this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2026
239 points (86.1% liked)
Hacker News
4571 readers
496 users here now
Posts from the RSS Feed of HackerNews.
The feed sometimes contains ads and posts that have been removed by the mod team at HN.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
TSA is very ineffective. They've done tests where they try to sneak stuff through, and the amount of times they were successful was shockingly high
I accidentally flew with 4 inch long OLFA razor blade refills in the bottom of my laptop bag 4 times, twice around the Boston Marathon bombing, from and to Boston.
I didn’t find them until cleaning out my bag at home after the last flight. Basically some tape could make them into box cutters like the 9/11 guys supposedly used.
But I had to take off my shoes and belt every time, to feel safe.
Depends on what the goal is. Making flying safer? Marginal at best. Making people feel safer flying though...
They once caught me with a package of batteries.
Another time, they cleared me to bring a cup through security that had some tiny amount of liquid inside the walls of the cup. But somehow they discovered that I wasn't a fan of their machine that made nude pictures of people, and so they reconsidered and confiscated the cup. That was a close one. I was almost able to take a Christmas present back home with me.
Say what you will, they've never let me bring the dangerous bioweapon of bacterial vaginosis on a flight without a thorough inspection. On the other hand it did take two flights for them to notice the pepper spray in my wife's purse that we forgot about. I don't think they've ever noticed her pocket knives that she always forgets to take out.
batteries are meant to go in your carry on. you’re not meant to have any batteries in your checked luggage - you’re just meant to put tape over the terminals
True, saying the TSA keeps us safe is a bit of an exaggeration. But I hate ICE even more than the TSA, and they actively harm people rather than the do nothing security theater of the TSA.
I accidently brought a folding knife through last time I flew because there was a camping knife in the bottom of a pocket I forgot to take out.
I forgot about my miniature multi tool with a half inch dull blade and pair of scissors that was in my flaptop bag and it got confiscated on the first flight
my boss went both ways through those same two cross-border flights right next to me with a 3" folding knife in his pocket