Fun times with the TSA

[Leros]

The woman in front of me in the security line refused to take off her hat because her hair wasn't done. Several TSA agents got involved, there was shouting, etc. After a few minutes, she finally took her hat off and went through security. By this time, the TSA agents were pretty agitated.

I went through the body scanner and moved on to collect my stuff from the end of the conveyor belt. Without any warning, a TSA agent grabbed my right arm and jerked me backwards away from the conveyor belt. In a shouting voice, he told me to show him what was in my right pocket, but my pocket was empty. For some reason, the body scanner said I had an object there. After some more shouting and threatening, he did a pat down and let me go get my stuff. It was fairly terrifying experience.

That happened five days ago. My right arm still hurts and doesn't have full mobility.

 

[waggy]

go to the doctor. file claim with TSA.

TSA are insane. terrible training and rock bottom people.

 

[Ruptga]

go to the doctor. file claim with TSA.

TSA are insane. terrible training and rock bottom people.

DOOOOO IT.

I'm not a particularly sue-happy person, but you seem to have a legitimate grievance, plus, well, fuck the TSA. Granted, it may turn out to be something unrelated, all in your head, etc, but if not take them to the bank. The checkpoint must have several cameras recording 24/7, I would think that plus a credible doctor's opinion would at least get you a nice settlement.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I'm glad security here in Canada is not military/drill sergeant style like in the US. At least the few times I flew it was an ok experience. I thought it was funny that I was always being randomly selected for a further search though, but even that was fairly quick. I was kind of hoping to go through the huge circular body scanner though, that thing looked kind of cool.

I did walk through the scanner too quick once, since I was suppose to wait till they tell me. They were kind about it and just told me to turn around and go through slowly. I said sorry, went through and moved on. I don't see the point of all the pressure the TSA agents put on everybody.

 

[quackagator]

Should have punched him.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I've never personally had a problem, but I've heard plenty of horror stories.

I get the impression there's alot of people working for the TSA that didn't make the police academy.

And, since people can't lock their luggage now, it seems that in change overs they are going through the bags and stealing stuff (when moving between planes). Had this happen to a group of co-workers recently.

 

[Venix]

File a complaint with the TSA, and also look into filing criminal charges against the agent. TSA employees are not law enforcement officers. They have no power of arrest, nor do they have qualified immunity.

 

[lxskllr]

Should have punched him.

In a just world, Leros would have laid him out, and the rest of the cattl...erm... passengers would have jumped the other Walmart rejects, and made it a full on rumble.

What would actually happen, is Leros would be arrested, charged as a terrorist, and shown on the news with the appropriate spin. It would then be used to justify their worthless existences, and things would get worse at the airports.

 

[SandEagle]

unless you're made of jello, i seriously doubt your arm still hurts. but im all for you suing the TSA. worthless power-tripping idiots starring in security theater, sponsored by your government.

oh and document your experience here so other are aware:
https://twitter.com/TSAabusewatch

 

[unokitty]

Bruce Schneier explains why the TSA is a $1 trillion failure

The terrorist’s goal isn’t to attack an airplane specifically; it’s to sow terror generally. “You spend billions of dollars on the airports and force the terrorists to spend an extra $30 on gas to drive to a hotel or casino and attack it,” Schneier says. “Congratulations!”...

In fact, this “death by a thousand cuts” was explicitly stated by al-Qaeda as its goal. Not to kill thousands or millions of people, but to force the United States to spend more and more and more money in a futile attempt to achieve 100% security...

To walk through an airport with Bruce Schneier is to see how much change a trillion dollars can wreak. So much inconvenience for so little benefit at such a staggering cost. And directed against a threat that, by any objective standard, is quite modest.

Since 9/11, Islamic terrorists have killed just 17 people on American soil, all but four of them victims of an army major turned fanatic who shot fellow soldiers in a rampage at Fort Hood. (The other four were killed by lone-wolf assassins.) During that same period, 200 times as many Americans drowned in their bathtubs. Still more were killed by driving their cars into deer.

Forget deer. There are 35,000 traffic fatalities every year in this country. How many people who defend the TSA do you think have stopped driving? Or taking baths?

“It’s infuriating,” he said, waving my fraudulent boarding pass to indicate the mass of waiting passengers, the humming X-ray machines, the piles of unloaded computers and cell phones on the conveyor belts, the uniformed T.S.A. officers instructing people to remove their shoes and take loose change from their pockets.

“We’re spending billions upon billions of dollars doing this—and it is almost entirely pointless. Not only is it not done right, but even if it was done right it would be the wrong thing to do.”

Uno

 

[Leros]

go to the doctor. file claim with TSA.

TSA are insane. terrible training and rock bottom people.

Filing a complaint with the TSA is something I'm willing to to do. This probably makes me a bad person, but I have no interest in suing the TSA due to the complexity it would add to my life.

I'm glad security here in Canada is not military/drill sergeant style like in the US. At least the few times I flew it was an ok experience. I thought it was funny that I was always being randomly selected for a further search though, but even that was fairly quick. I was kind of hoping to go through the huge circular body scanner though, that thing looked kind of cool.

I did walk through the scanner too quick once, since I was suppose to wait till they tell me. They were kind about it and just told me to turn around and go through slowly. I said sorry, went through and moved on. I don't see the point of all the pressure the TSA agents put on everybody.

Before this, I've never had a horrible experience with the TSA. I've had two kinds of experiences:
1) The TSA agents were nice. I was treated like a human being. We made some small talk and both left smiling. All in all, a fairly painless process.
2) The TSA agents were not nice. They waved their authority in your face, some shouted at you, etc.

