It's Whining Time Again

And this time I am the one doing it.

Fair warning friends. Don't forget that handy dandy 1-quart clear zip lock bag (follow the rules or else!) for all your approved liquids and gels. Trust me on this one. I just had a lens cleaner confiscated by the TSA even though it was not contraband and was within the size limits. My crime? Didn't have it stashed in that 1-quart clear zip lock bag. Bad traveler!! Very naughty!!

But I am not a sheep to be led uncomplaining to the shearing. I sent the following to Congresswoman Schakowsky and Senator Obama. It may not result in any action, but I sure feel better having voiced my dismay:

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Greetings

Attached you will find a letter I sent today to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). It recounts a recent experience I had with their screening procedures at O’Hare International Airport (ORD) and what I also observed at Reagan National Airport (DCA). Please pay particular attention to the following paragraph:

My lens cleaner was not confiscated because it was contraband of any kind but because it was not in a 1-quart clear zip lock bag. I was, in effect, punished for failing to follow bureaucratic rules developed for your convenience, NOT because I, or my lens cleaner, was a security threat of any kind. On top of that, your employee attempted to spin the situation as if I was voluntarily handing over the cleaner.

While I can appreciate the need for security procedures at the airport, I object to procedures geared to serving the bureaucracy rather than the traveling public. Confiscating otherwise approved items merely because they are not in a 1-quart clear zip lock bag represents, in my opinion, the nadir of pettiness. The action taken is not prophylactic in that it protects the public; it is purely punitive and it needs to end. Attempting to spin confiscation as voluntary surrender by the traveler suggests contempt on their part for the intelligence of the traveler at hand. They appear blissfully unaware of these points, apparently believing that all travelers are mere sheep willing to mindlessly comply with their directives. I complied, as I had no other alternative at the time.

I bring this to your attention in the hope that you can exercise some influence with a bureaucracy that is still foundering in its efforts to serve the traveling public. Why they insist on engaging in petty power plays with the public is beyond me. Perhaps they will conjure up an explanation for you.

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If, by some miracle, the TSA deigns to respond to myself or to the Honorable Congresswoman and the Gentleman from Illinois, I'll let you know.