I wore a shirt with metallic threads in it (subtle metallic threads, it was super cute) when I was flying to New Orleans from Las Vegas because I didn’t even think about it. The scanner showed I had bombs all over me, so they pulled me aside and gave me a full pat down, then swabbed me for anthrax or something (ok, probably bomb residue). It was a whole 10 + minute thing. Oh, but my clothes most certainly stayed on-- this was the pulled off to the side, in front of everybody kind of search.
Yeah, I never realized you shouldn’t wear shiny shirts to the airport. Now I know.
When I flew home from Belize the other day, the body scanner in Houston went off, saying I had metal on my chest. I literally was wearing a bikini top (with no underwires, no metal, nothing) as a bra under a tshirt, so there was most certainly no metal on me. It happens sometimes.
Another funny thing I noticed when flying to Indiana last month: I was looking on the TSA website to figure out of deodorant is ok to go in your carry on, outside the liquid bag (solid deodorant is cool, by the way). While reading the official TSA blog, I saw something at the end of a post that made my eyes roll into the back of my head: it said that you may experience different rules and regulations at different TSA check points. This, they claim, is to keep the terrorists on their toes. Seriously. :rolleyes:
I find the best suggestion is to check the chair at the front desk, and get an airport aide with one of their chairs if possible. Things go much smoother. Though I haven’t flown in the past year so I don’t know what is up with the damned whole body xray bullshit. I still say that they could just run everybody through the explosives detector just fine. If it was good enough for going on campus at a nuke plant, it should be good enough for the TSA.
What annoys me is when I go through the body scanner they still require that my shoes and belt come off, and my pockets be emptied, even including my handkerchief. (It’s made of cotton, which is the same stuff the rest of the pants are made of.)
I wouldn’t even care that the stupid scanner can see my genitals, if they’d just let me leave my stuff in my pockets and my shoes and belt on.
-If you can avoid overhead luggage, just check everything. Bring one little, under-the-seat bag with entertainment stuff in it. Overhead luggage is a pain in the ass. Getting your bags later doesn’t take any more time than waiting in line at the back of the plane while everyone figures out where they stuffed their crap. With just one little carry-on, sit as near to the front of the plane as you can, and you will get out fast.
-If you can wear just one top, do it. I wore a tank top with a light cover over it, and got asked to take the cover off before going through the scanner. WTF? Scanners can’t see through clothes? Why not just strip me now and get it overwith?
If you are checking a bag, put many of your electronic item chargers/cords in the checked bag. My SO frequently gets his carry on bags swabbed and opened. Our best bet is that the charger cords, camera, batteries, laptop computer, cellphone, electric razor, etc … all combine to look like “TO MANY ELECTRONCS, FRISK HIM”.
You should see the metal detectors go off when they pick up my wife’s artificial knee. She carries a card from her doctor (laminated) and an x-ray of her knee.
Of course sometimes she’ll actually run into a TSA agent who looks at the giant scar on her leg and lets her go.
I always take all of my electronics & cords in my carry-on bag (I usually don’t check anything but even when I do, all that stays with me) as I need that, and don’t want the possibility of it getting lost. Laptop/cords, iPods & chargers, video camera & chargers, still camera & charger, audio recorders & charger, etc. Never had any kind of issue regarding all that.
The *one *time I was stopped, and had my bag searched, was when I had bought a souvenir snowglobe (a tiny little one, the globe was maybe 1.5 inches in diameter) and never even realized it would count as a liquid. (And while they were going through it, they accidentally *broke *my poor little snowglobe, the bastards!)
Speaking as a guy that used to travel with every cord known to man, laptop, digital camera, GPS, plus specialized automotive electronic test equipment this is incorrect.
They would sometime poke around a bit or swab but it was for sure not a guarantee.
You really want to get a funny look carry a license plate in your carry on.
A true story from real life as told by a friend of mine who was going to attend some do in England together with a person that she had never met before.
The travel companion was asked to empty her pockets before walking through the metal detector. She did, walked through and the detector went “ping!”.
“Remove your hat. It is covered with all sorts of pins that might contain metal”. She did, walked through and the detector went “ping!”.
“OK, let’s use this hand-held detector instead”. When it passed her left upper body it went “bzzzz!”.
“Are you sure you don’t have any coins in purse or something in your inner pocket?”.
“Of course I haven’t. That’s my dagger”.
At that point my friend asked herself what she had got into.
Ok, I just got home from Houston (to Calgary, Canada). I brought all my stuff as carry-on. I had a few bottles of liquid (less than 100 mL’s in each), all in a bag. I had forgotten a bag originally and was able to grab one as I went through security. I had a laptop, iPad and cell phone, which I took out of my bag and put in the bin. Took off shoes and suit jacket and also put in bin. All my power cords were in my carry on and I had no problem.
I had to do the body scanner thing. I was wearing a bra with metal in it, but it didn’t pick it up. Had some weird thing indicated on one of my feet on the screen, so she just patted it down, found nothing, and let me go.
I was through in about 2 minutes. I have honestly never, ever had a problem going through in the US or Canada, and I almost always go through with these type of electronics and with only carry on.
It really does seem kind of random as to who gets stopped for what. Which is fine, but the excuses are bizarre. Pinging metal when nothing is there? Scanners unable to see through baggy clothes? wth?
They should just truly randomly search. Sounds like it’d be far more effective.
