TSA BAD!11! according to Sean Duffy's Daughter

[enipla]

@Dinsdale

her tantrum could result in significant overhaul of TSA.

Everything they touch turns to shit. They are gonna make it worse.

[not_what_you_d_expect]

They’ll just open the gates and repurpose all the TSA funds and men to ICE.

[Dinsdale]

And then, should any planes fall, blame it on Biden.

[Ellecram]

@Llama_Llogophile

Some good could actually come of this. If somebody in the current administration gets a bee in their bonnet about TSA we might see some meaningful change.

They’ve already gotten rid of the shoe removal, and maybe that wouldn’t have happened under a Democratic administration for fear of looking weak on terrorism or something. Perhaps Trump’s people could do a Nixon going to China sort of thing with regard to relaxing or changing TSA’s procedures.

I flew from Seattle to Pittsburgh in late September, 2025 and was required to take my shoes off despite me advising them that I was unsteady without them.

Since my cane is metal I could not use it either. They did not have a cane for me to use and I stumbled coming out of the scanner.

Then I was chastised for not telling them I could not balance without my shoes (which I did at the beginning of the process).

I was NOT happy with this airport.

Pittsburgh airport at least has a wooden cane available for me when I am required to take my shoes off.

I am 68 so I have anticipated future de-shoeing for awhile.

I had no idea it was eliminated?

[ASL_v2.0]

@Chronos

I’ll start taking TSA seriously when they do something about nearly every passenger on nearly every flight carrying a bomb with them, often multiple bombs. Of course, that level of security would also mean that nobody would ever fly again, so I’m basically never going to take them seriously.

I feel like this is supposed to be a joke or something?

[Folly]

Lithium ion batteries I’m guessing.

[Chronos]

Yeah, it’s really not hard to make a phone or laptop explode.

[Asuka]

I heard a stand-up comedian say it but the absolute WORST part of TSA is every single airport TSA thinks their TSA airport rules are UNIVERSAL and get incredibly angry/snarky when you dont know if this is the belts on or off airport. Or if this is the “laptops and tablets must be outside your bag” airport. Or if this is the “Wait until your called or just walk through the scanner” airport.

[DrDeth]

@Duckster

Au contraire! With the number of weapons confiscated every year (about 6,800) with no repercussions, it’s past due that anyone bringing a weapon through TSA should be denied boarding for 24 hours (minimum) and the weapon surrendered (confiscated)

Firearms, yes, but not Swiss army knives and the such.

[Dewey_Finn]

@Asuka

I heard a stand-up comedian say it but the absolute WORST part of TSA is every single airport TSA thinks their TSA airport rules are UNIVERSAL and get incredibly angry/snarky when you dont know if this is the belts on or off airport. Or if this is the “laptops and tablets must be outside your bag” airport. Or if this is the “Wait until your called or just walk through the scanner” airport.

I’ve found the rules can vary even within an airport. I fly through JFK Airport from time to time and the last time I went through Terminal 5 (a couple of years ago), I left the two notebook computers and iPad in my backpack. But a few months ago, I was required to remove more than one device from the backpack when going through the Terminal 4 security checkpoint.

[Ellecram]

I never remember the rules for each airport.
I just wait for them to instruct me and follow through as compliantly as I can.

[Dinsdale]

@Asuka

the absolute WORST part of TSA is every single airport TSA thinks their TSA airport rules are UNIVERSAL and get incredibly angry/snarky when you dont know if this is the belts on or off airport. Or if this is the “laptops and tablets must be outside your bag” airport. Or if this is the “Wait until your called or just walk through the scanner” airport.

Very much so. Just tell me clearly what to do and I’ll strip naked and do a dance, if that is what they want. So pleasant starting just about every trip from OHare. It is such a shock when I find myself at a different airport and the TSA assholes aren’t yelling at me!

[DrDeth]

@Dinsdale

It is such a shock when I find myself at a different airport and the TSA assholes aren’t yelling at me!

They are just underpaid civil servants doing their job.

[Dinsdale]

@DrDeth

They are just underpaid civil servants doing their job.

Yeah - their pay does tend to be shit. TSA Pay Scale 2025: Updated Salary & Benefits Guide - TSA Career

But why do some do it politely, and others rudely? (Especially when their jobs are essentially bullshit. Eliminate the theater, hire fewer folk, and pay them better.)

[DrDeth]

@Dinsdale

But why do some do it politely, and others rudely? (Especially when their jobs are essentially bullshit. Eliminate the theater, hire fewer folk, and pay them better.)

They have no control over whether or not their job is “theater “ and in fact most other nations do that same.

[susan]

@DrDeth

but not Swiss army knives and the such.

I seem to remember some trouble with little knives in 2001.

[Railer13]

@susan

I seem to remember some trouble with little knives in 2001

Which is why TSA was created in the first place.

[Chronos]

And which is also why airline doors are now kept locked.

One of those things accomplishes something. The other does not.

[JRDelirious]

The thing in ‘01 was that 9/11 called attention (besides to how our different regulatory, security and enforcement agencies were not talking to each other to identify red flags) to that airport screening was NOT something being done by one federal agency, but by employees of or contractors to the terminal operator. FAA or DOT could issue them a mandate to go to an increased security posture. But there was an “OMG do something to have a centralized FEDERAL security outfit!!” outcry and thus we got Homeland Security and TSA. Joke on us, TSA screeners were not made sworn law enforcement, just low-scale inspectors, and then through the “Trusted Traveler” programs, the agency became a revenue center.

(Notice, as mentioned above, AFAIK there was no new, separate Bureau of Secure Cockpit Door Installation created.)

I have little sympathy for Duffy’s daughter. Getting TSA-Pre or CLEAR would have sent her to the fast queue which in many airports means skipping the full body scanner and just going thru the magnetometer. And really anyone these days should count on being in the checkpoint queue no less than an hour and a half before boarding time, not “departure”, more so if you know you’ll need (or want) the pat-down.

[Railer13]

@JRDelirious

airport screening was NOT something being done by one federal agency

I don’t recall ever getting screened at an airport prior to 9/11. Hell, anybody could walk to the gates, as we often did, to meet incoming passengers or say goodbye to departing friends. Sure, there were cops present, but nobody was actively checking luggage or patting down passengers.