Flier: TSA Said My Cupcake Was a Security Threat
Flier: TSA Said My Cupcake Was a Security Threat
(NEWSER) One sign the TSA has officially gone overboard: One of its agents deemed a Massachusetts woman's cupcake a security threat. Rebecca Hains says she was moving through security at a Las Vegas airport on Wednesday when a TSA agent took her aside and explained that the cupcake's frosting was "gel-like," violating the TSA's restrictions on liquids and gels and making it a security risk.
Hains, apparently a lover of traveling with cupcakes, explained that she was able to pass through Boston's Logan International Airport with two cupcakes in tow earlier in the week. She had apparently decided to save one for the ride home, but ultimately surrendered it. "In general, cakes and pies are allowed in carry-on luggage," explained a TSA rep, who noted that the agency was looking into the dessert debacle; a second spokesman told the AP that cakes and cupcakes are allowed to pass through security checkpoints. The maker of the cupcake, the appropriately named Wicked Good Cupcakes, told WCVB Boston, "Apparently we're a tasty, terrorist threat."
http://www.newser.com/story/136091/flier-tsa-said-my-cupcake-was-a-security-threat.html
glowing
(12,233 posts)he wanted the tasty treat.
LiberalEsto
(22,845 posts)but they probably would have arrested her.
LibDemAlways
(15,139 posts)the TSA moron, "Want a bite?" Complete idiocy.
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)how disappointing.
unblock
(51,974 posts)liberal N proud
(60,302 posts)Las Vegas is one of the toughest on taking food or drink through the checkpoint. Others will not even ask about your 3 oz of shit is a quart baggie.
There is no consistency in TSA from airport to airport, good or bad it is always a game to guess what you can and can't take. But generally, none will allow food past knowingly.
HipChick
(25,485 posts)Roll of the dice when it comes to food....I cleared security...but got pulled aside at the gate for secondary security and had my food taken...don't they feed these people?
That sucks. I always pack a lunch since I refuse to pay for those overpriced dried out crap that passes for food on planes these days.
TSA must be iun league with the airlines to help them beef up their food sales.
liberal N proud
(60,302 posts)I have seen many travelers lose their food at checkpoints around the country.
zogofzorkon
(262 posts)Delphinus
(11,808 posts)That was great!
reACTIONary
(5,749 posts)...I buy it inside, past the checkpoint. I know it's a ripoff, but I want to get through the checkpoint as fast and as easy as I can, so I take the hit.
pitohui
(20,564 posts)what gate/airline is this? i've never had a problem with food being taken or even glanced at
hughee99
(16,113 posts)jmowreader
(50,453 posts)AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)Boycott the airlines. If you won't do that and you choose to fly, you are participating in enabling similar such activities.
Jazzgirl
(3,744 posts)most efficient way to get there. Not to mention business travel. No one likes TSA stupidity but sometimes you have no choice.
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)It's their choice.
So they prefer speed and efficiency over dignity and self-respect. So unpleasant things happen to them. So what?
bluesbassman
(19,310 posts)You said it more correctly in your first post. It's "abusive of power", and that behavior needs to be corrected at the government level, not by "choosing" not to fly.
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)If you have a way to curb the abuse of power which does not involve boycotting the airlines, let's hear it.
If you have a logical reason as to why the public should not boycott the airlines, what is it?
Who is more likely to correct the TSA behavior at the government level? Blog posters? People who fly? Or airline executives?
Aerows
(39,961 posts)If a server goes down in Iowa, and I'm in Florida, and the server has to be up by tomorrow morning, exactly how am I going to get there in time without flying? That has happened to me before. I was put on a plane and they footed a bill to fly me first class because it was the only one available ASAP.
Yes, it was important that the server be fixed, yes, the flight cost a hideous amount of money, but yes, in the company's eyes it was worth it because I flew up there, worked all night, and got it running. If you are in a position where there are mission critical situations, you don't get to pick and choose whether or not you want to fly.
I hate the TSA as much as the next person, in fact, probably more.
RC
(25,592 posts)I only have a week to visit friends. Taking a ship is out of the question.
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)You should thank me and others who refuse to put up with TSAs. Because of me and others who will no longer fly, your lines are shorter.
RC
(25,592 posts)Florida, California?
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)Those states are not exactly tourist destinations.
pitohui
(20,564 posts)i will concede that georgia is not a tourist destination -- deliverance saw to that -- but tourism is a huge HUGE industry in texas and as for alabama, not a week goes by for me without being pelted with offers begging me to visit orange beach
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)If so, they must live very sheltered lives. They need to get out more.
