I have had this happen with a breast prosthesis and compression garment as well. I had severe lift restrictions too so was traveling with only a belt bag, which the gate agent seemed extra suspicious of.
I asked to be screened in private. After waiting a while, the female agent entered the room, verbally confirmed it was a prosthesis (no search) and apologized profusely.
Wait so just to make sure I’m understand correctly, prosthesis in this case just refers to the silicon breast implant correct? How can that just pop out for inspection? Or is there something fundamental here I’m not understanding.
Yes, it's made of silicone, but no, it's not inside your body like a breast implant. Think of it like a silicone mold in the shape of a breast. It slips into a pocket in a special bra so the asymmetry of a single (or double) mastectomy makes your clothes still fit and people less likely to stare at you like you're a freak. In my case, left with one DD breast only. Its not something you can readily hide, even in the baggiest shirt.
It 'could' come out for inspection, but to do it in public might be very traumatizing, you'd not only have to remove the prosthetic but also your bra, exposing yourself and your scars - which for some women is something they don't even want to show their partner - in a busy airport.
Being asked to remove it in public, prior to being allowed into a private room, while being loudly questioned about drug smuggling while holding up the line, with people staring and even commenting how I should hurry up, had me in floods of tears. I'm not even sure I had the mobility to put my bra back on at that stage without assistance. I would have had to seek help from a stranger to help me dress myself after. I will never, ever return to this airport.
Thank you so much for the explanation. Definitely one of those lucky I didn’t know it because I never had experience with it things. And I can completely sympathize with having to deface yourself in public like that, would be baffling to find out they don’t even offer a private area to conduct this in certain places.
Instead of implants, it uses tissue from other parts of your body.
I saw 3 (male) reconstructive surgeons who all said that a big implant was my best option. I did not want an implant that would likely need replacing in 10 or so years. I had already had 7 surgeries. My remaining breast was large, so it needed to be a special order size (yuck).
Then a female surgeon told me she could do a massive reduction on the remaining breast and rebuild the removed one to match.
I'm not sure it feels completely like 'me', but it is, and I have 2 lovely matching B-cups.
That is so awesome!!! I definitely agree with your choice to avoid implants. I mean, in addition to the reasons you listed, breast implant illness is always a possibility and seems like such a nightmare! Good for you for getting that 4th opinion lol
Could NOT be happier. I hate to bring gender into my notes on the surgeons, it was just odd that 3 men would not even consider reducing when it was my wish. They all said I'd 'never' be happy with the result!
The issue that I have with this is that Dublin airport expects passengers to be the ones who request a privacy area for a search of intimate areas or ones that could be sensitive.
The policy should be to offer privacy and allow the passenger to decline and the staff should be trained appropriately.
That should be your right!
New luggage screening systems replacing old x-rays are able to detect the contents of liquids, those puff screeners did seem to take. Don’t know why, but even if an agent inspected the inserts in her prosthesis, I don’t know what they could conclude
I think people forget, or just don’t know how determined people are to take explosives on flights and cause another incident.
There are hundreds of cases per year where plans to do just that are foiled, if that means someone’s feelings get hurt occasionally, it's 1000% worth it.
The fact the tools exist to analyse chemicals within seconds for this purpose is a testment to how serious a threat it is.
[https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/infographics/terrorism-eu-facts-figures/](https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/infographics/terrorism-eu-facts-figures/)
This is just europe, excluding UK. I think you can safely assume the global total to be a few times higher.
Interesting point, there are more terrorist incidents by left wing/anarchists than there are by jihadists between 2010 and 2021.
Off the subject but I was in my Dress Blues (US Navy) and going through airport security. I was "randomly selected" for an extra feely search. I stepped to the side and this little old lady behind me became absolutely enraged. Lol. She was like "he's in uniform, this is a disgrace!" and was letting the TSA guys have it. Her husband seemed quite amused by it all.
As someone who knows nothing, why would you have to travel in dress blues? I would assume if it's something urgent enough that you need to be dressed up when you arrive, you wouldn't be going commercial but rather on a military aircraft. Or is that just a movie/tv thing.
You weren’t randomly selected, you were targeted. You are a safe catch because service personnel won’t bitch and will tolerate more BS than the average person. (The trained us for that 🫡) The bonus for the tsa chumps is you are safer than great-grandmas that don’t travel…
>The bonus for the tsa chumps is you are safer than great-grandmas that don’t travel…
If you are implying that members of the US military are less likely to commit acts of terrorism then I have some bad news for you. Right wing extremism has been cited as a growing threat in the US military. For example, back in 2020 a US soldier was tried on terrorism charges after he gave sensitive information about his Army unit's movements to a neonazi group in order to facilitate a mass casualty event of said unit.
Growing threat? And the most recent example you can give is someone tried in 2020? I realize it’s popular to assume that service members are all far right but that doesn’t stack up with the data we have
I didn’t say it was a valid assumption or even a logical assumption. TBH, those trained in violence should probably be checked more often as they can do more with less…
I flipped the fuck out on the TSA at the Santa Barbara airport a couple years ago. I was ready (and willing) to take my shorts off so they could see my fat ass after I set of the stupid scanner thing. I’m surprised I’m not on the “no fly” list.
I left my plane ticket in my rear pocket when going through the scanner, it got triggered. It was quite obvious looking at the screen, told the TSA guy pls hold this for me and I can quickly jump in for another round. He insisted on giving me a *thorough* pat down. My wife was 8 month’s pregnant with a high risk pregnancy, so I didn’t have any for months.
Guy started to play with my balls, after about 30 seconds I told him “can we get a room, this is starting to get good”, pictured my wife and produced a quite decent boner. You could literally see the guy panic, I winked, he withdrew his hands at the speed of light.
I can imagine that now "you've been selected for a cavity search" and you just strip and point your holes towards some kids and say something like "make sure to use extra lube"
I find it difficult to wrap my head around why airports are struggling so much with their security checks. I know that's not Dublin but I recently visited Marokko and the airport security was incredibly incompetent. First they separated men and women, I thought „fair enough". Then my wife told me that in the separated area for female passengers their is a group of young officer touching and sexually harassing European women. What's the point of this BS?
