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I was once bringing foam nunchucks to my partner. They were foam, as in pool noodle foam, and they were used for training. I was blocked and told I'd have to c

I was once bringing foam nunchucks to my partner. They were foam, as in pool noodle foam, and they were used for training. I was blocked and told I'd have to check the bag. I did and missed the flight, so my partner picked up the bag (free shipping!) and I stayed home that weekend. The TSA is such a joke. The fact that they can't even make determinations without leaving the, "The final decision rests with the TSA officer on whether an item is allowed through the checkpoint" disclaimer shows it's all pretend, made up bull.

ethanbond 3y ago
Or it shows how insanely hard it is to make a flowchart to deal with actual reality. Here, try this: https://novehiclesinthepark.com/ https://novehiclesinthepark.com/ Then imagine a rule set as complicated as “all rules required to ensure safe air travel” being redteamed by a population of a billion people with incentives varying from “personal convenience” to “fly into an occupied skyscraper” to “move ten pounds of cocaine.” Now make that rule set enforceable by tens of thousands of people in a time and cost-effective manner. Deferring a lot of authority to a somewhat sensible person on the ground is the only plausible approach.
- kortilla 3y ago
  > from “personal convenience” to “fly into an occupied skyscraper” to “move ten pounds of cocaine.” The TSAs job shouldn’t be preventing drug trafficking. What’s next? They check everything with serial numbers to ensure no stolen goods are being carried?
  - ethanbond 3y ago
    I don’t think the TSA does try to prevent drug trafficking, but I do suspect that you cannot (and should not be able to) just stuff a suitcase full of cocaine and walk it through the Precheck line. At a certain point that’s a legitimate safety issue.
- lostlogin 3y ago
  You’ve touched on my issue with it - it’s an American organisation in America. Yet the TSA bullshit is contagious annf other countries have subscribed. It also makes things like passing through the US painful.
  - ethanbond 3y ago
    Yeah I guess the sensible thing for every other western nation would’ve been to watch the innovation of “plane hijackers are now both murderous and suicidal” and not make some changes to their security regime. Also, yeah, air travel is a global system. Are you proposing that we just let people fly from other countries with no security infrastructure to the US? And your view is that this somehow makes sense?
    - lostlogin 3y ago
      Do you feel the TSA makes you safer? My issue is mainly that the security crap is applied when there is no connection to the US occurring. If that poor security theatre stayed within US borders it would be more palatable to us outsiders, then we could make adjustments for that and carry on.
      - ethanbond 3y ago
        It’s so goofy when foreigners think the US is forcing other countries to do x y z things, like “have airport security.” Your airports have security because your leaders learned the same things on 9/11 that the US did. The threat landscape changed immensely. Hijackings were not super uncommon, but they were never that dangerous because it’s hard to do much damage without killing yourself too. What 9/11 revealed is that there are actually people who can be convinced to fly themselves into buildings on loaded aircraft, and yes I do think “there will be bomb dogs” and “there will be X-rays” etc are factored into bad actors’ thinking about how to commit bad actions. Or, you know, I suppose you could think that there were only 19 people in the whole wide world who would’ve possibly done what they did and luckily we got rid of them all in one day. Seems wishful to me though, given that we see thematically similar attacks on a weekly basis throughout the Muslim world. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
gamblor956 3y ago
What makes them a joke in this situation? They have pretty clearly outlined on their website, and in airports, for years that weapons--even toy versions of weapons--are not permitted in carry-on baggage. A lightsaber is not a real weapon, thus, the TSA allows lightsaber toys in carryons. (Note: this assumes the lightsaber is plastic. TSA agents are treated to assume metal rod-shaped objects as batons or similar, so metal lightsabers generally can't be in carry-on.)
thenickdude 3y ago
Sounds reasonable to me. You don't want people bringing fake weapons onboard that they can use to threaten people onboard with to comply with their demands, regardless of whether they could actually cause damage or not.

ethanbond 3y ago

Or it shows how insanely hard it is to make a flowchart to deal with actual reality. Here, try this: https://novehiclesinthepark.com/ https://novehiclesinthepark.com/ Then imagine a rule set as complicated as “all rules required to ensure safe air travel” being redteamed by a population of a billion people with incentives varying from “personal convenience” to “fly into an occupied skyscraper” to “move ten pounds of cocaine.” Now make that rule set enforceable by tens of thousands of people in a time and cost-effective manner. Deferring a lot of authority to a somewhat sensible person on the ground is the only plausible approach.

kortilla 3y ago
> from “personal convenience” to “fly into an occupied skyscraper” to “move ten pounds of cocaine.” The TSAs job shouldn’t be preventing drug trafficking. What’s next? They check everything with serial numbers to ensure no stolen goods are being carried?
- ethanbond 3y ago
  I don’t think the TSA does try to prevent drug trafficking, but I do suspect that you cannot (and should not be able to) just stuff a suitcase full of cocaine and walk it through the Precheck line. At a certain point that’s a legitimate safety issue.
lostlogin 3y ago
You’ve touched on my issue with it - it’s an American organisation in America. Yet the TSA bullshit is contagious annf other countries have subscribed. It also makes things like passing through the US painful.
- ethanbond 3y ago
  Yeah I guess the sensible thing for every other western nation would’ve been to watch the innovation of “plane hijackers are now both murderous and suicidal” and not make some changes to their security regime. Also, yeah, air travel is a global system. Are you proposing that we just let people fly from other countries with no security infrastructure to the US? And your view is that this somehow makes sense?
  - lostlogin 3y ago
    Do you feel the TSA makes you safer? My issue is mainly that the security crap is applied when there is no connection to the US occurring. If that poor security theatre stayed within US borders it would be more palatable to us outsiders, then we could make adjustments for that and carry on.
    - ethanbond 3y ago
      It’s so goofy when foreigners think the US is forcing other countries to do x y z things, like “have airport security.” Your airports have security because your leaders learned the same things on 9/11 that the US did. The threat landscape changed immensely. Hijackings were not super uncommon, but they were never that dangerous because it’s hard to do much damage without killing yourself too. What 9/11 revealed is that there are actually people who can be convinced to fly themselves into buildings on loaded aircraft, and yes I do think “there will be bomb dogs” and “there will be X-rays” etc are factored into bad actors’ thinking about how to commit bad actions. Or, you know, I suppose you could think that there were only 19 people in the whole wide world who would’ve possibly done what they did and luckily we got rid of them all in one day. Seems wishful to me though, given that we see thematically similar attacks on a weekly basis throughout the Muslim world. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

gamblor956 3y ago

What makes them a joke in this situation? They have pretty clearly outlined on their website, and in airports, for years that weapons--even toy versions of weapons--are not permitted in carry-on baggage. A lightsaber is not a real weapon, thus, the TSA allows lightsaber toys in carryons. (Note: this assumes the lightsaber is plastic. TSA agents are treated to assume metal rod-shaped objects as batons or similar, so metal lightsabers generally can't be in carry-on.)

thenickdude 3y ago

Sounds reasonable to me. You don't want people bringing fake weapons onboard that they can use to threaten people onboard with to comply with their demands, regardless of whether they could actually cause damage or not.