Ever get stopped by TSA when flying?

[dtox9]

https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gal...ed/6839171002/

I bet there's some real doozie's out there...

[jmg]

Originally Posted by dtox9

https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gal...ed/6839171002/

I bet there's some real doozie's out there...

I was in a third world country and the local "TSA" told me to get off the plane and follow them to the security area. Needless to say I was kind of nervous. They took me to a room where my checked in bag lay open on a table with my locked firearm case lay exposed. It was legally checked in and I had clearance to take it to my next destination so I wasn't sure what the problem was. They asked me to open it and I obliged. Then they asked me to take it into the plane and leave it with the pilot. Now, I've flown dozens of times with firearms and I've never been ASKED to bring it into the plane. I'm not law enforcement so I don't have a CC. I just wanted to get off the ground so I took my firearm and brought it into the plane, went into the cockpit and presented it to the pilot. He stowed it and they allowed me to return to my seat. Once we landed at our destination I walked up to the cockpit and asked for my gun back. That was it. They just gave it back to me. I could have literally opened the case, loaded my gun and took the plane hostage if I was someone with an agenda. It made no sense to me.

BTW what the shit is a "High powered magazine". Is it battery operated? Is it a HEMI? Do these clueless journalists do any research themselves or do they just spew whatever bullshit buzzwords they have heard with minimal understanding of what they are reporting on. It's a "high CAPACITY magazine" you clown.

[Lady Jane]

Well, yes. I have....

[Buug959]

Let's start this story by saying that I am that guy that gets "randomly selected" for the more intense screening when I fly. Happens 9 out of 10 times. I don't mind, it just doesn't seem very "random" to me.
One time my partner and I were flying out of Tampa and I managed to NOT get randomly selected and had almost made it through screening, I was just waiting for my carry-on bag to exit the X-ray. I watched the TSA guy on the machine stop the belt, reverse it and stop it again. I could then see him flipping through a few different screens on the monitor although I couldn't see the monitor itself. He didn't quite rub his chin but it sure looked like he wanted to. He then called a colleague over for a look. They both looked at the monitor for a minute until the second guy just kinda shrugged his shoulders and walked away.
Now I'm doing a mental inventory of what I had in my bag and drawing a complete blank as to what has caught TSA's attention. The guy on the monitor then asks me the dreaded question, "What have you got in your bag?" I had no answer for him other than a change of clothes and some camera gear. I turned to my partner for help and she didn't have any idea either. Now I'm trying to think if I had left my bag unattended at any time. Nope. By now the TSA guy is getting a little impatient and he swings the monitor around far enough for me to see what was on the screen that had him so confused.
Now a little bit of the back story. We were on our way home from a couple of weeks vacation. We often pick up some art as a souvenir of our travels. Not the "exit through the gift shop" kind of shit, real art, often street art. On this trip we found a cast iron mask of a medieval looking king that we both really liked. It's about 18" tall and 8" wide. We picked it up very early on our trip and put it in my carry-on bag right away. We had both forgotten that we had even bought it. It all came rushing back when the TSA guy turned the monitor. It also explained why he was so interested in the image on the screen. It was bright orange and it was Jesus! I mean it looked exactly like Jesus Christ himself was on the monitor. Needless to say, after telling him what it was and why we had forgotten about it, he made me empty my bag right there and take it out to show him. He even swabbed it for drugs/explosives after calling the other guy back over to see what it was. We all had a good laugh out of it. Of course the swab came back negative, it was cast iron after all, and we were free to go.
It's a bit of a funny story now but a little unnerving at the time. Here is the mask that all the fuss was about.

[M-technik-3]

Sure was, Traveling back on diplomatic passport not in uniform. had to explain why i had two pistols in checked baggage.

Lets just say it wasn't a long drawn out ordeal.

[KennyFSU]

I had an ERASER in the shape of a gun (bought from some gift store) and of course, TSA flagged it, made me open up my luggage, and inspected the eraser for a good 5 minutes before clearing me. So funny.

[wdb]

Yes because of personal idiocy, in hindsight. We did a bike trip in France. We packed our bikes in special bike boxes and jammed a bunch of other gear in around them. Got called into a room at Orly, bike cases sitting on the table, opened. What is this powder here? Why is it divided up into small plastic bags? Whoops -- we carried an energy powder with us on the bikes, pre-measured one bottle's worth into little plastic bags so we didn't have to carry the whole big bottle. It was a little nerve wracking standing there with the guy fondling his Uzi. But they decided we weren't drug dealers and let us go on our way.

