My wife, 9-month-old son and I recently flew up to Seattle on Alaska Airlines and had a great two days checking out the city and staying at the stylish Thompson Seattle. On our way back to Los Angeles, we had an encounter going through security unlike anything we’ve ever seen before…and we’ve taken over 50 flights a year for the past 10 years as a couple!
When we arrived at SeaTac Airport, we used our CLEAR membership, which allows TSA PreCheck users to essentially cut the TSA PreCheck line. There was no line but since we had just become members a few days earlier, we wanted to use it to get more familiar with it. The only problem was that the TSA PreCheck lane was actually closed. I’m assuming this was because it was 2:30pm on a Thursday and not a lot of business travelers were using it at that time. But we were given a red pass so we didn’t have to take our shoes off or go through the millimeter wave scanner, but we did have to take our laptops and liquids out. Otherwise, we just had to the walk through the metal detector.
I’m so used to not taking my liquids out with TSA PreCheck that I forgot about Jack’s oversized eczema cream that was in my bag, so it was rightly flagged. The agent first tried to tell me it wasn’t allowed because it was oversized but as soon as I told him it was my child’s cream for medical purposes and he could see this on the side of the container, he realized it had to be allowed as long as he tested it. He said, “Well, you either have to give it up or get a full-on pat-down and thorough bag check.” I said, “He needs his cream and I’m not in a hurry.”
The agent then started giving me attitude since I wasn’t in a hurry like most other travelers and I don’t think he wanted to take the time to do the pat-down and bag search. I don’t really blame him. He told me it was going to take at least five minutes, and I said it was okay and to do what he had to do. As he started patting me down, I learned my wife’s belongings were also flagged. It turns out she put the baby food in the same bin as her laptop and her agent said that was a big no-no. She gave Natalie attitude for not knowing that the baby food had to go in its own bin.
When my agent really started to go on a power trip, I tossed Natalie my phone and asked her to record my pat down. That didn’t make the agent happy. He turned his back to the camera and called for his supervisor who was a nice guy but knew I had the right to record. However, I didn’t want to be a jerk so I stopped.
Supposedly, my phone tested for some kind of chemical and set off their alarm. And because Natalie touched it and her unopened bottles of baby food tested positive too, they said they had to call in—get this—the Explosives Unit! I thought it was a joke and I was on some kind of Candid Camera show but sadly, it wasn’t.
It took the two Explosives Unit agents a few minutes to get there and I could tell that Natalie was starting to get really worried. Jack was starting to cry because he sensed her fear and he hadn’t liked seeing his mother get a pat-down. I wasn’t worried at all but Natalie later told me she was concerned because she has seen how things can escalate and because she’s brown, living in Trump’s country.
Fortunately, she was immediately put at ease by the Explosives Unit agent who really couldn’t have been any nicer and probably sensed it was a false positive when he saw us. He had everything tested and run through the X-ray again, and had our carry-on bags hand searched. The whole process took at least 30 minutes but it felt longer and I felt bad because it was such a waste of taxpayers’ money. The security line was getting really long and those who had their bags flagged had to wait for us.
My takeaways about going through security with baby food are:
- Don’t put baby food in the same bin as your laptop.
- Try not to have more than 3.4 ounces of cream but know that if it’s for medical purposes, you can have more.
- Show up to the airport extra early, just in case you get flagged.
- Be polite to the agents but if they question the amount of food or medicine you’re traveling with, ask for a supervisor. Many agents don’t know the rules but most supervisors do.
Bottom line: It was an unfortunate incident but it was a great learning experience for me. As anyone who has ever met my wife knows, she is possibly the nicest person in the world and I’m a nice guy too, but unlike my wife, I will give attitude back if provoked.
I’ve heard from my friends on Facebook (where I first posted about what happened) that SeaTac is known for having overzealous TSA agents. Do you agree? Have you ever had the Explosives Unit called in? Any other tips I should add?
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Wow Johnny – the comments on this post are truly shocking to me. I can’t believe people would react so heinously to your poor wife’s experience. Do these people think that they are upholding or supporting any of the values we like to think of as truly American … acceptance for all? By spewing their negativity on your blog they are only supporting exactly what made your wife feel uncomfortable in the first place!!! Although I’m not surprised because you’ve got to be pretty ignorant to reply the way they have anyway. Sorry you guys have had to deal with these terrible comments and hope you know that likely most of your informed, intelligent and compassionate readers do not feel this way.
You – Johnny Jet introduced politics and race! Again.
I’m tired of your tirades. After years of reading you – I’m done!
Go back to LA, I don’t care where you go.
Can you explain where all your anger is coming from about another individual’s experience and feelings that have nothing to do with you? I’m genuinely curious why you are so outraged?
Sadly, you are the only one on a tirade.
Johnny, your recounting of your experience was fair. Stand by your position to include valid emotions. In my experience the TSA does whatever they want. Rules are enforced arbitrarily and are certainly not the same at each airport. My 10 year old son accidentally left a water bottle in his carry on when we went through security in our home airport of SFO. I asked the agent if we could dump the water, or drink it and keep going, but she evidently really wanted to teach us a lesson because she insisted on escorting us back out to the end of the security line where we could dump the water and start over. (Fortunately we have CLEAR, so it didn’t take a lot of extra time, but it was still an inconvenience.) I’ve met tons of great TSA agents, but there are definitely plenty of power-tripping ones out there as well. As a white woman and frequent traveler, I try to stay calm no matter how ridiculous a TSA agent is for fear of repercussions; in these sad days, I can only imagine what it must feel like to be traveling while brown.
Really appreciate this post. Totally support you deciding to moderate comments before they’re published, so none of us have to witness more online abuse in this world. Your wife has every right to share what’s true for her. Nobody with common sense can deny the realities we’re all dealing with.
Johnny…We didn’t know you were “snowflakes.”…Now we do. Cheers.
Thanks for sharing your story of what happened and the fears that you and your family felt. I do not understand why people are so upset by those observations. You were not calling anyone racist, you were simply stating how your wife felt.
”she was concerned because she has seen how things can escalate and because she’s brown, living in Trump’s country.”
Your wife is, of course entitled to her own views. Why would you include something that would tick off half of the people that voted. Half of the people that look forward to your posts.
I didn’t think it would tick people off and of course, I didn’t mean to. I was just detailing exactly what happened and was said.
…”she was concerned because she has seen how things can escalate and because she’s brown, living in Trump’s country.”l
This was NOT appropriate to your article.
If you choose to write about YOUR political views, maybe CNN or MSNBC would be more to your liking.
I NEVER recalled you commenting on the MANY, MANY Barack Obama’s acts of racism?
Travel is travel & politics is – well, just that.
BTW, I have over 60,000 readers of my articles on TripAdvisor and have always keep my views of US politics to myself.
Cheers
So many idiot bloggers living in a leftist bubble. Leave politics out of it unless you want to lose a good amount of your readers
I also triggered the explosive squad. I was a midwest, tired, senior citizen traveling on the last leg “home” after several weeks in Europe. After several positive swabs and several swabbers, the concensus was that my lunch bag – one of those silver coated plastic insulated bags – caused the problem. I had transitioned through 6 other check points in several other countries without a problem with the same lunch bag. These swabbers were testy with me that I caused this problem for them!
Very detailed and informative stuff. Guidelines Useful for everyone. Keep sharing.
I’m equally amused and saddened by all the comments from people who are so strangely outraged over another person’s experience. How lovely for you to have never felt uncomfortable before and how bizarre to say you’re unsubscribing and not reading any more because of an experience you know nothing about. I suspect no one will miss those of you who leave, for you intolerance and narrow-mindedness.