and nobody finds this upsetting...

personally I find it irrelevant

jeebus, if you were full of shrapnel and you had to go through an MRI, you'd just lay back and chuckle? DAMN, MAN, shrapnel fuckin' hurts, even when it's not being pulled from your freakin' body!!!

do you have any idea what you were commenting about?

TSA Response

well golly gee, they are changing the procedures to what she asked for....imagine that

Sounds like they were doing their job to the letter rather than the spirit of the regulation (read: they knew they were being pricks in asking her to remove her nipple ring but had the rules to hide behind).

I read it as this:
"Sorry those people were assholes. We can't let them get fired because of unions, but we're changing the rules so we can't get sued in the future."

/me shakes his head...

I stand about 6'4, weigh about 260, have long hair that lays on my shoulders, wear leather .. a lot .. and have a gaze that tends to make small children wet themselves involuntarily.

So yeah, I get pulled aside just about everytime I go through the security line. I reckon I just look like "trouble". I've come to expect it. I know the TSA is just doing their job to protect everyone that passes their gate and I'm grateful they're there to do it. Can some of them be total jackasses? You bet. Are all of them? Of course not. Point is, anyone whose ever flown ONCE, has some idea what to expect and shouldn't be too terribly surprised in this day and age (post 9/11) to have a TSA holdup at the gate.

Is it possible this woman was a total bitch and instigated an altercation with the TSA agents in question, further compounding her own humiliating experience? Is it possible she was simply harassed for no reasonable excuse other than boredom or frustration stemming from a tedious, thankless job? Well, I'd like to hear more before I decide on that, but my gut tells me she wasn't as sweet as roses and could have made this far less of a big deal by being far more cooperative.

Lastly, I will say it was absurd to have her remove the piercings .. regardless of whatever was said or done up to that point .. and the TSA reps could at the very least apologize to minimize this situation.

They can't apologise... If they say 'sorry', then they admit they did something wrong - and any lawyer would pounce all over it.

Almost every airport I've been through has three security lines. Coach, first class or elite status and employees/flight crew. Unless you're using your first class ticket and standing in the coach line, they know where you're sitting.

The only two airports that I know of that don't do it this way is Ft. Lauderdale and Boise.

But you're right, just because it isn't happening to me doesn't mean it's not happening.

Since you fly a lot too can you say you've seen TSA be disrespectful to anyone?

They released this today, but no video? Hmm, that's not sounding good.

It was just a joke, as was the MRI comment in it's entirety. I'm assuming that anyone else that didn't just arbitrarily ignore my posts, probably realized it was a joke, and that I probably actually don't enjoy watching veterans having shrapnel ripped from their body by a giant magnet.

As to the "I find it irrelevant" comment, If you want to get nit-picky about it, this entire thread is irrelevant, since none of us were actually there.

Yeah, I figured you were joking. Anyone with a signature line of "I hate animated avatars" and has an animated avatar can't be taken too seriously too often.

And Uncle Phil if you weren't dead panning I have to apologize for laughing. If you were dead panning it- you're freaking comic genius because when I read-

jeebus, if you were full of shrapnel and you had to go through an MRI, you'd just lay back and chuckle? DAMN, MAN, shrapnel fuckin' hurts, even when it's not being pulled from your freakin' body!!!


I must have laughed for a minute straight, I think my side still hurts.

hmm, i thought i put in my 2 cents when i was wasted in the peak hours of the a.m. i guess it was either deleted or i was wrong.

I have nipple piercings, and this would just plain out piss me right the fuck off. It's a pain in the ass to put those fucking things back in. trying to find the hole with round rings that are moving and flailing all over the interior of your nipple, bah.

but i guess if i wanted to fly bad enough id take them out. even though i see how no harm could be done with a nipple ring, unless you like uhhh, repeatedly stab a jugular vein or something.

meh, oh well.

Reading this article made me think, "Man, just friggin' strip search me so I can get to my damn flight!" I can always work up a little fart for the ol' squat and cough maneuver. "Hope I didn't get any on your shoes dude! Need me to lift the saq?"

I have very little shame.

BTW everyone, the gloves are used for touching people inappropriately. If they want to cavity they will take you to a clean room. Don't ask me how I know.

Being not a fan of flying in the first place, all of the terminal rules seem pretty ridiculous to me. I don't have to step through a metal detector when I drive from city to city, or when I get on a Greyhound, or when I take the train. Why should I for a damn plane?
*sighs* I feel like people with that much power in the world become too neurotic to make sound decisions, and even when someone voices their opinion, nothing really gets better, the loopholes simply tighten.
Whenever I can, I avoid airplane travel. I much prefer driving, or especially prefer taking a train. Trains rock. And I'm not nearly bothered as much on a train as I am on a plane, with the stewards passing by every ten minutes, it makes me nervous all that moving around. I want peace on a trip, but I always feel anxious and uptight. I wouldn't call it a phobia of plane travel, I just don't like/prefer it. I don't flip out or anything, haha, I just find it tedious travel. :lol:
[/threadjack]
But, to reply to the story, that was incredibly stupid, even if they were just following the policy. There's simply/realistic precautions, then there's the neurotic airport-style precautions...O_o

If there is any iron in the jewelry, it would be ripped out by the magnets. Could be very painful.

