Editor’s Notes: TSA travel takeaways

(Editor’s Notes by Christina Myer – Photo Illustration – MetroCreativeConnection)

It’s the time of year when many of us are planning our holiday travels, or maybe even a winter getaway to a place where there are lots of shopping opportunities. If you’re flying, I have a couple of cautionary tales.

First, there’s the story out of the Tri-State Airport in Wayne County. According to WSAZ, the flight on its way to Charlotte, N.C., had to be delayed when the Transportation Security Administration spotted something suspicious.

It was a big deal. Officials blocked off access to Airport Road, those onboard the flight had to deplane. The police were investigating a suspicious item.

It was a snow globe.

“Fortunately, it turned out to not be anything dangerous,” TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein told WSAZ. “It turned out that it was a Christmas item that contained electronics and a timer, which is why it raised suspicion that it could have been an explosive device.”

Eventually, everyone reboarded and got on their way to Charlotte. I hope they didn’t have to run to their connecting flights in that place.

But that news item reminded me of my second story.

Last winter, I was traveling with two friends and we shopped as much as we were able while limited to carry-ons and personal bags.

I made it through security first, and was feeling pretty proud of myself for getting to the point of putting on my shoes again without a hiccup. Once I tied my laces and stood back up, I turned expecting to see my friends coming through behind me.

Instead, I saw one standing off to the side with her hands in the air, and the other standing behind her with a horrified look on her face and beginning to raise her hands, too.

It turned out they were just raising their arms to have the magic detecting wand swished back over them again. But there was definitely something wrong. Friend 1 was watching as a differently uniformed young man gingerly opened her bag and started rifling through, then called for “the dog.”

I looked at Friend 2 and mouthed the words “What the heck?” She shrugged and silently said “I don’t know.”

By this point, Friend 1 was nervously giggling and trying to chat with the person going through her bag. She was babbling things like “I’m glad you all are here to do what you do.” He was having none of it.

But meanwhile, they’d zeroed in on the problem and pulled a retail bag out of her luggage, then carefully unwrapped what was inside. Candles. Expensive, gift-worthy candles.

Then the man’s face relaxed and he started to chat back, explaining the candles must contain glycerin, which can trigger a false positive on TSA explosives screenings.

Phew!

Seems like the sort of thing that should be on a warning sticker before purchasing, though.

Once she got all her stuff crammed back into her carry-on, we were on our way, but not without having to take a few deep breaths first.

I agree with my friend. I’m glad those people do what they do, and I suppose I’d prefer their equipment be extra sensitive than not sensitive enough. But that puts some responsibility on the rest of us not to travel with something that looks a little shady, or with something that includes ingredients that might trigger the explosives screening. (Same friend was once pulled aside for having an Amazon Firestick in her carry-on, wrapped up with other charging cords and such. That looked a little weird in the x-ray machine, apparently. The trouble was, it was a gift she planned to give her husband once we arrived at our destination to celebrate his birthday, so she looked even shadier trying to whisper to the TSA officials that she’d prefer they not pull everything out of her bag while her husband was watching.)

If you are traveling and shopping, or traveling and coming home with gifts, have fun! But, look at everything through the eyes of those poor TSA agents who are trying to keep the rest of us safe, just in case.

Christina Myer is executive editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She can be reached via e-mail at cmyer@newsandsentinel.com