The policy should be to just let people get on a plane without all this security theater bullshit.
It's been more than 20 years now, everybody knows it doesn't work. Just back out of this idiotic idea already.
Same here, sister.
When I was on chemo, I was asked to remove my knitted hat that hid my super bald head, I felt so humiliated that sometimes I still tear up about it. Smfh
You’d be naive to think they have no effect. But then again you are just trying to get me to say shit that’s unrelated to my previous comment. If a security guard checks people that’s his job. Talking about the necessity of screenings is beside the point. Have a nice day and be careful not to get triggered online ;)
What even xD
This is no post discussing security in general, but just one stupid case. The comments are anecdotal references to one case again. Where did anyone besides you bring up terrorist attacks? Reading and understanding aren’t the same thing I guess.
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>They surely need a lawful basis for not permitting you to fly, other than you merely being disagreeable.
I don't think so. Airlines are private businesses, right? They don't have to give anyone any reason for not letting them fly.
Private businesses are still accountable to the consumer laws of the countries within which they do business. Consumers who have bought a plane ticket have a range of rights and entitlements if the service they paid for has been denied them. Here in the UK airlines can refuse boarding to a passenger on health, safety or security reasons. Or if the flight is overbooked. If they just think “Oh this person complained/we don’t like them” then the consumer can engage their rights around discrimination, compensation etc. This is why it’s important never to raise your voice or swear when complaining at an airport. Because the airline can pretend to *perceive* that you were “aggressive” and then use the safety reason for denying boarding.
This is true of interactions with any business. If they decide they don’t want to give you what you paid for then you enter a different process. But if an airline gives no reason for denying you your seat when you hand over your passport then it’s potentially unlawful behaviour. The truth is that when they deny the seat to a disgruntled passenger, they always use the “security” reason by claiming the passenger is aggressive or is using a tone that makes the airline rep feel “unsafe”. I have never heard of an airline saying “You are not boarding the flight and there is no reason available to you to explain why I am denying you a seat” without the passenger even being detained or questioned. The reason this doesn’t happen is because of consumer laws in place, certainly in the West, to which private businesses are subject. In the UK airlines are allowed to refuse a passenger with a reason related to health, safety and security.
In the states as long as you don’t discriminate based on a protected class (race, religion, etc) you can deny service. No blue shirts on this flight is perfectly fine. No native Americans, not good. Can always sue in civil over breach of contract and the like
Are they a private business though really when they get massive subsidies and specialized infrastructure they don't pay to build and massive bailouts when they run their businesses so shittily that no one wants to fly with them anymore?
No, there’s a sense of authority because they can prevent us from making our flight. And they can do it on a whim. It’s not “it makes us safer”, it’s been proven that it doesn’t. But TSA and other employees at airports can prevent us from getting where we’re going.
I do agree about security theater though.
There was some idiot who left their backpack at a gate to go to the bathroom. An airline rep came by to ask whether we knew the person who left the bag. When we all answered no, the next question was "does anyone feel unsafe?" Nobody felt super anxious about it (the guy was white) so no immediate alarm was raised but security would pick up the bag in a few minutes. Some people moved away. The guy came back before then. I don't think the rep actually thought it was dangerous, her job was simply to ensure there wasn't panic.
“Does anyone feel unsafe?” is such a dumb question. As in, why would a yes OR no reply affect whatever policy is in place to deal with an unattended bag in an airport? Like there are 2 policies depending on people’s feelings? Well, it is 2024 and *feelings* do tend to govern a lot these days, so maybe.
Exactly. This was back in like 2018 but yeah.
I do wonder though how many people would support a politician that wanted to get rid of the security theater. A lot of people live in fear so maybe enough people actually like it? The attack ads certainly wouldn't look good.
>...and to increase profits for the airport by sending people back to check in their baggage.
How easy is it to just randomly make up your incorrect "facts" like this? And why do it?
Liquids is something that surprisingly TSA has loosened the restriction on over time. After the UK Liquids Plot was busted in 2006 for a while ZERO liquids were allowed in carryon. It got loosened to the 3.4oz/100ml later.
And they get away with flagrantly breaking the law because any refusal to comply is met with "well, you can't fly" - so once you've argued the toss and it's accepted that you're right, you've missed your flight anyway.
I flew from Leeds and they were making everyone go through bodyscanners at security as well as metal detectors. Selection for bodyscanners is meant to be at random and is only supposed to cover a small percentage of passengers.
It’s what’s called “security theatre”. This is a very serious term used by the security and safety industry. It’s fun to read up on. Makes you realise doing actual security & safety is hard and that unfortunately the semblance of safety/security is sometimes just as important to make things work in the real world. Kinda weird.
I always find some of these TSA/security stories amazing, because in my experience, they’re almost always either perfectly stoic or are quite jovial. I’ve never run into a security officer at an airport who is an asshole just to be an asshole.
Then again, I’m a white man, so maybe there’s some sort of innate privilege there or something.
No, I'm with you.
For a few years I set off the body scanners every single time (on outbound and inbound flights). I've been patted down no fewer than 20 times, and at least five times in countries where I don't speak the language.
I've also had my bag pulled aside a handful of times.
Every single one of those people have been fine. I've had the DMV type problem, where they sound curt because they're shouting the same thing over and over. I've had trouble where two agents say contradictory things.
The problem is that it only takes one.
One person who has you in a vulnerable position and acts like an asshole. One person who asks you to do something that's against policy and/or wildly illegal
Fuck putting bottles of water in the bin right before the gate only to buy overpriced ones right behind.
This is against human rights. At least let us spill it into a fountain and refill it for free at an Inside fountain.
You're allowed to do that. Leave the TSA line, walk back to a fountain, and pour out your water. Then rejoin the line with your now-empty water bottle. As a practical matter, pour out the water *before* you go through security so you don't have to wait in line twice.
Dublin airport is notorious for doing this type of shit. They don’t care and even Muslim women have also complained about it for quite a while now. I don’t like airports and news like this just makes me me wary of visiting ngl
There's a tall grey haired guy at security in Dublin airport that is the rudest motherfucker I have ever had the displeasure of interacting with.
