I looked for an open thread to post this little tid-bit, but didn't find one and didn't see it posted ....
The TSA continues to keep us safe in the skies. No attacks from toenail clippers. No more exploding hair gel. And now ...
A Texas woman who said she was forced to remove a nipple ring with pliers in order to board an airplane called Thursday for an apology by federal security agents and a civil rights investigation.
When the piercing tripped the alarm, she offered to have a female TSA agent discretely screen her, but apparently a visual inspection was not good enough.
The female TSA agent used a handheld detector that beeped when it passed in front of Hamlin's chest, the Dallas-area resident said.
Hamlin said she told the woman she was wearing nipple piercings. The agent then called over her male colleagues, one of whom said she would have to remove the jewelry, Hamlin said.
Hamlin said she could not remove them and asked whether she could instead display her pierced breasts in private to the female agent. But several other male officers told her she could not board her flight until the jewelry was out, she said.
On its Web site, the TSA warns that passengers "may be additionally screened because of hidden items such as body piercings, which alarmed the metal detector."
"If you are selected for additional screening, you may ask to remove your body piercing in private as an alternative to a pat-down search," the site says.
Hamlin would have accepted a "pat-down" had it been offered, Allred said.
But that wasn't enough.
Hamlin filed a complaint, but the TSA's customer service manager at the Lubbock airport concluded the screening was handled properly, Allred said.
I feel so much safer now.
But the flier summed it up best
"The conduct of TSA was cruel and unnecessary," Allred wrote. "The last time that I checked a nipple was not a dangerous weapon