detonate the bomb. There was an external socket hidden when the wires were pushed under the watch base as the bomber would wear it. The alteration was so small that the watch could still be worn in a normal manner.<4><8><10>

Yousef got batteries past airport security during his December 11 test bombing of Philippine Airlines Flight 434 by hiding them in hollowed-out heels of his shoes. Yousef smuggled the nitroglycerin on board by putting it inside a contact lens solution bottle.

[Ms. Toad]

47. Frankly, the liquid restrictions are riciculous.

Smaller quantities of liquids permitted to be carried by multiple parties could be combined in flight or past security, in containers (permitted through security empty - and even sold at gift shops in the concourse) which can hold a combination of multiple passenger's permitted quantities of liquids carried through security. Either there needs to be a complete ban, or the quantity based ban needs to be lifted. The restrictions are annoying to the innocent traveler, and would do nothing to prevent a determined bomber from getting a large enough quantity of liquid on board either alone (via multiple trips through security) or in combination with others (each carrying a portion of the liquid needed).

That said, anyone who goes to the airport in these days unprepared makes it harder on the rest of us - and when it is deliberate it makes the wrong individuals the target of passive-aggressive behavior. Multiple trips through screening because liquids were not in a sealable quart sized bag, because you forgot and wore your chain mail underwear to the airport, you left your computer in your bag, you forgot to take your shoes off, etc. extend the time for everyone in line, make the TSA agents crankier with everyone, and generally make a difficult situation worse. (I'm not talking specifically about an elderly mother who screwed up - I'm talking about people like my spouse who routinely "forget" just because they find the restrictions annoying and want to make a point.) Even when the rules are stupid, the security line at the airport is not the place to challenge them. No one there has any authority to change them.

[dalaigh lllama]

35. Understood. But then how do you explain that putting said gels in a ziplock baggie

makes them "safe." That's the idiocy that I find mindboggling.

[mgc1961]

36. Clear bags facilitate the examination.

If they're in a standard make-up case for example, it must be opened and each item removed not to mention possible secret compartments that case may contain. If the bag is clear, nothing can be concealed and all the items can probably be quickly examed without opening the bag.

[dalaigh lllama]

50. It is also quickly examined and confiscated if it's NOT in a baggie.

Coming thru Laguardia a few years back, they pulled out my small tube of lip gloss and "quickly examined" it to see it was not in a baggie. (They had just started the practice.) I was told to go find a baggie to put it in or they'd confiscate it. Try finding baggies in an airport terminal. I finally got a huge plastic food baggie from one of the food vendors and went thru with my now safely contained lip gloss.

The reason you cite makes sense if someone has a multitude of liquids and they want them all in one spot for convenience sake in inspection, but confiscating items if they're not in a baggie and they're looking right at it makes no sense whatsoever.

Another thing. We usually fly economy and go thru rigorous security inspections every time because my husband wears a surgical boot. Without fail they pull him aside into the room where he removes the boot, they wand him, etc. We have no problem with this. The last time we flew we went to Europe and went business class for comfort because of the length of the flight. Security just casually waved him thru this time -- I can only assume because we were flying Business class so obviously were "safe." This was not reassuring, and really pissed me off. Economy customers have to go thru the security song and dance but business class doesn't?

[mgc1961]

57. I know.

The airport here has an express lane for frequent fliers but only at one entry point for some reason.

There's also a new program, if you haven't heard, that permits a passenger to buy a special I.D. from the government that grants them expedited security passage and I suppose removes them from a no-fly list. A person who has one told me a couple of weeks ago, if I remember, she pays $150 a year for it.

[Stevenmarc]

16. That's what the Concierge is for, they can ship all the crap you don't want to carry

[onehandle]

17. Last year my wife and I took a transatlantic ocean liner. NYC to the UK and back a few weeks later.

I carried whatever I wanted on and off the boat.

I cradled three nice bottles of French Bordeaux in my computer bag coming back.

No inspection of any kind.

The Queen Mary 2 carries almost four thousand passengers and crew.

Think about that.

[MarjorieG]

32. Off topic, bumpy crossing, pleasant enough to consider the extra time spent?

[onehandle]

33. The QM2 is the biggest ocean liner in history.

Something like four times the volume of the Titanic.

