More on TSA nipple ring woes and pliers incident

by Jamie Rhein on

When Jeffery wrote his post yesterday, the story about the woman who was asked to remove her nipple rings at an airport security line were sketchy. Now that the details are out, they are almost unbelievable.

The woman was in the Lubbock airport and triggered off the metal detector. Perhaps they were rather large nipple rings, but once she told the TSA employees what caused the beeping and offered to show the rings to a female employee, one would think that would have been enough. I haven’t read anything about nipple rings being a weapon. Particularly since corkscrews without a knife blade are allowable and so are scissors if the blades are small enough, it would seem nipple rings would get a pass.

The woman was given the pliers after she couldn’t get one of the rings to come out. She reports that she was crying and heard the TSA guys snickering. According to the TSA policies, she could have had a pat down to establish what was triggering off the alarm. At this moment, all she wants is an apology from TSA.

Two weeks ago I saw an older man getting quite the pat down at the TSA line at the Columbus airport. At first I thought he was getting a massage at the back of his neck and shoulders, but decided it was odd that he was holding his arms out from his side. This nipple ring story makes me wonder even more what was up with him. Oh, the woman did say once the rings were out ,she was able to board the plane with her belly button ring intact. With all the things one can pierce these days, if you plan to take an airplane, I’d watch the size of the metal and how much.

TSA hands woman pair of pliers, tells her to remove nipple rings

by Jeffrey White on

A Los Angeles attorney has contacted the media claiming that a woman flying out of Los Angeles International Airport was handed a pair of pliers from Transportation Security Administration workers and made to remove her nipple rings before passing through and boarding her flight.

Sadly, this wonderful Associated Press story is short on details as of this writing. The AP names the attorney, one Gloria Allred, but notes that she did not go into much detail while making the allegation. Perhaps she simply witnessed the incident? A news conference is forthcoming, but it’s unclear when.

Reached for comment by the AP, TSA spokesman Dwayne Baird said he had not heard of the matter, but added that while the administration has no specific policy about body jewelry and piercings, if somebody has a piercing big enough to set off alarms it would have to be “investigated.”

No word yet on whether the woman at issue had to put the pliers to work while still in the security line.

How is Heathrow’s new terminal like your girlfriend? It can’t deal with all your baggage.

by Aaron Hotfelder on

What does $9 billion dollars get you these days? For British Airways shareholders, it’s a shiny, state-of-the-art new terminal at London’s Heathrow Airport. (Note: Price does not include your checked luggage.)

Terminal 5, British Airways’ new $9 billion dollar megastructure at Heathrow Airport, opened earlier today to passengers, but the airline is experiencing some “technical glitches” in the process of returning passengers’ checked luggage to them. Some had to wait for as much as four hours for their bags, and passengers are being asked not to bring checked luggage on their flights– or to call the airline and rebook.

BA has already cancelled 34 flights because of “technical problems” with the new terminal.

Gareth Kirkwood, BA’s delightfully British-named director of operations, said: “We sincerely apologise to those customers who have suffered disrupted journeys or baggage delays.” Wow, he even spoke using British spelling. That’s impressive.

[Hat tip to Moody75 for the link.]

Thoughts on woman who died at Phoenix airport

by Jamie Rhein on

This morning, Jeffrey wrote a post about Carol Anne Gotbaum’s family suing the city of Phoenix for her death. Right after she accidentally strangled herself with her handcuffs while she was in police custody at the Phoenix Sky International Airport, I wrote about it. Her mental illness and desperation, plus the heightened security at airports, and the anxiety that goes with air travel made for a bad combo. Regardless of whether procedures were followed or not, I wonder what the procedures are exactly? If one goes off ones rocker, one hopes for a better result.

In the movie, “Meet the Savages,” there’s a brief scene when Laura Linney’s character is helping her father who has dementia make it to the bathroom of an airplane when flying with him back to New York from where he was living in Arizona. His pants fall down while he is standing in the aisle. No one reacts. What if someone had become irate? A small scene could have become a big one.

I was just in the Phoenix airport two weeks ago Friday dashing with a group of thirty to catch a plane since our Southwest flight was almost two hours delayed. The jaunt between the two gates was a goodly amount and I had the task of keeping track of the five people assigned to me. Everyone in my group was sane and not drinking and kept checking to make sure we were all accounted for. I can’t imagine navigating an airport of that size if under duress.

I feel bad for both sides and it’s unfortunate Gotbaum isn’t around to explain what was going on in her head that day. As a person who has worked with people with mental illness, when I watched the tape back when I wrote a previous post, I did think, “Oh boy. What an unfortunate mess.”

Use a cell phone to secure your Southwest Airlines boarding pass

by Justin Glow on

Over a year ago, I wrote about how you can print your Southwest Airlines boarding pass without a printer, but since then I got a Blackberry and have adapted the same concept to a cell phone.

Two weekends ago, I was in Chicago for St. Patrick’s Day, and instead of leaving the party mid-day Saturday to find a computer to check in and get my “A” boarding pass for our Sunday flight back home, I used my cell phone’s Internet browser to login to Southwest Airline’s website. Once I entered in my information, it took me to the screen where I could select the passengers to check in and hit “print boarding pass.”

Obviously I didn’t have a printer attached to my cell phone, but with Southwest’s system it doesn’t matter. I was able to see on-screen that I had secured an “A” boarding pass, so I closed out of it and continued on my marry way. Come Sunday, hungover and ready for the flight back home, we arrived at Midway and found a SWA check-in kiosk. There I swiped my credit card, and instead of selecting “print boarding pass,” I selected “re-print boarding pass.”

Southwest does this in case you lose your boarding pass or run out of printer ink mid-print, but it’s perfect for checking in using your cell phone or printing your boarding pass if you don’t have a printer at home, but still want that coveted “A” position. Give it a try.