It’s Always one Thing or an Otter: Baby Otters Screened at Newark

Otters are used to frolicking around in the water and snacking on invertebrates and such, but when it comes to airline security, it’s safe to say that’s one area otters aren’t used to. Anyhoo, these furry little Asian River Otter pups and their significant “otters” were quickly screened and on their way in no time.

While many otters are content with being in jug bands,  these particular otters reside at the Wildlife World Zoo in Phoenix, Arizona and were on their way back from the David Letterman show. One of the feisty little dudes mistook Jack Hanna’s thumb for a chicken foot and took a bite out of it. If you haven’t seen it, you really “otter” check it out.

If you plan on traveling with your own romp of otters, or any other type of pet, service animal, or what have you, be sure to let us know you’re coming if you’re not familiar with the process or if you’d just like to give us a heads up. For example, we knew the otters were coming, and we were able to move the handlers ahead of the very busy line at the checkpoint and then relocate everybody to one of our offices to screen the otters in a much calmer environment. It was “otterly” seamless.

I imagine that living the life of an otter would be fantastic, but hey… aren’t things always greener on the “otter” side? If we ever see these pups again, you best believe we’ll be the first to say “Welcome Back Otter.”

Blogger Bob Burns  
TSA Blog Team 

If you’d like to comment on an unrelated topic you can do so in our Off Topic Comments post. You can also view our blog post archives or search our blog to find a related topic to comment in. If you have a travel related issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you can contact a Customer Support Manager at the airport you traveled, or will be traveling through by using Talk to TSA.

TSA Week in Review: Spear Gun!

Paging Captain Ahab: Another spear gun was discovered in a carry-on bag at Newark (EWR). The passenger assumed spear guns were good to go. Nope.

TSA Pre✓™  News: TSA Pre✓™ rolled out at Salt Lake City International Airport on the 14^th!

Trick up Your Tie: A passenger at Orlando (MCO) had a pocket knife concealed behind their tie. (See photo) The passenger stated he keeps it there so his kids can’t find it.

Conceal Carry Permits: A passenger at San Antonio (SAT) had a loaded .32 with 8 rounds in their carry-on bag. In case they don’t cover this in the conceal carry course, the permit doesn’t allow you to carry a concealed firearm on a commercial aircraft. She thought it did. 

185 Rounds: We usually find a few rounds scattered in a bag, but this time, our officers at San Juan (SJU) found 185 rounds of .22 ammunition in a carry-on bag.

What Not to Say: A passenger referring to his bag at Islip airport (ISP) told our officer: “Yeah, I got a bomb in it.” Not a good way to expedite your screening…

You got Your Green Leafy Substance in my Peanut Butter: A passenger at Oakland (OAK) hollowed out the center of a peanut butter jar and attempted to conceal a baggie of marijuana. We found it.

Miscellaneous Prohibited Items: In addition to all of the other prohibited items we find weekly, our officers also found several stun guns, brass knuckles, realistic replica firearms, knives, knives, and more knives, firearm components, ammunition, and expandable batons and a throwing star.

Firearms: Our officers found 24 loaded firearms and 4 unloaded firearms in carry-on baggage since I posted last Friday. Here’s a rundown of the 28 firearms our officers kept off of airplanes this week: 

2/10: AMA – Loaded 9mm – DAL – Loaded .32 w/ round chambered – MDW – Loaded .380 – TPA – Loaded .32 – DFW – Unloaded .38 – LAS – Loaded .380 w/ round chambered – RNO – Loaded .38
2/11: FLL – Loaded .38 – FLL – Loaded .40 w/ round chambered – LGB – Loaded 9mm w/ round chambered – SHV – Loaded .38 – SAT – Loaded .32 – ONT – Loaded .40 – ATL – Loaded .40 w/ round chambered
2/12: SFO – Loaded 9mm w/ round chambered – DFW – Loaded .38
2/13: SLC – Unloaded .40 – IND – Loaded .380 w/ round chambered – DTW – Loaded 9mm
2/14: PDX – Loaded .22 w/ two rounds chambered
2/15: CLT – Loaded .40 – ORD - Loaded .380 w/ round chambered – DFW – Unloaded .357 – ATL – Loaded .45 – LAX – Loaded .38
2/16: FLL – Loaded .380 – ANC – Unloaded .22 – LAS – Loaded .45 w/ round chambered

You can travel with your firearms in checked baggage, but they must first be declared to the airline. You can go here for more details on how to properly travel with your firearms. We also look for explosives and bomb components, but thankfully those are extremely rare and we're happy to keep it that way.

