Airport Security

[Cookiely]

My little neighbor next door just came back from a trip and was so upset. First I'm going to describe her. She is about 85 years old, short white hair, 4'11" and maybe weighs 80 pounds and extremely fragile and extremely vision impaired. She goes through security by herself because they wouldn't let her daughter into the boarding area without a ticket which I know is part of the new rules, but elderly people not familiar with travel get nervous and shouldn't be alone until they board. Poor thing had an expired drivers license because she gave up driving last year. They took her into a room and frisked her body. They kept touching her bottom and asking her what that "was" like she was hiding something in her pants and she told them it was her bones. I'm sorry but to even suggest this woman is terrorist material is ludicrous. She felt so humiliated to be touched like that.

[Skywatch_NC]

I'd file a lawsuit against that airport!

[Dee Bee]

Perhaps you (or any of her relatives) may take the opportunity to help your neighbor do the following:

*contact the airport authority for a face-to-face meeting;
*compose a letter to the editor; and
*contact the local news desk of the major Tampa newspaper AND/OR television news station about this experience as a possible investigative story.

Even if this has never happened before (which I seriously doubt), it should not happen again.

[Josephine96]

Cookie.. I echo the sentiments of what maybe you should do..

Call the airport and speak with someone..

Let MEDIA ATTENTION play a role in this 1 as well.. Contact the Tampa Tribune, St Pete Times and or even WFLA or whatever the major news network over in Tampa is..

I know if something like that happened here.. I'd let the Orlando media get a hold of it.. It is absolutely disturbing..

[Skywatch_NC]

And if all else should happen to fail...well, regarding my earlier post.

[gtalum]

I'd file a lawsuit against that airport!

Thanks to the "conservative" administration and congress, those security agents are now Federal employees. Good luck suing them. Perhaps people will start waking up to the waste and abuses of the TSA.

[gtalum]

Also, just FYI, there's an easy way around the "ticketed passengers only" rule. Buy a full-fare refundable ticket, go through security and to the gate with your loved one, and then get refunded as you go past the ticket counter on the way back out of the airport. As long as you seek the refund within 3-4 hours of buying the ticket, the purchase will never even hit your credit card. If it does, the refund will hit within a day or two anyway cancelling out the purchase.

[Skywatch_NC]

I'd file a lawsuit against that airport!

Thanks to the "conservative" administration and congress, those security agents are now Federal employees. Good luck suing them. Perhaps people will start waking up to the waste and abuses of the TSA.

The heck is TSA?

[gtalum]

The heck is TSA?

TSA = Transportation Security Administration. The TSA is the agency of the Department of Homeland Security (a new Department created by our allegedly conservative President Bush). It's the agency that all of the airport security personnel work for. They're no longer private employees. They're far less competent than the private sector security in place before 9/11.

[Josephine96]

Transportation Safety Administration

T S A lol {yes I'm a smart alec lol}

[Cookiely]

I want to thank all of you for your advice. I'm going to talk with her tomorrow to see if she would like to contact someone at the airport concerning what happened.

[pojo]

I was the only person who had a double security check in Milwaukee (everyone else on the trip was ok.)... they checked my baggage, and ran a transfrisker up and down my body several times... the female agent then did a pat down check... oh boy... that was fun! NOT! On our way back from Frankfurt, I again, had a double security check, this time several people had it! They checked the baggage and then did a personal check. Oh boy... I felt like I had a bulls-eye on me! (this was for military 2 week tour!)