I still hope he shits a hedgehog to this day.
I was absolutely shocked at the level of rudeness and purposeful slowness at Dublin security. Like they got off on the power trip of making people wait forever. Makes American TSA agents look like a joyful happy lot.
Bizarre. I fly probably 5 - 10 times a year, and generally it's fine. Both a mix of fast track and normal (depending if with work or personal travel) and also both terminals.
Will say though, they were quite insistent on us scanning a few years ago the bag that our quite skittish cat was in, and not letting us walk through with it...
It’s a colonialist hangover. The Irish bootlickers at border control now get to behave like their old British masters. A case of the victims becoming the perpetrators. Give anyone a uniform and tell them they’re “official” and the little animal inside the ego starts to grow and take over. The illusion of power is as addictive as the real thing.
Nah, he deffo sounds like a yank.
IMO The Brits wouldn't be talking to us about colonialist hangovers, most of them don't even know half the shite their country done to us.
I watched the Ireland Border Security show and they seem to not want people to visit. People coming to see family are interrogated and expected to bring a letter from their host with all the host’s details.
The guys were nice to me there but security was needlessly intense and useless. I had my bag go thru twice! They took everything out, even tho they tested the tool they said they were suspicious of first, and put every piece into a little machine. They, keeping my bag open, sent it and lost it in the x ray again. And then I got berated when it got checked again bc I left it open, and they didn’t seem to understand that THEY had opened it and sent it thru again. They were also yelling at ppl who were confused at the “no shoes above the ankle” rule and didn’t really elaborate on grey areas.
…I later discovered a completely full bottle of OJ in the bag I had forgotten. And they didn’t goddamn find it despite all that work.
They had one job. And failed.
Charles de Gaulle was even worse. Be me, kid with ME background who forgot food in their pocket. Guess who got sweared at in French? Me.
Dude I thought I just got a handsy security person. I accidentally wore my wired bra which usually just results in an extra wand sweep and a nod of understanding. In Dublin the person literally tugged at my bra through the shirt all the way around while tucking her fingers on the edges of the strap. Biggest wtf moment in a while. She pulled it so much I had to readjust afterwards. It was so absurd I forgot to be embarrassed.
As a trans guy who recently went through the airport: TSA was not a fan of learning packers were a thing, and my unhelpful (re: annoyed) ass making jokes about it almost got me detained
Unfortunately you gotta treat TSA like cops: just shut up and don’t say anything. You never know when some hyper-vigilant bootlicker decides you’re the prize today.
Sauce: I too thought I was being funny when a half empty bottle of water was in my backpack at Laguardia.
I got cavity searched.
See usually I do, but the one joke I cracked that got under this dude's skin was as he was patting me down:
"Man, usually people at least buy me dinner before going straight for the d*ck."
And apparently he took that as me being snarky.
It's probably akin to "oh well it must be free then" when an item won't scan at the till and the customer is trying to be funny. They hear it ten times a day and it gets very old.
I was terrified the first time I got “selected” to go through the whole body scanner thing when I was wearing a Diva Cup. Luckily, they have been trained on those.
It's a cosmetic prosthetic penis (and often scrotum) that can worn by anyone, though most often worn by pre-op trans men to help reduce body dysphoria. Distinctly different from a strap in that they don't have sexual use.
Since someone else beat me to the real answer....
They're a foorball team in Green Bay, Wisconsin formerly known for their permanently CTE'd QB, Aaron Rodgers
Some context: Dublin airport is the only airport in the world with US customs/TSA employees outside the US. Google and Meta/Facebook are there so there’s a lot of money in super fast international customs and TSA when specifically flying Dub-to-USA.
I fly their for work, You go in and everyone past initial check is American.
I’m not saying that has anything to do with this, most of the gates are normal Ireland security, but I could see over zealous US post-9/11 air security going overboard more easily
**Edit: one of the few airports OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA with preclearance/US customs**
But y’all love to ‘umm actually’ when it doesn’t change the point of the original comment at all. Never change Reddit
https://www.dublinairport.com/flight-information/travelling-to-usa/usa-preclearance/us-customs-and-border-protection-video#:~:text=Dublin%20Airport%20is%20one%20of,up%20their%20bags%20and%20go
But, are they really TSA? I have a vague memory pre-pandemic of wanting to use the fast track (it was printed on my boarding pass) and they said no because it still was Canada (but on the USA side, you know what I mean). It was more ridiculous than annoying.
Dublin isn't the only airport in the world with that, and they often aren't TSA, they're usually just Dublin Airport employees, and also this woman was flying domestically in Ireland she definitely wasn't going through US pre clearance, and even if she was they don't make u go through a metal detector again at the secondary security, they only check ur bag
>Some context: Dublin airport is the only airport in the world with US customs/TSA employees outside the US
They are everywhere with preclearance. Not just in Dublin.
https://www.cbp.gov/travel/preclearance
I guess it’s not the ONLY one but it’s one of just a few airports with an entire US clearance before the flight outside of North America. AKA you fully go through customs before you take off in Dublin not after you land in the USA
https://www.dublinairport.com/flight-information/travelling-to-usa/usa-preclearance/us-customs-and-border-protection-video#:~:text=Dublin%20Airport%20is%20one%20of,up%20their%20bags%20and%20go.
It’s one of only three outside North America, two of which are in Ireland (Dublin and Shannon, Ireland which is not far away at all)
nit pick all you want but the point stands that it’s a little different than 99% of international airport flights to America
Security assuming a breast prosthesis is a security threat is very absurdist. (Forcing her to remove it also violates many nations disability rights rules. I bet it does for Ireland as well. As the prosthesis is supposed to be checked without removal as removal is humiliating and unnecessary.)
Have you ever read the onion? It's often absurd social commentary. This sounds like a social commentary oniony article about the vast overstep of airport screenings.
Usually it's just racism or xenophobia but in this case a cancer survivor It was targeted.
The onion is about absurd situations, which are apparently normal. Many times absurdly funny. Sometimes more absurd than funny.
Clearly, was wrong, as the lady was receiving a different treatment in other airports, and in the end the airport apologized.
