Moment of TSA surrealist zen @ LAX: Xeni
- - - - - - - - - -
I flew from JFK to LAX today, and something really weird happened when I arrived (at about 230PM local time).
I walked from the arrival gate towards baggage claim, and when I was about halfway there, all of a sudden about a dozen or more TSA personnel and private security staff appeared, shouting STOP WHERE YOU ARE. FREEZE. DO NOT MOVE. Not just at me, but all of the travelers who happened to be wandering through the hallway at that moment.
Some of the TSA guards then backed up against walls in the hallway, and sort of barked at anyone who tried to move a few feet away from their "spot," like towards chairs to sit down or whatever.
One TSA guard jogged ahead, back towards the arrival gates (United, this was Terminal 7). At first I assumed maybe it was some weird security drill? A few of us asked what was going on, and got terse answers, like, "Security review." WTF? 5 minutes passed. 10, 15, 20. The two teen Japanese tourists about ten feet behind me looked utterly dazed -- welcome to America, guys. I was really jetlagged and cranky, wanted to move a few feet and sit down, but the TSA lady nearest me kind of snapped at me to stop and stay frozen where I was when the order went out.
After 30 minutes, the TSA people said, okay, you may leave now. And everyone unfroze, and went and got their bags. No explanation. I guess I should have pressed for an explanation, or demanded to know why we were being held without our consent and without a provided reason, but I was really tired and just wanted to get the hell out of there and go home. Perhaps I was wrong to have just walked away.
Has anyone else out there experienced this kind of thing in a US airport? Was this some sort of weird TSA fire drill, or was there an actual security incident with a perceived imminent threat?
The guards were all just sort of standing around scratching their heads, looking bored, I definitely didn't have the sense there was any urgency. But they held us there, standing, frozen, for 30 minutes. I felt like we were in an undiscovered Godard movie or something, and some Parisian babe with heavy eyeliner was going to burst in any moment and start reciting poetry. Totally surreal.
Love to hear anyone else's first-hand accounts of anything similar in the comments, if you've experienced it lately.
Wow. I'm shocked. boingboing has regained the courage to have comments?!
Did they give you any explanation when the game of armed freeze-tag was over, Xeni? Even if there was a valid reason (which, as a frequent traveler sick of TSA Security Theatre, I tend to doubt), it seems that they could give some explanation, however cursory ... how weird ... hope I don't encounter this one ever (especially not when I'm in a hurry, which is most times that any of us are in airports, after all).
This happened to me when i was in PDX a few weeks ago. I was leaving the secured area after getting off a plane, i was near the screeners but not yet through. The TSA people started yelling and did the same thing you described and had everyone freeze.
It only lasted a few minutes for me.
Yes, the same thing happened to me last spring, coming in on a flight that landed in Nashville. No explanation, just lots of orders by folks w/ guns; both TSA and local police. The whole process took about 30 minutes. No one seemed to know exactly what was going on - even the police.
Sounds like the TSA is 'conditioning' US public to obey orders at any time. Very Scary.
The airport security racket is a multi-billion scam, designed to enforce fear in the population. It's a sham, nothing else.
(By the way, I registered for your account, but couldn't sign in and had to comment anonymously.)
No, B-Trom, that was the weirdest part. After a half a frickin hour, they were just like, "o, hai, nm u guys kthxbi." And as I said, I feel a little guilty for not having pressed for an explanation (I believe we were owed one!) but I really really needed to be home quickly and didn't have it in me for a fight at that moment. If I were, say, John Gilmore or Bruce Schneier and not a total pussy, I'd have done more.
@Gregjsmith, I think the staff at LAX is just dumber and slower. I honestly wonder if this isn't just some kind of drill they do, periodically, and never tell the passengers what's up.