PavePusher
(15,374 posts)There are lots of interesting things to see and do in every state.
Response to PavePusher (Reply #98)
AnotherMcIntosh This message was self-deleted by its author.
Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)you cannot drive to, and taking a SHIP takes two weeks... (Hawaii comes to mind)
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)It doesn't mean that you have to go to those destinations at all.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)See, you are missing that part.
So how exactly do I visit my MIL and my SIL and BIL? How do you do that?
For the record Maui TSA is the most relaxed TSA evah! But it is Hawaii.
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)I thought so.
My real answer has been to petition my government and all that... you know actual political activity. Will it work? In time.
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)A great many of us have petitioned the government. Some of us have even written to our Representatives and Senators. I know that Senator Durbin (D-IL) received my letter because his campaign staff was kind enough to ask me for another campaign contribution.
It is a false dicotomy if you believe that we can't boycott the airllines but can only petition the government. Petition away.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)as long as they can get THEIR OWN PEOPLE to do it.
Go ahead, boycott all you want...
I recommend you join local real political activity, like the occupiers... and yes, in time this shit will change. In fact, I predict it will be almost (seemingly) sudden.
Quantess
(27,630 posts)The TSA is holding you hostage to a greater extent than people who still fly, if it is causing you to miss out on traveling to certain places.
I think you have "Stockholm Syndrome".
AlwaysQuestion
(442 posts)Exactly!! Unfortunately, too many people are more than prepared to exchange their dignity and self-respect for a discretionary flight to wherever for whatever reason. Vacationing, visiting friends and relatives, attending weddings--even funerals are not excuses to fly under present circumstances.
I do feel compelled to excuse those who must travel by plane for business; still, I think with a little ingenuity, especially for short jaunts, other arrangements could be made. Of course, if the authorities have their way, the gropers and zapper operators will soon be coming to the train and bus stations. By the time the sell-outs "get it" the opportunity for all of us to get out from under will have passed and I have no doubt that there will be many regrets by people who could have made a difference but didn't. This is the time for self-sacrifice.
christx30
(6,241 posts)New Hampshire from Texas for Christmas. The Train would have taken me 4 days and cost me $500 each way.
Bus and the plane cost me about the same ($400), but the plane did it in 6 hours, and the bus would have taken me 5 days.
Security was easier than everyone made it out to be. I got through in about 3 minutes. I was smart and wore shoes that were easy to take off (velcro) and I only took a book as my carry on. If you have nothing to search, they don't treat you bad.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)Yours may not, but MANY people have jobs that do require them to occasionally be in another state (or country, for that matter) on a moment's notice.
I certainly wouldn't quit a good-paying job just because I had a grudge against the TSA, even though I am completely and totally against what they are doing. I believe it is not Constitutional, and say so at every opportunity. That doesn't change the fact that people have to eat and can't just up and decide they don't want to fly anymore despite travel being a requirement of their job.
housewolf
(7,252 posts)I can't drive there fast enough. Riding in a bus or train for 3 days is more abusive over a much longer period of time than dealing with TSA for a few minutes.
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)... and how riding in a bus or train is more abusive and takes much longer.
That's a start. And while you're standing in line, say something along the following lines
so that it will be heard by the TSA goons:
"The TSAs are doing a wonderful job. Much faster than getting an xray at any hospital.
And, if I don't want an xray, they are so efficient that they can grope you without
taking the time to get a medical degree. I feel so much safer now."
AlwaysQuestion
(442 posts)Yep, more people like you (and yes, me too I'm pleased to say) could put an end to this humiliating policy pretty much overnight. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people still insist on rationalizing their choice to fly. I've never been able to understand why otherwise intelligent people fail to grasp the concept of people power--and USE IT! Nothing short of a life and death emergency could get me to travel by plane. When once I would fly great distances to visit friends and family, all that has ground to a complete halt--and I'm very vocal about discouraging them from coming to visit me too. For my money, anyone subjecting their young children to such invasion of privacy is not acting as a good role model. Principles are worth standing up for.
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)parents drag them along and teach them to humiliated and submissive.
Then, as time went by and the abuses and the Chernoff profits became well known, I became less sympathetic to adult travelers but said nothing critical of those who chose to fly. I thought, "Let them fly. But I'm not going to."
Now, too much time has gone by and I see them as willing enablers. I won't respond to every reported TSA event, and it actually makes me a little sad for what has been lost in this country, but I'll occasionally point out the stupidity of those who act as enablers and will continue to do so.
