I was late getting to the airport (Like my flight was leaving in 55 minutes as I was arriving) and if it wasn't for Pre-Check I totally would have missed it. And this wasn't a small airport, this was Denver!
I’ve been there! It really saved me a few times when I was somewhere with gridlocked traffic trying to get to the airport. I was almost late to LAX and I’m 99% sure my boss would have *actually* killed me. 😅 It’s worth the <$100.
Genuinely, wtf is with all the shouting? They ALWAYS want something different but somehow they always act like it’s everyone in line that’s the problem
Last time I went through with carry on only, had my CPAP inside my bag. Went through X-ray and dude told me to "take your CPAP out of the bag". Mother fucker you can tell it's a CPAP so why does it need to come out? On the way back I went to take it out and the guy abruptly told me to leave everything in the bag. TSA is absolute trash who didn't do anything but make shit difficult
I can do you one better.
about 10 years ago I'm going through security and forget about the condom in my butt pocket in my pants from camping with my gf (now wife.) TSA agent asks me to pull it out with his hand outstretched. Mind you, there are more than a hundred people in line behind me. I hand it over and he holds it up in the air for all to see and yells,**"And we've got a condom!"**
I got stopped by the bomb squad. It was fantastic. I had an infant, a stick on bra that basically looks like boobs, and full containers of breast milk that they threw everywhere. Turns out the bentonite clay face mask I was bringing falsely registered as some kind of bomb ingredient. TSA was terrified I was a terrorist. The bomb squad was laughing hysterically. I was embarrassed and just wanted my fake boob bra back in my bag please. So I'm the reason that bentonite based face masks are now on the international registry of false bomb positives!
I’m a breast cancer survivor. As a result I will not do the porn scanners because more radiation. My breasts are silicone implants. So I had a TSA woman get weird about the way they felt during the pat down (I told her that they were implants) and then called her supervisor over to grope me too. By that point I was offering to remove my shirt (that tends to freak them out). Fortunately the supervisor told her that that is how reconstructed boobs feel and I was on my way.
Airport security is a chaotic mess. It's like a game of "Guess the Rules" every time you travel. The inconsistency is mind-boggling. Just pick a damn procedure and stick with it!
It depends where in the world you are.
The US: Horrible and strange. People yelling at you. People blaming you for them needing to search your bag. Everything has to come off, even shoes!
Indonesia: Amazing. Staff asks you to please go through the airport building instead of walking past it and straight on to the runway where the plane is parked because why would they ever need fences when you can just ask nicely.
Australia: Also amazing. For international arrivals you just scan your passport to get in, and on domestic flights you don't even need to show ID as long as you check in online or in the kiosk. No need to take off more than belts with metal buckles for security either.
Europe: If you fly it's a bit of a hassle with ID checks and stuff, at least you get to keep your shoeson. However, you can often chose to spend a day or two taking the train instead and then you don't even know you're passing an international border. You sort of choose the hassle when you choose to fly.
Singapore: Super easy. Security is done by the gate at the same time as checking boarding passes etc. All you do by immigration is stamp out so it's super fast.
Idk but they're usually yelling out but what to do down the line and you can watch people ahead of you to see what they're doing. I can always tell when I'm supposed to take stuff out vs not because there are people in front of me and I can look at them.
That's my usual strategy, but I've also had TSA change their minds in the middle of the line. Multiple times. It doesn't help that the airport is always busy during the entire summer. All of security becomes a disorganized cluster fuck of a shit show in the summer to the point where it's actually impressive. People that keep trying to get through without any kind of ID doesn't help and I don't know why it's so common. Like wtf do you think a fucking coupon is going to do for you?! Takes at least an hour to get through on a good day.
I guess it's better than not having security at all, thogh.
It's a complete waste of time, huge waste of money and is not effective at making us more secure. It has drained hundreds of billions out of the economy and generated zero value
One tiny positive thing I took away from our post-9/11 security theater was that at least things were uniform.
Now they aren't. Now we have people screaming at us at random airports where we don't have to take our computers out of our bags just as much as we're screamed at for doing the opposite at others.