Once when I was flying from Seattle to Birmingham, AL, something kind of like that happened to me. Birmingham is a small airport, and theres only one security entry point with two metal detectors that everyone has to go through to get to to the one long hall of gates branching from the right and left. As I arrived to go past the security area towards baggage claim, apparently someone had tried to go through security by going around, instead of through, that is to say on one side there are people exiting, with only one TSA employee making sure no one goes in that way. Well in any case, I saw a couple of guys run past saying something about catching a person who didn't go through the detector, and a security guard tell everyone who was exiting to stop, and they taped off the only area to exit out of, and stopped anyone from going in through the metal detector, which is completely insane. It took about 15 minutes or so before we could move, I assume they got whoever they were looking for. I hung around a little while to see if they were going to bring whoever it was up to the front to go through the metal detector the normal way, but apparently they must have taken him/her to one of those special room. Like you said though Xeni, we couldn't move or go to sit anywhere, as there were several TSA people as well as the x-ray and metal detector people around, who had left their post to make sure we didn't. SO maybe this is what happened to you, maybe someone got loose.
On the opposite end of L.A. flying, Burbank Airport for quite some time now has a sign up saying cars are subject to searches upon entering. I've never once seen it happen despite being a relatively frequent traveler.
From the stories I've heard, you were lucky to get away with your clothes still on.
It seems to happen all the time at LAX (I fly in and out of there, the Southwest terminal, about once a week). Generally, it's considerably faster than 1/2 hour, though, at most a minute or two.
I always assumed it was yet another Totally Silly Absurdity, something they do To Seem Acceptable.
Most likely they "lost" a person of interest at one of the checkpoints. Couple of years ago a passenger walked thru the TSA checkpoint leaving behind a bag with a loaded gun in it. They never found him.
Guess they developed the freeze procedure after that.
This exact thing happened to me early April in the Tom Bradley terminal @ LAX. Roughly 22:30.
Flex JFK to LAX and transferred from terminal 4 for my international connection. Walking past the security checkpoint on the sterile side - it's roughly opposite where the bus drops you - and one of the TSA operators screams "STOP! DO NOT MOVE!"
A good dozen more TSA guys materialize out of nowhere and I get to play statues with 20 or so people from my bus, and everyone in the queue for security.
There was no explanation - in fact we were forbidden from talking.
After about 5 mins some shouts "CLEAR!" and everyone gets back to business.
As you said - surreal.
-Cam.
It's high time more citizens learned to say those three simple words "kiss my ass".
Power trip. Too much authority and self-importance.
It's now clear that once you step into an airport you are no longer a US citizen and have no rights - and they're not going to let you forget it.
I can't think of a better way to promote rail travel, can you?
Xeni, you just described exactly what happened to me at LAX in December on the way to Oahu. We didn't get an explanation; they just kept yelling "freeze."
I was already running late for a flight because my travel partner was pulled aside for a special security check in that consisted of them barely looking at her passport (from the Netherlands) and stamping her boarding pass after making us wait in an hour-long line.
Since we were running late, I picked up her bags after they'd gone through the X-ray, since she was busy being frisked and having powder rubbed on her shoes. Since I had touched her bags, they had to go through the X-ray machine a second time ... in case I had somehow slipped something in even though a TSA person had been watching me the whole time.
If weren't in danger of missing our flight (which we miraculously made), I would have asked for an explanation.
@Flying Squid-- I've had my car searched a few times at Burbank, but not regularly, and not for at least 6 mos. OTOH the security checkpoint was back at the LAX entrance when I was there a couple days ago, to my surprise.
That happened to me at LAX a few months ago while going through security.
After it happened, we were told it was just a drill.
Unless they are arresting you, they shouldn't be able to detain you. Any lawyers out there?
Yeah, wow. Didn't realize this procedure was so common. I think what really felt so surreal here was the duration -- half an hour, man.
I'm trying to remember . . . when we played freeze tag as kids, was there a "jail"? What happened to the kids who didn't stay frozen?
did people miss their flights, or were all the flights delayed in the terminal?
So, why didn't anybody sit down? are they gonna arrest the entire goddamned plane full of people for being tired? I wonder what the law requires, actually, in terms of obeying these people. Most of the screeners do not look like they are trained in law enforcement.
This proves it; the terrorists have won.
Is there anywhere that describes what a traveler's rights are in this situation? I'd really like to know the details. As I understand it, one still cannot be detained arbitrarily in this country. Of course there are probably special (secret?) regulations that apply in airport secured areas...
