I don't remember anyone at TSA looking the other way.
And Im not sure that TSA ended it. I think it differs from Airport to Airport depending on twhat echnology that terminal is using.
I travel a lot. Recently I flew out of the international departing flights- even though I was traveling within the country- and no shoes off, but computer had to come out of bag.
Next time- a few weeks later Im coming home-shoes off but everything stays in bag, including computer.. Next time I leave home I leave out of the Domestic terminal and its shoes off and computer comes out of the bag. And this was two weeks ago.
I travel at least once a month for at least 5 days at a time, sometimes longer, before heading home from a different airport-obviously- for the past 4 years. I fact Im leaving out of PDX tomorrow and arriving at ORD. I've flown to Hawaii, Mexico, Germany, Greece, Key West, DFW, DTW, Denver, LaGuardia, JFK among others...
The thing that pisses me off is each Airport, each terminal, often has different rules and you go through the motions but TSA agents yell and talk to everyone like they're dumb AF. Though they're less than unarmed rent-a-cops who couldn't hack it on a real law enforcement agency- most couldn't pass the background- they wield the power to put you on the "no fly list" which can fuck up your life but good.
Its like, I know you have shouted out these rules a thousand times a day BUT many of the people you're talking down to have only been to an airport once in the last 10 years. And they are confused from just getting there. Let alone understanding the TSA's idiotic, inconsistent rules and these people are hearing these fucking rules for the first time but the agents are talking to them so condescendingly.
I think in order to be TSA you have to have bastard children and "lived on welfare" needs to be on your resume'.
For some reason my shoulder blade always shows up on their XRay machine as being hot and they have to pat me down. 9 outta ten trips. They always explain the pat down process which I nod in understanding and say Its OK. Ive been patted down before, I know the rules please just do the pat down im in a hurry. Anytime I say this they get an attitude and start talking slower and adding more shit to their admonishment and start lecturing me about the law- I don't bother to check them despite knowing what their telling me is either a blatant lie or a butchered , incomprehensible misunderstanding of something they were supposed to learn at TSA school.
My wife carried a small pocket knife for protection. Has since 2005 and carried it up to about 2015. We must've flown 20 X during this time. This pocket knife wound up in the bottom of her purse among the other fucking junk women have in their purse. And never once did the X ray or any TSA agent notice it.lAnd she certainly forgot about it. One day the metal detector indicates something in her purse. We're pulled aside and they ask for consent. We both say "sure." This TSA agent acts like Frank Oz in the blues brothers or trading places. He reaches into her purse with a metal set of 3 foot long tongs and pulls out this pocket knife , which is no larger than a pair of toenail clippers. The agent acts like he's found a ticking time bomb and handles it as dramatically as one possibly could.
Long story short- wife gets a ticket in the mail- either pay a 1,000.00 fine now and she'llbe added to a list of 'high risk' people, or fight it in federal court, which would require a flight back out to the jurisdiction where the knife was found. If she fought it the fine would be 5,000.00 and added to the no-fly list.
It was nothing short of extortion. The TSA are total assholes.
