TSA “regrets” the nipple ring situation

by Anna Brones on

It’s been hard not to miss the nipple ring story these past two days. But for those of you that were paying attention to other things, a woman flying from Lubbock to Dallas this week was forced to remove her nipple ring with pliers before clearing security and being allowed to board the aircraft.

Although she offered to show her nipple rings to Transportation Security Administration officials, they wouldn’t back down. To make matters worse, not only was she handed a pair of pliers after she couldn’t remove the ring by herself, but she heard TSA officials snickering as she struggled — a little painfully — to pull the ring out. “My experience with TSA was a nightmare I had to endure. No one deserves to be treated this way,” said Mandi Hamlin. I think most of us would probably agree with her.

In response to the whole incident, today the TSA blogging team wrote a post to remind everyone that their “questions and comments on the incident in Lubbock, Texas have not gone unnoticed.” The TSA blog does such a good job of responding to our needs.

Although Hamlin is pushing for a civil rights investigation, the TSA holds that “the security officers followed the procedures for when someone alarms the metal detector and did nothing wrong.” The security officers may have followed the correct procedures, but in an official statement the TSA made its best attempt at apologizing. “TSA acknowledges that our procedures caused difficulty for the passenger involved and regrets the situation in which she found herself. We appreciate her raising awareness on this issue and we are changing the procedures to ensure that this does not happen again.”

Got Feedback? TSA wants to know

by Iva Skoch on

Starting this week, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is placing “Got feedback?” stickers on screening equipment of 5 major US airports. The stickers should serve to drive traffic to TSA’s blog: www.tsa.gov/blog and encourage travelers to leave comments.

The blog was launched January 30 a features up to 4-5 weekly posts written by TSA employees, according to USA Today. So far, it has generated about 5000 responses.

Honestly, I pity the poor person who has to go through the comments. I am surprised only 137 comments have been banned because they contained profanity, threats or personal attacks. I would think that the TSA would be more of a punching bag.

Company patents electrical shock device to be used for aviation security

by Anna Brones on

As an airline passenger, there are many things that you can’t take aboard. Water bottles, lacrosse sticks, snow globes… the list goes on. But what if, despite all of the measures taken by the Transportation Security Administration, someone still manages to cause some havoc on a plane?

Lampered, a firearm training system, has patented a bracelet that delivers shocks when activated. What does the company see as the ideal use for such a bracelet? Aviation safety. Lampered proposes that the TSA require every passenger to wear one of the bracelets, and as soon as any safety related problems arise in-flight, flight-attendants can give a disabling electrical shock to a suspect passenger.

Somehow I can’t keep images of large herds of sheep, all with collars to keep them from going past the electrical fence, out of my head. Oh the advances in security.

[Via Boing Boing]

“TSA Gangstaz” rap video teaches airport security

by Justin Glow on


There’s no way this video was actually made by the TSA, but if it were, I’d have gained some new respect for them. Unfortunately I don’t think they’re quite this clever (or vulgar, for that matter). Their Myspace page says their record label is “Kanye Southwest Produkshuns.” Also from the Myspace page:

Shit Jacked Recently: 2 AirMac Laptops, Ralph Lauren Chaps Cologne, Nintendo DS Light, 5 bottles of Johnny Walker Blue, Size 13 Nike LeBron James VII kicks, 440 Ounces of bottled water, One Kobe steak, La Mer Skin Cream, Platinum Microphone Medallion, G4 Attack of the Show Sweatshirt, 6 cases Vitamin Water, One Puggle, 5 ounce Dry Idea Cologne…

Genius. (Video is very NSFW!)

I’ll jack your gold-plated pen knife, bitch, and that’s reality, you better lose you pre-9/11 mentality

[Via Boing Boing]

How much baby food is too much to carry on?

by Iva Skoch on

I really, honestly, do not envy people flying with children. As if their children’s mid-air temper tantrums are not exhausting enough, getting through security–taking off your infants’ shoes while simultaneously removing your laptop and chasing your toddler who rushed through the metal detector with his teletubby in hand–is probably enough to make you want to stay home at all costs.

Now, I hear that parents are also being harassed about the amount of baby food they bring on board. The TSA rule says you may carry on baby food and liquids in “reasonable quantities for the duration of your itinerary.” The definition of reasonable quantities, of course, varies.

This NY Times article talks about parents who carry on more baby food than necessary in the winter time because flights get delayed, and they don’t want to be stuck with a hungry baby and no food. For example, for a two and a half hour flight, a couple wanted to carry on five or six 2-ounce jars of Gerber’s baby food and 20 ounces of Similac baby formula in two sealed 8-ounce and two sealed 2-ounce plastic bottles just “to be safe.”

TSA said that for that much baby food, they would need to bring a doctor’s note. Um, what exactly should the note say? “This is one hungry baby! TSA, have mercy?”