Last week a similar thing happened, but I got a bit more information out of it. I was beyond the gates at LAX when several TSA folks rushed toward the passenger terminal. One yelled out something cryptic (like "Code Chartreuse", I couldn't quite make it out even when every other TSA person yelled it back TSA then demanded that everyone near them stop and stand still while they handled the situation. After about 30 seconds, the all clear was called out and folks could continue on.
More than likely, this was probably a case of someone doing something like walking back into the TSA area or being a three year old or maybe having oddly colored socks. No explanation was given, and frankly, I was just happy that they didn't decide to clear the airport.
Had this happen at Orlando a few months ago. I sat for 20 minutes on one of the monorail trains that shuttle you from check in to the gate while security locked down everything to track down someone who allegedly had slipped the screening process.
Does anyone else thing that there are no real policies and procedures for these TSA folk, and that each airport's TSA office is run in a different way - but you can't know what way, because it would "compromise security" for you to know what's going on?
It sounds to me like the LAX TSA office is run by Skroeder (if you've seen the movie you'll understand) or the Chicago SWAT team from the Blues Brothers movie "hut! hut! hut! hut!"
Freeze tag by the TSA.
Because a real terrorist wouldn't know how to stand still. Because real terrorist would cause a scene and want to sit down.
Maybe next time it will be Red Light, Green Light, 123!
Sometimes I think it's a social experiment. They do all kinds of crazy shit. Making people sit in planes while landed for hours on end because of "security concerns". Making everyone leave the airport and then re-enter security because someone might have gotten through unscreened. Stopping you to ask some stupid question, just to see how you will respond.
They're looking for people behaving oddly. Or they're testing how plastic we've all become. Baaahh.
I fly united a lot. this has happened to me at LAX at least 3 times. Whatever people; want to see some real weirdness? check out the white house...
I've seen stuff like that happen in the streets of NYC...
Weird and terrible times lie ahead.
This is hideous. I'm so very glad to not be an American and have no need to visit.
Anyone recall the 20,000 passengers detained at LAX earlier in August due to a stupid TSA computer malfunction. They wouldn't let anyone off the planes, even though all were screened before boarding their flights.
The TSA like to yell at everyone, as if to keep all travelers in a constant state of fear. They have no signage detailing certain search procedures, then when you've failed to place your laptop in it's "own" bin they yell some more. If you apologize & explain that you didn't know the procedure, they yell again.
I recall the dopey TSA had an unannounced red alert stage going on at SFO last month one night for no particular reason, recorded announcements repeatedly stating obnoxious paranoid orders & requests, and alienating passengers. In Seattle recently a TSA girl sat at a desk just repetitively yelling something unintelligible every 30 seconds at a long line of passengers sweating while struggling with their shoes, bags and IDs. It was like a scene out a Woody Allen @ Auschwitz flick.
The TSA gladly confiscate "verboten" everyday items, but offer no envelopes to mail them back to yourself or perhaps check them. Huh?
Disabled & retarded people have their medications taken, seniors wobble as their walkers are taken away..it's nuts, stupid and ridiculous. Any terrorist worth a salt would just wear a bomb into a TSA screening line and blow up hundreds like they do in Iraqi job lines.
They're just fucking with you. It's a game one of the bored TSA guys (or girls) thought up in the break room, and now it's spread to other airports.
Either that, or it's a government test to see how their sheep breeding program is getting along.
Apparently, it's a success.
I ran into similar at LAX.
I was lucky enough to overhear some of the radio chatter, and it was because someone got a bottled water past security.
That was it.
Same barking, same "don't move".
This happened to me right after going through a departure checkpoint in MCO (Orlando). Sudden yelling, everyone freeze, although they didn't stop people from sitting. Then a TSA guard jogged ahead and got someone who had apparently slipped through the checkpoint by accident without getting his bags x-rayed. (Some clueless foreign tourist.) After he was screened, all-clears and thumbs-up all around.
