DIA Airport Security....

[RonFrank]

This may belong under wine and Cheese...

We arrived at DIA about 75 minutes before our flight (whould have been 90 had parking and shuttle service not been so crowded). We did the standard wait in line of about 30 minutes. I was carrying two camera bags, both packed FULL with camera gear. I have travelled with this configuration on several other occasions with minimal hassle.

Well, not this time. I put my bags on the scanner, and walk through the security gate. I'm then watching as they are stopping the scanner, backing it up, going forward, backing it up. Finally they pass the bags through the scanner, and a security individual grabs the bags, and says, we need to put these through again. I guess they will only hold up the line for so long before rescanning after letting a batch of people through.

So they put the bags on the scanner again, and go through the process. They proceed to do this FOUR TIMES!! Finally I think they are done. We have now been at security for over 45 minutes, and we are getting close to when we need to be on the Train to get to our gate. The woman THEN says, I'm going to need to unpack both these bags.... what the Ell!! So I proceed to watch as this woman takes just about EVERYTHING out of two camera bags. She finally finds something sinister.. MY AllenWRENCH!!! She hold it up, and says, I'm going to have to keep this unless you have time to take it back to your car. I explain to her, that I am not sure I have time to catch my flight, and can we please expedite this process!

She then takes about half my camera equipment, put's it in a bin, and carries it BACK to the scanner!! At this point, I'm wondering if we are going to miss our flight, and asking her WHY does she need to scan stuff that has been through the process FOUR OTHER TIMES, and then visually inspected! I mean I'm traveling with my wife and 11 year old son, and hardly the picture of a terrorist. This scan goes fairly fast, and I am allowed to pack my bags, and attempt to catch our plane.

We did make our plane.. barely... They had made the last boarding call announcement, and they appeared to be waiting for us when we arrived.

So what is up with all this!! After spending 30 minutes going through my bags, they find ONE tiny hex wrench, and feel some kinda justification!! Yeah, the world is now safe from my hexwrench. Sorry I just don't get it.

On the return trip via Orlando, my two camera bags, packed as they were when I left minus a hex wrench, sailed through the scanning process without one issue, just as they have every other time I have travelled... go figure... Another irony, I found another hexwrench in a pocket they did not go through, and a OHHMYGAWD Lighter to boot!! So much for their inspection, and I did not even remember the lighter was there.

 

[DennisS]

Be glad you weren't flying with a child who's name was on the no fly list.

First it was Ted Kennedy, then a representative who found he could get around the
no fly list by using his middle initial when he booked, now the morons are going after babies on the list. They wonder why people are nervous about the patriot act powers.


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August 16, 2005 latimes.com : National News Print E-mail story Most e-mailed Change text size

THE NATION
Even Babies Aren't Exempt From 'No-Fly' List
Parents face 'bizarre' scrutiny when infants have the same names as possible terrorists.

From Associated Press


WASHINGTON — Infants have been stopped from boarding planes at airports throughout the United States because their names are the same as or similar to those of possible terrorists on the government's "no-fly" list.

It sounds like a joke, but it's not funny to parents who miss flights while scrambling to have babies' passports and other documents faxed.


Ingrid Sanden's 1-year-old daughter was stopped in Phoenix before boarding a flight home to Washington at Thanksgiving.

"I completely understand the war on terrorism, and I completely understand people wanting to be safe when they fly," Sanden said. "But focusing the target a little bit is probably a better use of resources."

 

[ianr33]

Had a similar thing happen to me in Puerto Rico coming back from Bonaire.
"That is considered a tool sir and tools are not allowed in carry on baggage" I figured the inspector was a tool.
Maybe this deadly weapon was the correct size to unscrew the wings or something.

