Kilted to Airports

[hospitaller]

The only bad experience I have had was when they asked me to remove my Kilt (Not in a private room) so they could put it through the x-ray machine.

This I would have made a big scene about.

There are always women in skirts walking by and NO ONE ever asks them to remove them to pass them thru the X-Ray.

I call BS on the part of whatever TSA emplyee suggested that.

But then again...as I heard someone say on TV theother day, 'you don't take an IQ test to become a TSA emplyee'

The minute someone asks me to take it off there'll be a scene. I have missed/lost flights before because I've refused to do things the TSA employees think they are allowed to ask you to do, and they are not. I know they are not allowed so I refuse to do them. They don;t want to let me through, fine, one phone call to the local TSA HQ and the situation is fixed and just to see the faces of the same TSA employees that were called on and told to let me in....was priceless.

(reason is, working in a security firm, we get to know a lot of the security related matters decision makers in our area)

[turpin]

I know that place! What are you doing in LaCenter? My mother grew up outside of LaCenter (my father in Bandana), a handful of aunts and uncles and cousins still reside in the area, and my grandparents and several dearly departed relatives are buried there, but it's not exactly a destination. My folks have retired to Paducah, so I haven't been there in a while, but I remember it well.

Regards,
Rex.

Rex, I have an environmental cleanup project at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, so I'm going there about monthly, usually the third week of each month. If you're ever visiting the P's drop me a line and I'll see if we can coordinate a get-together.

[Scratchy's Lass]

The TSA ("Totally Stupid Agency") screeners demanding MEN remove their KILTS for x-ray'ing?

O.M.G.

[Iain Robb]

Well, in all fairness, it's not just men in kilts who get that.

I was returning from a faraway land through Chicago a couple of years back when the screeners told the woman in front of me that she had to take off her sweatshirt.

"This is all I have on," she replied.

He insisted, so she said it twice more, loudly, and when he insisted again, she told him to get his supervisor. They let me through while she was waiting, so I did not see the outcome, but the point is, it's not a bias against men in kilts.

What I think it IS, is men and women who were hired to keep us safe, who have to face bureaucracy on the one side and surly travelers on the other side, who understandably have difficulty dealing with out-of-the-ordinary situations. Please give them a smile and a friendly word -- and the benefit of the doubt -- next time you go through the airport.

[hospitaller]

I'm sorry, I have a hard time giving some of these M*R*NS a smile and the benefit of the doubt.

Their job is to screen for metallic objects, not to force people to undress and expose themselves whether in front of everyone else or in a secluded room where other 'agents' will laugh outside the door while peeking in (the case of a woman with underbra wires forced to perform a striptease comes to mind).

About time we all demand our 'agents' have a minimum intellect and a minimum of common sense to deal with people and the clothes they are wearing.

geez...

Well, in all fairness, it's not just men in kilts who get that.

I was returning from a faraway land through Chicago a couple of years back when the screeners told the woman in front of me that she had to take off her sweatshirt.

"This is all I have on," she replied.

He insisted, so she said it twice more, loudly, and when he insisted again, she told him to get his supervisor. They let me through while she was waiting, so I did not see the outcome, but the point is, it's not a bias against men in kilts.

What I think it IS, is men and women who were hired to keep us safe, who have to face bureaucracy on the one side and surly travelers on the other side, who understandably have difficulty dealing with out-of-the-ordinary situations. Please give them a smile and a friendly word -- and the benefit of the doubt -- next time you go through the airport.

[O'Callaghan]

I'm sorry, I have a hard time giving some of these M*R*NS a smile and the benefit of the doubt.

Their job is to screen for metallic objects, not to force people to undress and expose themselves whether in front of everyone else or in a secluded room where other 'agents' will laugh outside the door while peeking in (the case of a woman with underbra wires forced to perform a striptease comes to mind).

About time we all demand our 'agents' have a minimum intellect and a minimum of common sense to deal with people and the clothes they are wearing.

geez...

Agreed. Screeners in other countries usually seem to be less officious than the TSA. I don't imagine it's anything to do with their nationality. Probably they work for organisations that have some vested interest in not p*ss*ng off the passengers, for example they may work for the airport itself or even just for an organisation that represents all the airports in that country.

When the US ones used to work for the airlines they were not nearly as bad, for just this reason. Back then only the immigration were surly, and only at JFK! I hope no-one here is an immigration officer at JFK, but it's the truth. The TSA was supposedly created to replace the airline screeners because they lacked training and because a large proportion of them were not US citizens.

I suppose the citizenship thing was some paranoia that they could be a 'fifth column', but it's nonsense because you can be from anywhere in the world and become a US citizen. Do you really suppose that a terrorist would take seriously the promise to renounce all other citizenships?

As for training, what they have gained in training they seem to have lost in IQ, LOL!

[English Bloke]

Back then only the immigration were surly, and only at JFK!

I first went to the States in 1979 via JFK. (Freddie Laker, What a Bloke...) I Was executing a plan of 6 months greyhound travel and had all the requisite visas and other evidence of self sustinence. I was 18 Years old, had hair down to my ****, was dressed in denim and had a back-pack and a tent. It took me 3 hours to clear immigration and a further hour to clear customs. Gruelling to say the least. No particular terrorist threat then, just that's the way it was.

Next visit to US was 1996. Tipped up to the Alberta / Montana Border in a rented RV with two other soldiers on a weeks R&R out of Medicine Hat. Had No2 haircuts, no Visas, just asked if we could pop in for a week with the promise we'd pop back out again to go back to work in Canada when we'd been to Jellystone and the Little Bighorn site. Flashed British Army ID cards with the passports and smiled alot. We got through no bother with a 3 month stamp in the passports.

I suppose since, things have tightened.

NOW. As a frequent air traveller to other places, I think it depends on who you get at the desk and what kind of day they've had as to how you are treated. I try to make sure I have no metal on me (including belts) and I follow the conventions to the letter. I'd never fly in a kilt as it makes you stand out and gives Billy-I've-had-a-*****-shift, the excuse he needs to exercise his "Authority".

I treat airport people and Coppers the same way. They have the authority (like it or not) so try not to rattle their cage.

Anything for an easy life.

[English Bloke]

By the way Scratchy's Lass... stayed in Flagstaff and walked out of the Grand Canyon (river to top) with some lovely people from Pheonix. Ended up crashing at their's for a weekend and have some great memories of Arizona. Good times!

The Grand Canyon is one of those 50 things you need to see...

[Iain Robb]

I'm sorry, I have a hard time giving some of these M*R*NS a smile and the benefit of the doubt.

geez...

Ah, well, to each his own. I find that my life is a whole lot more pleasant when I am pleasant, and when I remember that I tend to remember the bad and forget the good. I won't try to change your mind, but if I can get one person to brighten or lighten someone else's day -- and their own in the process -- it's a win.

[Frank McGrath]

Airports are funny places. I was traveling through Heathrow a couple years ago when the whole country was fogged in. We were the last plane in before the runway was closed. 40,000 people stranded. Luckily, we were planning a 2 night stay in London. Back at the airport, BA employees had been there for the whole time, taking care of the 40,000. Most very tired, some grouchy. I went out of my way to thank each one I met and give then a smile. One asked my name and flight. Later when we arrive at the counter to board, we were drawn aside and notified that we were being bumped. Into first class. Was it dumb luck, or just because we were nice to someone and they had the opportunity to repay us? You catch more flies with honey than you do with salt. And anyway, you use fewer muscles to smile than to frown, and being a basically lazy person, If I don't have to use extra energy, I won't.