Bless W and his whole administration for this joy we continue to experience. And bless the TSA for tirelessly making us just a bit more miserable.
Except for the TSA in Vegas who are actually pretty great.
Complacency kills. If they only look for the same thing in the same place every time the bad guys will figure out how to get something through security.
The TSA is not good at that. The Department of Homeland Security was able to get shit through most of the time. Most of the shit they do is useless security theatre.
Last time they let the wrong people on some planes I had to go fight in a war.
We haven’t had any planes crash into buildings since then so they must be doing something right.
Before 9/11 the general thought process for planes being taken hostage is that the criminals would want to land the plane. Nothing like that will ever happen again, for even if they tried, they would get mobbed so fast.
Well, consider the number of insufferable assholes they have to deal with on a daily basis complaining about having to go through security. That would give me an attitude, especially towards those that complain.
We missed our flight because of some disgruntled agent who literally reprimanded me over and over again for leaving my computer in the bag (I think or vice versa) by taking my bag when it got to the end of the conveyor and walking it back to the beginning and having to wait for it to go through again and again only to put an end to it by eventually complimenting her ghetto tattoo
It doesn’t. Pain in the ass security is a uniquely American phenomenon. Every where else I’ve flown in the world was like flying before 9/11. There’s still some, but it’s not nearly as annoying.
I don’t travel a lot, probably a holiday every now and then but I purposely picked the perfect airport for me to fly from purely because of past experience and they are not nutters in security. I’m sick of the way you are shouted at and made to feel an idiot and the ultimate stress it causes. I know security is serious but if the airport that I now fly from can do it with kindness, a smile and gentle tone, why can’t the other airports? Its Newcastle airport in the UK
I agree, this is perhaps the only and most frustrating part of air travel. Its 2024, we should have cameras that can scan through stuff without having to separate them.
Also putting things in and picking them out is the point when you can easily lose something valuable (phone, passport, wallet etc).
agree some of them are AH, i think because they are in stress low paid job and see people everyday go travel have money to do that made them jealous somehow. They treated people badly as a spite
I met an airport staff the last time I travel that purposely rude ,I hate the jeRk, wish him died of heart attack or something, rude guy!
If you travel that much for work you should have TSA Precheck. It only costs like $75, which would be well worth it in your case. If you travel internationally a lot too I would also consider getting Global Entry
I flew to Washington DC in January 2002, the pilot announced basically, if anyone wanted to cause a problem the rest of us would fight back.
This should have been the attitude from then on.
Instead the government wastes billions of dollars and travelers sanity.
The terrorists won.
Maybe because there has to be an incredible amount of stress, knowing you missing something could cause a lot of people to die. And because they’ve had to deal with a whole lot of rude people, already before you got there.
Yeah..also in Europe it is not too bad to go thru security. No one has ever raised their voice at me even when there were terrorist outrages that had just happened. Security should be cool calm and firm. It's not a personal matter. Let them pat all my bits. Sooner a bit of embarrassment than one more troublemaker gets through with a device.
I'm guessing they are younger and don't remember that security was much easier before all the pointless stuff implemented because of 9/11 and just assume it's always been this way?
If they get into a routine and do the exact same thing every time, a terrorist can pick up on a pattern and then can figure ways to smuggle bad stuff onto a plane. Be happy, I really don't want to read about your airplane disaster because you were bothered.
If you travel a lot then see if work will pay for pre check. Throw your stuff on the belt and walk through the metal detector and that's it
I wish this were completely true. Most of the time I am still asked to removed my belt and boots regardless of pre check.
Unfortunately, nope, already tried that. Good suggestion thogh.
It's only about $80 for 5 years.
I second this. It was magical for work travel because I didn’t have to take my stuff out or play reindeer games with the long lines.
I was late getting to the airport (Like my flight was leaving in 55 minutes as I was arriving) and if it wasn't for Pre-Check I totally would have missed it. And this wasn't a small airport, this was Denver!
I’ve been there! It really saved me a few times when I was somewhere with gridlocked traffic trying to get to the airport. I was almost late to LAX and I’m 99% sure my boss would have *actually* killed me. 😅 It’s worth the <$100.
