Because the whole reason why they are not allowed on the plane is that they are potentially dangerous. To not confiscate them or to fail to dump them all into huge barrels right by where hundreds of people are standing would be irresponsible and potentially open them up to lawsuit, particularly if they endorsed dropping them into the US Mail. To allow the person with the potentially dangerous items on the plane would be wildly irresponsible.
In order for their dog-and-pony show to work, they’ve got a basic ground rules: If you break the rules, you don’t get on the plane.
I made 13.47 an hour.
Well, when I went for the “interview” they did it as this hotel in Virginia. The way it went was we had a computer test (general aptitude) and if we passed that, we went to a little desk and had a quick interview with two people. If we “passed” that, we went and took another computer test, a little more in depth this time. Next, if we passed, was a physical test where we had to pretend to pick up these heavy bags and carry them from one point to another in a short period of time, then another type of physical agility test. If we passed that, we were sent upstairs to have a FULL medical exam with a real doctor on hand and everything. We had to give urine, blood and they even swabbed my mouth.
They did ALL THIS IN ONE DAY when I went. But you had to pass one thing to get to the next part. I passed it all with flying colors. I was there 8 hours.
The background investigation didn’t take place until I was there for a whole year, believe it or not. But once they did do it, they thoroughly investigated my background. They called people I knew from my past, got all my high school transcripts, college gpa, called references everything. It was very in depth.
Yup, I wouldn’t lie to you. I can verify my employment for anyone who doesn’t believe me. But remember, in airports there are rights you don’t have, in their eyes. For instance, no warrant searches are permissible by TSA in airports. They strongly pounded this into our heads during training in case we were confronted by civil rights activists.
They should, but they don’t. When I was searching luggage, I encountered a lot of people who were displeased that I was going through their luggage and rightfully so. I found some crazy shit in people’s bags, I will say that. I found a whole fish wrapped in saran wrap in someone’s luggage once. It was some sort of carp looking fish and it was the size of the whole suitcase just about. lol
And I know a lot of people want to sue, have tried or are trying, but T.S.A. has a lot of rights that they shouldn’t have if you ask me. But the fact remains, they have no warrant search rights in an airport if you are flying somewhere and go through “their” gates.
One other thing, T.S.A. employees are Federal Government employees.
In training, did they stress the bit about how lying to an agent of the Feds is a crime? If I tell a fib about how a certain set of naughty lingerie is a gift for my wife, honest, will I be going to the big house?
I don’t understand why they don’t just hand them to the flight crew and return them to you on arrival. Just recently I lost a leatherman and other tools in Hong Kong airport because in the rush I forgot to put them in my checked luggage. They said they could keep them for a couple of weeks if I was returning. I suppose that helps local people but I was not planning on returning to HK for a few months.
I have to stress they were, unlike Americans, extremely polite.
The TSA has a Wait Time Calculator on their website. It depends on your departure airport, the flights scheduled around that time, TSA staffing, etc. One airport may have 2 6am departures; another may have 10 6am departures, but be staffed similarly.
I applied to the TSA this year and I have to say the hiring process is considerably different. There were aptitude tests, and a physical exam, and background check that asked for stuff just short of documentation of any past lives - but until I completed all of that I wasn’t even eligible for hire.
In my case the process took a couple months.
Now I’m waiting for a phone call telling me to report for training.
Of course you do realize that your flight crew isn’t permitted to have scissors or anything like that either, right? One of the inconsistencies I find highly amusing is that a crewmember who is a Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO), can pass thru security with his firearm, but will have his nail clippers confiscated.
For another logic-defying example- nail scissors will be confiscated- but we have a fairly large axe available to us in the cockpit- one end sharp, one end sharp and pointy. Not sure what I could accomplish with my manicure items that I couldn’t accomplish with a crash axe. <chuckle>
ETA: oh, right, I can’t do my nails with the axe. :smack:
I’ve heard (from the TSA, no less) that 9 out of 10 travellers actually enjoy the Body Cavity Search, if they give it a chance and approach it with an open, er, mind.
It does surprise me, however, that nobody has shown up to discuss the relevance of the Fourth Amendment – other than people saying you constructively give consent to whatever TSA wants to do to you just by showing up to fly.
But I wasn’t talking about bombs - if you try to smuggle one on, and get detected, you are detained by the police, and questioned, and that makes sense and is fair, because bombs are dangerous outside airplanes, too.
I was talking about nailscissors, knittting needles, cigarette lighters etc. - they are only considered dangerous inside the plane, not elsewhere. You can buy them (unlike a bomb) in every supermarket outside the airport (and before 9/11, you could buy scissors on the plane), sometimes, you can even buy them in the airport outside security.
Or do you mean that US Mail is endangered by sending scissors and knitting needles?
And as for the rule: The rule isn’t: break the rule and don’t get on the plane. The rule is: bringe some items (like a bomb) and be detained by police; bring other items (a water bottle, scissors) and they are thrown away, but you get still on the plane; bring different items (knitting needles, crotchet hooks) and you can take them on or have to check them, depending on the phase of the moon; talk back and you miss your flight.
