I usually have a good experience, but of all the flying I’ve done, I’ve only been body checked here (it’s happened twice).
My carry-on suitcase, after going through the scan, TSA made the decision to manually search my carry-on. After passing the body scan, TSA began to go through my carry-on luggage. TSA did not tell me why they were going through my things. I always follow TSA rules in regards to prohibited and acceptable items, so I was not expecting things to take long. I hadn’t broken any rules, so I decided to wait for things to be over.
Apparently what was deemed suspicious were souvenirs I had made. I had collected sand and seashells from Ship Island and had put them in small jars I had bought from Michael’s. Apparently, when the jars and sand were further scanned, the computer said “alarm”. I could hear the TSA agents speaking to each other, and only one of the souvenirs had set off the alarm.
While this was being done, I was told that my shoes and sweater, which had passed the TSA screen originally, were be re-scanned. Lo and behold, nothing came up the second time when these items were scanned again.
I was also told that I was going to be patted down, and was asked if I wanted a private room or not. I didn’t want to be any trouble and was not offered any other options other than the pat down. I was told which parts of my body were going to be touched and in which order and how they were to be touched. I did not trust to be patted down alone, I felt safer in public. So I agreed to have my pat down done in public. I also didn’t want to be trouble and I wanted to show that I had nothing to hide. This was why I agreed to have the public pat down.
That being said, in front of EVERYONE, my breasts, buttocks, inner and outer thighs were touched. Passers-by were free to watch, and it was quite humiliating, but as I mentioned, I wanted to prove that I had nothing to hide and I did not feel safe having my pat down done in private. I still can’t believe my breasts were touched, I was wearing a snug tank top and a non-padded bra. My pat down, of course, turned out nothing.
Other items had to be re-scanned through the belt.
I was of course upset at this point, and tried my best to not show my annoyance. However, my patience was running thin, they were taking an exceedingly long time, the whole ordeal was humiliating, and my annoyance surfaced. I asked TSA agents which chemical they were searching for, and they could not tell me. I asked them if they could just throw away the sand. I didn’t want to miss my flight, after all. They did not answer me.
Due to my annoyance, I felt like one particular TSA agent wanted to hold his power over me. He did not like that I showed my unhappiness. He told me more things needed to be scanned, and this took even more time. Of course, nothing came up.
Several minutes after asking whether I could just throw away the sand, and after a humiliating and degrading experience, I was told that my sand souvenirs all had to be checked (but to the best of my knowledge, only one set off an alarm. They did not tell me which one.)
This whole experience took TWENTY minutes, so much longer than necessary, and way more humiliating than what was appropriate. Nothing had to be confiscated, nothing was deemed too dangerous to take on the plane. I couldn’t take the items on as carry-on, but I could certainly check them if I wanted. However, I didn’t have checked baggage. So, several minutes after asking if I had to throw away my items and receiving no answer and not being told what set off the alarm, I had my items thrown away.
The TSA did not try to inform me during the search process. They talked to themselves and kept me in the dark. They expected me to stay silent as they searched my baggage, as things were scanned and re-scanned, after a humiliating and degrading pat down, all of which was for four small jars containing sand and seashells.
This entire process was inappropriate, degrading, and COMPLETELY out of proportion with what was...
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