318
submitted 1 week ago by jeffw@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 178 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

TSA has an 80% failure rate during inspections.

Everyone knows the TSA is useless. I know people who have accidentally carried fixed blade knives through security without getting stopped.

[-] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 53 points 1 week ago

But you can be damn sure they'll catch that 5oz bottle of shampoo you've got.

BTW: your link is broken because you have a 9 at the beginning

[-] Empricorn@feddit.nl 38 points 1 week ago

Yet they never, ever fail to miss the banana I have in my carry-on for manual review. They very literally only look for the lowest-hanging fruit in scans. And that's not a joke, they focus on the easiest to do and accept or reject.

[-] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 31 points 1 week ago

They keep intensely checking my stuffed triceratops. Triclor is a good boy and they need to stop picking on him.

[-] AliasVortex@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago

Aww! It's not a pet per se, so I can't invoke the pet tax, but might I request a picture of your stuffed friend?

[-] Empricorn@feddit.nl 11 points 1 week ago

#JusticeForTriclor

I’ve accidentally brought my pocket knife through the TSA multiple times. But coffee? That that’s clearly a bomb let’s scan it.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 37 points 1 week ago

I brought a 3-inch credit card blade (acquired at a trade show, with some tech company logo on it) through the airport four consecutive times without even realizing it.

I found it while packing for another trip, and I decided to gut my overly-thick wallet and realized that I'd been carrying it around everywhere, including through courtrooms and other government buildings that X-ray everything I bring every time I pass through as a contractor.

So yeah, a knife inside my wallet went through about 50 X-ray machines at federal facilities completely undetected, and I unknowingly carried it through all sorts of places where it is extremely illegal to have a knife. They always scolded me though if I tried to bring anything made of glass, like a coke bottle or something, because it could be used as a weapon.

Pictured:

[-] sp3tr4l@lemmy.zip 34 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Yeah, wtf do they mean 'they don't know how?'.

The TSA is probably the only employer in America worse than Boeing when it comes to employees giving a shit about doing their jobs and actually doing them well.

Both organizations promote incompetent ass kissers over those who actually give a shit, and both orgs also have a massive culture of making up excuses for why something that was supposed to happen did not.

Oh right, both also have absurd amounts of paperwork that 'ensures' policy was followed, but seeing as everyone hates you if you actually try to keep up with it, most people just focus on a few main things and sign off on anything.

[-] 9point6@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

I mean "they don't know how" doesn't have to mean this is an exceptional case

They could just be ubiquitously incompetent and they don't know how a lot of stuff happens

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[-] JayleneSlide@lemmy.world 111 points 1 week ago

I travel a lot for work. US Customs and the TSA are absolutely a sick joke. I could easily write a novella on the extremely poor training of TSA employees. I have a small permanent retainer (read: braces); about 25% of the time, that is considered suspicious, and I get an enhanced inspection. "Ya know, I could just open my mouth and show you what's in there."

The TSA always determines that my juggling balls are suspicious, so I never pack them in carry-on anymore. I have NEXUS, yet I always get an enhanced inspection on return to the US. Literally every other country to which I have flown just waves me through, even before I got Pre-Check/NEXUS/Global Entry.

My partner had her rigging knife in her backpack on a flight out and back. She was unpacking and found it in her backpack after the trip. Good catch, TSA.

And the absolute frosting on the TSA shit sandwich: one of my close friends owns a private security firm. His company was approached by the TSA to assist in security audits at a major international airport. He and his team were contracted to "smuggle" fake firearms through TSA checkpoints, any way they could. The TSA repeatedly failed to detect the firearms for each of five audits. The TSA division (district? regional?) manager, frustrated at his group's 100% failure rate, determined that my friend's company must have specialized criminal training, and everyone who worked that contract were put on the no-fly list. It took him about 18 months to unfuck that mess for him and his employees.

I had written a few more paragraphs about TSA hassles, but I think y'all get the picture.

[-] TheRealKuni@lemmy.world 64 points 1 week ago

The TSA division (district? regional?) manager, frustrated at his group's 100% failure rate, determined that my friend's company must have specialized criminal training, and everyone who worked that contract were put on the no-fly list.

What in the fuck?

[-] JayleneSlide@lemmy.world 44 points 1 week ago

Oh, throughout the whole thing, he and his employees were treated like garbage. He would get through security, go directly to the person's office, and reassemble the pistol in front of the manager. And then my friend (or one of his employees) would get interrogated for hours on unrelated questions, like it was somehow my friend's fault that the TSA failed their audits.

[-] Dempf@lemmy.zip 9 points 1 week ago

Damn I think this might somehow be worse than the Iowa county who had physical pen testers arrested: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2020/01/iowa-prosecutors-drop-charges-against-men-hired-to-test-their-security/

[-] Swemg@lemm.ee 15 points 1 week ago
[-] JayleneSlide@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago

If my juggling of balls catches your fancy, you might also be interested to know that I also smoke meat, play the flute, and churn butter. 😆

[-] Archer@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Fresh butter on smoked salmon with live entertainment on a flight? What’s not to like?

[-] Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 17 points 1 week ago

He does it every single flight.
All of those things.

An absolute pleasure to share a flight with.

[-] dustyData@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Are you a Hobbit or something? Because I approve all those things.

