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30 Harmless Things Which Nevertheless Caused People To Be Stopped By TSA Officers, As Shared In This Online Group
Transportation safety is certainly paramount, especially in today's world where the threat of terrorism is always present, so it's not surprising that all major airports in the world have vigilant security services, such as, for example, Transportation Security Administration in the United States.
TSA was created after 9/11, and since this time, its agents have prevented many terrorist attacks. Of course, security officers are taught not to trust anyone and see a menace in seemingly harmless objects - but sometimes, from the point of view of an ordinary passenger, their actions look somewhat paranoid, like a real witch hunt.
There is a popular thread on Reddit whose topic starter asked "What's the weirdest reason you were stopped by TSA?" As of today, it already has more than 2.5K upvotes and even more comments - over 2.6K various examples and stories. Interestingly, such cases are reported not only from the United States, but also from many countries around the world.
Bored Panda made a curated list for you of the weirdest and most out-of-the-ordinary reasons for being searched or detained at an airport, so be sure to scroll to the very bottom of this post - what if there is something completely interesting and amazing there?
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They thought my insulin pump was a bomb. I was tackled by TSA immediately. I was 14 at the time, still traumatized. Now any time I see any law enforcement I get anxious.
Not in the USA but in France, I got stopped on the way through customs by an agent who said something fast and aggressive-sounding in French. My French isn't great, so I just looked puzzled and said I didn't understand. The guy quickly beckoned another guy over and explained to him in rapid-fire French what was going on. The second guy turned to me and said "He says your T-shirt is really cool and can you tell him where you got it?". It was a Star Wars T-shirt that I got as a birthday present, so I couldn't even tell him where it came from. Luckily, he didn't arrest me.
"Crotch anomaly". I was wearing normal joggers, nothing in my pockets. The lady behind me loudly said "yeah it's called a d**k"
My mom passed away unexpectedly in California. I flew out to pick up her ashes and there was a terror alert at LAX. It was unreal; the military was in the airport with what looked like machine guns. I was out of my mind with grief and drugged to the gills. I was dealing with a bad back, and had to fly from
California to a small town in Virginia for the memorial service. Security was heightened and everyone was being searched. I only had a small carry on and my mom’s ashes. When I got to the TSA, the agent wanted me to open my mother’s box of ashes! I refused and insisted they x ray the box instead. It showed nothing inside ( duh- ashes) which convinced the TSA agent that it had some sort of cloaking device and was hiding a bomb. Again he insisted that I open the box that held my mom’s ashes. I was beginning to lose my s**t. I called my husband who works in nuclear power and explained what was going on. He told me to tell the TSA agent to place a coin under the box and send it through the X-ray again. He did and thank goodness he saw the coin. Otherwise I would have been arrested for assaulting a stupid TSA agent.
wow.. that sounds horrible. Kudos to the husband for quick thinking, something the TSA agent was apparently lacking
Glass jellyfish
Like those blown glass ones that are super cool at art galleries.
I got pulled aside into a small room because they thought I was smuggling sea life. Was an interesting time.
I have maintained a decent beard and have a darker skin complexion for a white dude. I am "randomly" selected for a search or shoe swab every single time I fly.
a youtuber 'The Completionist' has to shave every time he travels because without fail he gets selected for a random search every time, and the beard seems to make people more suspicious.
They searched me when I was 18 and flying alone and said it was because my ID was only a permit. When I went to my connection airport, I told a black TSA women "Do you need to pat me down again because i Have a permit like the last airport?" She looked at me and sighed "No honey. Thats not a thing".
My niece has a teddy bear. She has had this teddy bear essentially since she was born. The doggo has bitten a hole into its belly, so we sew onto it like a lion head sticker, to keep its guts inside. One time we were on holiday visiting family, and she left it there, luckily I was staying a bit longer so I could grab it on my way back.
An adult man with a teddy bear that had its guts torn open and fixed with a lion bandaid apparently looks pretty suspicious, so they shoved the poor guy into x-ray 3-4 times. She is still in ownership of the teddy bear and it is still in decent shape.
My son was too tall for his age
ah. If that is a thing I'll never fly with my kids again. They both tower over their classmates
One time my dad had a few rocks of petrified wood in a bag, and had his phone charger right next to it.
They almost went DEFCON 1 and did radio people to show up and act if it went down. But they opened the bag and saw it was rocks and a charger. They told him that it looked absolutely identical to what they had been taught a bomb looked like.
