Your most inept TSA experience ?

[JDH]

I've not had any bad issues but have went through a few times with stuff in my pockets. Also had a 3-4 22LR shells in a magazine in my laptop bag once but didn't make through that one. Only had to fill out a 1 page form. Since it was Omaha they seemed understanding but laughed when I asked if there was a way to get it back later.

 

[TheGrayRider]

A GREAT TSA experience I had was checking a firearm at the Anchorage, Alaska airport. Quick, easy, and efficient. I wish many of our lower 48 TSA agents showed their professionalism and positive attitude. I often sense a “Guilty until proven innocent” attitude in certain airports!

 

[Gary]

On a flight from Philly to Anchorage, I had 3 fly reels in my carryon backpack. It went through the conveyer and the guy monitoring pulled it out of the bin and moved it to a table behind him. He pulled out the reels and proceeded to strip line off them. He stripped about 30' of line off each, stretching it between his hands every so often. He brought the bin back to me and asked me what the reels were used for. I almost told him they were for det cord storage, but caught myself and told him fly fishing (there were also a couple of boxes of flies in the pack) and was able to go on my way.

 

[Wildabeest]

Just a few years after 9/11 when things were still really strict and often backed up, we were doing a family trip the Europe with two young kids age 4 and 6. Everything was fine at RDU, but when connecting in JFK, we had to change terminals and go back through security again (to this day I do everything I can to avoid JFK!). On this pass thru security, they pull my 4 year daughter’s Hello Kitty backpack and confiscated her tube of princess toothpaste because it was 1/2 oz over the allowed size. To which she had a major meltdown! She’s 22 now and we still joke about it. I don’t blame TSA, although they could have shown a little more empathy for the situation.

As others have mentioned, they have a job to do and my experience has been mostly positive with them over the years. And I fly a lot - 175,000 miles in 2019. I get far more irritated with tourists who have no clue what they are doing and want to argue with TSA, than I do with TSA.

 

[morley.tyler]

Drugs smuggled in soap is actually a real thing

allegedly...

 

[Bob-WY]

I've flown out of Boston with guns. No issue. You're not supposed to have tsa locks on guns. They just told me to grab a coffee fo 20 minutes I case tsa wanted to inspect it. They didnt

 

[dgc1963]

Yrs ago I few from hbg pa through philly to Utah over Christmas, And coming back same bags and clothes I had a Tsa person ask me after my bag went through scanner if I had any ammo with me, And as 2 security gaurds stepped behind me I said well my answer would be no but then these guys wouldnt be coming up behind me and sizing me up if I didnt
So they take me into a room looking through my carry on I had a hunting coat in it for cold weather and they found 2 small caliber bullets in lining must have gotten their from hole in pocket I was joking abt not even having that gun any more
Thay were nice but told me they had to put me on a watch list they said not to worry their are hundereds of thousands on it and it wasnt a big deal So joking again I asked what i had to do to get on the good list with just a few otherson it ! they laughed like hell
So for the most part if you treat folks well and let them do their job things go easier even if we do something wrong

 

[Deleted member 28227]

Not so much inept as it was malicious.
I arrived in Ketchikan to find that both of my 2 locks had been cut off of my gun case and a single lock had been put on one side only.
I noticed it right away because my locks were black and this lock was silver. I told TSA and demanded that they cut this lock off and that they owed me 2 new locks with the key.
The supervisor watched as I inspected the contents and everything seemed ok. My friend who came to pick me up said "Hope they didn't spin the dial on your scope" apparently it's a thing because that's exactly what someone did. It took me 54 clicks to get it back to zero. That rifle/scope combo had never budged an inch before with decades of use and travel.

Apparently Sea-Tac TSA is notorious for that.

I had an agent in Ketchikan spend about 30 min tearing apart my gun case. Pulled out all the foam, then proceeded to squish the foam outside of the case.

Gun didn't make it on the flight

 

[Bambistew]

Not long after 911, when the first TSA goons started to show up and wait times for security were in the 2-3 hour time frame...

There was an elderly woman standing a few people in front of me. She was informed that she must back up and away from the scanner. She didn't really hear them, or didn't understand and they yelled at her, and then one goon "gently" pushed her back. She stumbled a little and into one of those retractable seatbelt bollard things, and as she stepped back to catch herself, she stepped on the base of it. The top immediately sprung back and smacked her in her side/kidney area. She immediately collapsed and fainted. Luckily there was a Dr standing right in front of me who rushed to her aid. The paramedics came very soon after and hauled her away. She was still unconscious when they wheeled her off 10 min later. She was traveling alone, and I have no idea what happened to her, the Dr went with her, but I hope the ass-wipe that pushed her lost his job and worse.

 

[Bambistew]

My old neighbor had a lot of fun stories about TSA. He works for an explosive company and has had the alarms go off a number of times after the swab test. All his stuff is contaminated with explosives. He has some sort of magic paperwork from one of the acronyms that gets him through.

