When it comes to security, I think the biggest problem is that, presuming the local underground group of military aged males is only after headcount (as opposed to the optics of a hijacking), the lines at the TSA checkpoints in major airports are tailor-made.
My beloved hates to go through TSA with me because I "visibly fulminate" about the wonderful target of opportunity several hundred obviously-disarmed American citizens makes. I finally paid $75 for my good-guy card just to get through more quickly. One of these days, we're gonna have an incident where a team of badguys shows up at a TSA checkpoint and proceeds to do what the bear did to the buckwheat. And the day that happens, not a single lesson will be learned by ANYONE involved: "Well, we just need to set up a checkpoint by the door to make sure that everyone that gets to TSA is disarmed." <mumblemumbleidiotsmumblemumble>
I remember having a conversation about that with my mom some years back. I was griping about how the TSA line was a self-termination bomber's wet dream and she said the solution was to move the line outside.
My response: "Eve better: truck bomb."
She didn't have a come-back to that one. And now she agrees with me that the whole thing is a fucking joke. Though she still gets upset when I use "foul language" to describe it.
You're right. At some point, we'll see someone who's willing to stand in line with a backpack IED and detonate it for the maximum body count. It's maddening that our "betters" refuse to see that as a possibility.
Not TSA, but related. The locals hired to do security at BIAP were an interesting bunch. One day I'm flying out, and in my usual end of the line position - no rush, the plane ain't leaving until the last contractor is on the flight. Working my way up, the guy in line in front of me tosses his bag on the second X-ray machine (the one to get into the 'secure' portion of the airport) where a 40ish female Iraqi asks him, in heavily accented English, 'You have bomb?' he freaks out and stutters out 'No.' She then gives him a malicious grin and asks, 'You want bomb?' He's damn near peeing his pants at this point, 'No, no I don't want a bomb.'
She looks at me.
'You have bomb?'
'No,' I answer in my best laconic drawl.
'You want bomb?'
I think about it before answering.
'Not this flight.'
'You change mind, come see me, ok?' she says with a wink.
After more than 40 years as an international business traveler, 57 countries traversed/worked in/visited, it has always amazed and irritated me, how bad the whole TSA system in the U.S. has been since inception.
Long before the silliness and total lack of judgement by any government employee at any level set in as a "system", I used to board my domestic flight with a knife on belt and any tools/equipment needed on the particular business call either in my pocket or carry on. More than once I saw what I will term "Texans" aboard with those gaudy belt buckle functional .22 or .45 derringers guns nested as the centerpiece of the buckle. No one batted an eye. Granted it was the 1970's but still, people were rational and there were few issues with crazies on flights (never encountered one until a single event in the mid 1980's).
International flights in the 1980's were a bit more stringent, but again, the carry on with tools was a common occurrence and the flight and ground crew would ask what I was carrying and pretty much had no issue with the stuff. The people were sizing me up as we spoke and pretty quickly determined I was a tech/engineer/field rep./Tech sales and legitimately needed what was carried. End of story.
Boarding to go to some of the warmer (as in potential trouble spot) destinations such as Israel or SE Asia I could tell the security guy at the gate was more than just an airline employee, the questions were pointed and designed to detect any hesitation by the traveler. If you did what you claimed and were fluent with the business, it was a fast OK and pass onto the aircraft. Maybe some of these folks were customs types, but in general I considered them more along the lines of security/intelligence screeners either for the airline or local airport
It has always amazed me that the U.S. did not employ and insert trained questioners at the customs screen point, gate or even just before entry to a boarding lounge. With one or two armed cops nearby in case of an issue, the process is pretty painless and IMHO far more accurate and safe than the circus that is the business of x-rays for all, take off shoes and belt and general panic over anything the dolts do not recognize in your carry on (an oscilloscope, electronics boards with big honking capacitors or set of precision gauges is not a bomb guys).
Some individuals were pulled aside and given a more rigorous inspection, but that without inconveniencing the full 200 plus passengers boarding much less everyone entering a bloody airport
Might there be a slip up on occasion? Sure, all humans are fallible, but by the same token those of us boarding also had skin in the game and anyone starting to act up on a flight would have had a few of us others on board leaning on them pretty quick.
If the airlines themselves are responsible, they will take much greater pains to do things this way. The wrong way is letting it all fall on the general taxpayer at great expense. inconvenience and delay, reflecting zero responsibility to the carrier is a major flaw.
