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Thats funny. I had an unopened box of amazon aa batteries which really looked like a bomb on the x-ray (got to see it when they were inspecting). We both laughe

by dawnerd 11y ago

Thats funny. I had an unopened box of amazon aa batteries which really looked like a bomb on the x-ray (got to see it when they were inspecting). We both laughed about it when the lady saw what it was. I could tell he was really nervous though. Took me all of 5 minutes to resolve. Guess some tsa agents are just not very good at their job.

pavel_lishin 11y ago
> Guess some tsa agents are just not very good at their job. Probably depends on the metric you're using to evaluate that.
- lilott8 11y ago
  Nope, it doesn't. Even using their own metrics they are abject failures: http://www.latimes.com/opinion/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-tsa-airport-security-charade-20150608-story.html http://www.latimes.com/opinion/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-tsa-a... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/01/tsa-fails-95-percent-tests-homeland-security_n_7485558.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/01/tsa-fails-95-percen...
tombrossman 11y ago
I flew from Atlanta a while back with a bunch of Trader Joe's 'Pound Plus' chocolate bars and a ten pound (!) Ghirardelli chocolate bar in my carry-on which got quite a reaction. The poor girl doing the screening seemed to think an explosion was imminent and was visibly distressed, quickly leaving her post and grabbing a supervisor. For those that don't know, big chocolate bars are organic material and look like explosives and I've seen this happen before - I was waiting to see the reaction. The supervisor and the girl came back and I laughed and said 'clearly you have spotted my giant chocolate bar', and volunteered all the standard answers (yes I packed this myself, it's been with me the whole time, etc) and they calmed down. I was worried they were going to want to open the package which was a gift and I didn't want them all riled up. We all learned something that day, they learned that big ten-pound chocolate bars are a real thing and I learned that terrorists can probably carry bombs on board as long as they are sealed in a Ghirardelli box. TSA didn't even bother with the swabs or sniffer dog. Bottom line is that TSA agents have no skin in the game, if they miss dangerous items it's the passengers who suffer the loss, not the agents standing safely at their posts on the ground at the airport.
- leesalminen 11y ago
  And at their current pay rate, they probably can't afford to fly very often.
- tcbawo 11y ago
  I imagine if TSA agents were required to randomly fly to another location during their shift, things would change.

by dawnerd 11y ago

pavel_lishin 11y ago

> Guess some tsa agents are just not very good at their job. Probably depends on the metric you're using to evaluate that.

lilott8 11y ago
Nope, it doesn't. Even using their own metrics they are abject failures: http://www.latimes.com/opinion/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-tsa-airport-security-charade-20150608-story.html http://www.latimes.com/opinion/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-tsa-a... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/01/tsa-fails-95-percent-tests-homeland-security_n_7485558.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/01/tsa-fails-95-percen...

tombrossman 11y ago

I flew from Atlanta a while back with a bunch of Trader Joe's 'Pound Plus' chocolate bars and a ten pound (!) Ghirardelli chocolate bar in my carry-on which got quite a reaction. The poor girl doing the screening seemed to think an explosion was imminent and was visibly distressed, quickly leaving her post and grabbing a supervisor. For those that don't know, big chocolate bars are organic material and look like explosives and I've seen this happen before - I was waiting to see the reaction. The supervisor and the girl came back and I laughed and said 'clearly you have spotted my giant chocolate bar', and volunteered all the standard answers (yes I packed this myself, it's been with me the whole time, etc) and they calmed down. I was worried they were going to want to open the package which was a gift and I didn't want them all riled up. We all learned something that day, they learned that big ten-pound chocolate bars are a real thing and I learned that terrorists can probably carry bombs on board as long as they are sealed in a Ghirardelli box. TSA didn't even bother with the swabs or sniffer dog. Bottom line is that TSA agents have no skin in the game, if they miss dangerous items it's the passengers who suffer the loss, not the agents standing safely at their posts on the ground at the airport.

leesalminen 11y ago
And at their current pay rate, they probably can't afford to fly very often.
tcbawo 11y ago
I imagine if TSA agents were required to randomly fly to another location during their shift, things would change.