A friend who applied for a security job at the airport told me how little time they are given per suitcase and you have to spot any item that may be dangerous, no matter in which position or state of assembly it is. It's exhausting and you're always worried you make a mistake. So I guess it's better to check one too many times than overlook something
I had a nutcracker in my carry-on. Like a legit, festive Christmas soldier nutcracker - it was a gift for my mom's birthday (she collects them). I was only flying in for 2 days for my grandmas funeral so didn't check any luggage. They stopped me and questioned me for 30 minutes. Kept insinuating I was going to use it as a weapon.
Not TSA but at a land border crossing once they pulled us aside because they thought my partner was Trafficking me?!?!? We were the same age, same race (so racism wasn’t a factor,) and we were both dressed fairly nice (coming back from a wedding) with no obvious signs of like… distress? [Illegal substances]? Gunpoint? Nothing. They pulled us aside and grilled him on all of our relationship things like where we met and how old I am and my mom’s middle name and…?!?!??? Trying to trio him up. Then the guard hit on me?!?!?! Weeeeirdest experience.
I'm wondering if there was an alert out for a person who looked a little like OP or who was being taken from the same area. Would have been nice if once OP & partner were in the clear this was explained to them, but if you're unprofessional and immature enough to hit on a potential trafficking victim, when you've got legal authority and possibly firearms, I have no hope for professionalism or competence
I had a sample size (0.1oz) bottle of perfume in my book bag. They confiscated it in Detroit without explanation.
I got to Germany and they discovered a full size pair of scissors in the front pocket of that same book bag. I wasn’t aware it was there. Both I, and American security, had missed the scissors.
German security was much more polite over confiscating the scissors than American was over the perfume.
German tsa is a lot nicer than American, I had a stroller, and it was covered in grey dust, which they thought was gunpowder ( it was the paint flaking off) and a dude just explained why they were holding me up, and I got to sit in a comfy chair for like 5 minutes while they analyzed it. Best security I've ever had at an airport. Worst, New Jersey
Got pulled to the side at Fort Myers airport. One TSA guy with gloves, two TSA guys standing right behind me. Officer says, is there anything you want to tell me before I open this bag?
I am horribly confused. Wrapped right on top between a few t-shirts is an large Avocado.
TSA guy starts laughing. I love Avocados, my 76 yo father has a tree in his yard... he slipped one in my bag before leaving. Apparently it doesn't look the best going through the x-ray machine, they thought it may be a home-made bomb or grenade.
Tampon showed up on the body scan thingy and I had to have my crotch patted down
Arranging my two laptops and a tablet after taking them out of my bag for faster / easier scanning.
I got yelled at and detained because I have Pre-Check.
It took demanding for the scanning agent to join the conversation before I was allowed to leave.
Had I left them all in the bag, I would have gotten stopped for secondary screening.
The TSA is so damn frustrating. They serve no useful purpose except to provide security theater. They miss well over 90% of what they are tested against.
My sister was actually told by a checker (in Canada) that despite it being legally required, they did not have to check something she had in her luggage. (She works for Transport Canada.) She was shocked, let the checker know he was indeed legally required to do so. Of the three or so times it happened over a year's time, at least two of the checkers were let go with prejudice... -- In a similar vein, my mother and & I flew domestic into Pearson International a few years ago. She had a half empty pot of Nivea face cream in her carry on (no checked luggage, we were in town less than 30 hours). No problems on the inbound flight. Outbound flight, the pot was confiscated because it's volume was more than the maximum permitted for fluids (technically, even half empty, the remaining face cream exceeded that limit).
When I was a kid, I had a broken arm and they needed to inspect my cast… cut a piece off of it and put it in some sort of machine.
Also, my dad and oldest brother’s names popped up on the do not fly list because of men with the same name being a part of the IRA. For years when ever my dad and oldest brother went to fly they had to bring all sorts of ID with them to prove that they aren’t the same dudes.
When the Andrew Garfield Spiderman's first came out they did some amazing merch for them.
My Stepdad is a HUGE Spidey fan, so I picked him up the corniest Spiderman film merch when in the US, one of those being like a whirling cement truck thing? It was a big tonka sized thing and the only bag it would fit in was my carry-on. They stopped me and said "Is that a spiderman toy?" and I took it out and showed them. They said it was the best thing they'd seen all day.
