Former Newark Airport TSA screener says job does little to keep fliers safe (job is a complete joke)

[davsand]

22. They "had to" pat down my 83 year old mother and my 15 year old daughter both.

Mom was flying to Florida with my aunt (who is also another 80 something year old lady) and they pulled my mother out for a pat down. They gave her no reason for the pat down. My 15 year old was flying home from San Antonio, Texas having just attended an Air Force Graduation. They pulled her out for a pat down because her hair was tied up in a bun rather than loose. She offered to take her hair tie out and they refused to let her do it.

Neither one of them presents what I'd call an imposing presence, and for sure neither of them fits any known profile for terrorism. My mother, bless her heart, gave them a raft of crap for making her stand there for very long. She gave them full details of her quadruple bypass a few years ago, and told them that they better get her a chair.

My kid, was flying with a friend of ours who is an Assistant State's Attorney who was at the hospital with us the day she was born. My daughter reported that there there were some pretty hard questions asked of the TSA agent while she was being patted down. She said they all but gave them the bum's rush to get them out of there once it was done.

I find myself wondering, if two of my less than threatening family members are getting patted down, just who all ARE they patting down? Is this some kind of bad lottery system that they change up every so often just for shits and grins? Next week is it gonna be old men in wheelchairs and four year olds with Barbie Backpacks? This shit is crazy. Anybody that thinks this is doing any good--keeping us safer--needs to just go sit in an airport for a while and observe. TSA is a joke, and an expensive joke at that.



Laura