It has giant engines who's purpose is only to control the back and forth movement in addition to the main screws.

It's almost perfectly smooth even in the roughest of North Atlantic Seas.

Six days and nights one way. Totally worth it.

[kay1864]

58. If you blow a hole in the side of a cruise ship...

not much happens (since passengers don't have access to decks below the waterline).

If you blow a hole in the side of an airplane, well, use your imagination.


Most cruise lines have x-ray inspection coming on board. Most of them confiscate liquor bottles until the end of the voyage. Not for safety reasons, but because it cuts into the bar profits.

Handguns etc are not allowed to be brought on board.

[onehandle]

74. They didn't confiscate my wine or even inspect it.

They could have been filled with any number of poisons or bioweapons.

[kay1864]

94. So what?

A cruise ship is no different from any large gathering of people--movie theaters, theme parks, etc. And unlike an airplane, it's not going to sink into the ocean.

You really expect cruise ships to open every bottle brought on board and test to make sure it's not full of poison?

[quoddy woman]

20. Last year I bought

some specialty mustard, here in the good ole US to take to my daughter in TX. Packed it in my checked baggage. It was sealed and had a paper label over the rim of the bottle. Someone decided to open it and check for whatever explosives I might have packed in it and then did not screw the lid on properly and I got mustard over most of my clothing. It did not come out so most of my better summer clothes were ruined. I'm in your mom's age group, don't have a lot of money to kick around. Also don't have many summer clothes this season.Good I live in Maine, because we haven't had a summer (yet).

[shadowknows69]

21. Sorry to hear that. My story of woe pales in comparison.

And there's no recourse at all to my knowledge. I suppose you could file a civil suit, but you're going to pay out the ass for a lawyer to win you a settlement on a new wardrobe? They know that we won't.

[bongbong]

23. Personal Experience

I had TSA steal a brand new 110VAC fan (small) right out of my checked luggage. It was still in the original packaging. I packed it because there was no mosquito netting at the tropical destination I was going to, and I needed to keep the critters off me while I slept. They left behind a little leaflet in my luggage claiming the item might have been a terrorist item. Seeing as it was all plastic, that was just a big lie.

Basically, some TSA goon just wanted it for his/her own use.

I'm not too optimistic about our wonderful new police state.

[derby378]

24. Whenever I buy stuff overseas, I'll just mail it back home to America

Damn. I feel your pain.

[shadowknows69]

26. Should be lots of good photos forthcoming at least.

My mom is an obsessive compulsive shutterbug.

[nolabear]

27. What DOES happen to the stuff?

I don't currently live in New Orleans but visit frequently and I forgot that those great little bottles of hot sauce with the funny names they like to sell at the French Market and souvenir shops are the dreaded "liquid." As the woman at the gate tossed them into a BIG old garbage can filled with great looking sauces, relishes, muffalettas (it would have been a great lunch on the plane) etc. I asked whether they had a fais do-do every weekend with the pickings. She declined to answer.

I can't help recalling the only thing I really liked about the movie "Terminal" where the airport employees played poker with the lost and found items. I suspect somebody's enjoying some fine Stonehenge jam, as your mom suspected.

[scheming daemons]

30. EBay. The TSA agents make money off of it.

[barbtries]

55. a year or two ago

a friend of mine who doesn't smoke laid about 10 disposal lighters on me. her nephew works at the airport.

[Posteritatis]

75. The employees keep/sell it. (nt)

[George II]

31. They do have provisions for sending questionable items to oneself...but...

...if they were placed in checked luggage they would have gone through without a problem.

[2Design]

34. this is what is doing in the airlines - people don't travel because

of these draconian bullshit looking for terrorist when they know and knew who they were and where they were -

that is why they flew the families out of the country before they could be questioned.

It is high cost bullshit and encourages more crazies

This is common sense crap.

I got stopped at a theme park for bottled water. I dumped the water but he still didn't want me to take the container. So I left the line and buried it in my backpack and went back through a different guy.

I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut over this bullshit.