I almost feel like we should go down to the airports to point and laugh at those who are suspending their outrage in order to fly. No one could pay enough money to me to get me to fly under these circumstances. Yet, there are those who not only put up with it but they pay the airlines for such humiliation and security theatre. Their docility has led them to suspend their awareness of what is happening to them except on those occasions when reality wakes them out of their daytime slumber.
Embarassing them may be the best medicine. It certainly can't hurt.
AlwaysQuestion
(442 posts)I know what you mean--all I want to do is scream, "Look at yourselves, have you lost all sense of self-respect"!? I know people who are progressive types and activists in such causes as global warming and world hunger, and then turn around and hop a plane to go on vacation. I nearly go ballistic. I've tried the shaming bit but it all comes down to "Life is short - no one is going to prevent me from doing the things I want to do. You're only cutting off your nose to spite your face." Yeah, right, whatever. Go ahead, surrender your pride; just know the costs for so doing. It ain't a free ride!!
Quantess
(27,630 posts)It's okay for fliers to be humiliated and inconvenienced because they had the choice to take the bus?
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)Quantess
(27,630 posts)and not flying.
That's what I'm saying.
AlwaysQuestion
(442 posts)Fliers are not currently being held at gun point and made to fly. The fliers are volunteers; they choose to undergo humiliation and inconvenience in order that they may "do their thing." The law is what it is--come fly but prepare yourself to be zapped, groped or both. Why waste time extending sympathy and empathy when expressions of such just won't change a thing. Those of us who choose not to fly are merely suggesting to those who are willing to be subjected to abuse, cease and desist. It wouldn't take very long for the rules to relax a lot if a substantial amount of revenue is lost due to a dearth of fliers.
Think about it.
Quantess
(27,630 posts)when the TSA is a government agency and airlines are commercial and private industries?
TahitiNut
(71,611 posts)From air traffic control to airports to training, taxpayers pony up huge subsidies for those private corporations. It's amazing to me how much some folks will tolerate to gain some specious sense of increased "safety."
Delphinus
(11,808 posts)I have to say I've not felt safer with all this TSA stuff.
boppers
(16,588 posts)It is both safe, and legal, to fly without going through TSA.
Charter a plane, or buy one (or part). It's a great way to fly, make new friends, and cement relationships with old ones.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_ownership
I'll get right on that
boppers
(16,588 posts)No "check-in". No "boarding". No "inspection". Just a call to the flight tower, and a filed flight plan.
Juneboarder
(1,730 posts)but I guess I could drive. I mean, forget the lack of roads in Alaska and Siberia, but I could possibly make it to a point where I could put my car on a boat, tug over to Siberia and then drive across the entire continents of Asia and Europe instead. It would be a really cool drive.
I'll just tell my boss to add on an extra couple of months of vacation for travel time to/from...
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)I hope that the TSAs give you the full treatment.
It will serve you right.
Juneboarder
(1,730 posts)"I hope that the TSAs give you the full treatment" - Why would you wish bad upon someone?
"It will serve me right" - Why? Cause I want to fly to Madrid and visit friends and their baby that will have just been born?
HockeyMom
(14,337 posts)What can you possibly hide in a bagel? NYC TSA has never seen a BAGEL? I just think they have a quota of people to stop and need to meet it.
yellowcanine
(35,692 posts)Justice wanted
(2,657 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)Justice wanted
(2,657 posts)The whole system is just SNFU!
They need to get Chertoff's Machines out of the airports and start using common sense.
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)Justice wanted
(2,657 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)But I don't find the system to be that way.
Justice wanted
(2,657 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)I flew again after Obama got in and was treated with kindness and courtesy. And so was everyone else where I flew. So this may be a regional problem, because it's fine where I fly. And I'm not well off, gorgeous nor do I have any influence.
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)Situation normal all fucked up.
a simple pattern
(608 posts)Touching Someone's Ass
barbtries
(28,703 posts)bleh. power corrupting at the ground level.
LibDemAlways
(15,139 posts)people in the country.
MountainLaurel
(10,271 posts)But plain bagels are A-OK, according to my experience with TSA in Maine.
eyewall
(674 posts)because she had a plastic baggie of small pieces of fabric, thread and a sewing needle.
She's a quilter.
She joked later, "What did they think, I was going to sew a bomb?"
Luckily she didn't also have a cupcake to complete the device.
boppers
(16,588 posts)Nitrocellulose has its uses.
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)the more tragically funny it gets.
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)we'd be complaining!
JEB
(4,748 posts)nothing.