Why are you people STILL FLYING with this nonsense going on? No job is worth this kind of indignity, and I'm sure your families will understand why you shouldn't have to put up with this kind of crap to visit them.
I haven't been able to lower myself to fly publicly in years. There's a lot of the country I still want to see, but I'm holding out hope that one day again I'll be able to do so without having to be treated like a parolee.
Happened to me going through LAX at about 10:30 p.m. on Saturday the 25th. Only lasted a couple of minutes. Never found out what it was. The lady behind me in the queue to get our bags X-rayed was not amused (she had a very young child with her).
This happened to me a LAX in like '97 or 98. We had de-planed and were walking out. We had to freeze just before passing the metal detectors on the way out. I'll never forget it. When we were allowed to 'unfreeze' (after only about 3 minutes - an extremely long three minutes) I said to a woman next to me exiting the passage by the metal detectors, 'WTF was that' and she nonchalantly said, "It's an Isreali thing" and then disappeared.
Hey Uncle Sam, why you so paranoid? Been smokin' too much weed???
I guess the pause is needed to change the tape on their surveillance system, and they don't want any jumps in the picture -- maybe their automated "threat detection" software shits bricks if there's a gap in the tap.
As for the half hour pause -- I guess the guy in charge of changing the tape was doing a Sen. Craig in some airport stall.
Children of Men was prophetic. We are all Fugees now.
The most disturbing part of this for me was how everyone comments that they were just happy to make their flight, or were too tired and just happy to leave. These actions are unacceptable! When will we start holding people responsible for these sorts of shenanigans?
This happened to me in may of this year in Atlanta as I was returning to LA. Several yells of "NOBODY MOVE!!" But it only lasted about 3-4 minutes, not long, just long enough for everybody to get over being scared and see that it was just the same overweight TSA screeners trying to do their job (read: piss everyone off). About half of them looked nervous, the other half looked smug at having kept the old ladies in wheelchairs from putting their shoes back on with some semblance of dignity.
Hey Purly:
You're not paranoid if someone is really after you.
America continues its War On Tourism!
happened to me also, coming back from tampa last December. Lasted about ten minutes, and they started to yell at the wife and I for trying to sit down, but we sat anyways. I tried asking what happened and they used the same term " security review" and wouldn't elaborate.
"It's high time more citizens learned to say those three simple words "kiss my ass"."
-such people get shot.
this is just a mindgame, they're just playing with your psychology, because you know that if you break the line, you're in for a rubber glove exercise... with a gun to your head.
Makes you wonder who the real Terrorists Sabotaging our Airports are.
My God...
I'm an American, but your guys' comments REALLY make me glad I've lived in Japan the last 7 years...
About a year ago, flying out of Paris. After having gone thru security, people at the gate are asked to go into two lines: one for men, one for women. People are asking about kids and the airline people rudely answer (security reasons, blablablahhh...)
Too close to other "lines" to my taste and I was not the only to think that.
Why does everyone keep talking about terrorists? We still have normal criminals that are dangerous and actually exist.
Makes me wonder what would actually happen if you just sat down or walked a couple of steps to a chair. Would they tackle you? Shoot you? Say "I SAID FREEZE!!!" and then when the see you're not going anywhere keep standing around with their fingers up their noses? Either way, scary.
Here's a thought, what if they just want to see who looks guilty? Perhaps they're not looking for anyone in particular, they just walk out, shout "freeze!", and then wait for someone to make a break for it thinking they've been busted. Sort of like a fishing trip, waiting for someone to bite...
previous comment
"Why are you people STILL FLYING with this nonsense going on?"
exactly.
if no one flew for a day, the shitheads would have to stop this kind of shit.
My guess is that they are using some sort of facial recognition software to check the faces of all people there, but that it's badly configured and that they need the people that are being scanned stand completely still, otherwise the scan fails.
Anonymous #19, #26: A few weeks ago, apparently, a federal appeals court ruled you can't refuse searches in airports; it sounds like this applies to your person as well, that is, they can detain you without any particular cause, as long as they intend to search you. (That link is to boingboing; via Wired.)