There is no sense to most of it and your right - someone will go home with the jam -

Wathching sleazy guards rifle through good looking womens carry on's - it is 'rape' of the spirit

[WolverineDG]

42. I've gone through security lines scads of times

without presenting my clear plastic baggie (that we're supposed to believe automatically cancels out any explosive tendencies of the liquids in it) to TSA & have had no problems at all. I wouldn't dare do it at my local airport, though.

The one time it was found I just said "Sorry, I forgot."

dg

[2Design]

63. I have flown maybe three times since these draconian measures

were put in place. Taking off my shoes and having no chair to sit and put back on and no place to put my stuff while I take all this crap off or out of pockets is ridiculous. Then had my laptop and they had started checking those, didn't know because the time before they didn't so , since I left it in the case, they had to take it out and use a cloth swab and go around every edge and took about 15minutes for her to do her thing.

The whole time, I had to talk to myself to not scream, are you crazy.

The first time I flew, there was some really sleazy guy who had this beautiful blondes luggage and was feeling up all her silk underwear, just creepy. I said something to her and at that point her boyfriend walked up and said she had been pulled out of a line earlier in the day.

they also had some really old lady in a wheelchair they were checking out.

they have these mean faces and totalitarian attitudes - it is hard to not want to scream

This was especially true when BFEE was in charge of destroying our country and anyone they did not like.

Just knowing these idiots can arrest and humiliate for no apparent reason other than liking cruelty to others - just gets my gander up so much.

This is the crap that is/was done in prisons here and abroad - power tripping - sucks

The tazering is out of hand

Arresting parents for making a wrong choice and removing kids all for stupid dumb shit that our parents use to do but didn't know better.

[yy4me]

37. I have heard two versions of "what happens to the stuff", One is

that it is checked out and then sent to the lost luggage place in Georgia where it is sold for profit. (that enterprise is privately owned.)

The second, and most believable is that it goes into the pockets and lunch pails of the security inspectors. The whole exercise is foolish. The last time I flew overseas 2 years ago, they made me, a then 65 year old woman, step aside and dump the contents of my purse on the table.

I had a tiny mother-of-pearl jack knife-1" long, 1/4" wide with a blade of 1/2". It has been on my key chain for years and was my grandfathers. I had forgotten it was even there.

After great debate, they decided this was not a weapon and let me keep it.

Coming home same trip, I brought with me a pint(ish) size jar of Dijon mustard. Not a word said. Maybe because it was wrapped in a pair of undies. Go figure.

[SoCalDem]

38. My husband lost a fantastic pair of 1940 nail clippers that were in his dop-kit

His mother had run her own beauty salon, and they were hers.. They made it TO Tahiti with us, but on the retuen trip, they were confiscated:(

he was really bummed to give them up, but we had no choice..

I'd like to see some entrepreneur set up a shipping service, just beyond security. Like a fed-EX..a last resort place where people could arrange to ship home things that don;t make it through security..Most of the time, it's inconsequential stuff, but there have to be occasions when people would happily pay to "save" Dad's pen-knife or a memento that they probably forgot they even had with them..

[WolverineDG]

39. The idiots at Newark "saved" us from my exploding sunscreen

that the Spaniards (who had just days before dealt with an ETA car bombing) had just shrugged at. :eyes: I looked at the TSA "agent" with a look of disgust. "This is for your safety, ma'am." It was only slightly over 3 ounces, but oh no! that extra bit was the part that made it dangerous.

dg

[Missy Vixen]

44. The Seattle Times ran an article shortly after the hysteria re: liquids started

in which TSA agents freely admitted "this is like Christmas for us". They took sealed bottles of perfume (from the duty-free shop!), alcohol, etcetera, off people. That was okay, though, because it was in the interest of "security".

I don't fly unless I have NO other choice. Period.

[whistler162]

45. You do realize that mixed with Onondaga lake water....

Stonehedge jam is... well I won't say... but a certain TV show used one jar and a 1/2 pint of lake water to blow up a cement truck!;)

So I feel a lot safer!

[shadowknows69]

48. That's why I wanted it. I figure any jam that can blow up a truck has to be great on a bagel.

[whistler162]

61. Nah you probably just want to do Congel's dirty work!!

;)

It could have been your destiny!

