Things people bring on planes

Any fishing expedition conducted anywhere will yield all kinds of things other than fish.

It is amazing how so many people try to bring all these items onto planes. Don’t we all know what security they have at airports now? TSA does make us safer by finding knives and pepper spray but not household items or marijuana in peanut butter. However, if they find something illegal they will do something about it….like call the cops! TSA will not arrest you but the police will. Despite all the hatred towards TSA, we really do have to thank them for keeping us safer on planes.

OK, yes, the TSA is pretty damned useless, and incredibly annoying, but did anyone else spot that "catch" of snakes down pants? Good lord! So, all that groping does pay off then..

Last April, TSA managed to miss the 16 oz bottle of soda in my purse, but confiscated my plastic container of homemade potato salad, because it was "pasty" and might contain explosives. When I asked if I could eat some before throwing it out, I was told I'd have to take it back to the beginning of the security line. Imagine that - they were going to let me take the explosives back to the beginning of the line! GREAT FUCKING CATCH, TSA.

Compass Rule: Assess the Big Picture before deciding.
Any system can be beaten. Is it worth doing it? Nope. Most people should always assess the situation in the terms of risk/reward and profit/loss, before ever thinking of strategizing the approach.

As I commented on another air-travel article, a colleague of mine got on a trans-atlantic flight from Ottawa to LHR and from LHR to Vienna, with two cans of chunky beef stew in his carry-on. It wasn't deemed a security threat until he tried to clear screening to get from Vienna to the Balkans.
Pfewf! That was a close one.

You're correct that 1-2% failure rate on firearm detection is unacceptable. But let's be fair here... 1/725 is 0.1% to 0.2%. Still not great, but not 1-2%. It's easy enough to find fault with TSA without exaggerating the ones they have.

Well, I have had mostarda (a kind of italian jam) confiscated, and it's way more dense than peanut butter. And twice been shouted at for keeping -- the horror! -- a hankerchief in my pocket, and then gone through a 'naked scanner'. I agree with the post about cost-effectiveness. This is not 'spare money' we're spending here, it's diverted from somewhere else. Is it worth it?

I want to know the number of actual credible attacks deterred or circumvented by the TSA, not the number of stupid people with no malicious intent that they catch.

I recall the uproar over $700 hammers and $3,000 toilets being purchased by our military some years ago. TSA has shattered those money squandering records.

By my math, 725 "firearms" plus those on the website, and another 42 or so other security breaches adds up to around 800 "catches" in the past 9 months. Let's say they make 1,100 "catches" a year.

With a total budget exceeding $8 billion, that works out to a breathtaking $7.2 million per "catch". This most definitely relegates DND procurement to the minor leagues. In contrast, while no figures are available, I suspect El Al alone probably does considerably better on less than 1% of TSA's budget.

One can only weep for the food, medical care, and education for our children that is being diverted into TSA's monumental money pit.

[As an aside, I must question the "firearms" numbers. Were these complete, loaded, operable weapons? Or were they perhaps improperly declared parts of broken down weapons being transported separately as many sportsmen do to discourage theft?]

As frequent flier, I am disgusted by the current state of airport security. It is ineffective, abusive, humiliating and sometimes criminal. In the past 9 months, 45 TSA screeners have been arrested for crimes ranging from rape and child molestation to assault and theft. This begs the question as to how many have gone undetected. TSA acknowledges that there have been thousands of reports of theft from bags yet only 14 charged. It appears obvious that the agency is concealing criminal activity within their ranks.

In the same 9 months, there have been 43 reported security failures. So how many times have “dangerous” items gone undetected, and why was there no disaster?

The fundamental flaw in TSA security is simply a lack of accountability. They often sexually assault passengers during pat downs through error or ill intent but are never held responsible for these transgressions. This only reinforces the arrogance and poor training of the screeners. Even police are held to some standard of conduct when making arrests yet TSA has carte blanche to do anything they wish with impunity.

TSA is deeply flawed and its management is incompetent, including Pistole. The agency needs to be dismantled and those responsible for this travesty held accountable.

I'll say it here since I couldn't say it then without causing serious trouble for myself while two arrogantly smiling idiots searched me, every belonging, and piece of paper with me while at a major east coast airport. The two had to be some of the dumbest individuals I have ever met. I couldn't help but think to myself "affirmative action for the dumb and incompetent!!" they were so concerned about a couple of half translated short poems like they were state secrets that they missed the three things(not threatening)that could have caused me trouble. Never have i have been violated like that. What a disgrace!! Needless to say i didn't feel safer!!! Please tell me where they find these idiots..?????????? If that is our safety net then we are in trouble, TSA will never stop any determined threat with the idiots they employ. Maybe it's just who those kind of jobs attract??, i don't know, am I off, or does anyone have anything positive to say?

Here in Australia the authorities are on top of the biggest threat to aviation safety of all: aerosol cans without lids on them.

Yep; over the years I have twice had cans of shaving cream seized at the airport because I neglected to put a lid on them: once at Melbourne and once at Coolangatta (the second time I forgot the lid in my hotel room).

Any hijackers who intend to spray innocent passengers with shaving cream and deodorant don't bother coming to Australia!

TSA are a joke, the unemployable tasked to do the impossible. Thank God for pillows and meditation.

Can anybody here read the banner on this web page without laughing? "Your Safety is Our Priority." Yeah, right....

Are we safer because TSA stopped passengers from carrying marijuana in peanut butter or cash in underwear?