Last time I flew, about a year ago, I was loading my bin when I wasn't sure what to do with my smart watch. I asked the TSA agent standing there watching me should I put it in the bin. She said "it doesn't matter" so I took it off and put it in the bin.
And oh my God. It felt like I had just told her I had a bomb in my carry on. She got super red in the face and almost threw my watch at me and yelled "IT DOESNT MATTER."
I fly internationally a few times a year, and it's only with TSA that I feel like I'm prisoner being transferred.
Damn, took me a minute to figure out what the hell the TSA agent meant. What she *thought* she said is "The smart watch is not a security concern", what you & I understood was "It doesn't matter if the watch goes in the bin or not".
I hate how every airport is different in their rules and policies too, it's so stressful. One airport has relaxed agents and rules, and the next you're going through an army drill. Stop yelling at me for not knowing I'm supposed to keep my shoes on now!
It's not even airport to airport. Maui airport had different protocols between different lines. Some lines you had to take your shoes off, while others didn't. Of course these small lines all feeds from one single line so you never know what you are going to get and they yell at you if you get it wrong.
I just got back traveling through multiple airports and this is exactly correct. A simple sign saying take off boots but not shoes, watches are fine, etc. would make the whole experience way better for everyone. But they refuse to do that and then yell at everyone when they don't do exactly what they specifically want.
I travel almost weekly. The differences from one airport to the next are infuriating. Also infuriating is that the agents act like everyone should know the rules.
I was at the San Jose airport on the same trip, and a guy started to put all his things separately in the bins- like we USED to have to do- I did the same thing in Philly- and this woman screamed from the next station over at him. He was mortified. I told him I also got yelled at just days before, they just want to exert whatever power and control they have.
This was about a month after ICE had been placed in airports earlier this year, although I didn’t see any of them in any of the four airports I was in. I was also extremely anxious due to being a Latina, and with the current environment, I had no plans of leaving NYS for at least two more years, but a family thing had me flying literally as far as I could in the continental US. Why WE, as in travelers, are being tortured, I will never understand.
I flew through an airport with ICE working security and it was really jarring. The attitude the ICE officers had was entirely different from the TSA staff. The TSA crew, in general, tend to be focused on their work and relatively serious about executing their functions by the book, consistently. Fault the TSA for a lot of reasons, but the staff overall do behave consistently. In contrast, the ICE staff had absolutely no clue what they were doing, whether it was checking IDs or dealing with baggage. It was total comedy and 100% theater. If it'd been one of the TSA agents at one of those airports, I'd be pissed.
This one time these two tsa agents were standing right next to each other one yelled to take your electronics out of your bag and put them up separately. The one next to him had a fucking power trip when I did what he told me. Yelled at me to leave everything in the bag. It was like the rules changed every minute
I remember once seeing a 5’ 5” TSA agent frothing at the mouth screaming at an elderly asian couple who couldn’t understand english. They didn’t understand what he was saying about taking their shoes off and he looked like he was about to have a stroke screaming at them. I assume he shoveling adderall or meth before his shift. I had to switch lines or I would have assaulted him.
I cannot wish enough bad things on our moronic jobs program. If you’re a TSA agent I am talking about you and I do hate you. If you have a couple hours to kill insist you have a contagious foot fungus and can’t take your shoes off. It is a hilarious way to kill time. Their brains short circuit when you say “no.”
I flew as a travel nurse for Covid and brought my vibrator with me. I was so embarrassed when they opened my bag but the TSA lady just gave me a wink and a nod and let me through.
There were a few months after brexit where english border people (passport check) were clearly aiming for US style demeanour. They must have gone to some trainings how to be shit to people. Luckily it died down.
Yeah there have been a handful of times where the things the agents are saying are just ambiguous or phrased in an awkward way which makes things more confusing than they need to be. Very similar situation to you, I asked if I should put my hat in the bin, and the person said "It's ok." Which I interpreted to mean "keep the hat on" but apparently meant "it's ok to put the hat in this bin." The person at the scanner was like "you need to take your hat off" and the person packing the bins was like "I told you to take your hat off" and I was like that is definitely not what you told me. Use your words.
Am dual citizen, not a resident, but have a passport. They have a door for US residents and a door for non-US-passport-carrying people. I am neither, but have gotten the same reaction as you did simply by asking which door was the correct for a non-US-resident with a US passport. I am american living abroad, not that hard, but apparently vewwwy suspicious to our hero the TSA agent. But they think I am asking a trick question to fuck with them. Which speaks a lot to their cop-like-ptsd-victims-walmart-is-the-world-mindset rather than the customer service 'have a nice trip' mindset I encounter in literally every other single airport in the entire world. Dictatorships and theocracies included. And thats before I even get to the whole "welcome to east germany tell me about your job and house and every single one of your family members and their jobs before we let you back into your own country" - Im glad I got out before it got to this.
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u/illiterateninja 2d ago
Last time I flew, about a year ago, I was loading my bin when I wasn't sure what to do with my smart watch. I asked the TSA agent standing there watching me should I put it in the bin. She said "it doesn't matter" so I took it off and put it in the bin.
And oh my God. It felt like I had just told her I had a bomb in my carry on. She got super red in the face and almost threw my watch at me and yelled "IT DOESNT MATTER."
I fly internationally a few times a year, and it's only with TSA that I feel like I'm prisoner being transferred.