The Watering Hole

[alan_s Honored Contributor]

As a very frequent traveller I've said it before and I'll say it again: TSA airport staff selection is based on the thickness of their muscles, especially the one between their ears.

TSA Can't Tell The Difference Between A Gun & An Insulin Pump

[mollythed Respected Contributor]

Looks to me like one of those news reports where the details are so sketchy that I really can't tell if there is any justification for any kind of outrage or not. 

[alan_s Honored Contributor]

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mollythed wrote:

Looks to me like one of those news reports where the details are so sketchy that I really can't tell if there is any justification for any kind of outrage or not. 

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There is a slightly more detailed report at the foot of the article: TSA mistakes insulin pump for gun, causing LAX security scare [LA Times]

[morrisolder]

There are 2 possibilities here--

• their scanners revealed a metal object about the size perhaps of a pistol,  but could not distinguish what it was
• the personnel were new and had never scanned a pump before

The odd part is that they let her go on, and get lost in the crowd, before they reacted, thus inconveniencing who knows how many other passengers whose boarding was delayed by up to an hour...

You'd thinkt hey would cover pumps in training...

[Jedikeri]

This is one of the reasons I refuse to fly.  The people the TSA employs do not use that big muscle between their ears that is called a brain.

Give me the Train, Bus, or my own car.  I will find an alternate way to my destination.

[alan_s Honored Contributor]

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Jedikeri wrote:

This is one of the reasons I refuse to fly.  The people the TSA employs do not use that big muscle between their ears that is called a brain.

Give me the Train, Bus, or my own car.  I will find an alternate way to my destination.

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I love to receive visitors, but you may find it awkward to get here unless you enjoy cruising or you are really, really good at paddling a kayak

I'm afraid Oz is a long way from everywhere and I have neither the funds nor the time for cruising each time. So I accept airport security as part of the price I have to pay to enjoy the rest of my travels.

[billsreef]

Thick skulled airport security is nothing new, just the acronym TSA and the level of intrusiveness they go for is new. Back in the mid 80's I traveled to St. Thomas, leaving out of JFK. The security guy was rather sure he'd found a bomb in dive gear bag when he looked at my regulater set Took a bit to get him to understand that not only was it not a bomb of some sort, but that is was something I used to in order to breath underwater. Now days, since diving and dive travel having much more common, they never question the dive gear.Now days camera gear and laptops seem scare them more, along with insulin pumps. Based on how many years it took before they started ignoring my regulators, I'd give it another decade or two before they figure out insulin pumps.

[Jedikeri]

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alan_s wrote:

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Jedikeri wrote:

This is one of the reasons I refuse to fly.  The people the TSA employs do not use that big muscle between their ears that is called a brain.

Give me the Train, Bus, or my own car.  I will find an alternate way to my destination.

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I love to receive visitors, but you may find it awkward to get here unless you enjoy cruising or you are really, really good at paddling a kayak

I'm afraid Oz is a long way from everywhere and I have neither the funds nor the time for cruising each time. So I accept airport security as part of the price I have to pay to enjoy the rest of my travels.

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I'm sure that there are boats that go to Australia that accept passengers.  (Possibly a Cruise) 

I'm pretty stubborn.  If there is not an alternate way to get where I'm going, I just don't go.

[welder_allen]

It is Not the TSA any more that another profession. It is just that they are more visible than the guy that wants to know "You want fries with that?" 

After years of study I have determined that Boneheads are attracted to jobs of petty authority and power, and that the thicker the bone the more power they want. Don't believe me? Just check out most politicians around the world.

[LeadSinger]

Alan, I know you're an Aussie, but I'll bet we can site the same problem over there.  The ONLY requirement to be a government employee is to be able to breathe!