Even though I have a good friend who worked for the TSA and tried to explain some of their reasons, I still think they're a bunch of underpaid/overpowered people who like bossing people around. I was at the airport dropping off a relative at the international terminal and because they have the giant glass panels blocking the entire bag check the glare was making it hard to see if my relatives (who don't speak english) made it through. I made my way to the side where one of the unused doors was in order to get a better view, keeping mindful to stay outside of the line area, and what do you know, I get yelled at by a TSA goon cuz apparently I was too close to that door... which was locked... and guarded... by him. Paranoia doesn't even begin to describe this whole TSA mess.
This is how police states star. People sit back and take it.
Tell them to fuck off. Demand to leave. Fight this bullshit.
Speaking as a Canadian, this is EXACTLY why I refuse to go anywhere near the United States.
I know the average, day-to-day American is still the generally nice person I used to encounter but there's a large group of people down there that are seriously screwed up.
What was that: a game of Simon-Says with guns and security guards?
The mention of 'conditioning' (comment #4) reminds me of the scene in "The Great Escape" where the Gestapo officer at the train platform yells "halt" at Ashley-Pitt (David McCallum) and all the German citizens reflexively stop, stoop and lick boot while the escapee is filled with holes.
Coming soon to an airport theater near you!
Too bad I have to fly to the US twice next month for work. Additionally, as an EU citizen, I now have to fill in an extensive APIS form with all my personal information before I can even check in for the flight.
It's really getting ridiculous. Makes me glad the company's adopting a travel restriction (for budget reasons actually) so that I have a good excuse to do more over video conferencing.
Once in Atlanta I saw something similar. On my way to my terminal, inside the 'secure' area, an alarm klaxon went off, complete with yellow flashing lights. TSA agents ran past me - sadly, one of the saddest attempts at concerned running I've seen. One of them looked downright bored, which is amazing considering it was the most action they were likely to see, unless you call squeezing my toothpaste into a trash can exciting. Anyhow, they ended up blockading an entrance to the series of gates I was interested in.
They stood around insisting no one enter or leave while the siren sounded and the lights flashed. They refused to answer any questions about what they were doing, and this was the only, of several, entrances they were guarding. It lasted long enough for a decent-sized crowd of people had shown up on both sides, trying to get into or out of their gate. Eventually, the lights and siren went off, one listened to something on his radio, and they just wandered off without offering us any explanation.
Seriously, what's with these guys?
O.K. it sucks but does anybody have any suggestions to change this situation? It's obvious this absurd, but who is doing this for "our own good"? If we knew could we do anything about it? Interests are bought and sold by those with means, and it seems society is too self absorbed now to allow for effective grassroots efforts. Maybe it's all to overwhelming and we're all just happy it's not "that bad". Bad exists on a continuum and sooner or later things could be really unbearble.
oh well apathy's a B.
Similar thing happened to my wife and I in LAX in late June 2007 -- a crew of them came through and told everyone to leave the shops and move into the terminal. It took a while to herd everyone over to the gates, must have been about 2,000 passengers or so there.
Pretty dumb to crowd everyone together as close as possible if there was ever a real threat.
After about 30 minutes, no explanation, no nothing, they just left.
I liked the TSA better when they were asking if I'd like fries with that.
Just wanted to agree with the Canadian earlier. I'm English and there's no way I'm ever visiting America even for work. No job is worth that shit.
I wonder do Americans still think they're "free"?
I say we need a new meme for responding to the 'TSA FREEZE' orders.
Basically we need a flash crowed that is waiting to happen and let the TSA trigger it, I figure come holiday time with all the college kids on flights there will be a few chances for a good display.
I guess we can always just plugin the head phones at all times and ignore the commands. If an ipod is a get out of freeze tag free card then I will have one surgically implanted.
This same thing happened to me last year in Orange County. There were a lot of coded conversations on walkie talkies for a few minutes, and then it was back to normal. The TSA folks I asked about it had nothing enlightening to say at all.
It's very important, in these situations, to offer the following reasonable exchange:
5 Minutes:
Explain you have been on a long flight and need the bathroom. This will probably be denied.