That's great! Although personally, my favorite Spiderman is Tom Holland🕷️❤️
My friend worked for the TSA. I was at my local airport and saw him while on line. I waved and he looked over. He says something to another agent and when I get to front of the line I get pulled over for extra searching. I never talked to that guy again
I bet he said something like "my friend is packin" and he misread
Not TSA but the land border, they detected nuclear material. It was because another passenger in my car had some heart surgery or something where they used radioactive material, and apparently it could still be detected. Border patrol pretty much knew what it was but had to check anyway.
Years ago I had a cardiac stress test, which involves a radionuclide (usually thallium or technetium) they inject through an IV. Somewhere along the way the IV got disconnected, and the fluid leaked onto the floor and the treadmill. The hospital had to shut down the entire testing room to be sanitized. The cardiologist was royally pissed off. I was a fire fighter who was in charge of hazmat, and my dad dealt with hazmat in his career, so in some ways it gave me a chuckle
I'm 6'4", broad shouldered, and bald.
I don't even know who is doing the stopping, because I don't give a s**t at this point, but I have never successfully made it through an airport without being pulled aside to have my s**t searched through, even when all I pack is clothes. I bake in the extra 30 minutes into any flight itinerary I have for this exact reason.
I have bad knees and occasionally bring a cane with me when I travel. I have one called a hurry-cane, basically a full size cane that folds into three for easy packing. TSA requires me to still walk through w/o the cane if possible, so I had folded it up and laid it on my checked luggage for the xray. This obviously new TSA agent has me pulled aside to wait for a supervisor because he said that he is familiar with it and it was a kind of weapon that his character uses in a video game. Was convinced I was trying to hide it as a cane, but that I was openly carrying a Chinese martial arts weapon. Took all of two seconds once the supervisor connected the cane to make the kid realize he was wrong. But had me chuckling.
Another trip but same airport, I was pulled aside because they said the xray showed something suspicious in my carry-on. Emptied the whole bag, opened all zippers and checked all pockets, patted down each pocket, checked seams for hidden pockets, etc. then had me repack everything. Not a word was said to me about what they thought they saw. Return trip, at the other airport, pulled over by TSA for exact same reason. Found nothing again. Haven't used that carry-on since. I'm guessing it's just something weird looking in the frame, but isn't worth the hassle.
Actually pre-TSA days. Had a s***ty laptop that had a dead battery so I just plugged it in when I used it. Whatever. Security didn't believe it was a laptop. Told me I had to turn it on to prove it. Of course the battery was dead. Had to search for a power outlet. Sitting on the floor booting my s**t laptop while security hovers over me.
Had the same thing way back when tablets were new. The officier actually never seen a (non ipad) tablet, but the damn thing died during my holiday, no way to power it on anymore. Had to look up the device online and show pictures of me using it (luckily we had 2) before they believed that it was just a harmless broken tablet device.
My then-two month old was flagged by TSA in 2003. They took one look and realized the only bomb was in his diaper. The same season, his grandfather was subject to additional screening. They had the exact same Irish name: first, middle, and last. I surmised that there might have been an IRA person on an interpol list or something with the same name.
Pulled me aside after my backpack went through the scanner. I was just sitting there while they searched every pocket four times, running it back through the scanner in between each one. Every time they didn’t find anything they’d bring more people over.
At that point I was starting to get nervous and asked what they were looking for. Guy number 5 searching my bag looks at me and says super accusingly, “we’re looking for the butterfly knife you have hidden in there,” to which I just laughed since butterfly knives are for edgy 14 year olds. I insisted I didn’t have one, they didn’t believe me.
Eventually they found the “knife” it was an old mini-stapler that I had forgotten in there from when I was in school. They seemed embarrassed enough that I just left before they could come up with an excuse to take it out on me.
My friend spent most of a day being checked out/questioned because he has the same first, middle, and last name (all common American names) of a guy who allegedly went to the Middle East to join ISIS.
It wasn't weird but it was a weird situation. I was flying back from Australia after my working holiday visa ended - just left my fiance. the food poisoning hit riiiight as we were de-boarding to go through customs. first bathroom felt like a mile away. made it in time. went through customs, had to go back through security. absolutely dripping sweat. My shirt had soaked through within minutes.
They swabbed my sweaty lower back, my bag, etc. obviously it was fine but I was desperately trying not to puke or s**t myself. i had a six hour layover to my final destination, spent most of sitting near a trash can just to lean over and puke. Terrible trip all around.
I had a razor in my bag. Like old school razor with a two sided blade deal. They made me take the blade out... But didn't care about the 50 pack of blades that was right there
Got held back for 20 mins, on the depart and return, because I had magic decks in my bag. It apparently sets off something like crazy, they had to swab between EVERY single card for multiple 100 card decks. I check them now when I can.