I can only speak for airports I've been in....and the only separation I've ever seen for security lines is if you're a certain level club member of an airline. For example when I fly for work Im allowed to use the "fast" lane because of some kind of deal they have.

Have you ever actually been in the Atlanta airport? There is no division amongst seat classes....there are only a few "special" lines if you've got a certain membership with Delta or Air Tran. Dave is platinum with Delta and we use that line sometimes if the other is insanely large, and yes I've gotten pulled in that one too.

Yeah I've seen them be dicks and yes I've seen them be nice, me personally? I have always been nice and respectful like my parents taught me because whether I like it or not these people are in a position of *authority*, maybe thats the difference....I dont be a bitch just cause I *can* its the old "you catch more flies with honey" kind of thing.

I think Im done here...all of us that fly can each tell their own experience and it will be different somehow. I've been in airports around from the mega kind to the tiny one in Rochester NY (that HAS to be the smallest airport I've ever seen its even smaller than the one in Greenville) and it boils down to....know your rules, know how to respond to a side search. Its no different than knowing how to respond to the cop that pulls you over.

Heh. Considering I have a 6g PA, I'm also wondering the same thing. Then again, they could consider my dick to be a blunt weapon.....

I have (and will loose in a few months due to lack of activity) a Chairman Card through US airways. US Airways suck but they give you reward status faster then any other airline, or at least used to, don't know that anymore. Used to be you could get silver at 25k a year. Anyone interested in who offering the best deal now might look here:

http://flyertalk.com/

I've been through Hartsfield many times never been turned back from the elite card line. Don't think I've ever been through there on Delta or Air trans. Flying to Florida or the Caribbean on US- ATL is almost a given lay over. Hell, to get to Cancun from Portland you almost always have to stop in Phoenix and Atlanta.

The AA Admirals Club in ATL sucks.

Yep, the nicer you are, the nicer people are to you.

Now that they changed the policy, you have the option of showing the piercing to a TSA agent instead of removing it. I definitely need to get the piercings I've been putting off before the next time I fly.

"Sir, do you have any piercings that might be setting off the detector?"
"Well, since you asked..." *zzzzzzip*
"Oh dear God"

oh awesome. ive never flown but now that i know i have the option to keep my my metal in im a little more cumfy with it.

MSD...great fucking idea! -sinister smile-

oh yeah, Tallahassee airport doesnt do the 3 line thing either.

"Don't get any on your shoe!"

They hate that.

I've recently checked the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority's Web site for the regulation on this very subject. I'm thinking of getting a prince's wand.

From http://www.catsa-acsta.gc.ca/english...fs.shtml#dress
The Web page is dated August 9, 2007. So I don't understand why the TSA didn't already have an equivalent policy in place. Body piercings have been around for a long time.

Land of the free =)

I've never set off an alarm with my piercings.

My personal experience with TSA has always been good, but I have been in situations when you give a person a little power they tend to abuse it. That can happen anywhere.

I'm 100% serious when I say I'm going to ask the piercer for "something big enough to set off metal detectors."

edit: http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/7605/emotdongbm6.gif

I find that hilarious! But I also hope I don't get behind you in line if I'm late for a flight.

It's OK, you can just show it to the TSA agent and I will have no problem whipping it out in public. If they don't like that, maybe a I can convince them by sticking fridge magnets to it through my pants.

Or whip it out and make it dance around with the help of a couple magnets. Or without the magnets depending on your mood.

My only suggestion is if you try this throw your hat down with a five in it, ya might just make enough to cover your next bar tab... or bail depending on their mood.

Ahhhahaha!

i just got out of my seat and tried to stick a cookie monster magnet to my nips, sadly, they're not magnetic.
great idea though, i guess just go with a safety pin or something. :thumbsup:

Presentation is everything.
If she threw an unreasonable fit, who knows, they might've tasered her to death.

Still, only real way to know is the check the tape.

Then again, there's always the theory that if you offer to cut the nipple in half - the real owner will just let the thing slide... oh wait, that only works with babies.. nvm.

"At what point do we as a society hand it back to the individual and state emphatically, "Sorry, no YOU are responsible for why this happened to you.?"

The same day that we start presuming that people are guilty until proven innocent, the same day that we are told by our government that security is more important than liberty, and the same day that we all begin the Pledge of Allegiance with "Seig Heil!". We are tettering on the edge of the precipice of absolute totalitarianism, where the comfort and wealth of the few is ensured by the oppression and domination of the many, where freedom is a "privilege" that can be tossed aside for the convenience of some government bureaucrat, and where everything that millions have fought and died for will be forgotten in the rush to be "safe". Franklin was right - "Those who would exchange liberty for security deserve neither." Those who would take nipple rings in the name of security have no idea about liberty, or security, or freedom, or apparently, creative sex.

Seig Heil! The new motto of the United States if we don't radically take back our freedoms soon....