Sunday, April 22, 2012

Dallas TSA - Just Following Orders


I just passed thru security at Dallas Love Field airport. The X-ray machine and metal detectors were both being used but most people were being shuffled thru the X-ray. There was a logjam of people at the X-ray in front if me so a TSA lady came up and shuffled about 5 people quickly thru the metal detector. If the X-ray machines are so much more effective than the metal detectors at stopping terrorists, we better hope that there's not a large group of people in front of a terrorist or else he may be hurriedly pushed thru the "less than adequate" metal detector and we're all at risk due to traveler volume!

I opted out of the X-ray machine and the TSA agent standing next to the metal detector attempted to entice me by saying that I would now be patted down. I asked that I simply be ushered thru the metal detector like the previous group but he insisted that I be patted down. So in order to get to the pay down area, I had to pass thru the metal detector. I asked why I still had to be patted down when I clearly just passed thru the detector without issue. He said that this was the procedure. He was very passive and unsure, which sure beats assertive and angry as is typically the case with these animals.

I was taken to a side area where I was explained in pain staking detail what was about to occur. I asked this guy why I had to still be patted down when I didn't set off the detector. He said that this was a question for the higher ups and that he was just following orders and this was the procedure. (looking back, I wish I would have asked him if he was familiar with the Nuremberg trials.). I asked "shouldn't procedure be rooted in logic?" He shrugged and walked away.

As I was gathering my belongings, I noticed a lady being taking behind a curtained off area and seemed upset. I waited around a few minutes so I could get an opportunity to talk to her. When she emerged from the security area, she was red faced and misty eyed. I asked her what she did to get the private pay down and she said that her bra underwire set off the X-ray. She said it was the most humiliating experience of her life and that the TSA lady was extremely rude. She said her patdown was retaliation for her asking questions about why she couldn't just get screened with the hand wand. (we've seen this before.) She was crying and profane. (who can blame her?) She said the TSA lady put her hands on her inner thigh and felt all the way up including "everything". That makes sense because the genitals are very close to the breasts, right? She said that she now hates to travel but can't get around it due to work requirements. She said that she wished that there weren't so many "sheeple" (her words). I told her that she wasn't alone and that more and more people are waking up and seeing things the way that she and I could see them.

She apologized for being profane to a stranger. We are both waiting for our apology from the TSA.