GoneOffShore
(17,309 posts)TBF
(31,922 posts)I let my youngest drink formula (the pre-mixed stuff you buy in bottles) until he was 2. He was eating baby food and then real food, but still liked his formula bottles rather than milk. Those pre-made bottles were very easy to carry on the plane, but apparently it made them nervous when he was bigger.
After searching me and looking through the bags they did give them back - probably when they realized they were pre-sealed from the factory. It didn't inconvenience us that much - was more funny than anything. "Mommy's a terrorist - ha ha" ...
truedelphi
(32,324 posts)Really nasty to my neighbor and her one year old daughter.
She wouldn't let herself or the baby be scanned with the machinery. They were going to take her off and put her in a booth, and she said, "For Heaven's sake, just probe me here. After delivering a baby, I no longer have any modesty."
The people handling her did it as roughly as possible. And were especially heavy handed probing the infant's diaper.
By the way, these neighbors are super nice people; never lose their temper and are in general a delight. And they are Republicans, but they have been a whole lot more willing to me prattling on about the need to Occupy! since this event.
mwooldri
(10,291 posts)This is *not* the TSA now. This is whoever handles security at Heathrow Airport - on the outskirts of London, UK.
On my last trip - coming back home - in order to clear security I was made to take a swig out of my son's bottle of liquid acetominophen-codeine. It's a good job I'm not allergic to codeine. Apparently that swig was enough to convince the security screener that the bottle did actually contain medicine and not poison.
tooeyeten
(1,074 posts)pitohui
(20,564 posts)i'm not saying the scheme would have worked but there was a group of al qaeda who tried to go thru heathrow w. explosive chemicals in baby formula a few years back, they were caught, tried and convicted
their scheme would not have worked to blow up anything but at least the UKers have SOME reason for paranoia since the scheme, however silly, was at least actually tried
in the usa where such a scheme has never been attempted, and we have the science to understand it could not have worked because we can stand aside and be dispassionate, this liquids hysteria is pretty hard to understand
it's pretty much a gift to the hudson booksellers and other sellers of $4 bottles of water, and i assume they are paying off the relevant gov't officials because there is no serious reason to claim people's shampoo, cupcakes, baby formula and what have you
tooeyeten
(1,074 posts)by the cookie/cupcake snatchin' TSA.
PADemD
(4,482 posts)Now I guess I'll have to mail them.
MzNov
(18,531 posts)but this really takes the cake.
boppers
(16,588 posts)... aside from it being a classic trope of prison break movies, cartoons, books....
For those not following the security theater, this is all a response to the idea of cooking up a bomb mid-flight, using non-explosives, combined to make explosives. It's about as rational as not allowing metal on a plane (jewelry, cell phones, laptops) lest that metal be sharpened mid-flight to make a knife... though, most cheap electronics come with (internal) sharp edges by default.
RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)You know that they are easily bribed with a dozen donuts. It's their native food. They'll let you get past with a freakin' wedding cake on the plane, as long as you give them donuts!
Mz Pip
(27,404 posts)There was a couple on the plane that had a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts that they were feeding to their little kid. One kid. A dozen donuts. Someone in TSA should have confiscated that box as the 6 hour flight was pretty much terrorized by a kid on a sugar high.
Taverner
(55,476 posts)If so it's CONTRABAND!!!
NeonDog
(118 posts)AllyCat
(16,039 posts)W T F
(1,145 posts)octothorpe
(962 posts)Think the TSA agent would have had a hissy fit??
AllyCat
(16,039 posts)And a friend of ours just returned from Sudan where the airport had a security scanner for luggage and one for people that were not operational. But I was not afraid until I read THIS!
Thank you TSA for keeping us all safer!
tblue37
(64,982 posts)connecticut yankee
(1,728 posts)Last winter, I went through Heathrow returning to the US from a trip to India. There were several delays, and at that point, I had not slept in 33 hours and was totally exhausted. The Security Agent (or whatever she is called in England) was giving me quite a bit of grief, demanding that I do several ridiculous things. I lowered my head and mouthed "F... You," and she immediately pulled me out of line and threatened to have me arrested. She then called over her supervisor to complain that I had "insulted" her. I denied saying anything (although I mouthed the words, I did not speak them) and said to him "Young man, I am 76 years old, and a respectable woman. I do not go around speaking such filth." He finally let me board the plane after giving me a warning. I think if you give people a little bit of power, they abuse it.
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)Danmel
(4,892 posts)That I was bringing home for a friend from New.Orleans. i have no idea what about a small box of butter, brown sugar & pecans was so scary, but there you go. I was pretty ticked off.