Retired now, still travel but have ever less patience for the circus.
The funny thing is that when I travel to the USA, I do have to have a conversation with a security guy in order to board the flight. Typically this is in the check in line, and they'll put a sticker on my Passport. Or, one has to go to the gate for the same process if they're transiting from another international flight.
It has always amazed me that the U.S. did not employ and insert trained questioners at the customs screen point, gate or even just before entry to a boarding lounge.
---
They did that because they didn't want to offend the co-religionists of the people who turned those planes into missiles. "Religion of peace" and all that absurdity. If it's random (which is also an absurdity) then you can say to them, "See? We xray granny's walker, too. Honest, we're not interested in inconveniencing you, Mr Certain-type-of-person."
The only time I felt good about being picked out for random extra security was when the guy walked down the line and picked out EVERY unaccompanied male of a certain age AND the entire family of Muslims (the woman was in a full burqa). (He then asked the last two people in line, a pair of 30-ish women, if they wouldn't mind also going through, since he had a quota.)
Having had to travel by air for work in a past life, I wondered why I was called out for secondary inspection at the Buffalo, NY Aerodrome.
I was keenly observing the TSA agent, a rather portly female, absentmindeldy rubbing a piece of dry filter paper all over my carryon and computer bag (all zippers closed). When she answered my inquiry as to what she was doing, as she deposited the filter paper in a scanner device, she replied "Looking for nitrates." I did not point out that dry filter paper wasn't going to pick up trace residue.
As a HazMat expert, I knew immediately that meant they were looking for traces of Really Fun Chemicals. I made a mental note that if the dreaded boarding process was to proceed smoothly, without drama, I needed to:
Avoid walking across commercial or residential landscape that was fertilized.
Not wear the same shoes going through the airport that I wore in my ammo reloading area.
I have thought all along that the TSA was created not because of any need, but because of a widespread demand that the government “do something”. Bush, and his administration, likely knew that the next bunch of terrorists who tried to take over a planeload of Americans would get dog piled and stuffed in the overhead luggage compartment, in somewhat used condition. So, the TSA was created with not much attention paid, and quickly filled up with the kind of agents other agencies wanted to see the back of.
There is an argument that the correct response to 9/11 would have been to issue every passenger a Louisville Slugger when boarding a plane.
Next hijacking attempt: "In the name of <insert deity here>, I am commandeering this aircraft...<wham wham WHAM WHAM WHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAM WHAM...... ¡¡¡**WHAM**!!!>"
A baseball bat is almost to deploy for maximum effectiveness inside of an airplane. Knives, though - bring your own, or you can pick one up while boarding.
There are those of us who- I’m one - who should not mess with firearms in confused circumstances. I’m naturally clumsy, so I don’t own either a gun or a power saw; I do quite enough damage to myself with kitchen knives. I’ve enjoyed shooting a small rifle on a range, but not enough to dedicate the money and time.
I ceased flying decades ago. In a mass-shooter incident I’d look for something simple to hit them with. If I didn’t just freeze.
Years ago, when flying from somewhere, I used my Dillon range backpack for a carryon. I didn’t realize until I got home that there was a box of .38 Special in the bottom compartment. It went through TSA without a problem, luckily for me!
I remember Neil's article when he had is iPhone brazenly stolen at the checkpoint by a TSA person. They guy just picked Neil's phone up out of the bin and walked off with it. Neil immediately started yelling that the guy was stealing his phone. Other TSA personnel were like "Who? I didn't see it, it must not have happened." Neil raised such a fuss that the supervisor in the area told him to quite down or he'd have the police come over, clearly in an attempt to pressure Neil into letting his phone get stolen. Neil was like "get them! If you don't I will!" The supervisor called the police over, and Neil filed a theft complaint. The supervisor tried to claim ignorance "I have no idea who it could have been", which didn't wash with the cops, since Neil had a good description, and the supervisor HAS to know who's working in the area. The cops brought up the security footage, basically forced the supervisor to ID the guy, and produce the thief's address. The article I read was written on the day, and Neil hadn't gotten a resolution yet. But it was clear to Neil that TSA personnel were complicit in allowing their coworkers to steal from passengers.
Started with empty non-range bags and still checked 2x for any strays and it was good.
