From the feeling safer yet department: this in from the New York Times. Two doctors (man and wife) and their 10-month-old were flying from Chicago to New England. Worried about delays and the fact that baby food isn't actually sold at airports, they packed extra.
TSA didn't like that. So they confiscated the dangerous contraband, saying it was too much for a 2-1/2 hour flight (ignoring the whole winter thing.) Said the couple needed a note from a doctor to bring more. Reminded that they were doctors (thus that route to authoritarianism blocked) TSA said it had to be another doctor. But a phone call to the pediatrician wasn't enough -- no, they just had to confiscate the baby food. Baby food.
Get this -- a TSA spokesbeing said the officers "were behaving in a reasonable manner with people who were pretty insistent about what they wanted to bring through," adding, "Obviously this is one of those judgment call gray areas where the officer does have discretion."
The officer does have discretion. Translation: TSA owns your ass if you fly. Get used to it, because you have no recourse whatsoever. Oh, sure, file your complaint. But we don't have to act on it, there is no oversight of the complaints process at all, and we're still keeping your baby's food if we want to.
Good job, America.
Leave a comment