In the first in Dallas in 2002 I heard my name called and was told I had been randomly selected for an enhanced security check. I was taken aside to be examined.
A beautiful, young blond woman told me to take off my belt and untuck my shirt.
She then put her hands under my shirt and slowly felt my chest, stomach and back. She then ran her hands under my collar slowly examining my neck and shoulders..
She then put her hands inside the waist band of my pants and slowly felt around inside my pants.
Then she got down on one knee and slowly went up each of my legs and then her hands slowly and thoroughly examined my thighs, crotch and butt.
She took her time and had a very sensitive touch.
Another time at Las Vegas airport an employee told me she saw something in the scan.
I stood in front of her while she sat on a chair with her face about six inches from my crotch and she slowly examined my inner thighs, crotch and butt. She first felt outside my pants and then put her hands inside my pants and felt my crotch and butt for a while.
Mostly I hate airport security but these times were ok.
How should this job be done?
Is there anyone with a smarter plan?
“Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.” - Benjamin Franklin
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The illegal searches and seizures performed by the TSA are clearly unconstitutional. The TSA needs to be disbanded and the responsibility for airport/airline safety returned to the airlines. The airlines should then implement security measures modeled after Israel’s (El-Al) methodologies. As a side note, I really believe that most of the TSA personnel are “on the lower half of the bell curve” and actually get a perverse sense of power and pleasure from abusing travelers.
I’m not kidding. Send this to the Trump Administration. It happened on their watch. Send this to the Oval Office Staff itself. We need to see if they will really respond to us.
I loathe George W. Bush with a blood passion for turning this fascist monster on us. My worst interaction with them came in 2006 at Chicago Midway. They pulled me out of line but stopped short of groping my crotch, all the while our headdressed friends skated right through. People were saying, “What did he do?” My daughter said, “I honestly have no idea. Must be their time to hassle somebody.”
Ironically, my best interaction was in Phoenix. I got waved through to the easy search line because I was wearing a Green Bay Packer shirt and the TSA guy was from Wisconsin.
Sorry you went through that, Gina.
As you may know, we are forced to stand inside it for several seconds with our arms held up as if we're common criminals
In truth, no one is required to go through the backscatter machine. The traveler can always opt out. I had a colleague who was afraid of radiation, and he always opted out. And I had to opt out a few time because of an injury that make the 'pose' impossible to accomplish. I explained nicely, and they were always quick to civilly and professionally accommodate me.
But the story does make one good point. You show up at the checkpoint with an attitude, and you are likely to get special treatment.
I’m sorry. It is wholly unfair to punish the innocent. I’d love to know how many women in hijabs or Burkhas get such a pat down, or feel-up. In Las Vegas I refused the scan and they gave me a boob feel down that was really invasive feeling. I can’t imagine the horror of having someone grope your crotch like that in the airport -— legally.
We need more profiling. El Al does it so well, just keep asking questions, throw in some simples like when is your birthday, keep asking about who you’re visiting, act like something is suspicious when it isn’t, good eye contact, see if you flush out a guilty person. It works. No more groping.
I hope you are not offended by my questions, Gina. They’re not rhetorical, I really want to know.
Why did you comply? And why didn’t you just drive home and avoid the TSA risk?
This woman is out of her mind. It doesn’t take much for the scanner to pick up something in that area. Even a small pill in a pocket can be picked up. Many people don’t empty everything because they think it will only pick up metal. If the pocket is shifted over, there you have it.
I’ve been patted down much more aggressively in almost every other country, even before 9/11. The Bahamas used open hands with a first time pat down with me, my young child, and my husband. I was like ‘whatever’. They are just doing their job and it takes about 30 seconds.
BTW, I didn’t realize it was you who was patted down. I thought I was responding to an article.
I haven’t flown since 9/11 and, after reading this thread, I’m determined never to fly again. It’s sickening where we live in a country where this is sanctioned.
While I agree that profiling, such as Israel does, is far superior to what is done in our name by the TSA, characterizing what she experienced, outrageous as it was, falls short of sexual assault. The damage this rhetoric does is apace with defining sexual assault down into the weeds of triviality. When rolling your eyes at someone becomes sexual assault in the workplace, you know we’re near the bottom of the slippery slope.
We’re aspiring to become a nation of snowflakes.
Reason I never fly.
Check out TSA pre check.
But did she demand fresh gloves?
Can’t imagine what they’d make of my double hernias (”if they don’t bother you, don’t bother them”, says the doc) - just one more reason not to fly......
Gina
I am outraged that you were subjected to that assault.
I will not allow that to happen to me.
Ever.
Disband the TSA!!!!
Gina I have been through that sh!t THREE TIMES. It is horrible, and the worse of it is standing there spraddle-legged while the freak kneels in front of you with her nose at your genital area feeling your privates while she says loudly ‘NOW I am going to touch your genital area. NOW I am going to touch inside your waistband’ nice and loud so everybody looks over at you. I also saw the stupid yellow boxes on the scan and then was groped afterwards when I had six minutes to catch my plane. They heard me say that so guess what? Full grope plus scan. It is the most goddamned humiliating thing ever. And I felt exactly the same outright rage. They have to all be fired.
Yes, they pick on people who seem the most vulnerable. They are terrified of coming across a terrorist. The last thing on earth they want is to encounter a terrorist. But yet they have to do something to justify their pensions and salary and perks so they haul over young women, women alone, people with injuries and in wheelchairs.
I decided on a defensive technique; wear a hijab! They won’t touch you! I am not kidding. I ordered one from Amazon.
I had the exact same thing happen to me, it is calculated, to give the appearance that they are not profiling people of color. I was just thankful it happened to me and not my 21 year old daughter.
I got TSA precheck, which allows you to avoid the "rape machine."