Ask a Former TSA Screener

[downtown]

The pay is actually pretty decent for the skill level the job requires. I started at $14.00/hour with just a high school education and no real job skills. The reason they are so understaffed is because most people use it as a stepping stone job until they either complete school or get the job they really want. The older ones are also usually retirees who don't really need the job, so once it gets tough they quit. Couple these things with the general stressfulness of the job and that's why there is such a high attrition rate.

That would be surprising to me. Having a high attrition rate isn't the same thing has having a shortage of employees. The labor pool for a job like this should be basically endless, so if areas are ever consistently understaffed, the government must be screwing up their hiring.

~14-16 an hour for totally unskilled work is pretty damn good. I assume the govt gave benefits, right?

 

[Commodore]

What is the funniest thing that happened to you working as a TSA screener?

Hmm, that's actually a hard one to answer. I would have to go with the time I found a few firecrackers in some teenager's carry-on bag. He didn't even know they were there, but firecrackers are considered explosive devices so we had to call the police. It was just a routine thing and he wasn't going to get into trouble, but since he was belligerent to the screener at the metal detector and acting generally uncooperative, we made him and his mother think he was going to be arrested. The funny thing is the police officer actually played alongand this kid started crying while his mother was yelling at him and smacking him in the back of the head.

I know that was pretty evil of me, but damn was it hilarious.

@downtown: It wouldn't surprise me if the government was screwing up hiring. I just remember we never had enough people despite the fact that almost every week new hires were showing up on the lanes.

 

[Takhisis]

Why are people entering the U.S. of A. made to sign a form saying they're not terrorists?

 

[Commodore]

Why are people entering the U.S. of A. made to sign a form saying they're not terrorists?

Is it TSA making you sign the form or is it Customs? I ask because as far as I know, TSA didn't do that while I was working for them.

 

[Antilogic]

Are people with foreign visas subject to more screenings than people without, even on domestic flights? Does the TSA look at prior visas when determining whether to randomly search someone?

 

[Commodore]

Are people with foreign visas subject to more screenings than people without, even on domestic flights? Does the TSA look at prior visas when determining whether to randomly search someone?

Beleve it or not, it is actually the airline that looks at that stuff when you purchase your ticket. The airline runs your name across numerous databases when you purchase your ticket and if something they don't like pops up, they put a mark on your ticket that indicates to TSA that you need a closer look.

The criteria each airline uses is different and they do not share their criteria with TSA. I never liked that set up personally, just because I thought it should have been TSA deciding who to search, not the airlines.

 

[Antilogic]

So do you guys at least have some idea of which airlines are lax and which are strict? I thought this should fall under the TSA's purview, I'm shocked (but not surprised--this is America, after all) that the airline has that much influence over it.

 

[Commodore]

So do you guys at least have some idea of which airlines are lax and which are strict? I thought this should fall under the TSA's purview, I'm shocked (but not surprised--this is America, after all) that the airline has that much influence over it.

No, the airlines are completely secretive about the process they use to choose people for additional screening.

Apparently, the reason the airlines were given that power was basically to shut them up. Before that (and even still sometimes now) the airlines complained that TSA was the reason for the decline in business the airlines were receiving.

 

[History_Buff]

Did you have one of those cool millimeter wave scanners? I wanted to see what I looked like in one of those, but they said I wasn't allowed to see it

 

[Commodore]

Did you have one of those cool millimeter wave scanners? I wanted to see what I looked like in one of those, but they said I wasn't allowed to see it

No, I worked there long before they implemented the body scanners.

 

[Takhisis]

Is it TSA making you sign the form or is it Customs? I ask because as far as I know, TSA didn't do that while I was working for them.

Whoever issues the entry permits. Customs or maybe some immigration Agency? I've never had to sign those myself so I don't remember which it was.

 

[Commodore]

Whoever issues the entry permits. Customs or maybe some immigration Agency? I've never had to sign those myself so I don't remember which it was.

Okay, that makes sense then. That's not a function of TSA. I would assume it would be the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) that would do something like that.

 

[emzie]

I assume you worked at CVG? Seem to recall you're from Cincinnati.

Do the new employees always get stuck with the worst jobs like pat downs / personal screenings? Seemed that the guy staring blankly at a monitor would have an easier job.

Whoever issues the entry permits. Customs or maybe some immigration Agency? I've never had to sign those myself so I don't remember which it was.