[icnorth]

68. Look don't misunderestimate Stonehenge jam and lake water.

I saw that same show and that cement truck was just collateral damage. :toast:

[Hekate]

51. I used to have a rather antiquated travel agent; she said plaintively: "All the pleasure is gone..."

She was referring to the whole miserable ball of wax: flying in today's airplanes, TSA idiocy, the works. I think she's gone from being semi-retired to "I quit", especially since the travel industry/airlines/Internet made a rather concerted effort to render travel agents completely obsolete. We now do our reservations online -- but for this last trip Mr. H spent over 6 hours chasing the perfect fare, and even so we got further info from our son about the airline we used -- info that was definitely not on the sites Mr. H looked at.

Yes I hate it, especially TSA. But with a family scattered from here to hell and gone and a desire to travel a bit before I shuffle off this mortal coil, I am pretty much stuck with learning to not look as pissed off as I look when they remove my CPAP from its carry-case, wipe it down with why-do-you-ask, and stick it in the same tray someone's dirty shoes went through the x-ray machine in.

Hekate

[JDPriestly]

52. "What's a beautiful girl like you doing traveling alone?"

That's what they asked my daughter on her way back from Europe recently. What business is it of theirs? And, by the way, she wasn't really alone. She traveled with a friend (which they apparently did not notice) and she visited family while there. Are these guys bored? Or just rude?

[shadowknows69]

96. Or worse. That's frightening.

[QC]

53. Pickiest airport security I have ever been through is Edinburgh.

They confiscated the shaving cream that I had previously carried through Atlanta and Paris.

At least they were polite about it.

The security people at JFK, on the other hand, are rude to the point of being psychotic.

[Piewhacket]

56. The stupid customs agents fell for the 'jam ploy' once again! Bawahahaha!

Jam is irrelevant, only sand matters. Congratulations, you won.

If you'll never fly again, don't do it because they took your jam,
do it because the idiots didn't take your sand which could have been
any one of a dozen quite destructive explosives** which are not gels -
Bureaucrats! - hey.

(** perhaps me scientist expert in explosives in former reincarnation, possibly,
or perhaps I read something in a book once. Hard to say. Probably the book. )

[Bette Noir]

59. I have an acquaintance, Canadian, who travels to the US on business

about 20 times/year. A few weeks ago, the TSA inspector took her banana, with the explanation that it was a "gel" over 4 ounces. Whether or not they allow her to travel with knitting needles seems completely random.

[crispini]

78. LOL. That's ridiculous

I'm a gardener; I can't tell you the number of times I've flown with live plants and/or cuttings. So far, so good, but I always wonder if they're going to go over the edge with that because they're kind of damp and by heavens there is DIRT involved as well!

[bikebloke]

60. Do they even ask for baggies?

Last Autumn before flying, I biked to a nearby airport. Locking it, then I walked from terminal to terminal looking for those baggies, so I'd be prepared. Finally, when I flew they never asked for it and I sailed right through.

Coming back from Buenos Aires, there was only a language problem with chap stick and eye glass cleaner. But when they saw what I meant, they were magnanimous and waved me through.

My travelling has been curtailed since this kabuki security theater began. I'm only trying to get a couple destinations in (places to see before dying) before travelling becomes impossible.

[proReality]

64. Check it in regular baggage and they steal it.

I know for a fact! I never got to see my 18k earrings or Nina Ricci perfume when my husband came back from his last trip to Europe. They also stole the camera I loaned him.

[lindisfarne]

67. You shouldn't pack valuables (why did you pack earrings in checked luggage?) & was your perfume

more than 3 oz? (and why spend money on the smelly stuff to begin with?)

I've never had anything stolen from checked luggage, although it has been inspected a few times.
I won't fly these days because the airlines make it such a horrible experience. It's been >1 year since I've flown, & probably will be at least another year before I do.

If it's <10 hour drive, I will drive for sure. By the time you deal with getting to airport, sitting around in airport, airline delays, waiting for luggage, and getting from airport to final destination, you've spent close to 10 hours anyhow.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

66. Customs Agents in New York steal

Many years ago when I was a teenager we went through Customs after a trip to Europe. They collected all our bags and took them to a back room. When they returned them, I noticed that all my phonograph records were missing, albums from the Stones, Beatles, Kinks, etc. Without getting permission, I just ran back to a back room where I found the Customs guys looking over my records and dividing them up between them. They then decided to return them to me. I couldn't believe it.

