"The TSA Took My Baby" Stupid Airline Passenger Trick

[Rob562]

I subscribe to a blog by a syndicated travel columnist (Christopher Elliot). He's made a few posts lately about a recent incident in Atlanta. A woman (who has her own blog) wrote about the TSA taking her son away from her and out of her sight during their additional screening at the security checkpoint.

I'll let her blog do the talking:
http://www.mybottlesup.com/tsa-agents-took-my-son/

After a fury of posts by readers of her blog and angry letters to the TSA, the TSA responded to the incident on its own blog, denying her claims, and providing video proof that prove that what she said didn't happen:
http://www.tsa.gov/blog/2009/10/respons ... y-son.html

Lastly, her "apology" on her blog, but while trying to save face and not look like a complete neurotic b****, she still claims that the video is incomplete and doesn't show things that happened....
http://www.mybottlesup.com/my-apologies/


Sometimes I don't know what the world is coming to... So next time you go through security, as big of a pain in the ass as it is, remember that they also have to put up with THESE kind of people, too.

-Rob

[darph nader]

Way to win the hearts and minds of the TSA. "What do you mean he too short and can't ride? He rode it 3 times already today."

[drcorey]

They don't let rats on the plane either. my old gf raises show rats and was checking in with her rats in one of those little soft pet carry bags, they asked her what was in the bag, she said rats, the person looked in the bag and saw 3 sets of beady little eyes looking back at her and said no way.
so she had to rent a car and go to the show that way.

[Cheshire Figment]

Several things still wrong with her "apology".

Looking at the time stamps on the TSA videos shows that 9:17 elapsed from where she is first showb approaching the conveyor belt and the time she is show leaving.

If she was connecting from another flight, why was she outside security?

If she had been at the checkpoint 45 minutes before her flight, and it took less than 10 minutes to go through security, why did she only have five minutes left to catch her plane. Or maybe the agent said the plane will start boarding in five minutes.

Maybe if she had not spent so much time calling people and tweeting she would have had more time available. Or was she waiting for the Xanax to kick in?

There is a really long thread about this on Disboards Community Board, and just about every post shows she is wrong.

[delsdad]

If she was connecting from another flight, why was she outside security?

If she had been at the checkpoint 45 minutes before her flight, and it took less than 10 minutes to go through security, why did she only have five minutes left to catch her plane. Or maybe the agent said the plane will start boarding in five minutes.

.

Having just passed through Hartsfield on Saturday, I learned that even connecting passengers MUST go through a screening checkpoint before connecting to another flight...IF they have arrived on an international flight.

It surprised me to go through this, however it makes sense.
When arriving on an international flight, passengers must collect their luggage before clearing customs (after clearing immigration).
Once customs is cleared, you hand your bags in at the recheck belt to forward them to the final destination, or to the curbside carousel if your final destination is Atlanta.
After that you must be re-screened, as you have had access to the checked bags.
The bags where your sharp objects were safely stowed.
You might have removed those sharp objects in the opportunity between customs and the re-check belt. you are no longer a secured passenger.
Thus you need to be re-screened before being allowed into the concourses to head to your next flight, or to the train to collect your bags at the claim and head for a taxi or your car. .

Makes sense in hind sight, but at the time it was not a terribly welcome step to go through. But it is absolutely necessary.

[Big Wallaby]

Also, I am willing to believe that the TSA did not fudge the numbers on the time code. It sounds amazing to me for this lady to do the many things she did in the 20 seconds and 15 seconds, except for the few minutes that she was waiting in line before getting to the metal detector.

Somehow, when they took her son and when she was on the phone, they took the time to make people walking by (getting to their flights) to either stop or rewalk their exact path so they could smoothly cut things she obviously did during the video footage out. Kudos to the TSA Video Editing Department on making it all seamless. Trust me, I watched this video three times, once after reading her first letter, and twice after her second where she makes these claims that the TSA edited the video (okay, she didn't come out and say it, but...), and nowhere is there any mark of a cut. So either

A) The TSA is also a high-budget film company that uses CCTV cameras for all their work, or

B) she's a lying sack of [CENSORED].

I vote for option B.


Oh, on another note... should this really need to be on the TSA site? There was a link under Past Articles: http://www.tsa.gov/blog/2009/10/grenade ... point.html

[turkeyham]

When I went through the security check point at San Diego, I did see a lady and her baby in her arms. They did go through the machine and it buzzed. They were both together and the child was never taken away.

While waiting for my flight in Houston, I did see another security check for those coming off international flights to connecting flights. I believe you should have at least 3 to 4 hours to change a plane.

[Alyssa3467]

Oh, on another note... should this really need to be on the TSA site? There was a link under Past Articles: http://www.tsa.gov/blog/2009/10/grenade ... point.html

The last grenade pictured at http://www.tsa.gov/blog/2009/07/can-i-t ... plane.html is especially dangerous. :D:

[Cranbiz]

Ah, yes. The holy hand grenade. Especially effective on the killer bunny rabbit. :holyhg: :deadbun:

[BRWombat]

Ah, yes. The holy hand grenade. Especially effective on the killer bunny rabbit. :holyhg: :deadbun:

But that's no ordinary rabbit!