10 Minutes:
Give fair warning that you are in great urinary distress. Again, this will probably ignored.
15 Minutes:
Whip it out and piss on the floor.
As other posters have mentioned, this is just another example of what Bruce Schneier calls "Security Theater". The idea that it may also be some form of planned conditioning is very frightening...almost as frightening as the fact that there is no real dissent from everyday Americans.
Have we all become such sheep?
Land of the Free, my ass!
I'm quite happy I don't have to go to the USA - why travel such a long way when I can have all the fun I want at Heathrow airport. True, they didn't play Freeze! whith me yet, but everything else is just perfectly posh - double or triple security check including shoes (Ah! The aroma of long distance travellers!), tearing the batteries out of the notebook and announcing your gate only minutes before the flight is suppposed to start!
This rediculous"terrorist threat" is so Orwell 1984 and noone seems to notice. Or to care.
And we all play our part because we want it to end and it ends much sooner when we keep quiet.
Judge Dredd, America is ready for you.
I feel really sorry for you - America has some of the nicest people in the world, and some of the biggest arseholes in charge.
I figure that up in heaven,they're using George, Ben, and Thomas as fans.
yes, people who still go to airports and fly on airplanes are sheep who will put up with anything
i haven't been inside an airplane since 1987 or an airport since 2000 or so, and have no plans to do either in the future ... if i need to get somewhere i'll take the bus with the real human beings
I had the same thing happen to me in Atlanta, back in 2003... I had just gotten thru the metal detector / x-ray funtime... All of the sudden I hear "Every freeze. Don't move." Then the SWAT team runs out. We stood there for about 15 mintues, then a guy in suit came out of an office and said "This has been a drill, thank you for your cooperation"... Yep, the terrorists are winning.
So, Bruce Schneier has had an interview with Kip Hawley Can he get us, or does he have his own, comment on this?
Well, that is why I think I will avoid the US when I fly back to Canada from Australia next time. Unfortunately the US is exporting this paranoia to other parts of the world as well. What a bunch of bull shit.
But Xeni, at 2:30pm local time, weren't there more passengers approaching your spot, from both directions? Like, *lots* more? What happened to them? I mean, stopping traffic in an airport concourse (or hallway, as you said) would cause a seriously huge people jam. Can you explain a bit more about the layout of the event? Or what happened to people who weren't in the immediate area at the time of the freeze, but approached during that 30 minutes? Thanks.
Somebody asked if there are any lawyers out there.
I happen to be one, also a former judge.
What makes you think the law has anything to do with it? It is the suspension of the law that is in action here. So, lawyers, courts, law, constitution, etc. have nothing to do with it.
I haven't flown for years, for this very reason. A good boycott of flying would be something to consider. But, no, everyone flocks to the airport like sheep - to a someday slaughter?
You know those "flash mob" things that were all the rage a few years back? I think it's about time for another one, only at an airport, just to f*ck with those lardass numbnuts at the TSA. Imagine, all walking through the airport and then everyone, of their own accord, just grinds to a halt....slo-mo style.
Now you know how dogs feel. Atleast they didn't throw a stick, and make you bring it back to them over and over.
And my girlfriend wonders why I won't fly...
To me, the scariest part is not so much the question of whether or not this is secretly a conditioning exercise... as much as that regardless of its intent, it functions perfectly as one.
This was around 2003, I think.
On the way from Dulles (IAD) to Jacksonville (JAX?). My brother in law had become very ill, and we had to go see him. My wife left a few days before I did via car, and I was going to meet her there via plane.
I am an American citizen with blond, blue-eyed Swedish ancestry. But I was born in a British Hospital in Cyprus while my father was stationed with the British Government as a US contractor. Thus my passport says, "Place of birth: Dhkelia, Cyprus."
So, there I was, going through the TSA, with a passport, one way ticket, and not much luggage. Fingerprint for a bomb-wielding madman, because, as you know, all the guys who tried to blow up or hijack planes were overweight third-generation Swedes born on British soil. I totally look the part.
They weren't subtle about it, either. The second they saw my passport and tickets, they waved them in the air at a group of uniformed guys who met me right after the metal detector.