And my pet peeve,shoes! Why do I have to take my shoes off at most airports but not in Austin? maybe the TSA has information that Austin is a Shoebomber Free Zone. Grrrhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On a serious not this must be hurting the airlines a lot.I would rather drive 8 hours now than fly,I used to fly to Dallas on business to save a 4 hour drive,would not even consider that now

 

[diver_paula]

And my pet peeve,shoes! Why do I have to take my shoes off at most airports but not in Austin? maybe the TSA has information that Austin is a Shoebomber Free Zone. Grrrhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The funniest one is that in the older terminal in Detroit there is metal in the floor. & there aren't pads or anything to stand on. When they scan you with your shoes on prior to boarding a plane the darn hand held scanner beeps every time it gets near the floor! I purposely wear shoes I know don't have metal stays in them when flying to help prevent a delay. Figured out what the deal was when I was wearing Ked's and the beeps were happening. The first time this happened was shortly after 9/11. It's been how many years and nothing has been corrected with this situation?

 

[vertaqua]

I think the moral of the story here is that you should put your allen wrenches and any other tools in checked luggage where according to the TSA website there allowed. Even though its silly to think that a tiny allen wrench could be used as a weapon.

 

[RonFrank]

I think the moral of the story here is that you should put your allen wrenches and any other tools in checked luggage where according to the TSA website there allowed. Even though its silly to think that a tiny allen wrench could be used as a weapon.

I certainly did not intend to carry on anything prohibited. The Tools rule was added three months ago, and I was not aware of it.

However I think TSA needs to get their act together. They should not have to screen something FIVE TIMES in addition to a visual inspection to determine it's not a threat.

I also realized later that I had tools in my save a dive kit that was in my regulator bag.. That sailed through the inspection.

So not only was their inspection overly time consuming, it was poorly done as they missed all the tools in my save a dive kit, and a lighter and a allen wrench in my second camera bag (which they even unpacked). Ironically I had a cork screw in my camera bag that they found perfectly acceptable (according to their policy). That is a heck of a lot more dangerous than any allen wrench, IMO.

TSA's rules in a lot of areas simply don't seem to make any sense. Their enforcement is also all over the map, and every airport is different. In Orlando, they were not making people wearing sandles remove them. At DIA they do.

 

[TSandM]

Every time I have flown in the last couple of years, I have repeated my mantra: "I HATE Al-Qaeda, I HAT Al-Qaeda." Almost NONE of this screening makes any sense; it is not consistent from airport to airport or even from day to day, and because of our extreme sensitivity to "profiling", they are not even permitted to use any common sense in deciding who may be risky (thus the baby problem). The biggest success Al-Qaeda has had is in creating the suffering of millions of travellers around the world . . .

 

[MtnDiver]

There was this article on MSNBC.com yesterday that says they are proposing relaxing the rules and allowing such things as scissors, ice picks, razor blades, small knives, and bows and arrows!

Probably still won't be able to carry those dangerous allen wrenches though!

 

[DandyDon]

Every time I have flown in the last couple of years, I have repeated my mantra: "I HATE Al-Qaeda, I HAT Al-Qaeda." Almost NONE of this screening makes any sense; it is not consistent from airport to airport or even from day to day, and because of our extreme sensitivity to "profiling", they are not even permitted to use any common sense in deciding who may be risky (thus the baby problem). The biggest success Al-Qaeda has had is in creating the suffering of millions of travellers around the world . . .

Seems like the political ploy is working.

I have long suggested that much of the security is only there as a political measure - the suffering makes you focus your feelings in support of opposing the enemy. More beneficial to politics than the war effort.

 

[shep]

an allen wrench in the wrong hands can be very dangerous. I've seen James Bond wreck havoc on international organized crime bent on destroying the world with a ball point pen.

Who knows what Bond could do with an allen wrench. It sends shivers down my back.

TSA knows something about allen wrenchs that would shake the foundation of our feeling of security. I say let them do their job. I'm just glad they're finally relaxing the rules on bows and arrows...James Bond has never used one in any movie I can remember.

Anyone know where I can buy a bow and arrow?


shep