(that prob invoked Murphy)
Threw on my Carhartt vest and proceeded to be late to the airport due to someone insisting we didn't have to be there, "That early".
Unloaded the bags in the drop off lane chaos that is PHL and I happened to stick my right hand into the vest pocket and...Fu...Bingo.
A single 7.62x39 dud from the last range trip wanted to go adventuring & had tagged along. It got quietly put under the back seat carpet & I proceeded to go deal with the normal joys of commercial flight and rescheduling the flight down.
And it doesn't even have to be actual boomstick fodder. In 1994, I took a trip to old Mehico with a young lady I went to high school with. I knew I would want extra batteries for my cd player and digital camera, so I threw an unopened 20 pack into my carryon. Guess what that double row of batteries looks like under the X-Rays of the time? That would be wadcutter ammo, and the pre-TSA security got somewhat agitated....
Israel does not have a TSA, and they don't make people stand in lines at a checkpoint to get on a commercial aircraft. The Israelis understand that a whole bunch of people waiting in line constitute a TARGET.
The Israelis profile, and they look at how people behave. They are far more successful in avoiding security problems than we are.
The TSA looks at stuff, not at people. For that reason, they are going to overlook threats.
I have been groped so many times by TSA agents wearing hijabs that I have no confidence in the agency to even begin to keep me safe.
I've worked at various nuclear power plants over my working career, so going through security for access to sensitive areas was a daily occurrence. And no having "security" contractors, paid minimum wage didn't give me good feeling about our plant security either. Having put up with plant access requirements, TSA screening never really bothered me. Yeah, I knew it was for appearances rather than providing real security but one does what one must. I got a huge laugh after a TSA Union flack was talking about how the TSA agents got "months" of training so ICE agents couldn't just step into TSA position to speed up the long waits due to the Schumer shutdown. My opinion was that just about anybody could be trained to be a TSA agent with about three days of training, but that's just me.
When thinking about jurisdictions and who may be the charging prosecutor I am always mindful of that caveat in UCMJ Article 120(g)(1)(A) "the penetration, however slight...". That same definition applied to a spent shell casing is frightening.
Do you know the scanners were designed by men? Every time I go to the AP I get the extra search because of where my fat is centered; stomach, hips, thighs. One time I just had the dress on and panties, no bra. I was told I had options a pat down search or strip search. I nicely said I have on my dress and panties, that's it. I got the pat down because the scanner highlighted my fatty areas. yeah flying is not happening anytime soon.
I believe it! Hey, every time I go through TSA, I get patted down around the chest and back: "You have something metallic in the center of your back." Yes, I do. It's called a bra. Lots of women wear them...
The new scanners give me HORRIBLE vertigo and migraines. I've got pre check & use a cane. We're not supposed to go through the new ones & if they try, I refuse.
Knew a truck driver when I was working for Kick Back and Relax who, as occasionally happened in the land of Sun and Fun, got blowed the fuck up. His bag was in the truck with him. Two weeks later he went on R&R, and when he got to the US, he had a nice long almost missed his connecting flight with TSA about why his bag was setting off both WonderMutt and the nice wipes they'd wiped his bag down with.
A former co-worker from Indonesia once told me that, if I should ever fly to his homeland, to keep my carry on bags in hand and zipped tight until I was though security. He said that, since his country reserves a firing squad for drug dealers, flyers so inclined sometimes lose their nerve at the last moment and try to switch out their contraband into the bags of distracted and weary fellow travelers.
I never liked to fly. Haven't flown since 1986, and that time it was military related. TSA is just the icing on the cake of reasons I'll never fly again. Need to get another charm for my DNR bracelet that says, "No Life Flights. I promise reimbursement for a taxi and a $100 tip".
TSA is similar to masking. It’s a symbol that we are under threat, but it’s entirely useless as a means of achieving safety from the fake threat.
aka Security Theater. Gun free zone signs qualify too.
When it comes to security, I think the biggest problem is that, presuming the local underground group of military aged males is only after headcount (as opposed to the optics of a hijacking), the lines at the TSA checkpoints in major airports are tailor-made.