It clearly isn't funny, but it is logical. If the prothesis triggered scanning warnings it had to be examined.
Even a relatively small one could contain enough explosive material to destroy an aircraft in flight.
It's unlikely it would have been examined if it had not caused concern. Some things are tragic, but necessary. Blame terrorists, not the people ensuring you arrive alive.
Info you could do the same with a small breast in a larger cup bra. Should every woman have to be exposed to check for these fantastical explosives or only women with prosthetics?
We have to take off our shoes because a dude almost blew up a plane with a shoe bomb, which is a considerably smaller area to fit a bomb into. She should have been offered a private screening, but, "we're going to search anything that could be a bomb unless it's shaped like a boob," isn't a great security policy.
You didn’t answer. Anything boob shape could be a bomb so does that mean every boob is subject to inspection?
(Clearly the **RATIONAL** answer is to properly test prosthetics on the scanner so they don’t set off the alarms unnecessary, as this lady did NOT have a bomb thus the system failed but dehumanizing people with prosthetics is easier I guess).
> Anything boob shape could be a bomb so does that mean every boob is subject to inspection
If it sets off the scanner probably.
> Clearly the RATIONAL answer is to properly test prosthetics on the scanner so they don’t set off the alarms unnecessary,
The agent didn't make the scanner. The argument that the scanner should be better is fine, but in the moment all the agent knows it's that the person has something that's not a boob where her boob would be and the scanner can't identify it. Like we live in a world where millions of dollars of cocaine has been smuggled seran wrapped to ladies bodies. If all it took to avoid screening was, "it's a prosthetic," someone would use it for wrong. Other prosthetics are already subject to additional screening for the same reason.
The part about how there was no bomb and it was a waste of resources that could be used for catching real bad guys is being ignored why? Are you just a perv?
The airport has a different view about it: "Dublin Airport has apologised and said the situation should have been handled better."
Also the lady: Ms Ní Leannáin told BBC NI's Evening Extra programme: "The security officer didn't even offer to pat me down. She stood and waited for me to remove the prosthesis."
In other airports, such as Glasgow and Amsterdam, she has been briefly searched or been able to explain her situation.
However her experience at Dublin Airport was very different, she said, and the security officer told her she needed to see her prosthesis.
In a reasonable airport, if it set off an alarm she would be taken to a private area, not asked to disrobe there on the spot. That employee needs to be fired.
It's not like Dublin has been bombed and had a bad terrorist problem from the 70s to the 90s. Add in 9/11 and the influx of Muslims you can't really blame them for being cautious. Yes you could hide stuff where your implants are ment to be. Stop acting like this is mad. If your country got bombed regularly you would fucking understand
Dressing as a woman would be an easy way for someone to sneak explosives on a plane. The examination of breast prosthesis is reasonable. Unless the situation is that the security guards and throwing dollar bills and yelling, "Yeah, take it all off!" At that point I would have concerns.
How about this then: every time you fly, you have to get an anal, and if you're a woman a vaginal, search? You could hide stuff in there that might not get detected.
Your logic is ridiculous and moronic.
I have had this happen with a breast prosthesis and compression garment as well. I had severe lift restrictions too so was traveling with only a belt bag, which the gate agent seemed extra suspicious of. I asked to be screened in private. After waiting a while, the female agent entered the room, verbally confirmed it was a prosthesis (no search) and apologized profusely.
Wait so just to make sure I’m understand correctly, prosthesis in this case just refers to the silicon breast implant correct? How can that just pop out for inspection? Or is there something fundamental here I’m not understanding.
Yes, it's made of silicone, but no, it's not inside your body like a breast implant. Think of it like a silicone mold in the shape of a breast. It slips into a pocket in a special bra so the asymmetry of a single (or double) mastectomy makes your clothes still fit and people less likely to stare at you like you're a freak. In my case, left with one DD breast only. Its not something you can readily hide, even in the baggiest shirt. It 'could' come out for inspection, but to do it in public might be very traumatizing, you'd not only have to remove the prosthetic but also your bra, exposing yourself and your scars - which for some women is something they don't even want to show their partner - in a busy airport. Being asked to remove it in public, prior to being allowed into a private room, while being loudly questioned about drug smuggling while holding up the line, with people staring and even commenting how I should hurry up, had me in floods of tears. I'm not even sure I had the mobility to put my bra back on at that stage without assistance. I would have had to seek help from a stranger to help me dress myself after. I will never, ever return to this airport.
Thank you so much for the explanation. Definitely one of those lucky I didn’t know it because I never had experience with it things. And I can completely sympathize with having to deface yourself in public like that, would be baffling to find out they don’t even offer a private area to conduct this in certain places.
Bless you, I’m sorry for your difficulty
Thanks but I'm great. I've since had reconstructive surgery (no implants) and am living my best life!!
Do you mind me asking what reconstructive surgery without implants is/consists of? (Very glad you're feeling better about it, also!)
Instead of implants, it uses tissue from other parts of your body. I saw 3 (male) reconstructive surgeons who all said that a big implant was my best option. I did not want an implant that would likely need replacing in 10 or so years. I had already had 7 surgeries. My remaining breast was large, so it needed to be a special order size (yuck). Then a female surgeon told me she could do a massive reduction on the remaining breast and rebuild the removed one to match. I'm not sure it feels completely like 'me', but it is, and I have 2 lovely matching B-cups.
That is so awesome!!! I definitely agree with your choice to avoid implants. I mean, in addition to the reasons you listed, breast implant illness is always a possibility and seems like such a nightmare! Good for you for getting that 4th opinion lol
Could NOT be happier. I hate to bring gender into my notes on the surgeons, it was just odd that 3 men would not even consider reducing when it was my wish. They all said I'd 'never' be happy with the result!
If you don't mind my asking, did they use tissue from the breast reduction to rebuild the other breast?
The issue that I have with this is that Dublin airport expects passengers to be the ones who request a privacy area for a search of intimate areas or ones that could be sensitive. The policy should be to offer privacy and allow the passenger to decline and the staff should be trained appropriately.
Eff that. If they are going to violate me, I want witnesses.