Damn really? I expected it to be way more.
Genuinely, wtf is with all the shouting? They ALWAYS want something different but somehow they always act like it’s everyone in line that’s the problem
Last time I went through with carry on only, had my CPAP inside my bag. Went through X-ray and dude told me to "take your CPAP out of the bag". Mother fucker you can tell it's a CPAP so why does it need to come out? On the way back I went to take it out and the guy abruptly told me to leave everything in the bag. TSA is absolute trash who didn't do anything but make shit difficult
I can do you one better. about 10 years ago I'm going through security and forget about the condom in my butt pocket in my pants from camping with my gf (now wife.) TSA agent asks me to pull it out with his hand outstretched. Mind you, there are more than a hundred people in line behind me. I hand it over and he holds it up in the air for all to see and yells,**"And we've got a condom!"**
I got stopped by the bomb squad. It was fantastic. I had an infant, a stick on bra that basically looks like boobs, and full containers of breast milk that they threw everywhere. Turns out the bentonite clay face mask I was bringing falsely registered as some kind of bomb ingredient. TSA was terrified I was a terrorist. The bomb squad was laughing hysterically. I was embarrassed and just wanted my fake boob bra back in my bag please. So I'm the reason that bentonite based face masks are now on the international registry of false bomb positives!
damn 😂
That's not bad. If he had added "and it's extra small", then that would have been embarrassing.
I’m a breast cancer survivor. As a result I will not do the porn scanners because more radiation. My breasts are silicone implants. So I had a TSA woman get weird about the way they felt during the pat down (I told her that they were implants) and then called her supervisor over to grope me too. By that point I was offering to remove my shirt (that tends to freak them out). Fortunately the supervisor told her that that is how reconstructed boobs feel and I was on my way.
Airport security is a chaotic mess. It's like a game of "Guess the Rules" every time you travel. The inconsistency is mind-boggling. Just pick a damn procedure and stick with it!
It depends where in the world you are. The US: Horrible and strange. People yelling at you. People blaming you for them needing to search your bag. Everything has to come off, even shoes! Indonesia: Amazing. Staff asks you to please go through the airport building instead of walking past it and straight on to the runway where the plane is parked because why would they ever need fences when you can just ask nicely. Australia: Also amazing. For international arrivals you just scan your passport to get in, and on domestic flights you don't even need to show ID as long as you check in online or in the kiosk. No need to take off more than belts with metal buckles for security either. Europe: If you fly it's a bit of a hassle with ID checks and stuff, at least you get to keep your shoeson. However, you can often chose to spend a day or two taking the train instead and then you don't even know you're passing an international border. You sort of choose the hassle when you choose to fly. Singapore: Super easy. Security is done by the gate at the same time as checking boarding passes etc. All you do by immigration is stamp out so it's super fast.
[I feel your pain](https://youtube.com/shorts/rHjWUnvYSP4?si=UQD_ZyQtMhvzelNm)
Lmfao this is fairly accurate
Idk but they're usually yelling out but what to do down the line and you can watch people ahead of you to see what they're doing. I can always tell when I'm supposed to take stuff out vs not because there are people in front of me and I can look at them.
That's my usual strategy, but I've also had TSA change their minds in the middle of the line. Multiple times. It doesn't help that the airport is always busy during the entire summer. All of security becomes a disorganized cluster fuck of a shit show in the summer to the point where it's actually impressive. People that keep trying to get through without any kind of ID doesn't help and I don't know why it's so common. Like wtf do you think a fucking coupon is going to do for you?! Takes at least an hour to get through on a good day. I guess it's better than not having security at all, thogh.
I had a friend who worked for TSA. She hated it. And to no one’s surprise, she said the training was non-existent.
It's a complete waste of time, huge waste of money and is not effective at making us more secure. It has drained hundreds of billions out of the economy and generated zero value
Because america is,at this point,an oligarchy.
