Yes, yet another thread about the indignity of going through airport security.
I fly about once a month, usually inside Europe but I’ve flown to other places plenty of times as well. So a few days ago I was flying from Manchester. Went through security, had my ziplock bag of liquids ready. Different to my usual way, I had it packed inside my sponge bag. As I took my sponge bag out of my suitcase (together with my laptop) the security guy grabbed it off me. I handed him the little plastic bag of liquids and told him there was nothing in the sponge bag. He pawed through it and said they would judge that.
In stockinged feet I went through security, came out the other side, where they were already beckoning me over. The offending lipstick was already out of my sponge bag. (Only because I have been told by security staff, including those at Manchester, about a thousand times that lipstick is not liquid.) So the other guy had also taken the liberty of running his grubby paws through the bag that has my toothbrush and tampons in it.
This has never happened to me before: they have always asked me to open my bag, can I take this out please etc.
So what are the rules? Are they allowed to just stick their hands in my stuff, grab out the bits that offend them? Are there any guidelines? At the time I felt like asking to see whoever was in charge to file a complaint, but I had a flight to catch.
[rant]IMO, this is what happens when the people on the front lines of “security” are poorly trained, poorly paid, poorly treated, and hired almost indiscriminately to do a thankless, repetitive task where they are subject to constant judgment and abuse, BUT they are granted almost limitless authority.[/rant]
As far as the “rules” go, yes, they are fully within their authority to examine every single item you possess in practically any manner they wish.
Here are a couple of relevant related articles on the subject which may (or may not) clear up some of the details for you:
This incident took place outside the United States. I do not know what the protocols over there are, but I can tell you my experiences in the United States.
When something alarms on the x-ray, the person watching the monitor calls over another screener and points out the problem. The second screener picks up the bag and calls “whose bag is this?” When you raise your hand, they take the bag over to a table and tell you to get the rest of your stuff and come over to the table.
At the table they ask you “Does this bag contain anything sharp, fragile, or dangerous?” If not they say “Please do not touch the bag until I am done.” Then they search either the whole bag or the particular corner of the bag that caused them concern. Then they run a piece of paper all over the bag and stick the paper in an explosives detecting machine. When everything comes out OK, they put anything they took out back in the bag, zip it up, and say something like “thank-you, have a nice day.” (Occasionally, they may run the bag through the x-ray a second time with the offending item removed.)
Again, this seems to be standard protocol in US airports during the last few years.
Screeners in other countries may have other policies. Screening for international flights may be different.
This is the situation that people in third world places with authoritarian governments have to put up with all the time. Similarly those of us going through foreign customs, and now airport security.
The authorities have virtually unlimited power - if they exceed their mandate, and you make a stink, they can exercise that power to do what they can to get even. The bigger and more loud the scene you cause, the more it justifies their action - “this person is getting out of control, we are jsutified to deny them boarding privileges”. In airports, it means missing your flight, and possibly ending up on a special list that means extra scrutiny or denied flights. At foreign customs, it means being denied entry. In third world countries, they round up anyone they feel, detain and “question” them, and release them at their own whim.
So the simple answer to the OP is they can do whatever, even if it’s against protocol, and there’s very little you can do about it; or you risk them trying to get even. Complain to your MP, maybe.
It’s bad enough for the TSA or whoever to paw through your stuff in front of you, but worse when something goes missing.
If you think those little TSA locks will let only authorized personnel in your bag, think again.
This is why I’ve given up my cool Swiss Army and Samsonite suitcases and replaced them all with Pelicancases. You still put a lock on it, and stolen keys may let thieves at the airport access your stuff, but the likelihood of theft or putting contraband in your luggage is greatly reduced.
Plus, it doesn’t matter what the luggage monkeys do, you can’t hurt these little wonders!
I can only speak for the US, but those folks aren’t pulled in off the street for those jobs. My 30-yo daughter, who had a squeaky clean record, applied for a TSA job at the Tulsa airport and you would have thought she was applying to the CIA.
Two months of background checks, physical and psychological tests. They apparently had 250 people applying for 3 part-time positions. She didn’t get hired, but they told her to try again next year… she found another job in the meantime.
TSA stands for Too Stupid for Arby’s. The theft and abuse we see is apparently just the tip of the iceberg. I don’t know why a nice, squeaky-clean woman gets passed over for scum, but in the LE community, these guys are a joke.
Don’t know about flying within Europe, but if you’re flying to the States, Customs can make you go through a full body cavity search, just cause they feel like it. They can put their grubby, gloved hands in and on your person, not just your personal effects.
I don’t like them going through my stuff any more than the next person, but at the end of the day they are providing a service. You basically have to follow their rules of you want to fly. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to get on the plane.
Really? I would have thought you’d find them ripped open by the TSA if they are locked.
When I came home from Europe several years ago, I put the european cell in the checked luggage - with one of those cheap luggage locks. the TSA broke the luggage zipper rather than cut the log, just to look inside to see what it was. They broke the zipper just because they could be assholes and get away with it, rather than doing the least permanent damage. Don’t tell me the inspection station in a NYC airport does not have all the tools necessary to cut or pry open whatever they want - they could ahve cut the lock, they chose not to.
Then they left a nice piece of paper in the suitcase to say they’d looked inside…
I haven’t had anything lost or broken, but once I did pull my bag off the baggage carousel to find all the zippers unzipped with the TSA note inside one of the side pockets. I’m glad the bag was upright at least. Otherwise I would have spilled everything all over the ground.
Is it possible that, by the way you handled things, it looked like you might be trying to hide something or cover up something? They generally don’t want you handling things while they are searching to keep you from doing sleight of hand stuff. If you say “no you can’t look at that” then that signals exactly what they want to search.
I’ve no problem what-so-ever with security doing whatever it takes to make sure the plane I’m boarding is safe. They may not always be doing that, I think some of the procedures, at least in this country, are pointless, and perhaps counter-productive. But so long as they have the ability to do anything necessary I won’t object.
Now though, if you want to lock your luggage, you must use a TSA accessible lock, or risk having your regular lock cut off, or your luggage damaged.
The TSA locks are key-accessible with keys only the TSA has. :rolleyes:
Most models will have an indicator letting you know that the lock has been opened.
If you get that indication without the requisite letter inside, you have a problem.
No one is getting into a Pelican case without tools, noise, and time. Easier just to move on to the next Hello Kitty bag and punch the zipper.