There is an old West folk tale about a guy who escaped from prison in the 1800s by using playing cards that were printed with gunpowder. Apparently he put them in the lock lit them and blew himself out of his cell. I believe it was fake
Note: this post originally had 38 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Flying from UK to Orlando for a conference. Security were taking photos of all non-nationals and also index finger fingerprints from both hands. I don't have any fingerprints on my left hand (other than my thumb) because I got badly burnt as a child and had a lot of skin grafting. I explained this to the security man, but he took me off to sit in a locked room and wait for his supervisor to interrogate me. I must have been a very precocious 4 year old to burn off my fingerprints so that 40 odd years later I can enter USA and do mischief. God knows how they expected me to prove it was an accident and I hadn't deliberately removed identifying marks.
I'm sorry. My mom is missing a fingerprint from graft, and it's not *that* uncommon.
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Time 1) My check in luggage was open and searched on my way home for Christmas break from college. I had brought my PS2, some games, and an external hard drive, and some cables for it all. They said it looked like a bomb. Time 2) On my way back to college, my parents wanted me to take bunch of my stuffed animal and non fragile niknaks back to college. I get to the airport, get through everything but get randomly selected to have an extra check on my checked luggage. My brother, while helping me, had put my realistic rubber snake I got years ago from the zoo in my bag. Suddenly the guy checking my bag turns to the girl behind him and says, "hey, check this out!" and throws my rubber snake at her. She screams bloody murder and he busts up laughing. He turns to me and laughs while telling me she is afraid of snakes. Got my snake back though.
Yup, you received your snake back, and they have him on video committing a disciplinable offence... Were me, I'd've called the guy an a*s after the check, and then spoken with the female agent to apologise for my peripheral part in what had happen, and ask her if she was alright.
Load More Replies... my son always gets selected for a random swab for explosive. Started when he was 4, he is now 15. Not sure what it is, but he always gets selected (in my country it's not the agent selecting you but the system, so it really IS random).
TSA swabbed my cats for explosives at the Chicago airport. First they asked me to take them out of their carriers in the metal detector line, but I refused as I figured my cats would run off in the crowd or scratch me to shreds, so they put us in a broom closet and swabbed the cats.
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A lot of these are going on my List of Reasons to Drive Instead - which is already longer than I-75.
My coat. No joke. I'd been going out to Rocky Mountains. I learned quickly to not wear a bra with real wire for an underwire, but still got yanked out of line every time. Turns out *my winter coat* met the "terrorist criteria" ----- it had, and I quote, "too many pockets". Uh.... Yeah, b/c I wore it when hiking and that way worst case scenario, I have a bit of survival gear on me. Turns out TSA doesn't care if I die on a hike, my coat fit a "terrorist profile". Y'know what was in it, every time? One emergency mylar blanket; whistle; mini-flashlight; flint. Carry that in a purse, it's fine. Carry it in coat pockets, it's not. I might concede the flint striker, but as I had no steel, it was pretty much just a rock. Legit a rock. Flint. .... My mom got yanked aside when they found a collapsible umbrella in her suitcase. ... Meanwhile, people with *knives* get on planes. ???
Years ago we had a family reunion overseas. My immediate family flew to NYC to meet Grandma, who had flown up from Atlanta. When we were going to our international flight out of La Guardia, Grandma kept setting off the metal detector. They wanded her for several minutes before they finally found the culprit: a paperclip in the lining of her coat. P.S. this was before 9/11.
Load More Replies... You know, I don't mind the TSA and Immigration doing this stuff. I do mind their attitude though. They are rude, unwelcoming and generally bullies. I visited in 2009 and 2010. immigration bully aggressively asks why I'm back for a second visit. Seriously? I wanted to be a total smart a**e but figured I didn't have the time to waste trying to reel that back in.
Domestic US flight - an unopened container of acne pads because it was a liquid. It wasn’t measured in fl. oz. like all other liquids are but in number of pads. TSA was perfectly nice about it and she just checked it out and approved it and said the fact that it was unopened and sealed was what gave it a pass. Noted: travel with unopened/sealed items if you can.