I've noticed that the TSA tend to be nicer at smaller, less crowded airports. I imagine the lack of training combined with the stress of a busy airport is what leads to TSA agents being jerks.

unless you're made of jello, i seriously doubt your arm still hurts. but im all for you suing the TSA. worthless power-tripping idiots starring in security theater, sponsored by your government.

The way my arm got jerked back hurt my shoulder joint. Later that day, I couldn't really raise my arm above my head and my shoulder was aching pretty badly. At this point, I still feel a bit of pain in my shoulder.

 

[Jeff7]

But are you not entertained by the security theater???

I've never personally had a problem, but I've heard plenty of horror stories.

I get the impression there's alot of people working for the TSA that didn't make the police academy.

And, since people can't lock their luggage now, it seems that in change overs they are going through the bags and stealing stuff (when moving between planes). Had this happen to a group of co-workers recently.

I get the impression that there are people working for the TSA that Walmart didn't want.


I also get the distinct impression that some of them simply enjoy having the opportunity to yell at people while being paid to do it.



I've been on a train before. I rather like their attitude toward someone who is there with a ticket and luggage: Assume you're there to ride the train, not murder everyone in sight.

 

[Leros]

But are you not entertained by the security theater???

About 5 years, I brought my backpack on the plane as a carry-on. When I got on the plane, I went to grab something out of it and realized I had some tools including a 4 inch knife and several xacto knives in the bag. I've heard many similar stories.

 

[Jeff7]

About 5 years, I brought my backpack on the plane as a carry-on. When I got on the plane, I went to grab something out of it and realized I had some tools including a 4 inch knife and several xacto knives in the bag. I've heard many similar stories.

And yet you didn't take control of the plane? ATOT could have had its own private jet, but noooooo...

Filing a complaint with the TSA is something I'm willing to to do. This probably makes me a bad person, but I have no interest in suing the TSA due to the complexity it would add to my life.

Welcome to the no-fly list.

...
I've noticed that the TSA tend to be nicer at smaller, less crowded airports. I imagine the lack of training combined with the stress of a busy airport is what leads to TSA agents being jerks.

The local "international" airport is small. (You're either at "the" terminal or you're not. Each gate has around 15 chairs.)
There's not really enough room for an elaborate setup. Security takes 5-10 minutes, start to finish.

The way my arm got jerked back hurt my shoulder joint. Later that day, I couldn't really raise my arm above my head and my shoulder was aching pretty badly. At this point, I still feel a bit of pain in my shoulder.

That's American Freedom® in there, aching to get out.

 

[Lithium381]

DOOOOO IT.

I'm not a particularly sue-happy person, but you seem to have a legitimate grievance, plus, well, fuck the TSA. Granted, it may turn out to be something unrelated, all in your head, etc, but if not take them to the bank. The checkpoint must have several cameras recording 24/7, I would think that plus a credible doctor's opinion would at least get you a nice settlement.

lol you can't sue the TSA, they're exempt. remember that there was no victim. They did it for your benefit.

 

[Jeff7]

lol you can't sue the TSA, they're exempt. remember that there was no victim. They did it for your benefit.

And they'd just use any dollars "lost" to lawsuits to pad next year's budget request anyway.

 

[Ruptga]

There is always someone that can be held liable. Even if all he did was get mister anger issues fired, that would probably be a positive outcome.

But the first step is to go to the doctor, find out what exactly is really wrong.

 

[Markbnj]

I'm glad security here in Canada is not military/drill sergeant style like in the US.

It's fake military/drill sergeant style. Most of the TSA screeners have McDonalds in their recent employment history, and not at management level.

 

[Red Squirrel]

It's fake military/drill sergeant style. Most of the TSA screeners have McDonalds in their recent employment history, and not at management level.

May be fake but they still have enough authority to have very bad things happen to you such as jail, no fly list, etc and tons of physical attacks that you are not allowed to defend from. Ex: if they start to beat down on you and you defend yourself they can probably just charge you for assault.

 

[cressida]

go to the doctor. file claim with TSA.

TSA are insane. terrible training and rock bottom people.

Yep ... Don't know how many times I see them be real jack a**** to ppl.

 

[akugami]

And, since people can't lock their luggage now, it seems that in change overs they are going through the bags and stealing stuff (when moving between planes). Had this happen to a group of co-workers recently.

You're suppose to use a TSA approved lock, which they should have a master key for. But knowing the TSA, they'll claim they couldn't get it open and chainsaw open your luggage.

They're suppose to have a symbol on the lock. See image below.

 

[Leros]

What's the point of a lock if there is a readily available master key?

 

[Ns1]

PSA: it's not that different in other countries

 

[mmntech]

This is what happens when you give civil servants an unchecked amount of power. Same goes for the NSA. They make their own rules and don't have to answer to anybody. They're insulated from political change and the will of the people. There's no accountability.

Every single security expert has said the TSA's methodology is at best inefficient, at worst totally ineffective. Nor can the TSA prove that they've actually made air travel safer than it was on September 11th, 2001. They can't even prove that they've caught a single terrorist. Yet none of that matters. No party is going to cut their funding and fold the program unless a super majority of the American public starts demanding it. Which I doubt will happen. Even if people stop flying, TSA agents will just sit in empty airports with their thumbs up their collective asses, while still receiving the same paycheque from Uncle Sam.

OP, I'm not normally a big fan of lawsuits but I think you should definitely get checked out and talk to your lawyer about this one. Filing a complaint with the TSA themselves isn't going to do a damn thing. More people need to fight back against this kind of abuse.