The Transportation Security Administration wants you to know that it takes “cupcakegate” very seriously, which is why they’re reiterating why it was deemed not okay for a woman to take a cupcake through security in a jar, when carrying a regular, non-jarred up dessert with icing is fine. It’s the level of frosting, you see, and the 3-1-1 rule. [More]
TSA
TSA Agent Confiscates Cupcake On Grounds That Its Delicious Frosting Could Be Explosive
By 1.3.12
We’ve known desserts to be so tasty they’re downright dangerous, but one TSA agent in Las Vegas took that idea very literally, confiscating a cupcake for the possibility that its icing could be explosive. [More]
TSA Agent Finds Pot In Rapper's Bag, Leaves Note Rather Than Confiscating It
By 12.16.11
Remember that TSA agent who left a “get your freak on” note inside the bag of a woman who packed a vibrator — and was subsequently fired for doing so? Well it looks like that agent was not the only wannabe quipster among his security-screening kin. [More]
Lawmakers Ask TSA To Place Passenger Advocates In Airports
By 12.12.11
Considering all the negative press the Transportation Security Administration has received in recent years over its invasive airport security screening procedures, it couldn’t hurt for the TSA to have staffers on hand whose job it is to consider the best interest of the passengers. [More]
TSA Thinks Fake Gun On Your Handbag Is A Security Threat
By 12.2.11
While gun replicas have been outlawed on planes since 2002, should that include miniature designs of pistols that are part of your handbag? This is the question that vexed a teenager who was stopped by TSA agents and told that her weaponized handbag was some sort of illegal security risk. [More]
Anti-TSA Complaints At All-Time Low
By 11.18.11
Even as there has been growing concern about full-body scanners and grope-y pat downs at airport security checkpoints, the actual number of complaints against the Transportation Security Administration hit an all-time low last month. [More]
TSA Warns Passengers: Wrapped Gifts May Need To Be Unwrapped
By 11.14.11
If you have to fly this holiday season and you were planning on wrapping any presents before you get on the plane, the folks at the TSA have issued their annual word of caution on the matter: They may need to unwrap those carefully packed gifts. [More]
Pushing Your Way Onto A Plane Without A Ticket Is A Good Way To Get Arrested
By 10.27.11
Usually when we write about the cops being called to an airplane, it involves a ticketed passenger being forcibly removed from the jet. But in a nice change of pace, here’s the story of a man who allegedly thought he could just push his way onto a Southwest flight sans ticket. [More]
TSA Finds Your Vibrator In Checked Suitcase, Leaves Creepy Note
By 10.26.11
Bad: Having the TSA pawing through your checked luggage. Worse: The suitcase they chose to open includes a sex toy. Worse still: the person who went through your bags leaves a leering note. Specifically, they scrawl “GET YOUR FREAK ON GIRL” on the notice of inspection.
Loaded Gun Falls Out Of Checked Bag; TSA Says, Not Our Problem
By 10.24.11
Hey, you know how you have to take your shoes off at the airport and it’s really annoying? Isn’t it more annoying that all those safeguards/hassles in place that are supposed to protect you still let a loaded gun slip come flying out of a bag? Yeah. That happened. [More]
TSA Agent Retrieves Cellphone From Locked Car, Hands To You At Gate
By 10.4.11
TSA agents get a bad rap here and elsewhere, so when one of them acts like a human being, nay, a super human being, it is our duty to inform you. Alanna had one such experience this morning when a TSA agent went extremely out of her way to help Alanna get her cellphone from the rental car she had locked it in. This was very helpful because the rental office only opened a half-hour before her plane took off. [More]
TSA Gives Breast Cancer Survivor Invasive Patdown After She Goes Through Scan
By 10.3.11
A breast cancer survivor says she was forced to go through a patdown where TSA agents touched her breasts, even though she had already gone through the backscatter body scanner and had an ID card explaining the tissue expanders in her chest. [More]
The TSA Thinks You Might Be Hiding Weapons In Your Big Hair
By 9.21.11
Here’s a warning to the big-haired travelers of the world: Your voluminous ‘do might merit a second round of security screening the next time you’re traveling through the airport. [More]
TSA Fires 28 Agents Who Allegedly Did Not Do Jobs
By 9.19.11
In the slow but inevitable reaction to the scandal in which several Transportation Security Administration agents were accused of letting un-screened baggage make it on to flights, the agency fired 28 employees. Fifteen others connected to the alleged negligence — which is believed to have occurred over several months in Hawaii last year — were suspended. Three others left their jobs voluntarily. [More]
Guy Who Helped Create TSA Wants To Kill It
By 9.16.11
Of all the critics the Transportation Security Administration has attracted, one of the last naysayers you’d expect to see would be a politician who had a hand in creating the bureau. But according to a conservative site, the Republican chairman of the House Transportation Committee who sponsored the bill that led to the establishment of the TSA in 2002 wants to dismantle and privatize the organization. [More]
TSA Agents Accused Of Being Bribed With Gift Cards To Help Drug Dealers
By 9.14.11
The feds recently arrested 18 individuals accused of being involved in a mult-state drug trafficking ring. But along with the baker’s dozen of alleged drug dealers caught up in the scheme were five folks — three TSA officers and two cops — who are usually supposed to stop this sort of behavior. [More]
TSA Rolling Out New Procedures For Fliers Under 12
By 9.13.11
In the next few months, the TSA will implement new security procedures for fliers under 12, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano told the Senate. They can still get patted down, although it will be by a different method, and they no longer have to remove their shoes. Even if they have velcro straps and are super easy to take on and off anyway. [More]
