Thursday, December 28, 2017

How Airline Travelers Can Prevent TSA Horror Stories

By Joseph Wallace


When it comes to airport security in the United States, there has been a number of changes over the last several years. These changes include replacing private security companies with tsa agents at airports across the country. As a result, there have been a number of tsa horror stories reported while others have gone unreported. In all cases, the passengers screened believe that the methods used in screenings went too far and were a violation of privacy.

In some cases, the stories involve targeting the elderly and disabled for additional security checks. More than one passenger has reported having to remove prosthetic limbs before going through metal detectors. Whereas, women having undergone breast cancer surgery using implants report having been prodded and probed beyond necessity.

In one case, a family, already having gone through an additional security check at the gate was pulled aside in the breezeway while walking to the plane. The two agents whom pulled the family aside began asking questions with regards as to how much money and travelers checks were in possession at the time. During the process, a number of other passengers stood by and witnessed what most considered abuse. While a complaint was filed by the family, there has been no response from the airline, the airport or the tsa.

In another instance, a college student was pulled aside at the San Francisco International airport. The reason for this young woman being pulled aside was that there was a camera in carry-on luggage. As there were no rules against cameras being carried on board at the time, the student was quite confused. After which, the agent removed the film from the camera, thus ruining the entire photo project which the student had been working on for quite some time.

While the young lady involved in the camera incident filed a report with the tsa, airline and airport, all suggested it was the young woman whom was at fault, thus no further action was taken against the agent, the tsa or the airline. In fact, the airline even refused to write a letter to the professor explaining what had happened and when so that the student could get an extension.

While most often it is those whom were being examined who complained of incidents, there are cases in which witnesses report watching a European female being examined in a viewer, then having an male agent putting hands down the spandex pants the woman was wearing in a sexual manner. While this is the case, since the woman could not speak English, no report was filed.

At the very least, if a woman needs to be examined more closely, including the bodily person, it should be a female tsa agent doing the inspection. To prevent this type situation in the future, it is important that those flying avoid wearing any clothing which contains metal components. In addition, any clothing which has a metallic or glittery appearance can also set off metal detectors.

To avoid these and other security nightmares, it is essential that individuals stay up to date with rules and regulations. While calling the airport the morning of the flight can often be a good idea, extra checks are often based on a random algorithm provided by a computer. As such, even those whom always follow all rules and regulations can still be pulled aside.




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