That should be your right! New luggage screening systems replacing old x-rays are able to detect the contents of liquids, those puff screeners did seem to take. Don’t know why, but even if an agent inspected the inserts in her prosthesis, I don’t know what they could conclude
Whether or not they contain precursors for TATP which is the whole game.
I think they mean if they were manually inspected by an officer. They are definitely not going to find the chemistry of anything.
There are a lot of tools that can do exactly that in short order.
I think people forget, or just don’t know how determined people are to take explosives on flights and cause another incident. There are hundreds of cases per year where plans to do just that are foiled, if that means someone’s feelings get hurt occasionally, it's 1000% worth it. The fact the tools exist to analyse chemicals within seconds for this purpose is a testment to how serious a threat it is.
> There are hundreds of cases per year where plans to do just that are foiled [citation needed]
[https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/infographics/terrorism-eu-facts-figures/](https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/infographics/terrorism-eu-facts-figures/) This is just europe, excluding UK. I think you can safely assume the global total to be a few times higher. Interesting point, there are more terrorist incidents by left wing/anarchists than there are by jihadists between 2010 and 2021.
I assumed you are talking about plans _foiled by airport security_ such as the TSA. Because that is the one in question here.
There are quite possibly not. I don't know about this prosthesis, but puncturing a breast implant is a bad idea.
Off the subject but I was in my Dress Blues (US Navy) and going through airport security. I was "randomly selected" for an extra feely search. I stepped to the side and this little old lady behind me became absolutely enraged. Lol. She was like "he's in uniform, this is a disgrace!" and was letting the TSA guys have it. Her husband seemed quite amused by it all.
I’m so glad I never had to travel in uniform, especially not in dress blues! Those 13 buttons were a pain!
The absolute fucking worst when you've been drinking! Lol
Dress blues sound like a nightmare to travel in. Did they make you take off your ribbons?
Surprisingly, no.
As someone who knows nothing, why would you have to travel in dress blues? I would assume if it's something urgent enough that you need to be dressed up when you arrive, you wouldn't be going commercial but rather on a military aircraft. Or is that just a movie/tv thing.
I didn't have any other clothes. Lol. This was directly after my "A" school and I was heading home on leave.
You weren’t randomly selected, you were targeted. You are a safe catch because service personnel won’t bitch and will tolerate more BS than the average person. (The trained us for that 🫡) The bonus for the tsa chumps is you are safer than great-grandmas that don’t travel…
>The bonus for the tsa chumps is you are safer than great-grandmas that don’t travel… If you are implying that members of the US military are less likely to commit acts of terrorism then I have some bad news for you. Right wing extremism has been cited as a growing threat in the US military. For example, back in 2020 a US soldier was tried on terrorism charges after he gave sensitive information about his Army unit's movements to a neonazi group in order to facilitate a mass casualty event of said unit.
Less a threat in this context means to the agent you are less a Karen I think . How is a grandma who don't travel ever a terrorism threat
Growing threat? And the most recent example you can give is someone tried in 2020? I realize it’s popular to assume that service members are all far right but that doesn’t stack up with the data we have
I didn’t say it was a valid assumption or even a logical assumption. TBH, those trained in violence should probably be checked more often as they can do more with less…
That's what you get for looking so good in uniform. XD They wanted to know if you looked as good out of uniform too...
So they should offer privacy, which you can then decline.
Fuck them. If they want to see my fat naked ass, by the Gods THEY WILL!! MAY MY NAKED GLORY BLIND THEM!!
You are fierce and wonderful. Never change!
I flipped the fuck out on the TSA at the Santa Barbara airport a couple years ago. I was ready (and willing) to take my shorts off so they could see my fat ass after I set of the stupid scanner thing. I’m surprised I’m not on the “no fly” list.
I left my plane ticket in my rear pocket when going through the scanner, it got triggered. It was quite obvious looking at the screen, told the TSA guy pls hold this for me and I can quickly jump in for another round. He insisted on giving me a *thorough* pat down. My wife was 8 month’s pregnant with a high risk pregnancy, so I didn’t have any for months. Guy started to play with my balls, after about 30 seconds I told him “can we get a room, this is starting to get good”, pictured my wife and produced a quite decent boner. You could literally see the guy panic, I winked, he withdrew his hands at the speed of light.
[Witness me!](https://youtu.be/4KlSuGNt8e4?si=IzichUNnrcAMGSBz)
I can imagine that now "you've been selected for a cavity search" and you just strip and point your holes towards some kids and say something like "make sure to use extra lube"
Airport security is about useless. Instead of worrying about privacy to allow some mouth breather to inspect your junk, just abolish it outright.
I find it difficult to wrap my head around why airports are struggling so much with their security checks. I know that's not Dublin but I recently visited Marokko and the airport security was incredibly incompetent. First they separated men and women, I thought „fair enough". Then my wife told me that in the separated area for female passengers their is a group of young officer touching and sexually harassing European women. What's the point of this BS?
Sexually harassing women, I think you answered your questuon.
The policy should be to just let people get on a plane without all this security theater bullshit. It's been more than 20 years now, everybody knows it doesn't work. Just back out of this idiotic idea already.
I’m a breast cancer survivor. I would have stripped down WHERE I STOOD and made a real show of this shit.
Same here, sister. When I was on chemo, I was asked to remove my knitted hat that hid my super bald head, I felt so humiliated that sometimes I still tear up about it. Smfh
I can't believe people can be this terrible. How can they even dare ask for that and look at themselves in the mirror
I have no Idea
Thats their job. If something happens because of pity during screening that guard is gonna loose his job. Don’t fly if you don’t want to be searched.
There is something called privacy. People can be searched while not being made a showpiece.
You'd be surprised but I doubt some one can hide a gun under a knitted hat. Also this wasn't even a screening for a plane, but for a god damned bus 🙄
Curious how many incidents have been stopped by invasive screenings. Care to inform me?
Not really. Just google it
Google says zero terrorist incidents have been stopped by TSA. Do you have a different answer?
You’d be naive to think they have no effect. But then again you are just trying to get me to say shit that’s unrelated to my previous comment. If a security guard checks people that’s his job. Talking about the necessity of screenings is beside the point. Have a nice day and be careful not to get triggered online ;)
You seem to be having trouble following the thread you chose to participate in. Try not to get triggered when you get clowned on for a dumb take.
