Hint . If you know where the "SuperMall" is, you can probably find the place. Then tell those of us who don't have a clue...

Do you mean they confiscated a BOOK ??

What's dangerous about a book ..??
How could you assault the pilot with a book ??

and yes I did read Ray Bradbury's "Farenheit 451"
But I guess TSA is not looking for this kind of danger ...

I carry a self addressed envelope with my home as the return address as well.

It has one stamp on it. I'll pay the postage due when it gets home.


I wonder if you put the item in a envelope with stamp, could the TSA take it to sell it our would they have to mail it for you? Wouldn't they be tampering with the US Mail if they didn't?

Ah, the TSA... one of my favorite whipping horses. I just went on a vacation and kept thinking how thankful I am that I travel a great deal less than I once did. I packed all my sharps into a checked bag, which cost me $15 for the pleasure and made me feel nearly naked without my Leatherman. :-)

I made it through Checkpoint Charlie without a beating or being sent to jail without passing go (or getting declared an enemy combatant and stripped of my lifetime citizenship). So, there's that. But WOW on the holier-than-though, indifferent, ignorant, and dismissive attitudes. The "we couldn't care less about you, real safety, and we'd be happy to relieve you of your rights" feeling was palpable. Of course, nobody dared mention it within earshot of anyone in a TSA uniform, but I overheard more than one conversation at the gates on the topic.

On a relevant side-note, I just read where a federal judge ruled that people can now sue to have their names removed from the no-fly list. Probably a good thing after this post. ;-)

Just read this article and thought you might want to know that the TSA can fine you for confiscated items.




You may also be fined for "nonphysical interference" and "attitude," arbitrarily determined by a TSA employee.




http://www.lewrockwell.com/bovard/bovard59.html

"...TSA punished Campbell’s insolence by doubling her fine to $300..."

Ya gotta love it...

If I can speculate, this kind of attitude was inherited from US Customs, which has always had a My Way or the Highway attitude towards travellers. TSA is more of the same. Their jobs is pretty binary, to keep attackers and attacks off of airplanes, which requires a clean perimeter. Judging from a recent pass through the GSA warehouse people are still bringing stupid things through security - chainsaws, knives, pepper spray. We are going on 7 years since 9/11 and the real advent of serious security. This doesn't go away. What are people thinking?

Still, what is the alternative, how would you make a better (friendlier) TSA? I travel often enough, I've never been met with anything but courtesy, even in SeaTac which is reputed to have fairly slow and somewhat difficult TSA. Not always friendly, but courteous. My experience must be the exception to someone else's rule though, to hear people talk about it. I think Americans have something deeply inbred, lets call it a love of freedom, and hate to have that infringed. Bully for that. TSA takes away our freedom to board a flight with lighters, knives, bear spray, chainsaws, all sorts of goodies. We stand in lines and wait for them to do their jobs. We're sometimes met with an infuriating amount of stolid but necessary adherence to regulations. But its the regulations that keep the perimeter clean, and we would be jumping up and down on TSA if something got through and someone was able to take down another flight as a result. Its a binary issue - either you keep the stuff out, or you let it in, and we know what the consequences could be if things make it back onto planes. If someone has a better alternative I'd really like to hear it.

I agree with what you say. I am for sure not a seasoned traveler ('cept when I am driving), but from what I read here, and other places, it is the inconsistency of TSA that drives most people nuts. Think nipple rings, for example...

Don't mind if I do...
Oh yeah!

-Blast

Now think of having to remove them in semi-privacy, with a rusty (I added that part) pair of someone elses pliers...