 

[brownbear932008]

A few stories about TSA really. The most irritating was a few years ago while processing through the check point in Maui. The female TSA agent pulled my bag from the X-Ray belt giving me her best "he must be a terrorist look". She preceded to search my carry on backpack. Pulled my Harris bipod and asked what is this. I explained to her what the item was and she proceeds to confiscate it never to be seen again. Should have told the stupid b****h it was a camera attachment. I was mad as heck cussing as I left the check. Which isn't me at all if you know me. One of the most poorly trained agencies I've ever seen IMO and they don't make me feel safe for one second considering the trillions spent on the agency. @glass eye we had issues with our firearms being messed with also with our final destination of SE AK. They decocked my buddies bolt while it was removed and we didn't have the tool to fix it (if memory serves me correctly). Took 3 of us almost an hour to get it in.

 

[LDBIDDY]

Chicago Ohare. Got my bag pulled off the line and searched. Cops came from everywhere. Here I had a full mag of 9mm I had forgotten to take out. Being decked in head to toe with camo they were not all that polite about it. Thankfully they just took the mag and left me fly to Colorado for my first elk.

 

[ND_Hooligan]

Last week my daughter and I were flying to Camp Perry Ohio for the CMP Nationals smallbore competition. A delayed flight caused us to have to spend the night in Chicago meaning we had to collect our checked rifles, she had two rifles in one pelican case, and check them back in the next morning. After checking the rifles at the United Airlines ticketing counter we were escorted to the seperate TSA area where they check the firearms. It was at this point that the United agent said she would have to take the rifles the rest of the way to the conveyor, probably another 10 feet. The pelican case has wheels on one end so the agent grabbed the handle, wheeled the case over to the conveyer, and proceeded to literally drop the case from her hand as we watched it hit the concrete floor which I'd say was at least a 2 foot drop. Both my daughter and I had masks on but you could see our faces get red. I wanted to kill the dumb b..... These two rifles have a combined value of almost $10,000. Not a happy camper whatsoever and it took all I had to control myself as I needed to get on the plane and figured violence would keep me from flying.

 

[Don K]

I have been through TSA probably 20 times the last few years . I find them to be mostly a collection of incompetent lazy bums that appear to have been recruited off their mothers couch . If they were actually employable anywhere else they would have had a job when TSA was hiring . TSA employees are so lazy an unmotivated that they will stand one step back from the conveyor belt that the carry on bags are going through and bark orders at thousands of people all day long about straightening the bags instead of taking one step forward and just doing it themselves . The perfect job to me would be a position in TSA that allowed me to stand around with a Taser and tase TSA employees every time they told airline passengers to straighten their bags

They are having a huge shortage of workers right now so why dont you apply?

 

[JV842]

Flying home from Montana w a mule deer!! Not all the way frozen, all boned out n ziplocked, ice chest taped. They checked it, left the ziplocks open, didn’t tape the ice chest. I work on the side for delta loading bags so me n the family can fly for free. Got a phone call from my buddy who was unloading the plane when we landed, ice chest had flipped n opened, blood everywhere!!! He new exactly whose it was when he opened the hatch!!!

 

[kentuckybow]

once when going through the scanner the lady TSA agent told me to "STOP" when I exited the other side. Having traveled extensively I looked over my left shoulder at the scan results screen and there was a big red X over my groin area. I just looked back at her and said it comes naturally and there is nothing I can do about it.

They checked my belt loop area all around and told me I could go. As I was walking to the gate I thought, "This is one of the proudest days of my life, the federal government actually thought my junk had the potential to take down a jumbo jet!!!"

 

[BearFoot]

When ever the scanner indicates a knee or thigh pat down, I tell em its likely my piercing.

 

[geetar]

Only real annoying experience I’ve had was 10 years ago flying out of Charlotte they stood my double gun case on end with both me and my cousins .30-06s in it and pushed it over on conveyor belt letting it fall full length in an almost spiteful way. I’m sure I had a shocked looked on my face. It really wasn’t an issue though because both were still zeroed when we got to Wyoming.

 

[OntarioHunter]

Three times I have been forced to give up my key ring fob at the local airport when going through security. I make them from shotgun shell hulls. Not a problem. I tell the security guy to keep it as a gift and give him a business card in case someone has a problem. Gives me an excuse to make another one. I can understand why they won't let me board with it. Obviously a dud but some other passenger might not know that if I pull it out in the middle of the flight. Don't want to create a midair incident.


If it would ensure a safe flight and/or stop drug smuggling, I would gladly strip naked before getting on a plane (should I attach an image?) Requiring four locks on a gun case is silly. I have a Kalispell gun case and only one lock.

 

[OntarioHunter]

allegedly...

Hey, if drug mules stuff dope up their arse inside condoms, I'm sure they've already tried to put it in bars of soap. Think about it. Would a sniffer dog be able to pick out drugs or explosives hidden inside a stinky bar of Irish Spring? Doubtful.