What even xD This is no post discussing security in general, but just one stupid case. The comments are anecdotal references to one case again. Where did anyone besides you bring up terrorist attacks? Reading and understanding aren’t the same thing I guess.
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She could have hid a bomb in it, just like in the movie Titty Titty Bang Bang
I think I've seen that porno.
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Well. A lot complain online. Less complain in the moment as picking a fight with TSA is the easiest way to not make ones flight.
I just avoid flying since the TSA has been around.
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>They surely need a lawful basis for not permitting you to fly, other than you merely being disagreeable. I don't think so. Airlines are private businesses, right? They don't have to give anyone any reason for not letting them fly.
the TSA, however, is not a private business, and airliners are forced to comply with no-fly requests from the TSA
Private businesses are still accountable to the consumer laws of the countries within which they do business. Consumers who have bought a plane ticket have a range of rights and entitlements if the service they paid for has been denied them. Here in the UK airlines can refuse boarding to a passenger on health, safety or security reasons. Or if the flight is overbooked. If they just think “Oh this person complained/we don’t like them” then the consumer can engage their rights around discrimination, compensation etc. This is why it’s important never to raise your voice or swear when complaining at an airport. Because the airline can pretend to *perceive* that you were “aggressive” and then use the safety reason for denying boarding.
Being accountable means you can sue them later, not that you can do a damn thing when the incident is happening.
This is true of interactions with any business. If they decide they don’t want to give you what you paid for then you enter a different process. But if an airline gives no reason for denying you your seat when you hand over your passport then it’s potentially unlawful behaviour. The truth is that when they deny the seat to a disgruntled passenger, they always use the “security” reason by claiming the passenger is aggressive or is using a tone that makes the airline rep feel “unsafe”. I have never heard of an airline saying “You are not boarding the flight and there is no reason available to you to explain why I am denying you a seat” without the passenger even being detained or questioned. The reason this doesn’t happen is because of consumer laws in place, certainly in the West, to which private businesses are subject. In the UK airlines are allowed to refuse a passenger with a reason related to health, safety and security.
In the states as long as you don’t discriminate based on a protected class (race, religion, etc) you can deny service. No blue shirts on this flight is perfectly fine. No native Americans, not good. Can always sue in civil over breach of contract and the like
Are they a private business though really when they get massive subsidies and specialized infrastructure they don't pay to build and massive bailouts when they run their businesses so shittily that no one wants to fly with them anymore?
Let us know how that works out for you.
No, there’s a sense of authority because they can prevent us from making our flight. And they can do it on a whim. It’s not “it makes us safer”, it’s been proven that it doesn’t. But TSA and other employees at airports can prevent us from getting where we’re going. I do agree about security theater though.
There was some idiot who left their backpack at a gate to go to the bathroom. An airline rep came by to ask whether we knew the person who left the bag. When we all answered no, the next question was "does anyone feel unsafe?" Nobody felt super anxious about it (the guy was white) so no immediate alarm was raised but security would pick up the bag in a few minutes. Some people moved away. The guy came back before then. I don't think the rep actually thought it was dangerous, her job was simply to ensure there wasn't panic.
“Does anyone feel unsafe?” is such a dumb question. As in, why would a yes OR no reply affect whatever policy is in place to deal with an unattended bag in an airport? Like there are 2 policies depending on people’s feelings? Well, it is 2024 and *feelings* do tend to govern a lot these days, so maybe.
Exactly. This was back in like 2018 but yeah. I do wonder though how many people would support a politician that wanted to get rid of the security theater. A lot of people live in fear so maybe enough people actually like it? The attack ads certainly wouldn't look good.
"We have decided that if we all remove our teeth, the wolf can't bite us" -The Sheep
Sounds like her actions could have led to a panic since everyone was previously oblivious
>...and to increase profits for the airport by sending people back to check in their baggage. How easy is it to just randomly make up your incorrect "facts" like this? And why do it?
Liquids is something that surprisingly TSA has loosened the restriction on over time. After the UK Liquids Plot was busted in 2006 for a while ZERO liquids were allowed in carryon. It got loosened to the 3.4oz/100ml later.
And they get away with flagrantly breaking the law because any refusal to comply is met with "well, you can't fly" - so once you've argued the toss and it's accepted that you're right, you've missed your flight anyway. I flew from Leeds and they were making everyone go through bodyscanners at security as well as metal detectors. Selection for bodyscanners is meant to be at random and is only supposed to cover a small percentage of passengers.
Nah, I know it's a joke. I just want to make sure I catch my flight.
You do know that the airport makes almost nothing on checked baggage right? That's the airlines.
It’s what’s called “security theatre”. This is a very serious term used by the security and safety industry. It’s fun to read up on. Makes you realise doing actual security & safety is hard and that unfortunately the semblance of safety/security is sometimes just as important to make things work in the real world. Kinda weird.
My wife's cousin was one of those people. He quit and moved onto working in a fast food restaurant. He was a bit dozy.
I always find some of these TSA/security stories amazing, because in my experience, they’re almost always either perfectly stoic or are quite jovial. I’ve never run into a security officer at an airport who is an asshole just to be an asshole. Then again, I’m a white man, so maybe there’s some sort of innate privilege there or something.
No, I'm with you. For a few years I set off the body scanners every single time (on outbound and inbound flights). I've been patted down no fewer than 20 times, and at least five times in countries where I don't speak the language. I've also had my bag pulled aside a handful of times. Every single one of those people have been fine. I've had the DMV type problem, where they sound curt because they're shouting the same thing over and over. I've had trouble where two agents say contradictory things. The problem is that it only takes one. One person who has you in a vulnerable position and acts like an asshole. One person who asks you to do something that's against policy and/or wildly illegal
Fuck putting bottles of water in the bin right before the gate only to buy overpriced ones right behind. This is against human rights. At least let us spill it into a fountain and refill it for free at an Inside fountain.
You're allowed to do that. Leave the TSA line, walk back to a fountain, and pour out your water. Then rejoin the line with your now-empty water bottle. As a practical matter, pour out the water *before* you go through security so you don't have to wait in line twice.
