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View Full Version : Security gone mad .... again !!


Teddy Robinson
28th Jun 2011, 12:28
With the usual caveats regarding the news source .... this.


Airport security officers in Florida patted down a cancer-stricken 95-year-old woman and made her remove her adult 'nappy' during the search.

According to CNN, Jena Weber was travelling with her ill mother on 18 June from Florida to Michigan to see relatives 'in the final stages of her battles with leukaemia', when the incident happened at the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport.

Weber told the CNN that while she thinks the officers may have been 'procedurally correct... the procedure needs to be changed'.

Weber also noted that her mother had had a blood transfusion the week before.

While passing through security, TSA officials 'felt something suspicious and they couldn't determine what it was', so they took Weber's mother to a private room.

A TSA agent told Weber that her mother's Depends underwear was 'wet and firm and they couldn't check it thoroughly', so the pair left in search of a bathroom to remove the underwear. Weber did not have an extra pair of Depends with her.

Weber 'burst into tears' but her mother was 'very calm' even though she was forced to go through the airport without underwear. Her elderly mother was taken to the boarding gate without her as Weber was still going through security.

In response to the incident, the TSA said on Sunday that 'While every person and item must be screened before entering the secure boarding area, TSA works with passengers to resolve security alarms in a respectful and sensitive manner.

'We have reviewed the circumstances involving this screening and determined that our officers acted professionally and according to proper procedure.'



Airport security gone mad? 95-year-old told to remove 'nappy' - AOL Travel UK (http://travel.aol.co.uk/2011/06/27/airport-security-gone-mad-95-year-old-cancer-sufferer-told-to-remove-nappy/?icid=maing-grid7|uk|dl6|sec1_lnk3|68976)

grimmrad
28th Jun 2011, 14:14
I have yet to see an incident where the TSA admits to a mistake and apologizes. Its always "professional" and according to procedure and no mistakes were made.Well, maybe time to check the procedure?
Much to learn, guys.

fincastle84
28th Jun 2011, 17:27
Well I'm pleased to report that on our last 2 trips through LHR, T-5 followed by T-3, all of the security staff have been both very professional & very well mannered.

It must be an American problem. Maybe the US security staff been taking instruction from the immigration staff at MIA.:ugh::ugh::ugh:

onboard
28th Jun 2011, 22:31
I'm really not a big fan of TSA, but in this case I'd like to know just what you would have wanted them to do.
Nowhere does it say that they were impolite or rude, only that they were unable to resolve a security issue.
Yes, of course I understand that the situation was certainly embarrassing, but the question is not whether she was old or sick, but whether she could have posed a security risk. Not for me to decide. Nor do I know whether all the facts are known.
If yes, she had to be checked. Simple really. In this particular case I tend to agree with TSA. There are others where I definetely don't. The baby milk incident a few months back for instance.
Now, feel free to bash away.

ChicoG
29th Jun 2011, 06:51
I'm really not a big fan of TSA, but in this case I'd like to know just what you would have wanted them to do.

Er.... use a bit of common sense and treat a 95-year old cancer victim as the security threat she represents.

Christ alive, that you even have to ask demonstrates how embarrassingly docile the American public have become to their masters.

77
30th Jun 2011, 14:05
The TSA confiscated the small g-clamp (for a camera) that I had with me in case I hi-jacked the aircraft.
The fact that I didn't need the item to hijack the flight as I was in uniform, valid ID and in command of said flight made no difference.

??????

Dawdler
30th Jun 2011, 20:46
The problem is also one of inconsistency. I flew one way carrying my surveyors measure, the return flight however I had to put it into the hold at the gate as I apparently "could have used it as a weapon". Needless to say, in the hold, it got damaged.

11Fan
1st Jul 2011, 01:29
No surprise to me. She was recognized.

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