what is a weapon?

[Delija]

Tomorrow morning I have a very early flight (original flight today canceled due to the "non-hurricane").

The rules keep changing. Right after 9.11 I flew and I had a drink at the bar inside the security area. The bartender told me they took his little plastic toothpick kind of things that they put through an olive. Imagine hijacking a plane with a tiny plastic tooth pick. Allah would really have to be on your side!!

More recently I had a folding scissors taken....no big deal, one of those tiny things for cutting fingernails, nose hairs, hang nails, whatever. Also not much of an apparent threat.

Now nail clippers are OK, and even with a little pointed file they are OK. Those files compared to a plastic toothpick would be like a BMG compared to an airsoft pistol.

Now I have the smallest sized Swiss Army Knife on my key chain. Cheap, but not that easy to find, and I don't want it confiscated. So I started "Googling" and I guess I'll be leaving the thing home.

But I found this Spopes thing and it blew me away. A Congressional Medal of Honor was "suspicious"!!! LOL.

How much do these TSA screeners get paid?

http://www.snopes.com/military/medal.htm

Peace,
D.

[TheWillis]

just bring along your sharpest pencil (for doing crosswords of course) and an ink pen for a backup, oops i mean writing businesss checks and youll be the biggest threat on the plane. no weapons worries at all.

I wouldnt want my swiss taken, those are greeat little tools.

[one-eyed-fatman]

More recently I had a folding scissors taken....no big deal, one of those tiny things for cutting fingernails, nose hairs, hang nails, whatever. Also not much of an apparent threat.

Best you leave your nose hairs at home. Do you really want to take the chance of having them confiscated?

[ajamesp51]

TheWillis a prison shank

[TheWillis]

shank wouldnt work, the tape handle and crudely sharpened metal would give it away in a heartbeat, pencil is crossword ninja style LOL

[JimLongley]

Originally Posted by Delija

How much do these TSA screeners get paid?

Peace,
D.

What difference does that make? WE don't get paid enough.

Leave the Swiss Army knife at home or in your checked baggage, as well as anything else that appears to be a knife. While, as a screener, I agree that some of the regulations are a little over the top, remember that the 9/11 hijackers were armed with box cutters, equivalent to knives with one inch blades.

We get no choice in what we enforce, that comes down from on high somewhere, and if we are caught "bending" the rules, we are out of a job. I am a laid off telecom engineer, I have not been able to get back into telecom since my layoff in 2001 and TSA was my first job after my layoff, I started 9/2002 and was laid off 11/2001. I make less than a third of my old base pay, and I never used to make as little as my base pay. I am one among many former engineers and managers who are stuck in the same dilemma, laid off with no prospects of getting decent pay, unemployment running out, taking the first available job just to keep food on the table, having to sell our house and move because we couldn't afford it, etc, etc, etc.

And then we get people who really ought to know better wondering how much we make as if that had anything to do with the laws and rules swe have to enforce.

How can you use "peace" as your sign off, when you spread such discord?

[hobocircus]

Coming back from Hawaii a few years ago my wife had her tweezers taken from her.

I had some full size Hawaii license plates in my backpack and they didn't say a word about them. No problem and I brought them on board. I'm not going to go into detail how a few metal license plates could be used as a weapon, but I am sure most can figure it out.

[[TASF]Overkill]

I recently made the trip to NY by plane, something I haven't had the heart to post about....

My God, I was pissed off at the "securitty" stuff.

My world is turned upside down so that someone can feel better that my shoes don't have a knife stuck in them.

But boy, no one checked my gigantic green water bottle which could have been full of Sarin, VX, whatever...

[j2fast]

This is a response I posted in another travel/TSA related thread.

http://www.hs2000talk.com/viewtopic....733&highlight=

It is not directed at a specific person here/now; just my thoughts/opinions then and now.

Originally Posted by j2fast

I travel for a living, 99% of that travel is via air (all since 9/11). I have to agree with Jim in that the author of this article could have done a much better job. While I agree that some areas of government don't spend our money wisely and I'm sure at some point the TSA has made an unwise spending decisions I think overall they have done well.

I normally breeze through security will little delay, even if I end up standing in long lines at certain airports they normally are processed as quickly as possible (30 minutes or less 99.9% of the time). The vast majority of the problems I see are caused by the travelers.

Rant ON (not directed at anyone specific):

It always amazes me the amount of presumeably half intelligent adults who fail to read posted signs about what you need to get through security. For example their friggin boarding pass (hello, how ya gettin on the plane), also how about removing those big a$$ earrings and your watch (yes, metal objects will set off the "metal" detector). Besides the signs there are screeners walking around telling people its best to remove their shoes, they have to remove jackets, and take your freakin laptop or camcorder out of its bag, etc, etc, etc!!! If you're vaugly aware of your surroundings yours and everyone around you lifes will be better...

For those that ask me every freaking week, YES the screeners are right. I am taking off my shoes because it makes not only my life easier but yours as well because I get through security faster.

Rant OFF

Basically I think Jim and all of the other TSA folks as a whole are doing a great job. It's the travelers to wrapped up in themselves (or plain dumb) or the ones the see the screeners as an inconvinience that are the the real problem with the security process.

One thing I am confused by is the differences in standard operating procedures at different airports. Some palces I have to stand in line to have my checked bags scanned some not (is it magically happening behind the curtain?). Some places make people even take off their flip-flops (MCI, security lines not man'd by TSA) and others let just about any type of shoes go by without question.

[cekxd40]

Originally Posted by JimLongley

What difference does that make? WE don't get paid enough.

Leave the Swiss Army knife at home or in your checked baggage, as well as anything else that appears to be a knife. While, as a screener, I agree that some of the regulations are a little over the top, remember that the 9/11 hijackers were armed with box cutters, equivalent to knives with one inch blades.

We get no choice in what we enforce, that comes down from on high somewhere, and if we are caught "bending" the rules, we are out of a job. I am a laid off telecom engineer, I have not been able to get back into telecom since my layoff in 2001 and TSA was my first job after my layoff, I started 9/2002 and was laid off 11/2001. I make less than a third of my old base pay, and I never used to make as little as my base pay. I am one among many former engineers and managers who are stuck in the same dilemma, laid off with no prospects of getting decent pay, unemployment running out, taking the first available job just to keep food on the table, having to sell our house and move because we couldn't afford it, etc, etc, etc.

And then we get people who really ought to know better wondering how much we make as if that had anything to do with the laws and rules swe have to enforce.

How can you use "peace" as your sign off, when you spread such discord?

Sorry to hear about the layoff Jim...I wouldn't want to be a Screener I could see there would be alot of borderline objects.

It doesnt matter if its a knock down drag out argument...he never changes his sign off.