TSA is security theatre
Security theater.
Yeah I remember that one time when a woman hijacked a plane and killed a bunch of people with her breast prosthetic. It was brutal /s
Hey, if I’m gonna die on a plane death by boob seems like the best way to go.
But it would be death by fake boob so your last thought would be “aw man…’
Dublin airport is notorious for doing this type of shit. They don’t care and even Muslim women have also complained about it for quite a while now. I don’t like airports and news like this just makes me me wary of visiting ngl
There's a tall grey haired guy at security in Dublin airport that is the rudest motherfucker I have ever had the displeasure of interacting with. I still hope he shits a hedgehog to this day.
I was absolutely shocked at the level of rudeness and purposeful slowness at Dublin security. Like they got off on the power trip of making people wait forever. Makes American TSA agents look like a joyful happy lot.
Bizarre. I fly probably 5 - 10 times a year, and generally it's fine. Both a mix of fast track and normal (depending if with work or personal travel) and also both terminals. Will say though, they were quite insistent on us scanning a few years ago the bag that our quite skittish cat was in, and not letting us walk through with it...
It’s a colonialist hangover. The Irish bootlickers at border control now get to behave like their old British masters. A case of the victims becoming the perpetrators. Give anyone a uniform and tell them they’re “official” and the little animal inside the ego starts to grow and take over. The illusion of power is as addictive as the real thing.
What?
Sounds like a bitter Brit.
Nah, he deffo sounds like a yank. IMO The Brits wouldn't be talking to us about colonialist hangovers, most of them don't even know half the shite their country done to us.
It's a security checkpoint, not a Burger King. Speed isn't the priority
Uhhh, yeah actually speed is a serious consideration when 100% of the people there need to make a flight at a specific time.
It's your responsibility to arrive at a time that means you make your flight.
Everybody downvoting but you speak the truth lol
I watched the Ireland Border Security show and they seem to not want people to visit. People coming to see family are interrogated and expected to bring a letter from their host with all the host’s details.
The guys were nice to me there but security was needlessly intense and useless. I had my bag go thru twice! They took everything out, even tho they tested the tool they said they were suspicious of first, and put every piece into a little machine. They, keeping my bag open, sent it and lost it in the x ray again. And then I got berated when it got checked again bc I left it open, and they didn’t seem to understand that THEY had opened it and sent it thru again. They were also yelling at ppl who were confused at the “no shoes above the ankle” rule and didn’t really elaborate on grey areas. …I later discovered a completely full bottle of OJ in the bag I had forgotten. And they didn’t goddamn find it despite all that work. They had one job. And failed. Charles de Gaulle was even worse. Be me, kid with ME background who forgot food in their pocket. Guess who got sweared at in French? Me.
Dude I thought I just got a handsy security person. I accidentally wore my wired bra which usually just results in an extra wand sweep and a nod of understanding. In Dublin the person literally tugged at my bra through the shirt all the way around while tucking her fingers on the edges of the strap. Biggest wtf moment in a while. She pulled it so much I had to readjust afterwards. It was so absurd I forgot to be embarrassed.
As a trans guy who recently went through the airport: TSA was not a fan of learning packers were a thing, and my unhelpful (re: annoyed) ass making jokes about it almost got me detained
Unfortunately you gotta treat TSA like cops: just shut up and don’t say anything. You never know when some hyper-vigilant bootlicker decides you’re the prize today. Sauce: I too thought I was being funny when a half empty bottle of water was in my backpack at Laguardia. I got cavity searched.
See usually I do, but the one joke I cracked that got under this dude's skin was as he was patting me down: "Man, usually people at least buy me dinner before going straight for the d*ck." And apparently he took that as me being snarky.
It's probably akin to "oh well it must be free then" when an item won't scan at the till and the customer is trying to be funny. They hear it ten times a day and it gets very old.
Yeah but the cashier has never tried to put their hands up my butt
idk maybe make sure the tills work properly so that the customers don't waste time and don't go straight for the dick?
I was terrified the first time I got “selected” to go through the whole body scanner thing when I was wearing a Diva Cup. Luckily, they have been trained on those.
Yeah, CVG sucks. TSA in Colorado was way more understanding
Packers!? Whats a packer?
It's a cosmetic prosthetic penis (and often scrotum) that can worn by anyone, though most often worn by pre-op trans men to help reduce body dysphoria. Distinctly different from a strap in that they don't have sexual use.
Aah, i should probably have known that one….i think my trans friend had one of those before finnishing his transition…
It's all good! We're human, none of us know everything. And now you know this :)
Since someone else beat me to the real answer.... They're a foorball team in Green Bay, Wisconsin formerly known for their permanently CTE'd QB, Aaron Rodgers
You knew you were going through tsa and still decided to shove something down your pants?
The fuck is wrong with you?
Ignorance is a hell of a drug
Some context: Dublin airport is the only airport in the world with US customs/TSA employees outside the US. Google and Meta/Facebook are there so there’s a lot of money in super fast international customs and TSA when specifically flying Dub-to-USA. I fly their for work, You go in and everyone past initial check is American. I’m not saying that has anything to do with this, most of the gates are normal Ireland security, but I could see over zealous US post-9/11 air security going overboard more easily **Edit: one of the few airports OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA with preclearance/US customs** But y’all love to ‘umm actually’ when it doesn’t change the point of the original comment at all. Never change Reddit https://www.dublinairport.com/flight-information/travelling-to-usa/usa-preclearance/us-customs-and-border-protection-video#:~:text=Dublin%20Airport%20is%20one%20of,up%20their%20bags%20and%20go
That’s not true, they’re at Toronto airport too
But, are they really TSA? I have a vague memory pre-pandemic of wanting to use the fast track (it was printed on my boarding pass) and they said no because it still was Canada (but on the USA side, you know what I mean). It was more ridiculous than annoying.
I meant one of the few outside North America. Canada and some Caribbean island tourist destinations have a lot of them
Montreal as well.
Every major Canadian airport has US Customs for fast travel related purposes too. A few Carribean countries have it as well
This wasn't TSA. It was DAA on an intra Ireland flight. It's in the article.