Unfortunately these sorts of occurrences are all too frequent which is why we talk about these finds. Sure, it’s great to share the things that our officers are finding, but at the same time, each time we find a dangerous item, the throughput is slowed down and a passenger that likely had no ill intent ends up with a citation or in some cases is even arrested. This is a friendly reminder to please leave these items at home. Just because we find a prohibited item on an individual does not mean they had bad intentions, that's for the law enforcement officer to decide. In many cases, people simply forgot they had these items in their bag. That’s why it’s important to double check your luggage before you get to the airport.

Including checkpoint and checked baggage screening, TSA has 20 layers of security both visible and invisible to the public. Each one of these layers alone is capable of stopping a terrorist attack. In combination their security value is multiplied, creating a much stronger, formidable system. A terrorist who has to overcome multiple security layers in order to carry out an attack is more likely to be pre-empted, deterred, or to fail during the attempt.  

Blogger Bob Burns  
TSA Blog Team

If you’d like to comment on an unrelated topic you can do so in our Off Topic Comments post. You can also view our blog post archives or search our blog to find a related topic to comment in. If you have a travel related issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you can contact a Customer Support Manager at the airport you traveled, or will be traveling through by using Talk to TSA.

TSA Officers Focus on Security, not Good Looks

The internet is abuzz with posts, tweets and news articles regarding allegations that TSA officers required a passenger to go through a body scanner multiple times because she was attractive.

First, I want to reassure all passengers that TSA does not profile passengers.   

Second, I’m pleased to inform all concerned parties that every single one of our millimeter wave units in the field, including those at Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW airport), have been equipped for quite some time with privacy software that no longer displays a specific image of the person being screened.

The monitor is mounted on the scanner itself, and here’s what both the passenger and officer see:

That’s it. In fact, if there are no alarms, a green screen with “OK” is all that’s displayed. There is no longer a need for an officer to review images in a remote location because there are no longer any privacy concerns with the image. 

Even when we did review the images in a remote room, they looked more like fuzzy photo negatives than the images that some make them out to be. Furthermore, it’s not TSA’s policy to scan passengers multiple times. 

We have no record of the passenger filing a complaint when this allegedly occurred more than six months ago. Had it been reported to TSA at that time, we could have reviewed CCTV and interviewed the officers. We were instead notified about these allegations by the media more than six months after the alleged incident. 

In situations such as these, passengers should use Talk to TSA to contact a customer support manager at the airport they traveled through. Passengers can also call our contact center. We want to hear from you, good or bad. We take your feedback seriously and will use the details you provide to look into your concerns. 

Our backscatter units (another type of body scanner) will eventually use the same software and still required the need of an officer in a remote private location to view the images. That officer never sees the passenger, just their image. In case you’re wondering, DFW only has millimeter wave units.

When it all comes down to it, our officers are focusing on keeping passengers safe, not their good looks.

Blogger Bob Burns  
TSA Blog Team 

If you’d like to comment on an unrelated topic you can do so in our Off Topic Comments post. You can also view our blog post archives or search our blog to find a related topic to comment in. If you have a travel related issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you can contact a Customer Support Manager at the airport you traveled, or will be traveling through by using Talk to TSA.

TSA Week in Review: Fantasy Knives and More Cannonballs

More Cannonballs: Two cannonballs and an antique firearm were discovered at Kahului (OGG). Now this song is stuck in my head.

Fantasy Knives: Two knives (see photo) were discovered at John F Kennedy (JFK). These knives come in handy when slaying various mythological creatures, but these creatures don’t exist on planes or elsewhere for that matter. 

No Good Knives In Cancun?: A 7” kitchen knife was discovered in a bag at Denver (DEN). The passenger stated they brought the knife because there are “no good knives in Cancun.”

Kukri Knife: Also known as the “Gurkha Blade,” this Nepalese knife is used as both a tool and a weapon. While it has been approved for the battlefield, it’s not permitted to travel in your carry-on baggage. This particular knife was found at Washington – Reagan (DCA).

Grenades: Two inert grenades were found this week at Colorado Springs (COS) and my old workplace, Cincinnati (CVG). Read here and here  for more information on why inert grenades cause problems at checkpoints.

