Has the DHS reached out and touched you?

[Sufferin' Prius Envy]

Originally posted by ChuX@Mar 22 2006, 05:10 PM
As a TSA screener . . .  I've dealt with people who don't follow simple directions, and that leads to increased screening times.  For example, people know they are going through metal detectors, yet I see teenagers wearing lots of chains and other metals on them. They don't take off the metal items until they get to the metal detector.  And to make matters worse, they forget to take out all metal items and holds up the line.

[snapback]228750[/snapback]

A suggestion for TSA to speed up the lines.
A big sign at the entry to the queue for the screening area:

IF YOU SET OFF THE METAL DETECTOR, YOU WILL BE

REMOVED FROM THE QUEUE AND SENT BACK TO THE

BEGINING OF THE LINE.

If you cause a delay because you are not prepared by the time you reach the metal detector, you will be removed from the queue and sent back to the beginning of the line. BE PREPAIRED!

. . . think Seinfeld's Soup Nazi. "You think you can get soup. Please, you're wasting everyone's time. . . NEXT!"
I bet the line will move faster.

[ChuX]

Originally posted by Sufferin' Prius Envy@Mar 23 2006, 02:39 AM
A suggestion for TSA to speed up the lines. 
A big sign at the entry to the queue for the screening area:

IF YOU SET OFF THE METAL DETECTOR, YOU WILL BE

REMOVED  FROM THE QUEUE AND SENT BACK  TO THE

BEGINING  OF THE LINE.

If you cause a delay because you are not prepared by the time you reach the metal detector, you will be removed from the queue and  sent back to the beginning of the line.  BE PREPAIRED!

. . . think Seinfeld's Soup Nazi.  "You think you can get soup. Please, you're wasting everyone's time. . . NEXT!"
I bet the line will move faster.

[snapback]228955[/snapback]

LOL

No matter big you make that sign, some will still set off the metal detector and get upset at the TSA agent that they have to go back to the beginning of the line.

[orracle]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sufferin' Prius Envy @ Mar 6 2006, 08:38 PM) [snapback]221415[/snapback]</div>

We received some interesting mail today. <_<
It was from one of my wife's cousins. I think the enclosed noisy package of commercial wildflower seeds may have piqued DHS's curiosity.

Do I feel violated? No. My wife and I think it quite funny and interesting.
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I couldn't open the image but here's my government story:

My son dropped out of the college he started at and came home to go to a community college.

One day the phone rang and Caller ID said "US Government" and I answered because we had a friend at the nearby naval base.

Sgt Someone asked me what Jason was up to. I said he's going to school at _______. Okay, thanks.

So they knew he was home and wondered if he was interested in the Army???? I had several responses that I fortunately did not use.

[judymcfarland]

My bilateral knee replacements have made me a "ringer", so for the rest of my life I will be groped at the check-in. No wonder I prefer the train.

A dear friend of mine told of an incident when crossing back into the USA from Canada (driving). He was singled out for more inspection by customs, and as he was being groped he told the inspector that usually someone has to buy him dinner before they could feel him up like that. I suppose now he is condemned to being groped for the rest of his life, too.

[Pinto Girl]

When I was an undergrad in art school, in the late 80's, I used to carry my entire art bin onto the plane...spray cans full of fixative and paint, x-acto knives and blades, toxic markers and solvents, even a giant box-cutting knife that attached to this lethal-looking extension arm...no one ever said a word.

Those *were* the days.

[AussieOwner]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Aug 23 2007, 07:31 AM) [snapback]500594[/snapback]</div>

When I was an undergrad in art school, in the late 80's, I used to carry my entire art bin onto the plane...spray cans full of fixative and paint, x-acto knives and blades, toxic markers and solvents, even a giant box-cutting knife that attached to this lethal-looking extension arm...no one ever said a word.

Those *were* the days.
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As a regular international traveller for the last 20 years, I also used to carry a small box with some railroad model work that I could work on at night in the various hotel rooms. This box had, like Pinto Girl's art supplies, a number of sharp instruments. Now I cannot carry my modelling stuff - it is too fragile to put into my checked luggage.

As a foreigner, and as a lot of my travel is across the US (only one way as I go around the world), I get pinged very often for the "random" extra search - so often that I know most of the triggers that the airlines use to indicate I have randomly been selected.

I find that by co-operating with the TSA team, never a problem - accept that I am going to get pinged, make sure I go through with plenty of time, co-operate, and life is really not that hard.

My biggest problem is with the checked luggage. Because I cannot lock my bags when travelling to/from the US, this gives me major concern. About 18 months ago, a girl was arrested in Bali (Indonesia) after she was found to have 5 kilos of hash in an unlocked bag. She copped 20 years jail for this. What has been found, however, is that the hash was being shipped from one Australian city to another, and the crims were using unlocked baggage to move the stuff, but, in this case, the receiver missed the bag, and it went on to Bali. They cannot prove that this actually happened, but the Australian police did find evidence that this sort of thing did go on.

After reading this thread, I am still concerned that my bag could be used to transport drugs, and that I could, accidently, end up holding those drugs while travelling through Asia, where most countries have the death penalty for drug traffickers. Whilst TSA are doing their best to stop dangerous items getting on planes, they still do not have a secure system between their search and you getting you bag off the conveyor at the end of the flight. I know that tleonhar said that airline employees getting caught pinching stuff get nailed very quickly, but moving drugs can mean some serious money, so payoffs can happen, and thus can occur.

Not going to stop me travelling, but does not stop me worrying.