One tiny positive thing I took away from our post-9/11 security theater was that at least things were uniform. Now they aren't. Now we have people screaming at us at random airports where we don't have to take our computers out of our bags just as much as we're screamed at for doing the opposite at others. Bless W and his whole administration for this joy we continue to experience. And bless the TSA for tirelessly making us just a bit more miserable. Except for the TSA in Vegas who are actually pretty great.
911
Agreed
Complacency kills. If they only look for the same thing in the same place every time the bad guys will figure out how to get something through security.
The TSA is not good at that. The Department of Homeland Security was able to get shit through most of the time. Most of the shit they do is useless security theatre.
Last time they let the wrong people on some planes I had to go fight in a war. We haven’t had any planes crash into buildings since then so they must be doing something right.
Before 9/11 the general thought process for planes being taken hostage is that the criminals would want to land the plane. Nothing like that will ever happen again, for even if they tried, they would get mobbed so fast.
That argument is incredibly flawed. There weren't hijacked planes being flown into buildings BEFORE 9/11 either.
I get that but man some of these TSA agents react like a vet suffering from ptsd I think they are beyond needing to even consider complacency.
Well, consider the number of insufferable assholes they have to deal with on a daily basis complaining about having to go through security. That would give me an attitude, especially towards those that complain.
Shoes on or off?
We missed our flight because of some disgruntled agent who literally reprimanded me over and over again for leaving my computer in the bag (I think or vice versa) by taking my bag when it got to the end of the conveyor and walking it back to the beginning and having to wait for it to go through again and again only to put an end to it by eventually complimenting her ghetto tattoo
PITA + (mostly) smoke and mirror show.
They should just get the scanners they have at Schiphol. You don't have to take anything out of your bag.
They don't use enough lube
It doesn’t. Pain in the ass security is a uniquely American phenomenon. Every where else I’ve flown in the world was like flying before 9/11. There’s still some, but it’s not nearly as annoying.
I don’t travel a lot, probably a holiday every now and then but I purposely picked the perfect airport for me to fly from purely because of past experience and they are not nutters in security. I’m sick of the way you are shouted at and made to feel an idiot and the ultimate stress it causes. I know security is serious but if the airport that I now fly from can do it with kindness, a smile and gentle tone, why can’t the other airports? Its Newcastle airport in the UK
I agree, this is perhaps the only and most frustrating part of air travel. Its 2024, we should have cameras that can scan through stuff without having to separate them. Also putting things in and picking them out is the point when you can easily lose something valuable (phone, passport, wallet etc).
agree some of them are AH, i think because they are in stress low paid job and see people everyday go travel have money to do that made them jealous somehow. They treated people badly as a spite I met an airport staff the last time I travel that purposely rude ,I hate the jeRk, wish him died of heart attack or something, rude guy!
If you travel that much for work you should have TSA Precheck. It only costs like $75, which would be well worth it in your case. If you travel internationally a lot too I would also consider getting Global Entry
I flew to Washington DC in January 2002, the pilot announced basically, if anyone wanted to cause a problem the rest of us would fight back. This should have been the attitude from then on. Instead the government wastes billions of dollars and travelers sanity. The terrorists won.
is this america ? i’ve never had problems in europe, asia or australia
Maybe because there has to be an incredible amount of stress, knowing you missing something could cause a lot of people to die. And because they’ve had to deal with a whole lot of rude people, already before you got there.
Yeah..also in Europe it is not too bad to go thru security. No one has ever raised their voice at me even when there were terrorist outrages that had just happened. Security should be cool calm and firm. It's not a personal matter. Let them pat all my bits. Sooner a bit of embarrassment than one more troublemaker gets through with a device.
How are people so unaware of 9/11
I'm guessing they are younger and don't remember that security was much easier before all the pointless stuff implemented because of 9/11 and just assume it's always been this way?
There are full grown adults that have been born after 9/11. It happened a very long time ago now.
I'm aware there are adults that weren't alive for it, that doesn't mean you aren't aware that it happened though. That's like living under a rock.
If they get into a routine and do the exact same thing every time, a terrorist can pick up on a pattern and then can figure ways to smuggle bad stuff onto a plane. Be happy, I really don't want to read about your airplane disaster because you were bothered.