As a comment linked to in an earlier post pointed out, by confiscating “dangerous” items like scissors, without the same “penalty” as for a really dangerous item like a bomb (questioning by police), the terrorists can simply try and try and try over again. There’s no real penalty - besides loosing the scissors - so they can try until they suceed.
The real reason the terrorists will no longer try to bring scissors on board to hijack a plane with it is that the rules have changed, and everybody knows it. You can only overthrow the playing board once, next time, everybody is watching.
A bunch of people in this thread appear to be talking out of orifices other than their mouths.
Perhaps a review of the allowed and prohibited items list just might be in order before this thread goes any further off the rails.
Allowed
Knitting needles
Crochet needles
Blunt ended scissors
Metal pointed scissors less than 4" long
Nail clippers
Nail files
Come on people there are plenty of valid complaints about the TSA, you don’t need to go invent stuff. After all we are trying to fight ignorance here, not promote it.
In fairness to the posters who have mentioned items that they were not permitted to bring past security, Rick, it should be pointed out that at one time many of the items on your list were prohibited. The TSA has relaxed some of their rules in recent months, and often the only way you can know what is and is not permitted is to check the link you provided just before your flight.
Also, I was once told that I could not bring one of those pocket laser pointers on a flight (fortunately, I was able to get it into my checked bag, because I didn’t want to lose it). The TSA site makes no reference to them as being allowed or prohibited. I don’t remember what (if any) reason was given for it being prohibited, and the only scenario in which I can perceive of it being dangerous would be if I was holding it to a flight attendant’s eye and threatening to turn it on unless my demands were met.
They were probably worried that you would combine it, MacGyver style, with some other seemingly innocuous item and thus create a weapon. It would be a recipe for disaster if you brought on your laser pointer and you had your friend bring on, say, a shark.
LurkMeister I think what set me off was this post:
No mention of the fact that back in 2001 nail clippers were banned, but are no longer banned. No mention that it wasn’t the clipper than was banned, but rather the pointed nail file/ finger nail cleaner that made them verboten. No mention that if your clippers didn’t have a nail file/ finger nail cleaner, you were just fine with the clipper. (I saw a TSA agent offer to break off the offending part for a flier back in 2001)
So what we have here is a person who says they are a commercial pilot but seems to be blissfully unaware of the security rules that she must comply with on an almost daily basis. :dubious:
Now if someone who last flew in the US in early Oct 2001 made a incorrect comment about how security works now, I understand. But a pilot? All I can say is I hope she pays more attention to the FAA regs then the TSA regs. :eek:
I believe the [valid] point being made is that they are so inconsistent about these things. I believe there was a thread on here awhile back where someone did check the TSA site, saw that knitting needles were allowed, brought them along for the flight, and still got hassled.
I occasionally like to point out that on several occasions in 2005-2006, when any sort of pocket knife was verboten, regardless of blade length, there were several times when I would be moving everything metallic from my pockets to one of the outside compartments in my carry on while heading for the security check-in and find that I had forgotten to put my pocket knife in my checked bag. My usual reaction was to bury the knife in the main compartment of my carry on, where it would go through the X-ray scanner without being detected. :rolleyes:
There were a few incidents where pilots had laser lights flashed in their eyes from the ground. Screwing around with the pilots’ vision at any time is a Bad Thing. These would have to be fairly high powered laser pointers, and I can’t figure out how you could shine it into the pilots’ eyes while sitting in the cabin, but there may actually be/have been some legitimate reason for security being concerned about these.
Wow. I’m not sure why you found it necessary to question my professionalism or my credentials, rather than confining the attack to my statements. If you’d like to verify my certificate with the FAA database, feel free to PM me.
Of course I pay more attention to the FARs, my Company SOPs, and OM’s, than I do to another organization’s rules. That is my job. I can’t cite any sort of official study, or anything in my defense, since there’s nothing of that sort that exists. I’ll admit that saying ‘nail clippers’ was incorrect. The only experience I have to offer is my own, which was having my small embroidery scissors (which, yes, oddly, I use as nail scissors, and forgot to remove from my ‘extras’ duffel) confiscated in Tulsa a month or two ago. The FFDO comment was something that a FFDO crewmember related to me with a chuckle and a shake of his head.
Spend a little time talking about the TSA in a crew room or on an aviation message board and you’ll get an earful about the inconsistencies with the TSA applying their rules. Crewmembers told to dispose of their coffee because it ‘upset the passengers’. Are we, or are we not required to remove our shoes? Are we required to have a boarding pass from the ticketing counter in order to clear security, if we have a valid SIDA badge? Yes, there may be rules, but they are enforced unevenly at best, and there is no comprehensive guide to which station enforces which rules, or has extra procedures or guidelines that are not published. I am still told to remove my laptop from it’s TSA-guideline-compliant sleeve on occasion, even if the recent relaxing of the rules allow certain cases or sleeves to remain on the laptop. I comply. There is very little use arguing with an agent- no one wants to be the guy who makes the flight late, or have to talk with a chief pilot because you were reported as causing a ‘disturbance’.
They’re not all evil security nazi’s. I game with one of the local guys, and he’s a cool guy, but he’s not very complimentary of the organization either. (No, really, it’s cool, some of my best friends are… er… TSA agents! <snerk>;))