They sat me in a taped-off square on the carpet (there was a common stacking chair there), among several other taped off squares. First they told me to stay there, and since my flight was 2 hours away, I felt I could be patient. I only had to wait a minute until some large guy with disposable latex gloves came up to me. He wasn't facing me, he was facing someone he was talking to a few feet away.
When he faced me he told to stand. I did. He told me to untuck my shirt. A second man with latex gloves arrived. That man asked me to remove my shirt. Keep in mind, I was probably 10 feet away from a line of people leaving the metal detector area. So I took off my polo shirt, and felt the cold hands of one of them lift up my stomach flab around my belt, while another wanded me. Then they asked me to lift up my man-boobs. This was humiliating!
That's when three of them, in tandem, asked me a lot of questions. Who was I? Where was I going? Could I name my last two addresses? Where was my wife staying, how come I didn't know my brother-in-laws address and phone number? Had I passed a security clearance? (Yes, I had) What is in my backpack? Why was my passport stamped for Sweden and Mexico? What was I doing there? (relatives and Cancun party time) Could they search my backpack? How long was I going to be in Jacksonville? Where did I meet my wife? A science fiction convention? What is a science fiction convention?
Oddly enough, the science fiction convention seemed to be some answer that satisfied them. Like I couldn't be a terrorist if I knew about comic books and Star Trek (?!). Or maybe they got bored. The questions ceased, and they asked me to put my belt and shirt back on. As far as I know, they only unzippered the main chamber of my backpack and didn't look too far past the first layer of clothes.
I sat in the chair for another 3 minutes. Meanwhile, in a taped-off square next to me, the guard was screaming questions at an Asian man who must have been about 80. He was terrified. And he didn't seem to understand why he was being yelled at. "I don't think he speaks English," I tried to say to the woman yelling at him, and she snapped, "STAY IN YOUR SQUARE AND STARE STRAIGHT AHEAD. THIS IS NOT YOUR BUSINESS!"
After about 3 minutes of listening to this woman scream at this guy (who, honestly, did speak English, but was stuttering in fear), one of my guards gave me my tickets and backpack. "You may go," he said.
The person who replaced me in the chair? An 11 year old blond girl. No parents.
I was shaken by the experience. All I could think, in bitter anger was, "Papers, please?" from the old Soviet Block. I have flown through Dulles and DCA since then, and while I get flagged almost every time, none of them have ever been that bad. I haven't seen taped off carpeting anymore.
I hate security theater. I hate the TSA.
And the thing about this is, and this scares me just as bad, let's say a terrorist decided he wants to suicide bomb in the US. Where can he blow himself up... in a place where there's hundreds of people lined up and trapped in a tight group... controlled by power-hungry people who don't know a terrorist from anyone else... and easily accessible from the outside...?
Yeah, this security theater is going to kill people one of these days. :(
we are all getting too used to not having any 'rights', it's depressing.
just a couple weeks ago i was questioned by a cop who had to run a background check on me after i gave him my name, ssn and address. i didn't argue with him because it all seemed so surreal. apperently someone called the cops on me for walking through the suburbs...
Before anyone runs out to watch that Zeitgeist movie, you should read this http://www.boingboing.net/2007/08/06/jay-kinney-reviews-z.html first to get some perspective.
I'm not saying that shady stuff isn't going down, but to watch that movie and swallow the whole hook line and sinker would be quite ignorant given the lack of actual evidence provided. It would be somewhat akin to reading the bible and then believing in god.
Jesus. Makes you wonder what would happen should you be Deaf--get plugged full of holes because you can't hear their ranting and keep on walking?
I would have spent the entire 30 minutes wishing I had the guts to announce loudly "I have some place to be. I am no threat. I am now going to walk calmly out of the Airport." And then (try to) do it. But even as I sit here typing this, my pulse has elevated. We really are such sheep.
My mom was a cold war kid and she was just telling me the other day that all of the wiretapping and detentions that our government is so fond of these days sounds like what our propaganda machines were claiming the Russians were doing in the 50s. It's not just that the terrorists are winning, it looks like the Comunists have won too.