Early 2000s (post 9/11, 2003??), I was flying out of Sacramento. In front of me, they searched a whole Sikh family (old man and young man both wearing turbans, young woman wearing a chunni, and a couple kids) . The next 5 white guys were also searched because TSA said they didn't want to appear racist. When I said both the family and myself were chosen purely based on appearance, I was told to shut up and to prove my laptop wasn't a bomb. Ended up a behind the younger man on my flight and tried to apologize for my whole country. He said first, he never complains because he came from a large Sikh community north of Sacramento (Yuba City) and if you say something, you just make it worse for friends next time they try to fly. Second, he said if I really wanted to help, file a complaint for being searched based on race. The TSA would investigate a white guy's complaint. I did. TSA replied they found no wrong doing.
A former colleague loved to tell the story of how her husband - who had top-level security clearance due to his job and therefore usually just walked through security - was stopped because a sniffer dog identified "something interesting" in his luggage. The interesting thing turned out to be homemade liver pate sandwiches: the dog had been trained with liver pate as a reward for identifying suspicious scents and must have thought it was his lucky day!
Laughs in disabled. They will practically strip search you in public if you use a wheelchair
A pair of jeans. The legs were baggy so I got pulled for a pat down. Then they searched my carry-on. I forgot and put an almost empty can of hair mousse in it. Agent shook it and said she didn’t think she could accept it and I had to throw it away. Then when I got home from that trip opened my suitcase to find a slip that said my bag (my checked bag) had been searched by TSA and my stuff was all messy. Guess I was a threat to national security going to that Chicago Con.
I've found those TSA "We Searched Your Bag" cards in my checked luggage before. It hasn't happened recently, but I travel between my home city & New Orleans 2-3 times a year, so maybe they recognize my suitcase now, lol.
Load More Replies... I always get pulled out when traveling for work. I tend to have a lot of electronics. 2 Laptops 1 Fully loaded digital camera with lenses and flashes 2 sets of headphones Probably some random measuring equipment Chargers for everything and a powerbank All nicely fit into my backpack, so yeah it's stuffed fully.
My time was in the 80s. I was flying home in my family had bought me a brand new Nintendo system. It was so brand new that the transportation people at the airport had never seen one and when it went through the x-ray they saw the toy gun in there. They insisted that they had to open it up and check it out. Then I noticed that they were all very young and they were calling their other friends to come and check it too. Finally they wrapped it up and let me take it on board. LOL it's kind of funny I think they just wanted to see one up close.
We traveled from Kansas City to Boston back in 2006 for a family wedding. We had a free day & decided to tour the USS Constitution, and we had to go through a Military security checkpoint to go on board the ship. After going thru that, TSA doesn't bother me at all, lol. The only time I've been pulled aside by TSA was in Dallas at a layover - I was on my way home from visiting my son in New Orleans & there may have been some weed residue on my shoes from his "smoking habit", because that's the only thing they checked.
The rivets on my jeans. I've worn these same jeans through Gatwick, Heathrow, De Gaulle - not a problem. Nantes - small city in France - and the buzzer goes off on the wand scanner. My husband - big bald heavily tattooed and pierced - has already gone through without a hitch. He's standing to the side laughing his a$$ off as I'm standing barefoot, in jeans and camisole, pockets literally turned out, fully pat down by the female border guard, and still setting off the scanner. We're looking at each other equally confused and frustrated - when she passes the wand one more time and I notice it goes off over the rivet. "Bon..... voyons donc!"
Montserrat Caballe m, the great soprano, arrived to the US to sing Queen Elizabeth I in Maria Stuarda. She had a replica of the English royal crown to use on stage. She waited till the officers were sure it wasn’t the real one. The called the Tower of London to make sure the real o e was still there.
I wear barefoot shoes - the kind with the separate toes. I always have to take my shoes off and am then allowed to put them right back on again. Every. Single. Time. I assume they just want to see how you put those shoes on and if it is difficult to get each toe in its compartment (no, it is not).
I have dreadlocks. So I get picked on EVERY SINGLE TIME. One time was escorted away from check-in by 2 guys with guns. Once got taken off a bus that was about to cross a border and was searched (only one they dragged out of the bus). A bus, not even a plane. I even had my hair searched several times which I really hate. It got to the point that I once said to a security guy, "what took you so long, I already thought no one is coming to search me". Sigh. Am a law-abiding 56-year-old woman.
Two instances. 1. One of my first trips to CA from VA I was wearing a green baggy hoodie. From a distance it looks kind of military, but it was a designer jacket. I got patted down. No reason, but it never happened again in the future. I only assumed it was the jacket. 2. Happened last year when visiting my sis. My laptop cable, it was old and damaged. Had some electrical tape. It needed additional screening. I bought a new cable after that. I work in IT so I tend to have a few electronics to bring for work/personal trips (all on the carry-on bag because I don't trust TSA). No other issues so far.