If you are a terrorist they can deport you for lying to immigration. It's the same reason that when I moved to Canada, I was asked if I was a terrorist or a war criminal. They just want the grounds to deport me should they find out I snuck through the immigration process without putting me on trial for my previous war crimes.

 

[Takhisis]

They can deport you for lying to immigration? What about just punishing you for being a terrorist?

 

[Quintillus]

If you are a terrorist they can deport you for lying to immigration. It's the same reason that when I moved to Canada, I was asked if I was a terrorist or a war criminal. They just want the grounds to deport me should they find out I snuck through the immigration process without putting me on trial for my previous war crimes.

Oh, I guess that makes sense. I was wondering that, too, it seemed like it would be a very ineffective method of screening out terrorists. Unless all terrorists are 100% honest.

How often did you have people denied boarding access? Did anyone ever get arrested while you were there?

Why is it that my plastic poker chips always set off the scanner? Do they really look that much like bullets? It took months of setting of the scanner every time before an agent noticed and told me it probably was those chips, sure enough it was.

 

[Commodore]

I assume you worked at CVG? Seem to recall you're from Cincinnati.

Do the new employees always get stuck with the worst jobs like pat downs / personal screenings? Seemed that the guy staring blankly at a monitor would have an easier job.

Nah everyone rotates to a new position every half hour on a lane. The positions when I worked there were metal detector, pat down, x-ray, and puffer machine.

I was a duel function screener, meaning that I was certified to work at the checkpoint as well as with checked luggage. So whenever I got fed up with the checkpoint I would ask my supervisor if I could go down to baggage and work there. Since I was one of the few duel function screeners and they always needed help in baggage, he would never say no.

Oh and yes, I worked at CVG.

 

[Commodore]

How often did you have people denied boarding access? Did anyone ever get arrested while you were there?

One guy was denied boarding while I worked there and that's because he decided to throw a tantrum when we took away his bottle of wine. Basically the only way you will be denied boarding is if you just act completely outrageous.

As for getting arrested: Yes I had a couple arrested for attempted murder. You see, the airport I worked at has an odd setup that forces us to rescreen international arrivals. Well I was working this checkpoint one day and this lady is wheeled up to the checkpoint by an airport employee. This lady was completely out of it. I mean, she was barely responding to my instructions and was slumped over in the wheelchair.

I called my supervisor over to get his advice and he ask several people, including the couple in question, for anyone who was with her. The couple said they didn't know her and tried to hurry through the checkpoint (luckily the lady had a whole bunch of prohibited liquids). My supervisor called the paramedics and when they arrived they had to give the lady an adreneline shot to keep her alive. They found an empty bottle of sleeping pills in her purse and guessed that she overdosed on them. Well the paramedics also brought a couple of police officers with them and when the police asked who was with her all of a sudden the couple spoke up and said that this isn't the first time she overdosed on sleeping pills and they tried to wheel her away from the checkpoint rather quickly.

Well I told one of the police officers about how the couple tried to get away from the checkpoint without claiming her and how they said they didn't know her when my supervisor asked them. Well the police stopped them and took them for questioning and we found out later that the police found sufficient evidence to arrest them and charge them with attempted murder.

 

[bombshoo]

^ Crazy Story.

Other than the really obvious sorts of things (liquids, pocket scissors, etc), what were the most confiscated items?

Also, you missed my question from earlier.

like Cuba, North Korea, Iran, etc.

Was there a lot of North Koreans and Cubans? I thought there was restrictions on them entering the country

 

[Commodore]

^ Crazy Story.

Other than the really obvious sorts of things (liquids, pocket scissors, etc), what were the most confiscated items?

Also, you missed my question from earlier.

.

Sorry, about that. Anyway, there really weren't that many people that came through from those countries, it was really just a list of America's perceived enemies and did not really reflect the true passenger flow from those nations.

As for commonly confiscated items, I recall finding a lot of brass knuckles which seemed very odd to me.

 

[_random_]

What are some of the worst experiences you've had with people?
What are some of the best experiences you've had with people's tits?
Why do I need to get rid of all the loose change and gum wrappers accumulated in my pockets before you believe me about surgical plates in my femurs?
Why am I not allowed to go back to the conveyor belt myself to get the tray with all my loose change and gum wrappers?