A 2008 WBZ News report by Joe Shortz on TSA screening complaints. Travelers describe invasive pat-downs and searches of prosthetics and piercings. The segment weighs passenger concerns about humiliation against TSA's safety priorities.
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Taking our shoes off, not traveling with large bottles of liquids, that's our post-9/11 reality when we fly. But as our chief correspondent Joe Short Sleeve explains, some travelers are wondering if security officials sometimes go a little too far.
For arguing with a TSA agent, Robin Kassner was slammed to the floor. The case is now in court.
I kept begging them over and over again, "Get off of me, get off of me, get off of me." Now that is an extreme case.
For sure.
But a lot of travelers believe security personnel are going too far when it comes to screening them before they get on a plane.
Take for example an elderly man confined to a wheelchair. He's thoroughly patted down, his hands swabbed.
It's humiliation.
71-year-old Robert Perry had a problem when his artificial knee set off a metal detector.
He ran his hands down over and pulled the pants down. They went down around my ankles.
At that point, he was standing in his underwear in public view. Asking to see a supervisor actually made things worse.
She was yelling, "I have power! I have power!
I have power!" TSA policy mandates that when a metal detector goes off, an agent must resolve what caused the alarm, even if it's a prosthetic leg. Michael Angone lost her leg to cancer as a child. She flies frequently for concerts and says she always tells agents her leg could set off the metal detector, but it doesn't always help.
I've had to completely take my pants off and show them, like, my entire leg before.
Unfortunately, some in the TSA I think the TSA, they take their jobs a little too seriously.
Robert Siciliano is a Boston-area security consultant. He does say, however, that passengers have to be sensitive to the need for tight security.
The problem with body piercings or prosthetic devices that are metal or metal plates in any part of your body is that they're unseen by security professionals, by the TSA. And that same piercing could also be a weapon.
That doesn't satisfy Michael's dad.
The key word here is reasonable. And they're— they've gone off the track. They're not reasonable.
The TSA here in Boston tells us that customer service is important, but make no mistake, safety, safety is the top priority. Nationally, there have been more than 2 billion passenger boardings since 9/11 and about 110,000 complaints. Joe Shortz, WBZ News.
And if you're wondering what other items might just trigger the security alarm or what you should leave in your checked baggage, go to WBZTV.com, click on local news, and you can read the TSA's policy.