So, you stood there for a full half an hour without any explanation because someone yelled "Freeze!" at you?
For anyone who has been in a similar situation (or anyone who wants to wax hypothetical), what would happen to someone who walked 3 feet to a bench and sat down?
Did *anyone* even try? Did anyone say "tell me why, or I'm leaving?"
Or did every person in the hall just freeze and stand there like sheep because someone with a badge on their sleeve said to?
I don't know what bothers me more, that the TSA treat people like this, or that people will accept being treated like this without any pushback at all.
I won't fly anymore either...
Besides having a fear of heights and flying, the nonsense at the airports these days just puts a capper on it. I don't need hassle when I'm already dealing with panic attacks from flying.
If I can't drive somewhere, I won't go.
I'm going to be flying in October, and I *really* hope this happens to me then. I will not comply to an order to "freeze" unless there is a legitimate reason for doing so. If I am just getting off a plane and going to get my luggage, that's not a legitimate reason to detain me. If provided with a reason why I should comply, a COMPELLING reason, I might be inclined to stick around.
I don't know about the sheep-like masses in this country, but I simply refuse to let someone trample on my rights.
This happened during a TSA screening, while I stood there with my shoes off, having my water taken (packed for the purpose of being confiscated), there was a whoop and a holler and TSA flunkies scrambled to block the doorways separating the screening area from the secured terminal area.
It was very early in the morning so I (we, actually, w/wife and kids) just stood there and watched. The whole think lasted less than a minute and apparently pleased the clipboard carrying supervisor, who announced it was a drill.
Relating to Xeni's experience, I would suggest sitting on the floor instead of standing, and if the "drill" took more than a couple minutes, lying down for a nap.
There's a difference between "freezing" and "staying put".
S'funny how Bushes attempts to free the rest of the world from tyrany have made the USA more oppressed than ever before.
My girlfriend wants to go to the states for a holiday, after reading crap like this I'd rather holiday in the EU where there's less of this silly nonsense (though we're getting that way too, at least our private security don't have guns).
For those wishing to engage in a little civil disobedience when TSA says "halt": good luck with that.
My wife put one of our bags on the conveyor, went through the metal detector, which went off. While she was being wanded, I grabbed the bag. TSA went nuts "Sir, do not touch that bag." Uhhh, it's my bag. "sir, did you pack that bag?" Yes. "She said she packed that bag." Uhhhh, that's my wife. It is our bag. We both put stuff in it. It hurt my head to try to even fight their logic.
I don't live in the States anymore, but accounts of the brilliantly-named "security theater", whose influences seem to include Ionesco's theater of the absurd, remind me of my experiences at school in the 80s, during the last years of the Cold War.
Despite the fact that we were hundreds of miles away from anything more strategic than a dairy farm, school ritual included periodic air raid drills. At an announcement over the PA, we would clamber under our desks, curl into balls and shield our arms with our heads as though the evil Commies were coming to nuke us. In retrospect, this rigmarole would have been totally ineffective at protecting our lives, but it was extremely effective at instilling and maintaining a primal Red phobia in a school full of children.
Does anyone else remember rituals like this?
Oh, you may think I'm a coward, but they didn't find that giant brick of heroin in my water bottle!
John W, suuure you will. And you will enjoy a nice a$$-raping in one of the special rooms. If you dont follow their orders, you are considered a threat. They dont have to prove anything to you.
Does anyone know what our rights are in a situation like this? When can and can't we be legally detained?
I love all the "eff you, I won't do what you tell me" posters on here. It's a simple formula: Don't do exactly what they say = detention for hours (at least) or incarceration (at worst).
Will get an account shortly, but wanted to thank you for helping me make up my mind about whether I want to connect in LAX or Denver. Denver it is.
Following cousin's graduation in June, large family departing at different times from the Southwest Terminal at LAX. The situation you described happened to the first group departing. I was in the last group. Luckily, my family all eventually ended up together on the late flight. The terminal was a mess though, crowded with people who'd missed connections and were unable to get on the later flights. Never heard what