TSA | Imamother

kenz

Sat, Nov 23 2024, 4:04 pm

amother Orange wrote:

There’s no such thing for us as necessary travel Friday. I can’t think of a medical emergency that would make travel necessary on a Friday, but other than a real emergency, we don’t fly anywhere on Friday. The TSA is horrible. Clearing customs can be an ordeal if you’re traveling from one country to another. Airlines are unpredictable and worst of all, won’t let you get off the plane after boarding so if there are delays you’re basically stuck. Op, what the TSA put you through is awful and unacceptable but you should really think twice before booking a flight for Erev Shabbos.

I think you made your point the first time.

amother

Waterlily

Sat, Nov 23 2024, 4:09 pm

amother Orange wrote:

Wow you can't think of anything that would make Friday travel necessary??
Someone is dying
Someone has died and you need to make levaya
Thats without stretching the imagination

Op hope it was for good news not bad.

TSA is horrible. I refuse to get in the scanner and always choose a pat down so I factor extra time for that because they're simply ridiculous. They take ages to swab down the carseat or stroller. I was standing in line with my shoes off the day that the shoe bomber terrorist was released from jail. I've been randomly selected for further questioning. Meanwhile the Israelis shamelessly do racial profiling and it works.

amother

↑ Orange

Sat, Nov 23 2024, 4:19 pm

amother Waterlily wrote:

I wrote that as someone who has close relatives a short flight away. There have unfortunately been life and death medical situations and funerals. It’s always been non negotiable for us. When a medical situation sounds bad we travel Thursday or wait till Sunday. A funeral on Friday is usually due to a death a day earlier but if we were to hear someone died early Friday we wouldn’t fly in. This didn’t happen to us but a close friend whose father passed Friday morning, the funeral was Sunday so relatives could make it. Possible chillul Shabbos is a big thing. For sure no simcha or business travel could get us to travel Friday. Dh stayed over Shabbos when a business trip unexpectedly took longer than expected. He wasn’t in a Jewish friendly place but thankful for Chabad that was a not too long drive away and will always host a yid.
I don’t want to derail. I think OP’s point was that the TSA is awful and they are.

chanatron1000

Sat, Nov 23 2024, 4:22 pm

I'm not sure how people become TSA but I'm pretty sure they're trained to be as obnoxious as possible. From the moment you walk in, they're already angry at you. You have to know their ever-changing rules by heart. If anything goes wrong, whether it's the machine not reading something or the TSA agent stubbed their toe, it's your fault. The only way to not run into any issues, presumably, is to walk through in a hospital gown with no bags.

amother

Bisque

Sat, Nov 23 2024, 7:06 pm

Gotta say I've never had a problem with TSA and bad attitudes. I've set off the body scanner and they apologize and have a female officer check me at the spots that show "hot". I've had my bag checked because of the food that was in it. But always with polite TSA officers who were pleasant and apologetic for patting me down.

amother

Oleander

Sat, Nov 23 2024, 7:40 pm

I traveled once with a vibr@tor in my carry on. Somehow it got turned on. TSA agent announced to the entire line, "something is vibrating in here!" I said Oh it's probably my cellphone. She again announced in the loudest possible voice "That's not a cellphone".
Frum Jews behind me on line.
Really unncessarily mortifying!!

amother

↑ OP

Sun, Nov 24 2024, 7:44 pm

I guess I'm not the only one with TSA horror stories.

Amother orange, I understand that it's risky flying on Friday, but we actually had way more than enough time to get home, and once we were home we were actually bored until the zman, because we prepped everything for shabbos before we left. We also had a backup plan for the worst case scenario had we been stranded. We weren't flying internationally, it was just a 2 hour plane ride at 7am. I don't think thats CRAZY. We actually had a slight delay and got home with more than enough time to spare. It was just the way the TSA agents treated me that stressed me out like that.