There's been a bit of a
crapstorm on the blogs and Twitter over a post that Nice at My Bottle's Up wrote about her
experience with the TSA at the Atlanta airport. My first reaction was to not touch this with a ten-foot pole, because it seems like a lot of drama. And frankly, I don't need to insert myself into that crap.
But having read her [drama-filled]
original account and
her response to some blog posts about her experience, I feel like throwing a positive drop into the bucket. (She's since apologized for the dramatic take.)
I'm putting this out there, not because I want to take a side (I definitely don't), but because I had an experience that was as good as Nic's was bad. I think it's important to tell the good stories, too (every bit as important as sharing the bad).
Before I get to my story, here's my take on flying with a kid and being put in a situation where a rogue TSA agent wants to separate you from your kid. I don't think it happens often, but if it did, here's what I'd do:
I'd first explain that they are welcome to pat down/search my child, but only in my presence. And I'd be nice about it. If it escalated, I'd point out the big signs that say "we won't ask you to do anything that separates you from your child." I'm not sure that every airport has them, but I would think that they do. I know the Denver airport has them. And if it still escalated, I'd tell them to go find their superior for me to talk to, but no one is taking my kid out of my sight. I'd certainly risk missing a flight to keep my kid with me.
The bottom line: you're the parent. You're your child's advocate. Knowing that the TSA shouldn't be separating you from your child, it's your job to stand up for yourself and not let that happen. Prevention is the cure; rather than going through some big traumatic ordeal, it shouldn't happen in the first place.
I just flew from Cleveland to Colorado last month, husband and baby in tow. In my opinion, based on my experience, not only does the TSA not suck...they're pretty great. Here's why:
When we got to the Cleveland airport, I completely spaced and forgot that we were checking a bag. I steered us all into the security line: me, the hubs, the kidlet, the bag to be checked (oops!), a carry-on, a diaper bag, my purse, and the laptop bag. Oh, and the stroller (to be gate-checked). It was a mini-caravan of us and our crap.
Of course, when we got to the head of the line, I realized we still had the bag we needed to check. CRAP. In a couple seconds, I totally prepared myself for a contentious experience with some very annoyed TSA agents. (And why not? This was totally our mistake and it was interrupting the flow.)
What I got was the most accommodating, nice service I could've asked for. I sent the hubs to run and check the bag (literally). That left me with the baby, the diaper bag, the laptop bag, my purse, the carry-on suitcase, and the stroller to get through security on my own. Craaaap.
It was so easy! Agents helped me pile our crap onto the conveyor belt, I walked through with the baby (no beeps, no hangups). On the other side of the machines, another agent grabbed all of our stuff and schlepped it to a bench a few feet away. All I had in-hand was Lovie, everything else was moved for us.
An agent made sure all of our things had made it to the bench and that I had a handle on the stuff and Lovie before she went back to help other customers. While I was putting Lovie's shoes back on, hubs called to tell me that our bag was 10 pounds over. I let him know that there was a duffel inside, and to unpack some stuff into that (so we could just have a second carry-on). He did that in a hurry, got the bag checked, and headed back to security.
After a few minutes, I saw him headed to the line. Another TSA agent came over to me and asked if he was back in line yet; I pointed him out. The agent went and moved him up to the front of the line, he came through without a problem, and they reunited us at the bench.
Pretty awesome service, huh? Yeah, I think so! And it gets better. As soon as we had our shoes on and our stuff gathered, one of the little electric carts came and picked us up. They drove us and our stuff to our gate. I really, really appreciated every bit of the help we received, especially since they definitely didn't have to go out of their way to correct our mistake.
And get this: all of this took place in less than 20 minutes! Amazing service, TSA. I can't thank them enough for all the help we received. It's also notable that we were never once made to feel like we were being a pain in the ass (when honestly, we kind of were!). They were more than happy to help.
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