[tcphoto]

In September of '18, I was shooting for a large restaurant group in Dallas and had a bag of flatware in my checked bag. They were antique forks, spoons and table knives not steak knives and they were fine leaving Atlanta. When I returned home, I found the TSA note in my bag so I called and was told that TSA has closed circuit cameras in the inspection rooms. I thought great just look at a 20-30 minute window to see who grabbed the bag. I filed a claim and lowballed the value so they'd either return the items or pay the claim. Silly me, it's taken 2.5 years and they just offered me half the declared value and it may take another 2.5 years to actually get reimbursed. I hate the TSA!

[TiMSport]

I can't help but be reminded of an episode of South Park....

[unluky]

I worked for a bullet company for 13 years - I had MANY talks with supervisors. Mostly about the difference in "Bullets" and "Ammunition" - which the uneducated believe are the same thing - even when holding one in their hand. One can be carried on and one can not. I always had samples with me, told them in advance, all that - still got the talk. I get it.

But in my industry - we have trade shows. There was a company owner (who is no longer with us) who sold all kind of novelty things as well. He tried to board an international flight to go to a German trade show with a alarm clock.......that was shaped just like a Wile E Coyote ACME bundle of dynamite. Red stick, wire popping out, old fashioned alarm clock - all that. And get this - IN HIS CARRY ON!

He had the audacity to say how whacky TSA was for taking it from him. Old Crazy Dave - gotta love him.

[DocL]

A few years ago I was denied entry onto a cruise ship and I had no idea why. They took me to a confinement room with a bunch of different personnel from the police and homeland security. I really had no idea why I was being detained. Apparently they found a loaded .380 magazine behind the lining of one of our smaller bags. I had previously used that bag on a weekend trip and the magazine had fallen behind the lining and I forgot about it. They then had to go through all of our bags to make sure I wasn't trying to bring anything else illegal. When they didn't find anything else I told them they could keep the magazine and throw it out. They said they couldn't keep it and told me to go back to my car and just put it in there. Luckily I was able to get back on the ship as it was the MSC cruise line. Apparently the other cruise lines would have kicked me and my entire family off with no refund.

[UncleWede]

I'm surprised they don't regularly stop me and ask to see my insulin kit, complete with glucose monitor and batteries, that is always in whatever backpack I have when traveling.

A few weeks ago, since I've moved on to a CGM on my upper arm, I had no idea why I buzzed when walking thru the scanner. "Can you lift you sleeve, please?" DOHHHH!!!!

[NorCalAthlete]

I’ve been randomly selected maybe 1/4 of the time.

I’ve been “randomly selected” while flying in uniform back to Iraq after mid-tour leave.

I’ve been “randomly selected” while flying in uniform with military gear.

I’ve had TSA agents physically rip an unopened Gatorade bottle out of my hands and throw it in the trash because it was over their oz limit. Trying to explain it was my breakfast (4am flight) and that I didn’t drink coffee didn’t matter. I went to open it like “look dude I’ll chug it right now if it makes you happy I swear it’s not a damn explosive” and the guy lost his shit with me and yelled to buy another one inside the terminal if I wanted one so bad.

Price of a Gatorade at Safeway: $5 for an 8 pack. Price inside the terminal: $5 for a single bottle.

I consider most TSA agents to be lower than burger flippers at McDonalds for the most part. At best they’re ambivalent and a time-sucking nuisance; at worst, they’re bottom feeders set up to pump more money from your pocket to the airport’s whether it be through concessions or through tax dollars to fund their agency.

And if there are any TSA agents here who own BMWs and are reading this, I said what I said. If you were a company instead of a government agency you would have crashed and burned harder than Theranos.

[TiMSport]

Having status definitely pays dividends when traveling. Ever since I got TSA Pre-check and CLEAR I never have issues. I know better than to try and bring beverages though because they'll give you that "WTF do you think you're doing?" look for sure.

Getting Global Entry for international travel is nice as well. You have to go through serious background checks to get it though. I have a buddy who can't get it because he has a shoplifting incident on his record when he was a teen, or so that is what he told me is the reason he can't obtain GE. That is outrageous and I'm skeptical about that being the only reason.

[jmg]

Originally Posted by M-technik-3

Sure was, Traveling back on diplomatic passport not in uniform. had to explain why i had two pistols in checked baggage.

Lets just say it wasn't a long drawn out ordeal.

Try bringing a case of 4 firearms into Communist China as a civilian. Even with all the paperwork I was detained for what seemed like an excessive amount of time. I don't speak Mandarin so it was a frustrating ordeal. Eventually they locked up my guns and I had limited access for my trip and had to check them in and out everyday under penalty of imprisonment.

