This is a completely fictional scenario, as in it has only happened in a tabletop RPG I’m a part of. It is not, so far as I know, based on any actual incident, but I’m curious as to the likelihood of it and what the consequences might be for the parties involved.
The scenario is this:
Four teenagers traveling together are waiting in the boarding area of JFK when they are detained by a TSA agent. The teenagers are American citizens, but one is of “Middle Eastern” decent. They have created no disturbance, and have no suspicious items in their luggage. They are left in a waiting room with no food, water, or bathroom access for several hours. They are not allowed to call their guardians or parents during this time. When the agent returns to question them, he says that they were detained because it seems unlikely that they would be able to afford their plane tickets and wants to know if they plan any instances of “towelhead” terrorism. The teens are questioned further, given a polygraph test, then allowed to leave to catch their flight.
I swear, I did not come up with the above, I’m just in a position where I have to respond to it and I’m rather boggled at where to start. My first reaction is “OK, someone just invited a huge PR nightmare and at least four lawsuits to fall into their laps.” The second is the polygraph – my impression is that most TSA agents are not highly trained and couldn’t read a polygraph if their lives depended on it, but more than that, I find it hard to believe that the airlines would be authorizing employees to give polygraphs – wouldn’t that be a police matter? Another matter of concern is whether or not the actions of the agent could lead to criminal charges, given that those involved were minors. Those are the questions that leap immediately to mind, but I’d really appreciate any additional input, especially as to whether this would affect the detained teens ability to travel freely via airlines in the future.
It’s completely unrealistic. Unaccompanied minors travel on planes all the time. The TSA inspects tickets and ID. They screen baggage. They don’t make value judgments as to the financial worth of passengers. The scenario goes rapidly downhill from there.
And hardly anyone uses polygraphs in a criminal investigation except as a last resort, because they are pseudoscientific nonsense, and are rightly inadmissible in court.
Also, TSA agents are not airline employees, they are federal law enforcement officers, so the opinion of the airline companies doesn’t really enter into it.
They were detained “several hours” but yet still managed to catch their flight? Hmm, how early are you supposed to get to the airport these days to make it past TSA interrogations in time for your flight?
Are they real TSA agents? That’s my suspicion. Maybe you could have a quiet word with the GM about how unrealistic the scenario is, and give them a way to save face by segueing into a “nothing is what is seems” storyline.
this is a bit off topic, but the above scenario is classic “fighting the last war”.
9/11 happened basically because there were no locks on cockpit doors due to airline industry lobbying and fanciful notions that any hijacking would end nicely in Cuba like in the 70s.
TSA and homeland security probably should be more worried about some wingnut planning Okla. City II.
TSA agents don’t go to the boarding area unless something happens like your bag did have something in it but it was accidentally given back to you, or you lost your boarding pass. (In the latter case you have to be re-screened and “wanded.”)
They’d be held by the local Sherriff’s department, not by the TSA.
Parent or guardian must be present. The agent, the manager, and the manager’s supervisor would have been involved in this, and if no parent or guardian were called, all three would be fired.
See above. This is not a reason for the TSA to go into the boarding area.
I had thought that if flying internationally, some civil rights/protections fly out the window? The same goes for ‘National Security’ investigations?
If one or more appeared to be on the Do-Not-Fly list (or had FBI tags otherwise attached) but it turns out they were just similar names, I could imagine a similar detention.
If I called the airport authorities and reported that 4 men matching their descriptions (and maybe gave their names?) were seen planting explosives in, say, the terminal restrooms, I think a detention while it was checked out wouldn’t be out of order. Esp if the suspects were about to fly out of the country.
I think they were meant to be. I do intend to go to the GM first, partially because he’s a big one for realism/realistic consequences, so I’m not sure how this got allowed through in the first place. I suspect what happened is that the players gave him a summary description – “the kids get hassled on their way onto their flight, but make it through OK” – to handwave through and I was given the more detailed one to react to.
TSA agents can and do enter the ‘boarding area,’ and they don’t need a reason to do so.
I believe there have been instances of TSAs detaining (or attempting to detain) passengers, though I don’t have time to look for any specific examples right now. I could be wrong on this, though, and I know that airport police will become almost immediately involved, regardless.
I say it because it’s true. The TSA can, among other things, randomly check photo IDs during boarding and conduct onboard visual sweeps of aircraft prior to boarding.
Yeah, it looks like my info was out of date. (Note that the article seems to be saying that the random screenings at the gate were made possible by a change in policy about a year ago…)
Thanks for correcting me!
(“I say it because it’s true” was kind of a silly thing to say, though. Obviously we all think the things we say are true.)
Where do you get this? I’ve been a cop for over 20 years, and polygraphs are used constantly in investigations to this day.
I agree that their ability to actually detect lies is questionable, but that’s not really the point. Once the polygrapher determines that someone is being deceptive, then a follow-up interrogation will often get the subject to confess. Actually, many subjects confess just before being connected to the machine or during the middle of the polygraph, just because they expect to be found out.
As to OP, however, I can’t imagine TSA using a polygraph in that situation. It takes far too long and it’s too involved a process to use for basic questioning.
Sorry; that came off as a bit snarky. My original assertation was based on personal experience and observation, and I didn’t think it was likely I’d be able to find a source in the few minutes that I had to reply. Then I did, and collapsed into bed in a heap of exhaustion and forgot to edit. Sorry if I sounded jerk-ish.
Well I don’t know if it was just changed. I got pulled just before boarding a plane in 2003, had my bags gone through and everything. They randomly pulled people from the line to search. That’s the only time it’s happened to me, though I don’t fly more then once a year.
