Have I got a TSA story to share......try having a firearm in your luggage. I was flying a contract in Texas over the summer. Flying out of SEA early. Only one TSA inspection station apparently open that early in the morning regardless of the amount of people flying.
Took 45 mins to get to ticket agent. Then 30 min wait to get my luggage inspected. • TSA agent (just this one I am sure there are non-• TSA employees) is watched by two other goons who don't do anything but watch. While a long line of people wait to get inspected. That's when the fun begins.....
Handguns are in their own case in a locked pelican case. Things are packed neatly but pretty tight in the case with my gun box on top for easy access. Agent begins to remove everything from my case and stack to the side. Everything except the gun box which stayed in the case the entire time. He takes out both my Ipads and my GPS module and puts them to the side. I kid you not he unfolded my underwear to inspect it (I think he sniffed it too). He then takes a giant q-tip and swabs the inside of the pelican case. Mind you all that is in my case at this point is my gun box. For those of you who don't know a pelican case is a hard plastic(?) luggage case well know for its rigidity. No inner liner just the plastic case. Easy to see that there is no hidden places to hide a bomb in the pelican case.
So • swabs the entire inside of the case then puts it in his magic little machine. It dings or doesn't I couldn't really care but Douchebag begins to shove my things back into the pelican case. Not once touching my gun case. Never checked to see if the guns are unloaded or even guns. So as he is shoving things in a wadded up ball into the case I start to ask him to be careful with my stuff. Not worried about my underwear but my Ipads knee board, GPS, and other flight gear. He puts the knee board in last above my ipads and is trying to force the now overloaded case closed. I start yelling at him to be careful not to break it and let me repack it properly before he breaks something. He yells back at me not to approach and his two goons advance on me, not really threatening me just to ensure I don't approach the •. They aren't doing anything anyway, just supervising Douchebag. He's in the process of taking things out again to try to repack and I asked for my Ipads so I can put them in my carry aboard. They agree and hand both over to me. I then watch as now all three work to pack my stuff back in. As they are still trying to force my case closed I see my kneeboard near the edge with the pens sticking out over the lid they can't seem to get closed. I point this out to them and they move it allowing them to close the case.
I head to my gate fuming.
I get to Texas that night. Sure enough I open my case and the pens from my kneeboard have broken and leaked ink all over my clothing including my required expensive flight suits. To make matters worse, my GPS module is missing.
I finish the contract at the end of the month and start my trip back. I get to HOU, and instead of dealing with the TSA I get to deal with a nice but clueless ticket agent, who has never checked a firearm before. She has me wait while she finds a supervisor to explain the policy. When she comes back she has me open my case, remove my firearms in front of everyone, then show her they are clear. So now everyone in the packed ticket area see me remove a couple of handguns, rack the slide on the semi, and open the revolver allowing her to inspect them. This is the point where she tells me she has never held a gun and wouldn't be able to tell if they were loaded or not anyway. She then has to copy down the serial numbers and asks for me to hand over the guns. I tell her that I am not comfortable with that and would be happy to read them to her. She tells me she has to see with her own eyes the serial numbers, it's "policy". I have a very calm debate with her which she wins handedly by informing me that if I don't hand them over she will not allow me to check the baggage. I hand over my guns. She uneventfully copies down the serials and hands me back the guns. I pack them in the case, lock the case and hand it over to her expecting never to see my pelican case (and everything contained) again. This has taken over 1/2 an hour at this point and done in front of 100s. But not once was the TSA involved or even present. Gotta love TSA consistency and God bless Texas!
I again head to my flight fuming.....but not as much this time since I somehow avoided the smurfs.
I land back in SEA and stand waiting for my luggage. As I see nearly every single bag picked up by my fellow passengers a sense of dread begins to envelope me. Sure enough my bag isn't there.
I go to the lost luggage office explaining the situation. Panic ensues when I inform them of the firearms in the luggage because of course "guns". TSA shows up, airport security, airport police, Santa Claus, and I am pretty sure the Easter Bunny. We spend about 1/2 an hour with me answering over and over again, "It's a black pelican case" with a red crew tag, and my name written on it. When suddenly another baggage person shows up for her shift and says "oh all the bags with guns go over here" and she takes me to a place right next to the lost baggage office where sure enough there sits my bag. Firearms resting safety inside. But still no sign of my expensive GPS module.
I F"en hate the TSA. They are about as useful as a screen door on a submarine. The TSA has done nothing to stop an actual attack. In every single attempt it has been the passengers and crew who saved the day. Even when the TSA itself came under attack they were unable to do anything about it and passengers in the terminal had to subdue the gunman, because the only people with guns were on coffee break.
If a terrorist wanted to make a big boom with lots of casualties and damage the frack out of our economy all they have to do is stand in line at TSA security with a few hundred passengers on a busy day. They would take out a lot more than they could get on a single aircraft and would never have even made it far enough to deal with security check points.