11.11.2011

TSA Week In Review: Sword canes, razor blade chewing gum, and a little splash of EVOO

Display of Prohibited Items Found at EWR

Note *** The Week In Review normally lists info from Friday through Thursday. This week I won’t be including information for Thursday. Thursday’s report comes in on Friday morning and it’s a Federal Holiday. Also, I’ll be on vacation and will return on the 28th, so the next two Week In Review posts will be abridged versions.

In an odd turn of events at Orlando (MCO), a passenger who was told that her olive oil exceeded the size limit grabbed the bottle and began pouring it upon herself and our officer. I hear EVOO is good for the skin, but yeah… this is frowned upon.

This week, our officers found not one, but two sword canes! One at Westchester (HPN) and the other at Sarasota (SRQ). These are considered artfully concealed items, but to be fare, most passengers are shocked when we show them what was concealed in their cane. Many of the canes are hand-me-downs or they were purchased at a thrift or antique store.

At Los Angeles (LAX), an anomaly was found during screening with a body scanner. The passenger stated he had burns on the inside of his leg, so the anomaly could not be cleared and the passenger was denied access to the sterile area. Law enforcement responded and the passenger later admitted that the anomaly was marijuana. We’re not looking for drugs, but we had no idea what was concealed on the passenger until he confessed. It could have easily been explosives.

Here is how a situation played out at Houston Intercontinental (IAH).

Passenger: I have a bomb in my bag.
Officer: What did you say?
Passenger: I have a bomb in my bag.
Officer: [Looking Alarmed]
Passenger: I’m just kidding.

After this was all said and done, the passenger was allowed to rebook, but not with his original airline. He caused his original flight to be delayed by 42-minutes affecting 224 passengers.

After being told he could not take his snow globe on the flight, a passenger at Reno (RNO) thought it best to begin shouting “I am going to blow up the plane and I know how to do it.â€