My beloved hates to go through TSA with me because I "visibly fulminate" about the wonderful target of opportunity several hundred obviously-disarmed American citizens makes. I finally paid $75 for my good-guy card just to get through more quickly. One of these days, we're gonna have an incident where a team of badguys shows up at a TSA checkpoint and proceeds to do what the bear did to the buckwheat. And the day that happens, not a single lesson will be learned by ANYONE involved: "Well, we just need to set up a checkpoint by the door to make sure that everyone that gets to TSA is disarmed." <mumblemumbleidiotsmumblemumble>
I remember having a conversation about that with my mom some years back. I was griping about how the TSA line was a self-termination bomber's wet dream and she said the solution was to move the line outside.
My response: "Eve better: truck bomb."
She didn't have a come-back to that one. And now she agrees with me that the whole thing is a fucking joke. Though she still gets upset when I use "foul language" to describe it.
You're right. At some point, we'll see someone who's willing to stand in line with a backpack IED and detonate it for the maximum body count. It's maddening that our "betters" refuse to see that as a possibility.
Not TSA, but related. The locals hired to do security at BIAP were an interesting bunch. One day I'm flying out, and in my usual end of the line position - no rush, the plane ain't leaving until the last contractor is on the flight. Working my way up, the guy in line in front of me tosses his bag on the second X-ray machine (the one to get into the 'secure' portion of the airport) where a 40ish female Iraqi asks him, in heavily accented English, 'You have bomb?' he freaks out and stutters out 'No.' She then gives him a malicious grin and asks, 'You want bomb?' He's damn near peeing his pants at this point, 'No, no I don't want a bomb.'
She looks at me.
'You have bomb?'
'No,' I answer in my best laconic drawl.
'You want bomb?'
I think about it before answering.
'Not this flight.'
'You change mind, come see me, ok?' she says with a wink.
How do you make a shocked face with text, again? Yikes.
Ian, you have hit on a very sore subject with me.
After more than 40 years as an international business traveler, 57 countries traversed/worked in/visited, it has always amazed and irritated me, how bad the whole TSA system in the U.S. has been since inception.
Long before the silliness and total lack of judgement by any government employee at any level set in as a "system", I used to board my domestic flight with a knife on belt and any tools/equipment needed on the particular business call either in my pocket or carry on. More than once I saw what I will term "Texans" aboard with those gaudy belt buckle functional .22 or .45 derringers guns nested as the centerpiece of the buckle. No one batted an eye. Granted it was the 1970's but still, people were rational and there were few issues with crazies on flights (never encountered one until a single event in the mid 1980's).
International flights in the 1980's were a bit more stringent, but again, the carry on with tools was a common occurrence and the flight and ground crew would ask what I was carrying and pretty much had no issue with the stuff. The people were sizing me up as we spoke and pretty quickly determined I was a tech/engineer/field rep./Tech sales and legitimately needed what was carried. End of story.
Boarding to go to some of the warmer (as in potential trouble spot) destinations such as Israel or SE Asia I could tell the security guy at the gate was more than just an airline employee, the questions were pointed and designed to detect any hesitation by the traveler. If you did what you claimed and were fluent with the business, it was a fast OK and pass onto the aircraft. Maybe some of these folks were customs types, but in general I considered them more along the lines of security/intelligence screeners either for the airline or local airport
It has always amazed me that the U.S. did not employ and insert trained questioners at the customs screen point, gate or even just before entry to a boarding lounge. With one or two armed cops nearby in case of an issue, the process is pretty painless and IMHO far more accurate and safe than the circus that is the business of x-rays for all, take off shoes and belt and general panic over anything the dolts do not recognize in your carry on (an oscilloscope, electronics boards with big honking capacitors or set of precision gauges is not a bomb guys).
Some individuals were pulled aside and given a more rigorous inspection, but that without inconveniencing the full 200 plus passengers boarding much less everyone entering a bloody airport
Might there be a slip up on occasion? Sure, all humans are fallible, but by the same token those of us boarding also had skin in the game and anyone starting to act up on a flight would have had a few of us others on board leaning on them pretty quick.
If the airlines themselves are responsible, they will take much greater pains to do things this way. The wrong way is letting it all fall on the general taxpayer at great expense. inconvenience and delay, reflecting zero responsibility to the carrier is a major flaw.
Retired now, still travel but have ever less patience for the circus.
If I remember right, that style of questioning is part of the foundation of Israeli airport security, isn't it?
The funny thing is that when I travel to the USA, I do have to have a conversation with a security guy in order to board the flight. Typically this is in the check in line, and they'll put a sticker on my Passport. Or, one has to go to the gate for the same process if they're transiting from another international flight.