[-] azimir@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 week ago

I've carried a set of leather wrapped juggling balls on flights off and on since the 90's. They used to make every X-ray reader twitch out. They're about the right size for bad items (explosives, grenades), and I have three, not just one.

Normally it would get a quick search, a moment of confusion, and then no worries.

Once when going through the old airport in Berlin, I got searched at the second checkpoint, they brought out the balls to me, so I started juggling them and did a routine. It was really quiet so I was the only passenger in sight. That was the only time I've performed in front of an audience who was carrying machine guns.

[-] IamSparticles@lemmy.zip 2 points 5 days ago

This kind of makes me want to take my Renegade pins in a carry-on to see what TSA makes of them.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown@fedia.io 50 points 1 week ago

Of course they don’t know how it got missed! If the knew how, they’d’ve been able to improve their 70+% miss rate

[-] Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 50 points 1 week ago

Isn't TSA just a money-grab?

With no actual oversight, requirements, or sanctions, that's just transfer of public money to some random wage-slaves and private subcontractors (like for the all-so-special equipment they must have, as well as tons of gloves and lube they consume daily).

Im sure AI could do racial profiling just as racially biased as them, and also fail at detecting any real threats. And Im sure I've seen some 'cavity search'-like robots online that could be deployed.

[-] billwashere@lemmy.world 40 points 1 week ago

I know this one… it’s because the TSA sucks and isn’t anything more than security theater.

[-] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

What's surreal is being in a security line that is so backed up that the TSA on duty decide to tell people to keep their shoes on, and they open up the old fashioned metal detector to supplement the body scanner just to get people through faster.

Straight up confirmation that none of what they do matters.

load more comments (4 replies)
[-] cmbabul@lemmy.world 37 points 1 week ago

I put a 5 inch blade in a bag I used for work that I totally forgot about, for 2 full years and flew all over the US without anyone calling me on it. I’m glad that TSA provides employment for so many people but they are in fact a joke

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] foggy@lemmy.world 35 points 1 week ago

Because the TSA Is theatre.

[-] crystalmerchant@lemmy.world 26 points 1 week ago

Mmmmm love the smell of security theater in the morning

[-] Kolrami@lemmy.world 25 points 1 week ago

And yet I've had to throw out a whole bottle of St. Ives lotion. Which country is threatened by me having silky smooth skin?

[-] someguy3@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

You ever try to take down a greased up deaf guy?

[-] isgleas@lemmy.ml 24 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I think they are quite consistent, as a foreigner, when I travel to the US I get the random inspection every.single.time

/s

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] someguy3@lemmy.world 21 points 1 week ago

No idea? It comes down to the one person doing the job that may or may not care.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 18 points 1 week ago

If you can't keep track of your ammunition, you should not own a firearm.

[-] Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 7 points 1 week ago

If you can't keep track of your guns, you should not own ammunition.

[-] 3ntranced@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago

A hypothetical version of myself may have worked in an International Airport as a security lead. That hypothetical version would have to pass through general passenger TSA and Border checkpoint dozens of times a day. They also may have always been carrying dab pens on him and his coworkers might have on several occasions just carried handguns through that they might have forgotten on their persons.

Yeah Airports are to security as Ant traps are to an exterminator. Lotta smoke and mirrors. Most cameras are non functioning or just straight up not wired in the first place.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] VelvetStorm@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago

Just a few months ago, my wife and I went on vacation, and she had my mushroom hunting knife with like a 4 or 5-inch blade on it in her purse. The purse went through scanners and everything and no one said a fucking thing. Didn't realize we had the knife until we were on the plane in the air, and she went to get gum out.

[-] remotedev@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 week ago

Yet when I was bringing some fudge home for family, I got hassled on it being too much...

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

Pro-tip: Keep your range bag and your travel bag SEPARATE. Problem solved!

[-] 01189998819991197253@infosec.pub 12 points 1 week ago

I passed through TSA with a pocket knife, a small pair of sewing scissors, and a Leatherman multitool I forgot I put in my work backpack, but had to throw away my solid hand lotion for being 3.4oz. Larger than 3oz was a potential explosive, they told me. I had to toss it in a trashcan filled to overflowing with other potential explosives, located in the most populated area of the airport. I guess so it would take out as many people as possible and do the most structural damage, if my sealed Working Hands lotion was to explode and set off the other containers of lotions, water, and sodas. TSA is a joke.

[-] robocall@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

some people are way too casual about guns and ammo

[-] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

TSA is not in a fun position.

They are literally dealing with "The Most Armed Nation ... In The World." /clarkson And that is not often given to them out loud as the reality of their working parameters. Statistically that gives them a magnified margin of error by sheer volume of gun owners in the USA to my mind.

That said I have been terrorized by some TSA operators and patted down in the Denver airport without being asked or given a chance to have privacy by a TSA in the middle of line.

So won't you at least give the TSA a chance to go fuck themselves ?

[-] reddit_sux@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

American border is like prison border with the world being the prison. They are more concerned about people getting out of the prison than people getting in.

[-] ShadowRam@fedia.io 9 points 1 week ago

There's a higher chance Boeing will kill me than anything people bring on board.

[-] Treczoks@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

It is a mix of "American tourists who are to stupid to consult government service pages about their destination" and "TSA is all about perceived security, but not real security".

load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2024
318 points (99.1% liked)

News

21850 readers
5250 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS