Got piercings?

[Bungleau]

I think this is more sad than humorous, really... but I'll leave it here, open for your thoughts.

From Yahoo Weird News...

Nipple rings fall foul of airport check By Dan Whitcomb Fri Mar 28, 11:02 AM ET LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A woman who claims she was ordered by federal airport screeners to remove her nipple rings with pliers demanded an apology from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration on Thursday. Mandi Hamlin, 37, also called for an investigation into the February 24 incident in Lubbock, Texas, saying that snickering male agents violated TSA policy by forcing her to remove the jewelry. "I felt surprised, embarrassed, humiliated, scared and angry," Hamlin told reporters at the offices of her Los Angeles attorney, Gloria Allred. "This situation was totally out of control. I will not sit quietly. No one deserves to be treated this way." The TSA, a unit of the Department of Homeland Security that was set up after the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, said it was investigating the incident but that agents were trained to search people with piercings in "sensitive areas" with dignity and respect. "TSA is well aware of terrorists' interest in hiding dangerous items in sensitive areas of the body, therefore we have a duty to the American public to resolve any alarm we discover," the agency said in a written statement. The TSA said incidents of female terrorists hiding explosives in "sensitive areas" were on the rise and provided a picture of a "bra bomb" that was used in training its agents. Allred said the incident began when Hamlin, who has a number of piercings, set off a hand-held metal detector and told a TSA officer that her nipple rings were the problem. A small group of TSA officers gathered around Hamlin, Allred said, and told her she would have to remove the jewelry from her nipples if she wanted to board her flight. Hamlin went behind a curtain and removed one of her nipple piercings but could not budge the other, tearfully telling the officers it could not be taken out without pliers, Allred said. "As Ms. Hamlin struggled to remove the piercing behind the curtain, she could hear a growing number of predominantly male TSA officers snickering in the background," the attorney said. Allred said TSA policy called for a pat-down under such circumstances but did not require the piercings to be removed.

After an initial snicker, the reality that hits me is that TSA appears to apply arbitrary rules and regulations, and if you want to protest or demand something other than what they want to do, you're stuck because to you, it's the difference between missing a flight or not. To them, it's just something else that happens during the work day... and if they don't have to work, they can still go home when their shift ends. You, meanwhile, are screwed....

Whoever said the piercings had to be removed before boarding the plane was flat wrong. Whoever denied her request for a visual inspection (pat-down, so to speak), was also wrong. And TSA's ever-present line of "we can't tell you what the rules are 'cause the bad guys want to know, so they can get around them" is a big crock of dragon-hooey. The fresh kind, with the pungent and persistent smell.

I think that TSA, if they were smart, would be recording everything that takes place at security checkpoints. Yeah, it would reveal when they're in the wrong, but it would also prove when they're in the right. 'Course, maybe they don't want that much evidence floating around...

[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

No one deserves to be treated this way."

Uhh, you had a pin shoved through your nipples..??

[wellard]

Agree with you Bung, that is bad and hopefully a court case payout might make these idiots think again. This 'we are protecting the world so are above question' attitude has spread to many areas and needs to be slapped back to reality. Working at an airport we go out of our way to laugh at the mainly uneducated guards and their dumb practices.

[wellard]

For example my crew and I have full all areas access and quite often go through security - they make us take our workboots (metal toecaps) off so last month we got our own back when Nev having to take his belt buckle off 'accidentally' dropped his trousers walking through the scanner - we nearly died laughing at the faces of the guards!

Going on board an aircraft to fix things we often 'play up' when a new guard asks too scan our toolboxes with the wand, obviously the alarm beeps so we then open our boxes and hand them our knives, hammers, screwdrivers, pliers and ask them to scan again - all while we laugh our asses off at them, the dumb buggers don't know what to do ...

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

Originally Posted by wellard For example my crew and I have full all areas access and quite often go through security - they make us take our workboots (metal toecaps) off so last month we got our own back when Nev having to take his belt buckle off 'accidentally' dropped his trousers walking through the scanner - we nearly died laughing at the faces of the guards! Going on board an aircraft to fix things we often 'play up' when a new guard asks too scan our toolboxes with the wand, obviously the alarm beeps so we then open our boxes and hand them our knives, hammers, screwdrivers, pliers and ask them to scan again - all while we laugh our asses off at them, the dumb buggers don't know what to do ...

I just got an image of that scene in Airplane! where the guy put his guns and such in the tray before walking through the metal detetctor...

[toot033]

See if you can find a routine done by Penn and Teller. They screw around with security by rolling a large steel ball bearing through the scanner while they walk through it. IT's a riot. ( then a flash backs to Spinal tap as well).

[wellard]

Oh there are a lot more funny stories too, like the time the security guards turned up onto the Aircraft after we had been working it for an hour, when we began to leave he wanted to search us leaving the bloody aircraft .... it was only because we could not stand because we were laughing so hard that they worked out how stupid his request had been.

[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

I don't agree with what the security people did, but at the same time, everybody knows how strict they are at the airport. Just leave the damn things off, for a while. I think she was asking for trouble or intentionally trying to cause a stir.

[Bungleau]

They are not that strict at the airport... some places, it's amazing they can go to the bathroom without step-by-step instructions.

As for removing them, the same logic would apply to earrings and other piercings, and I've yet to see someone have to take those out.

Bottom line is TSA messed up on many levels. A visual inspection, which was in their protocols, was not offered as an alternative. And the woman did not set off the detector going through normal security; it was in a secondary wand screening.

In any case, TSA has now officially said that visual inspection is okay... trying to backpedal before the spit happens, I say.

Yes, I see TSA a lot. Not as much as Wellard, but I get to see more flavors, I think Drink the kool-aid... they'll keep you safe. Honest!

[vesselle]

i have piercings. i've just acclimated myself to the fact that before i travel, i totally "de-metalize" myself. i'm sure i'm not the only woman who does that, either. however, i must say, traveling by plane these days stink. i hate the horrific wait at airports. i think i'd rather just take a bus.