On a separate incident in another country the head customs agent or whatever his title is was told me my documentation was fake and had to be verified and I would have to stay in this room for as long as it took. He kept looking at the documents over and over as if it was going to magically change. That's when I knew he was just looking for a bribe. Why tell me you know it's fake but still verify it? If it's fake then I'm an arms smuggler and you can arrest me right? This was a small poor country and my firearms were worth a few thousand each. Corruption is basically a way of life here.

He would come back to the room and pretend to have called my contact who issued the permits but no one knew about me or my firearms. I knew he was lying of course. I didn't have a phone, they wouldn't let me make any calls, and I was in the dark not knowing what was going to happen. I only knew I wasn't going to pay this crook. I don't know how much time had passed but it was enough to alarm my hosts since I never made it out of the airport. Eventually the crook walks back in and hands me my paperwork and tells me I'm free to go. Turns out my contact, who also happens to be a high ranking government official, called the customs agency to track me down. He probably got grilled pretty hard for trying to solicit a bribe from someone who's a guest of a major branch of the government.

[E92inNC]

Never been stopped on domestic flights. Years ago I went back to Saigon with my family and we had 15k cash split amongst four of us, I kept mine in at the ankle/calf using long socks. When we landed my mom “paid” the guy five bucks checking us through so we don’t get randomly pulled aside and checked. Same thing on the way back.

[Maynard]

I used to work with somebody who was regularly asked to attempt to bring contraband through check-in, as a way to test the system (they were federal, with security clearance). Apparently the hit rate for TSA was less than 1/4 of the time for things like a .45 pistol, fake brick of c4, K-bar, etc. I actually assume that the burger flippers are more on the ball.

[mxchris727]

Originally Posted by TiMSport

Having status definitely pays dividends when traveling. Ever since I got TSA Pre-check and CLEAR I never have issues. I know better than to try and bring beverages though because they'll give you that "WTF do you think you're doing?" look for sure.

Getting Global Entry for international travel is nice as well. You have to go through serious background checks to get it though. I have a buddy who can't get it because he has a shoplifting incident on his record when he was a teen, or so that is what he told me is the reason he can't obtain GE. That is outrageous and I'm skeptical about that being the only reason.

^This 100%

I have Global Entry and have never been stopped... in the US. In 2019 I was flying from Amsterdam to JKF and noticed that my boarding ticket had "XXXXXXXXX" on it compared to my buddy's. The counter did not say anything when I asked. After getting through security fine, I was actually stopped at the gate along with a few others and had to undress right there into my underwear! It was pretty uncomfortable, but at least I got to board first. Those Europeans are odd!

[TiMSport]

Originally Posted by mxchris727

^This 100%

I have Global Entry and have never been stopped... in the US. In 2019 I was flying from Amsterdam to JKF and noticed that my boarding ticket had "XXXXXXXXX" on it compared to my buddy's. The counter did not say anything when I asked. After getting through security fine, I was actually stopped at the gate along with a few others and had to undress right there into my underwear! It was pretty uncomfortable, but at least I got to board first. Those Europeans are odd!

Probably because you flew to "JKF" airport? Lol.

Yeah that's definitely a very strange and embarrassing event you had. I wonder if it was really random or not. I didn't use to travel to Europe until the past few years and I've gotten pretty lucky with my airline of choice which is Delta. I also pay a shit load for having an AMEX card with them (Delta Reserve) but I think that has gotten me some perks though I haven't been on a plane for about a year now so I am paying for nothing recently. It's certainly nice to get free upgrades to First when flying international. That's rare though.

[Sara]

Yes, I had 9mm ammunition in my purse. Completely forgot to take it out, just a few hollow points, not a case load or anything. Nevertheless I was pulled aside and questioned about it. Thankfully I had less than 10 bullets in my purse. The agent advised that if I had 10 or more I would have been detained.....so you can have 9 but not 10.... that's our first line of defense's policy.

[Mandi90TT]

Theater Security Agency.

Bunch of worthless fucking clowns...who the power to ruin your life.

[TiMSport]

Yep. This badge makes them feel like they rule the f'n world. A lot of them are a bunch of lazy clowns in a bad mood. I'd probably be in a bad mood too if that was my job though. I've seen countless incidents with moronic passengers not knowing what the fuck they're doing so I cut them a bit of slack once in a while.


I also wouldn't want to be working as airline lounge staff with the shit they put up with either. If you treat them nice, they will pay you back in kind.