It has always amazed me that the U.S. did not employ and insert trained questioners at the customs screen point, gate or even just before entry to a boarding lounge.
---
They did that because they didn't want to offend the co-religionists of the people who turned those planes into missiles. "Religion of peace" and all that absurdity. If it's random (which is also an absurdity) then you can say to them, "See? We xray granny's walker, too. Honest, we're not interested in inconveniencing you, Mr Certain-type-of-person."
The only time I felt good about being picked out for random extra security was when the guy walked down the line and picked out EVERY unaccompanied male of a certain age AND the entire family of Muslims (the woman was in a full burqa). (He then asked the last two people in line, a pair of 30-ish women, if they wouldn't mind also going through, since he had a quota.)
Having had to travel by air for work in a past life, I wondered why I was called out for secondary inspection at the Buffalo, NY Aerodrome.
I was keenly observing the TSA agent, a rather portly female, absentmindeldy rubbing a piece of dry filter paper all over my carryon and computer bag (all zippers closed). When she answered my inquiry as to what she was doing, as she deposited the filter paper in a scanner device, she replied "Looking for nitrates." I did not point out that dry filter paper wasn't going to pick up trace residue.
As a HazMat expert, I knew immediately that meant they were looking for traces of Really Fun Chemicals. I made a mental note that if the dreaded boarding process was to proceed smoothly, without drama, I needed to:
Avoid walking across commercial or residential landscape that was fertilized.
Not wear the same shoes going through the airport that I wore in my ammo reloading area.
I have thought all along that the TSA was created not because of any need, but because of a widespread demand that the government “do something”. Bush, and his administration, likely knew that the next bunch of terrorists who tried to take over a planeload of Americans would get dog piled and stuffed in the overhead luggage compartment, in somewhat used condition. So, the TSA was created with not much attention paid, and quickly filled up with the kind of agents other agencies wanted to see the back of.
There is an argument that the correct response to 9/11 would have been to issue every passenger a Louisville Slugger when boarding a plane.
Next hijacking attempt: "In the name of <insert deity here>, I am commandeering this aircraft...<wham wham WHAM WHAM WHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAM WHAM...... ¡¡¡**WHAM**!!!>"
Coroner: "Huh... let's call that a suicide."
A baseball bat is almost to deploy for maximum effectiveness inside of an airplane. Knives, though - bring your own, or you can pick one up while boarding.
Every United States of America citizen. Armed with whatever they feel comfortable with; me, my 1911 in 45 ACP and a spare mag or 2 will do.
There are those of us who- I’m one - who should not mess with firearms in confused circumstances. I’m naturally clumsy, so I don’t own either a gun or a power saw; I do quite enough damage to myself with kitchen knives. I’ve enjoyed shooting a small rifle on a range, but not enough to dedicate the money and time.
I ceased flying decades ago. In a mass-shooter incident I’d look for something simple to hit them with. If I didn’t just freeze.
I was planning to spatchcock the terrorist with my fancy camera, then pass the hat to replace it
Years ago, when flying from somewhere, I used my Dillon range backpack for a carryon. I didn’t realize until I got home that there was a box of .38 Special in the bottom compartment. It went through TSA without a problem, luckily for me!
Ian, I cannot improve on the late Neil Boortz's description of TSA when it was implemented:
"This is what happens when you hand a badge and a gun to the people McDonald's refused to hire."
I remember Neil's article when he had is iPhone brazenly stolen at the checkpoint by a TSA person. They guy just picked Neil's phone up out of the bin and walked off with it. Neil immediately started yelling that the guy was stealing his phone. Other TSA personnel were like "Who? I didn't see it, it must not have happened." Neil raised such a fuss that the supervisor in the area told him to quite down or he'd have the police come over, clearly in an attempt to pressure Neil into letting his phone get stolen. Neil was like "get them! If you don't I will!" The supervisor called the police over, and Neil filed a theft complaint. The supervisor tried to claim ignorance "I have no idea who it could have been", which didn't wash with the cops, since Neil had a good description, and the supervisor HAS to know who's working in the area. The cops brought up the security footage, basically forced the supervisor to ID the guy, and produce the thief's address. The article I read was written on the day, and Neil hadn't gotten a resolution yet. But it was clear to Neil that TSA personnel were complicit in allowing their coworkers to steal from passengers.