Grenade Launcher: Yes, you read correctly, a grenade launcher was discovered during a search in checked baggage at Seattle Tacoma (SEA). It’s not as ominous as it sounds though. There were no grenades with the item. It’s not every day you come across a grenade launcher, so I just had to mention it. 

Miscellaneous Prohibited Items: In addition to all of the other prohibited items we find weekly, our officers also found stun guns, brass knuckles, realistic replica firearms, knives, knives, and more knives, firearm components, ammunition, and expandable batons and blackjacks.

Firearms: Our officers found 14 loaded firearms and 9 unloaded firearms in carry-on baggage since I posted last Friday. Here’s a rundown of the 23 firearms our officers kept off of airplanes this week: 

2/3: LFT – Loaded .45 w/ round chambered – ABQ – Loaded .380 w/ round chambered – SLC – Loaded .380

2/4: MCO – Loaded .380 – FLO – Loaded .38 – GNV – Unloaded .38

2/5: ATL – Unloaded .380 – ABQ – Loaded .40 w/ round chambered

2/6: HSV – Loaded .380 w/ round chambered – PIT – Unloaded .22 – PHX – Unloaded .380 – MCI – Loaded .380

2/7: DEN – Loaded .22 – LAS – Loaded .40 – AUS – Loaded .380 – ATL – Loaded .380 w/ round chambered

2/8: OGG – Antique firearm – DAL – Unloaded .38 – IAH – Unloaded .38

2/9: IND – Loaded firearm w/ round chambered – TPA – Unloaded .22 – DFW – Unloaded 9mm – RDU – Loaded .38

You can travel with your firearms in checked baggage, but they must first be declared to the airline. You can go here for more details on how to properly travel with your firearms. We also look for explosives and bomb components, but thankfully those are extremely rare and we're happy to keep it that way.

Unfortunately these sorts of occurrences are all too frequent which is why we talk about these finds. Sure, it’s great to share the things that our officers are finding, but at the same time, each time we find a dangerous item, the throughput is slowed down and a passenger that likely had no ill intent ends up with a citation or in some cases is even arrested. This is a friendly reminder to please leave these items at home. Just because we find a prohibited item on an individual does not mean they had bad intentions, that's for the law enforcement officer to decide. In many cases, people simply forgot they had these items in their bag. That’s why it’s important to double check your luggage before you get to the airport.

Including checkpoint and checked baggage screening, TSA has 20 layers of security both visible and invisible to the public. Each one of these layers alone is capable of stopping a terrorist attack. In combination their security value is multiplied, creating a much stronger, formidable system. A terrorist who has to overcome multiple security layers in order to carry out an attack is more likely to be pre-empted, deterred, or to fail during the attempt.  

Blogger Bob Burns  
TSA Blog Team

If you’d like to comment on an unrelated topic you can do so in our Off Topic Comments post. You can also view our blog post archives or search our blog to find a related topic to comment in. If you have a travel related issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you can contact a Customer Support Manager at the airport you traveled, or will be traveling through by using Talk to TSA.

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The Importance of Getting to the Gate Early

You may have read in the news today about a woman who missed her flight because there weren’t any female officers to screen her. As in most cases, there is more to this story. Read on…

In TSA’s smaller airports, we work closely with the airlines and airport to keep the security checkpoints open to make certain that all passengers are screened appropriately. Once TSA is informed by the airline that our screening services are no longer needed, the security checkpoint is closed.   

Recently, a passenger attempted to access the checkpoint after it had closed. The airline had already made final boarding announcements and notified TSA that no additional passengers would be accepted. A TSA officer made two additional public announcements asking for any remaining passengers to report to the security checkpoint for screening. After both the flight and checkpoint were closed, a female passenger requested screening. Even though the checkpoint was already closed, our officer told the passenger he would attempt to recall a female officer to screen her, but was informed by the airline that she would not be able to board.

Yes, it is standard procedure for us to provide same-gender pat-downs when needed; however, in this instance, the airline had made final boarding announcements and notified TSA that no additional passengers would be accepted. This is why it is so important to arrive early, at least an hour before your departure when possible at smaller airports and two at larger ones to ensure you make your flight.

When possible, TSA makes every effort to accommodate a passenger’s request. 

BloggerBob Burns

TSA Blog Team 

 

If you’d like to comment on an unrelated topic you can do so in our Off Topic Comments post. You can also view our blog post archives or search our blog to find a related topic to comment in. If you have a travel related issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you can contact a Customer Support Manager at the airport you traveled, or will be traveling through by using Talk to TSA.