At my local airport I am always picked for an extra search or patdown. Apparently a mid 40s overweight redheaded female looks like a threat. PS. I follow all the rules and never have anything suspicious with me.
The TSA is security theater and a tremendous waste of taxpayer money. The last I read about it a few years ago, it had not not apprehended a single terrorist.... but had harassed, embarrassed, intimidated, and terrorized thousands of innocent Americans. Before I stopped flying I had flown many times after 9/11 and not once did I feel any more security because of the TSA. IMO, if the TSA makes anyone feel more secure about flying... they're a moron.
My former boss once got randomly swabbed for whatever the heck they check for. His swab came back positive for blood so it was a nerve-wracking while for him until he remembered that he'd been slaughtering after the moose hunt two days before his flight.
The best story I have was in January of this year, my hubs and I went on a two week honey moon. So picture this. Week one: Tropics. Puerto Rico, 80 degrees Sunny and beautiful LOTS of beach time. Fast forward a week, we are on a plane and head to upstate NY. My hubs home town to see the folks that couldn't come to our wedding. Went from 80 to -15. Had a great time. End of that week, we get stopped by TSA on the way home across country. They were tearing hubs luggage apart. All of a sudden they had his trunks, and I when I realized what they were doing I lost it with laughter. They started field testing their substance, that substance? Sand. And they tested it about 5 times. lol. And its PR sand, you can TELL it's sand. It was hilarious. I was cracking up, TSA did NOT find it funny. But I guess it did look weird having trunks with sand stuck in them but we were in minus degree weather and snow. But still funny.
A mac and cheese packet. I thought I was gonna be staying at my mother's longer than I waz, then COVOD hit, so I had to fly home before i wasn't able to get home. I had bought the kind with the liquid cheese pouch and the foil set off the machine. I'm a nervous flier anyway so I was imagining all sorts of things.
”Random security check” loses it’s meaning when it happens on each flight. Every time when I’m flying they pick me up for these checks, even though I’m not even that suspicious looking. For example, a few years ago me and my then-gf were on six week trip travelling in several different countries. This trip included nine different flights and every time on each airport we were picked up to these ”random” searches. Maybe I just look like a hardened criminal when I’m in holiday mood, even though I am a peace loving sissy.
Flying from UK to Orlando for a conference. Security were taking photos of all non-nationals and also index finger fingerprints from both hands. I don't have any fingerprints on my left hand (other than my thumb) because I got badly burnt as a child and had a lot of skin grafting. I explained this to the security man, but he took me off to sit in a locked room and wait for his supervisor to interrogate me. I must have been a very precocious 4 year old to burn off my fingerprints so that 40 odd years later I can enter USA and do mischief. God knows how they expected me to prove it was an accident and I hadn't deliberately removed identifying marks.
I'm sorry. My mom is missing a fingerprint from graft, and it's not *that* uncommon.
Load More Replies... Time 1) My check in luggage was open and searched on my way home for Christmas break from college. I had brought my PS2, some games, and an external hard drive, and some cables for it all. They said it looked like a bomb. Time 2) On my way back to college, my parents wanted me to take bunch of my stuffed animal and non fragile niknaks back to college. I get to the airport, get through everything but get randomly selected to have an extra check on my checked luggage. My brother, while helping me, had put my realistic rubber snake I got years ago from the zoo in my bag. Suddenly the guy checking my bag turns to the girl behind him and says, "hey, check this out!" and throws my rubber snake at her. She screams bloody murder and he busts up laughing. He turns to me and laughs while telling me she is afraid of snakes. Got my snake back though.
Yup, you received your snake back, and they have him on video committing a disciplinable offence... Were me, I'd've called the guy an a*s after the check, and then spoken with the female agent to apologise for my peripheral part in what had happen, and ask her if she was alright.
Load More Replies... my son always gets selected for a random swab for explosive. Started when he was 4, he is now 15. Not sure what it is, but he always gets selected (in my country it's not the agent selecting you but the system, so it really IS random).
TSA swabbed my cats for explosives at the Chicago airport. First they asked me to take them out of their carriers in the metal detector line, but I refused as I figured my cats would run off in the crowd or scratch me to shreds, so they put us in a broom closet and swabbed the cats.
Load More Replies... A lot of these are going on my List of Reasons to Drive Instead - which is already longer than I-75.