Dodged this very bullet 10? years ago.
Flight to San Antonio from PHL.
Started with empty non-range bags and still checked 2x for any strays and it was good.
(that prob invoked Murphy)
Threw on my Carhartt vest and proceeded to be late to the airport due to someone insisting we didn't have to be there, "That early".
Unloaded the bags in the drop off lane chaos that is PHL and I happened to stick my right hand into the vest pocket and...Fu...Bingo.
A single 7.62x39 dud from the last range trip wanted to go adventuring & had tagged along. It got quietly put under the back seat carpet & I proceeded to go deal with the normal joys of commercial flight and rescheduling the flight down.
And it doesn't even have to be actual boomstick fodder. In 1994, I took a trip to old Mehico with a young lady I went to high school with. I knew I would want extra batteries for my cd player and digital camera, so I threw an unopened 20 pack into my carryon. Guess what that double row of batteries looks like under the X-Rays of the time? That would be wadcutter ammo, and the pre-TSA security got somewhat agitated....
I fly with multiple battery bricks. I always know when my bag is in the middle of the queue.
Israel does not have a TSA, and they don't make people stand in lines at a checkpoint to get on a commercial aircraft. The Israelis understand that a whole bunch of people waiting in line constitute a TARGET.
The Israelis profile, and they look at how people behave. They are far more successful in avoiding security problems than we are.
The TSA looks at stuff, not at people. For that reason, they are going to overlook threats.
I have been groped so many times by TSA agents wearing hijabs that I have no confidence in the agency to even begin to keep me safe.
I've worked at various nuclear power plants over my working career, so going through security for access to sensitive areas was a daily occurrence. And no having "security" contractors, paid minimum wage didn't give me good feeling about our plant security either. Having put up with plant access requirements, TSA screening never really bothered me. Yeah, I knew it was for appearances rather than providing real security but one does what one must. I got a huge laugh after a TSA Union flack was talking about how the TSA agents got "months" of training so ICE agents couldn't just step into TSA position to speed up the long waits due to the Schumer shutdown. My opinion was that just about anybody could be trained to be a TSA agent with about three days of training, but that's just me.
Some jurisdictions will even charge for loose ammo rounds and even empty brass. DC was infamous for this. Not sure if they continue post-Bruen.
When thinking about jurisdictions and who may be the charging prosecutor I am always mindful of that caveat in UCMJ Article 120(g)(1)(A) "the penetration, however slight...". That same definition applied to a spent shell casing is frightening.
Washington DC is notoriously persnickety about spent casings ...
The 1986 FBI Miami shootout. 2 FBI Agents killed, 5 wounded.
Hard to forget that one ... Whew
Do you know the scanners were designed by men? Every time I go to the AP I get the extra search because of where my fat is centered; stomach, hips, thighs. One time I just had the dress on and panties, no bra. I was told I had options a pat down search or strip search. I nicely said I have on my dress and panties, that's it. I got the pat down because the scanner highlighted my fatty areas. yeah flying is not happening anytime soon.
I believe it! Hey, every time I go through TSA, I get patted down around the chest and back: "You have something metallic in the center of your back." Yes, I do. It's called a bra. Lots of women wear them...
The new scanners give me HORRIBLE vertigo and migraines. I've got pre check & use a cane. We're not supposed to go through the new ones & if they try, I refuse.
Luckily I relocated to the general area that I used to fly to.
Knew a truck driver when I was working for Kick Back and Relax who, as occasionally happened in the land of Sun and Fun, got blowed the fuck up. His bag was in the truck with him. Two weeks later he went on R&R, and when he got to the US, he had a nice long almost missed his connecting flight with TSA about why his bag was setting off both WonderMutt and the nice wipes they'd wiped his bag down with.
Fun times.
A former co-worker from Indonesia once told me that, if I should ever fly to his homeland, to keep my carry on bags in hand and zipped tight until I was though security. He said that, since his country reserves a firing squad for drug dealers, flyers so inclined sometimes lose their nerve at the last moment and try to switch out their contraband into the bags of distracted and weary fellow travelers.
I never liked to fly. Haven't flown since 1986, and that time it was military related. TSA is just the icing on the cake of reasons I'll never fly again. Need to get another charm for my DNR bracelet that says, "No Life Flights. I promise reimbursement for a taxi and a $100 tip".