The Christmas pantybomber has sent the Transportation Security Adminstration into hysterics. A overseas lapse in our intelligence gathering operations has resulted in a series of hard-to-explain TSA actions making local and national headlines.
Here area a sample of some TSA jitter-induced blunders (and maybe-not-blunders) and knee-jerk reactions that seem a bit extreme finished off with a case of jets escorting a plane back to Portland.
A goodbye kiss causes Newark Airport fiasco
Latest reports of the Newark 7-hour fiasco have a boy wanting to kiss his girlfriend goodbye causing the stir. From my point of view, this was clearly an overreaction.
TSA got an unconfirmed report of someone sneaking into the departure area from a passenger and ended up shutting down those departure gates for six hours and forcing the re-screening of everyone in the terminal.
Worse, word didn’t go out creating the grand mess until 80 minutes after the supposed intrusion. Plus, TSA’s cameras malfunctioned. And finally, it seems that other security cameras show the male sneaking in to kiss his girl goodbye and leaving by a normal exit.
The video above was shot at Newark as passengers tried to pass time while TSA fiddled and diddled, ironically long after the suspect was long gone.
TSA takes Play-Doh from kid
In a zealous act to protect the public, TSA officers confiscated Play-Doh from a child at New Orleans airport. The reasoning behind the confiscation — Play-Doh and plastic explosives look a lot alike.
Hummm. Talcum powder and cocaine look similar I am told. Play-Doh is not on the list of prohibited items but TSA has clearly stated a policy of confusing the public. This must have been one those times they wanted to confuse little Josh.
TSA clears airport for honey and sends workers to hospital suffering from honey fumes
It is hard to believe this one. TSA shut down Bakersfield Airport for hours and diverted flights because they thought honey was some kind of explosive.
Meadows Field Airport in the central California city of Bakersfield, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles, was evacuated and closed to air traffic for hours, and two federal baggage screeners were taken to a local hospital after they encountered the suspect bag.
No one has reported on why the honey tested positive for TNT and why it made TSA officers so ill they had to be evacuated to a hospital.
TSA handcuffs military blogger
In their quest to intimidate, TSA inspectors handcuffed and detained a well-known military blogger because he refused to answer personal non-travel-related questions from the officers. Deemed uncooperative, he was cuffed, but according to TSA not arrested.
TSA officials escorted Yon to a designated screening area where they examined the contents of his bag. “Then they asked me how much money I make,” Yon said. Yon suggested to the TSA officials that the question was inappropriate and unrelated to transportation security. The award-winning blogger noted another TSA officer approached Yon: “he asked who do I work for.” ”I did not answer the question which clearly was upsetting to the TSA officers.”
TSA was clearly overstepping its authority.
Fighter jets escort plane back to Portland
A Hawaiian Airlines from Portland to Hawaii turned back to Portland after a passenger refused to store his carry-on luggage and threatened flight attendants. The flight returning to Portland was escorted by two military fighter jets. Granted, TSA has nothing to do with this one, but it seems to be another case of gross overreaction.
What are they going to do? Shoot down the plane? That might make sense of the aircraft was under control of some kind of hijacker. However, unruly passengers don’t normally rate fighter jet escorts to the tarmac.
The Hawaiian Airlines jet en route to Maui’s Kahului Airport turned back because of “a suspicious passenger who made threatening remarks and refused to store his carry-on bag,” said Suzanne Trevino, a spokeswoman for the US Transportation Security Administration.
The plane, escorted by two F-15 fighters, landed in Portland without further incident, and the man, who was not identified, was detained for questioning, authorities said.
We’ll keep you informed of more overdone shenanigans as they develop.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