[BlooInBloo]

69. Glad she's home safely.

[Evoman]

70. Ha....last year I got throught the airport (back and forth) with a bag of hacksaw blades.

I'm not kidding you. I had bought them on my way home from school, and forgot that I had left them in a pocket of my back pack. I got, back and forth, through 2 airports and 1 airport on the way back.

I haven't had my bags rifled through in YEARS. It ain't random, ladies and gentleman. I just put on my Mr.Charming and slightly goofy face, and I get right past.

[dysfunctional press]

73. i've got gravel from buckingham palace, paint chips from the golden gate bridge...

rubble from the berlin wall, sand from alcatraz, and sand, shells, and pinecones from lots of places, too.

i always make sure to get something 'physical' from where i've been.

but i didn't bring back any lava from hawaii, as that would have pissed off pele.

congrats on your sand.

[nadinbrzezinski]

76. This year I took something for passover in the baggage

because of that inanity.

Last year they took it.

Of course on the way back they did open my bag... after all those bags of peanuts could be something else. (and in an x-ray I get it), but apart of the general disorder they left it alone.

[obliviously]

77. If you have a cat don't leave the container of sand open!

[TheWatcher]

79. It has nothing to do with preventing Terrorism or keeping you safe. it's all about getting you to

Submit to Control.

We live in tyranny, although most Americans are totally blind to it.

Get used to it.

[RamboLiberal]

80. They ought to put mailing stations just outside these checkpoints

and let you mail back to yourself the letter opener or the little swiss army knife you forgot to take off your keychain , or the jar of jelly, the oversized whatever container, etc.

[Mimosa]

83. That would be profitable. n/t

[katkat]

99. stuff

Re: " They ought to put mailing stations just outside these checkpoints and let you mail back to yourself the letter opener or the little swiss army knife you forgot to take off your keychain , or the jar of jelly, the oversized whatever container, etc."

Yes! How many times have I thought this. And it would reduce the confiscations that are done because the security(sic) person wanted your stuff.

And on the topic, when is something concrete going to be done about thefts from checked baggage.

[AmyDeLune]

85. I gave away my jar of plum jam from England in Chicago...

I bought it at Heathrow, stuck it in my carry on bag and forgot about it until I had to go through security in Chicago. The airline people tried to help, saying if I put it in my bag and checked it, that should take care of the problem. Unfortunately, by the time I made it through all the lines, the checked luggage had already been loaded onto the plane. I gave the jam to the airline clerks who had tried to help me before heading back through TSA to get to my plane. I wanted someone of my choosing to enjoy my jam.

Glad your Mom made it home safely and you at least got some of your goodies.

[anneboleyn]

86. I have virtually every item of makeup taken from me in Gatwick (U.K.) in 2008.

There had been an alert recently hence the tight security, but I was quite upset as I lost over two hundred dollars of products from my carry-on bag and none were liquids or gels -- all (relatively) solid items, like lipsticks, lip balm, a compact with hard not loose powder, etc. We were not aware of the new restrictions before we went to Gatwick that day for our flight back to the U.S. so I didn't know ahead of time to place the items in my luggage.

[BobTheSubgenius]

87. I had food from England confiscated when I returned to Canada in '84.

It was an issue of the temperatures at which food is cooked for preserving in England, versus Canadian standards. I have no idea if this is applicable here, but it's a thought.

[Liberal_in_LA]

89. I brought back maple syrup from canada. Was given option of putting in my checked luggage. I did.

No problem. Just had to go thru security again

[EmeraldCityGrl]

90. Wrap your dirty underwear around carry on items and let the idiots deal with it.

They make me sick.

[rambler_american]

95. On a flight from Manchester NH

to Chicago, my wife had a small bottle of hand cream confiscated. I, on the other hand, managed to board with a key fob that included a small knife (about the same size as a box cutter) which I had forgotten was in my pocket. Thank god for the TSA. No telling what may have happened had that hand cream gotten on board.

[Bill McBlueState]

100. Supposedly,

there's a very reasonable person at the top of the executive branch who could return us to a sane airport security policy if he wanted to. Not sure how that's going.