My coat. No joke. I'd been going out to Rocky Mountains. I learned quickly to not wear a bra with real wire for an underwire, but still got yanked out of line every time. Turns out *my winter coat* met the "terrorist criteria" ----- it had, and I quote, "too many pockets". Uh.... Yeah, b/c I wore it when hiking and that way worst case scenario, I have a bit of survival gear on me. Turns out TSA doesn't care if I die on a hike, my coat fit a "terrorist profile". Y'know what was in it, every time? One emergency mylar blanket; whistle; mini-flashlight; flint. Carry that in a purse, it's fine. Carry it in coat pockets, it's not. I might concede the flint striker, but as I had no steel, it was pretty much just a rock. Legit a rock. Flint. .... My mom got yanked aside when they found a collapsible umbrella in her suitcase. ... Meanwhile, people with *knives* get on planes. ???
Years ago we had a family reunion overseas. My immediate family flew to NYC to meet Grandma, who had flown up from Atlanta. When we were going to our international flight out of La Guardia, Grandma kept setting off the metal detector. They wanded her for several minutes before they finally found the culprit: a paperclip in the lining of her coat. P.S. this was before 9/11.
Load More Replies... You know, I don't mind the TSA and Immigration doing this stuff. I do mind their attitude though. They are rude, unwelcoming and generally bullies. I visited in 2009 and 2010. immigration bully aggressively asks why I'm back for a second visit. Seriously? I wanted to be a total smart a**e but figured I didn't have the time to waste trying to reel that back in.
Domestic US flight - an unopened container of acne pads because it was a liquid. It wasn’t measured in fl. oz. like all other liquids are but in number of pads. TSA was perfectly nice about it and she just checked it out and approved it and said the fact that it was unopened and sealed was what gave it a pass. Noted: travel with unopened/sealed items if you can.
Early 2000s (post 9/11, 2003??), I was flying out of Sacramento. In front of me, they searched a whole Sikh family (old man and young man both wearing turbans, young woman wearing a chunni, and a couple kids) . The next 5 white guys were also searched because TSA said they didn't want to appear racist. When I said both the family and myself were chosen purely based on appearance, I was told to shut up and to prove my laptop wasn't a bomb. Ended up a behind the younger man on my flight and tried to apologize for my whole country. He said first, he never complains because he came from a large Sikh community north of Sacramento (Yuba City) and if you say something, you just make it worse for friends next time they try to fly. Second, he said if I really wanted to help, file a complaint for being searched based on race. The TSA would investigate a white guy's complaint. I did. TSA replied they found no wrong doing.
A former colleague loved to tell the story of how her husband - who had top-level security clearance due to his job and therefore usually just walked through security - was stopped because a sniffer dog identified "something interesting" in his luggage. The interesting thing turned out to be homemade liver pate sandwiches: the dog had been trained with liver pate as a reward for identifying suspicious scents and must have thought it was his lucky day!
Laughs in disabled. They will practically strip search you in public if you use a wheelchair
A pair of jeans. The legs were baggy so I got pulled for a pat down. Then they searched my carry-on. I forgot and put an almost empty can of hair mousse in it. Agent shook it and said she didn’t think she could accept it and I had to throw it away. Then when I got home from that trip opened my suitcase to find a slip that said my bag (my checked bag) had been searched by TSA and my stuff was all messy. Guess I was a threat to national security going to that Chicago Con.
I've found those TSA "We Searched Your Bag" cards in my checked luggage before. It hasn't happened recently, but I travel between my home city & New Orleans 2-3 times a year, so maybe they recognize my suitcase now, lol.
Load More Replies... I always get pulled out when traveling for work. I tend to have a lot of electronics. 2 Laptops 1 Fully loaded digital camera with lenses and flashes 2 sets of headphones Probably some random measuring equipment Chargers for everything and a powerbank All nicely fit into my backpack, so yeah it's stuffed fully.
My time was in the 80s. I was flying home in my family had bought me a brand new Nintendo system. It was so brand new that the transportation people at the airport had never seen one and when it went through the x-ray they saw the toy gun in there. They insisted that they had to open it up and check it out. Then I noticed that they were all very young and they were calling their other friends to come and check it too. Finally they wrapped it up and let me take it on board. LOL it's kind of funny I think they just wanted to see one up close.
