The TSA does not talk a lot. They heavily restrict comments on their blog. Mainstream news organizations tell me over and over that the TSA won’t talk to them or their official responses are cryptic. The meager choices they offer us are hard to understand at times. They seem arbitrary. We need consistency and uniformity in passenger security across the nation. After 9 years, I don’t think TSA is capable of that.
Here is Mary’s story:
On Monday November 8th, 2010 I went through security with my 1 year old daughter at the Austin Bergstrom Airport (AUS) in Austin, Texas. When I travel with her (she has been on 9 round trips flights with me previous to this one, all originating in Austin) I wear her on the front of my body in a pack made of canvas type fabric. Only once previously at the Las Vegas Airport had I been told I needed to remove her and I thought it strange. This time things had changed at AUS. In addition to taking off my shoes, my daughter’s shoes, removing my laptop, jacket and liquids, I was told when I reached the metal detector that I had a choice of taking my daughter off and putting the pack through the x-ray machine or keeping her on and getting an extra pat down. I have my hands full enough when traveling with her and thought a simple pat down would be easier than trying to juggle the reassembly of my belongings and managing a now free child on the other side of the metal detector. Little did I know I was in for an enhanced pat down. When I went through the metal detector I was not allowed to touch my belongings that had been through the x-ray, not even to put my boarding pass and ID down to free up my hands. I was taken to a screening area just beyond exit of the security line that had a table to my right and a few chairs to my left. I was then asked if my daughter was able to sit up on her own and was then told that I needed to remove her and sit her down. It was not stated as an option. I then had to stand just further than arms length from her while I got the enhanced pat down, feeling between my breasts, having the security officer feel all the way up the inside and out of my thighs and stick her fingers down my pants running them around my belt line, all while my child was watching this personal invasion. I was told I had to take the pack I was wearing off completely so they could run it through the x-ray. I was quite distracted during the pat down with making sure my daughter did not fall off the chair or wander away. One TSA agent sat down next to her and put his hands on her torso to steady her since I was not able to do so while getting pat down. He was told by another agent that they were not allowed to hold children, so he was unable to continue helping keep her in place. The woman who pat me down then turned to my daughter and did a quick, much less invasive pat down of her (thankfully!). I was then given my belongings back and worked on getting my daughter back in the pack, our shoes on and belongings together while the supervising agent came over to talk to me. He was trying to explain to me that his agents needed to see between me and my child when I have her in the pack. I was trying to ask him what the difference was with me removing her prior to the metal detectors and running the pack through the x-ray with my other stuff and getting the extra pat down if I had to take her off anyways. He said I didn’t have to remove her, I could opt for the pat down. It was not stated as a choice to keep her on when I was getting pat down. I asked what I was supposed to do if she were sleeping in the pack and I didn’t want to take her off. Could I just lean over to where they could see between my child and I instead of taking her off? He said no, his agents need to be able to see between my child and I, but it was my choice if I removed her. So how are they supposed to see between us if I choose to keep her on me? I tried asking in a different way, but I was unable to get a straight answer from him and my visit with TSA had gone on long enough so I decided to head to my gate.
So it sounds like I have choices when traveling with my child in a pack: take her off and put the pack through with the rest of my stuff or choose not to remove her where I get the invasive pat down, my child gets a pat down, I have to remove her from the pack after all and have the pack x-rayed by a TSA agent. Thankfully the body scanners have not arrived in Austin yet and I don’t have to fight the battle of not putting her through those at the moment.
Traveling with a small child is stressful enough. I’d like to thank TSA for making traveling that much more difficult! I can see how parents traveling with small children are a particular security concern considering the history of parents trying to use their kids to sneak explosives and other forbidden items on planes. I’m considering not traveling with her anymore and restricting my own travel to necessary work trips only unless TSA revises it’s recent changes to security screening. Considering the odds, my child is much more likely to be terrorized by TSA agents patting her down then actual terrorists. What is next? Removing her diaper so they can x-ray that too?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This story leaves me in tears. Any mother who has ever traveled alone with a small child knows that additional assistance is needed when at all possible, both to keep lines moving and children from harm. Turning passengers into mobs is dangerous in and of itself.
If there were no pat downs like this, all it would take is one incident and everyone would be giving TSA crap about not doing enough to protect us. I understand traveling with a child is difficult but it is not unheard of to use women and children to carry out attacks.