We traveled from Kansas City to Boston back in 2006 for a family wedding. We had a free day & decided to tour the USS Constitution, and we had to go through a Military security checkpoint to go on board the ship. After going thru that, TSA doesn't bother me at all, lol. The only time I've been pulled aside by TSA was in Dallas at a layover - I was on my way home from visiting my son in New Orleans & there may have been some weed residue on my shoes from his "smoking habit", because that's the only thing they checked.
The rivets on my jeans. I've worn these same jeans through Gatwick, Heathrow, De Gaulle - not a problem. Nantes - small city in France - and the buzzer goes off on the wand scanner. My husband - big bald heavily tattooed and pierced - has already gone through without a hitch. He's standing to the side laughing his a$$ off as I'm standing barefoot, in jeans and camisole, pockets literally turned out, fully pat down by the female border guard, and still setting off the scanner. We're looking at each other equally confused and frustrated - when she passes the wand one more time and I notice it goes off over the rivet. "Bon..... voyons donc!"
Montserrat Caballe m, the great soprano, arrived to the US to sing Queen Elizabeth I in Maria Stuarda. She had a replica of the English royal crown to use on stage. She waited till the officers were sure it wasn’t the real one. The called the Tower of London to make sure the real o e was still there.
I wear barefoot shoes - the kind with the separate toes. I always have to take my shoes off and am then allowed to put them right back on again. Every. Single. Time. I assume they just want to see how you put those shoes on and if it is difficult to get each toe in its compartment (no, it is not).
I have dreadlocks. So I get picked on EVERY SINGLE TIME. One time was escorted away from check-in by 2 guys with guns. Once got taken off a bus that was about to cross a border and was searched (only one they dragged out of the bus). A bus, not even a plane. I even had my hair searched several times which I really hate. It got to the point that I once said to a security guy, "what took you so long, I already thought no one is coming to search me". Sigh. Am a law-abiding 56-year-old woman.
Two instances. 1. One of my first trips to CA from VA I was wearing a green baggy hoodie. From a distance it looks kind of military, but it was a designer jacket. I got patted down. No reason, but it never happened again in the future. I only assumed it was the jacket. 2. Happened last year when visiting my sis. My laptop cable, it was old and damaged. Had some electrical tape. It needed additional screening. I bought a new cable after that. I work in IT so I tend to have a few electronics to bring for work/personal trips (all on the carry-on bag because I don't trust TSA). No other issues so far.
At my local airport I am always picked for an extra search or patdown. Apparently a mid 40s overweight redheaded female looks like a threat. PS. I follow all the rules and never have anything suspicious with me.
The TSA is security theater and a tremendous waste of taxpayer money. The last I read about it a few years ago, it had not not apprehended a single terrorist.... but had harassed, embarrassed, intimidated, and terrorized thousands of innocent Americans. Before I stopped flying I had flown many times after 9/11 and not once did I feel any more security because of the TSA. IMO, if the TSA makes anyone feel more secure about flying... they're a moron.
My former boss once got randomly swabbed for whatever the heck they check for. His swab came back positive for blood so it was a nerve-wracking while for him until he remembered that he'd been slaughtering after the moose hunt two days before his flight.
The best story I have was in January of this year, my hubs and I went on a two week honey moon. So picture this. Week one: Tropics. Puerto Rico, 80 degrees Sunny and beautiful LOTS of beach time. Fast forward a week, we are on a plane and head to upstate NY. My hubs home town to see the folks that couldn't come to our wedding. Went from 80 to -15. Had a great time. End of that week, we get stopped by TSA on the way home across country. They were tearing hubs luggage apart. All of a sudden they had his trunks, and I when I realized what they were doing I lost it with laughter. They started field testing their substance, that substance? Sand. And they tested it about 5 times. lol. And its PR sand, you can TELL it's sand. It was hilarious. I was cracking up, TSA did NOT find it funny. But I guess it did look weird having trunks with sand stuck in them but we were in minus degree weather and snow. But still funny.
A mac and cheese packet. I thought I was gonna be staying at my mother's longer than I waz, then COVOD hit, so I had to fly home before i wasn't able to get home. I had bought the kind with the liquid cheese pouch and the foil set off the machine. I'm a nervous flier anyway so I was imagining all sorts of things.
”Random security check” loses it’s meaning when it happens on each flight. Every time when I’m flying they pick me up for these checks, even though I’m not even that suspicious looking. For example, a few years ago me and my then-gf were on six week trip travelling in several different countries. This trip included nine different flights and every time on each airport we were picked up to these ”random” searches. Maybe I just look like a hardened criminal when I’m in holiday mood, even though I am a peace loving sissy.