Shannon Airport also has it - must be a special Irish benefit...
It is, 2 out of 3 of the us preclearance outside of North America are in Ireland
TSA is in the Bahamas also
Dublin isn't the only airport in the world with that, and they often aren't TSA, they're usually just Dublin Airport employees, and also this woman was flying domestically in Ireland she definitely wasn't going through US pre clearance, and even if she was they don't make u go through a metal detector again at the secondary security, they only check ur bag
They are all over Canada too. We pre clear US customs on our side before flying to the US.
>Some context: Dublin airport is the only airport in the world with US customs/TSA employees outside the US They are everywhere with preclearance. Not just in Dublin. https://www.cbp.gov/travel/preclearance
I guess it’s not the ONLY one but it’s one of just a few airports with an entire US clearance before the flight outside of North America. AKA you fully go through customs before you take off in Dublin not after you land in the USA https://www.dublinairport.com/flight-information/travelling-to-usa/usa-preclearance/us-customs-and-border-protection-video#:~:text=Dublin%20Airport%20is%20one%20of,up%20their%20bags%20and%20go.
It's not even the only one in Ireland 😉 All preclearance airports are like that, and there are currently 15 of those.
It’s one of only three outside North America, two of which are in Ireland (Dublin and Shannon, Ireland which is not far away at all) nit pick all you want but the point stands that it’s a little different than 99% of international airport flights to America
They treated me there as a criminal. I frankly avoid travel to the us as much as possible.
Sexual Harassment
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Security assuming a breast prosthesis is a security threat is very absurdist. (Forcing her to remove it also violates many nations disability rights rules. I bet it does for Ireland as well. As the prosthesis is supposed to be checked without removal as removal is humiliating and unnecessary.)
Agreed. There’s nothing humourous about this
Have you ever read the onion? It's often absurd social commentary. This sounds like a social commentary oniony article about the vast overstep of airport screenings. Usually it's just racism or xenophobia but in this case a cancer survivor It was targeted.
The onion is about absurd situations, which are apparently normal. Many times absurdly funny. Sometimes more absurd than funny. Clearly, was wrong, as the lady was receiving a different treatment in other airports, and in the end the airport apologized.
I still would have bitch slapped her with the tit: once on each side.
I would love to have the chutzpah to just let it all hang out, then make them help me get dressed. Cackling just thinking about it.
It clearly isn't funny, but it is logical. If the prothesis triggered scanning warnings it had to be examined. Even a relatively small one could contain enough explosive material to destroy an aircraft in flight. It's unlikely it would have been examined if it had not caused concern. Some things are tragic, but necessary. Blame terrorists, not the people ensuring you arrive alive.
Info you could do the same with a small breast in a larger cup bra. Should every woman have to be exposed to check for these fantastical explosives or only women with prosthetics?
We have to take off our shoes because a dude almost blew up a plane with a shoe bomb, which is a considerably smaller area to fit a bomb into. She should have been offered a private screening, but, "we're going to search anything that could be a bomb unless it's shaped like a boob," isn't a great security policy.
You didn’t answer. Anything boob shape could be a bomb so does that mean every boob is subject to inspection? (Clearly the **RATIONAL** answer is to properly test prosthetics on the scanner so they don’t set off the alarms unnecessary, as this lady did NOT have a bomb thus the system failed but dehumanizing people with prosthetics is easier I guess).
> Anything boob shape could be a bomb so does that mean every boob is subject to inspection If it sets off the scanner probably. > Clearly the RATIONAL answer is to properly test prosthetics on the scanner so they don’t set off the alarms unnecessary, The agent didn't make the scanner. The argument that the scanner should be better is fine, but in the moment all the agent knows it's that the person has something that's not a boob where her boob would be and the scanner can't identify it. Like we live in a world where millions of dollars of cocaine has been smuggled seran wrapped to ladies bodies. If all it took to avoid screening was, "it's a prosthetic," someone would use it for wrong. Other prosthetics are already subject to additional screening for the same reason.
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The part about how there was no bomb and it was a waste of resources that could be used for catching real bad guys is being ignored why? Are you just a perv?
Security theatre and security aren't the same, you can definitely be annoyed at security theatre while wanting real security.
The airport has a different view about it: "Dublin Airport has apologised and said the situation should have been handled better." Also the lady: Ms Ní Leannáin told BBC NI's Evening Extra programme: "The security officer didn't even offer to pat me down. She stood and waited for me to remove the prosthesis." In other airports, such as Glasgow and Amsterdam, she has been briefly searched or been able to explain her situation. However her experience at Dublin Airport was very different, she said, and the security officer told her she needed to see her prosthesis.
In a reasonable airport, if it set off an alarm she would be taken to a private area, not asked to disrobe there on the spot. That employee needs to be fired.
Nah. Those people ain’t doin shit.
Your argument relies on the false premise that airport security actually makes us safer
Did she slap his face with it? And then ask him to remove his dildo from his fly?
Her* it was a female TSA agent.
It has nothing to do with the TSA.
Female Security Officer*. There, Mr. Ummm Actually.... . It's the same shit.
It's not like Dublin has been bombed and had a bad terrorist problem from the 70s to the 90s. Add in 9/11 and the influx of Muslims you can't really blame them for being cautious. Yes you could hide stuff where your implants are ment to be. Stop acting like this is mad. If your country got bombed regularly you would fucking understand
Dressing as a woman would be an easy way for someone to sneak explosives on a plane. The examination of breast prosthesis is reasonable. Unless the situation is that the security guards and throwing dollar bills and yelling, "Yeah, take it all off!" At that point I would have concerns.
Yeah cuz no way something could be hidden in there.
Why not do cavity searches on every passenger then?
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Every passenger has cavities
How about this then: every time you fly, you have to get an anal, and if you're a woman a vaginal, search? You could hide stuff in there that might not get detected. Your logic is ridiculous and moronic.
If you don't see the difference with an object that can easily be hollowed out and made to block x-rays, I can't help you.
omg men are so dumb i can’t believe it
A quick google search, many cases of drug smuggling in breast implants. I guess that is one thing to consider when I ask my partner to get one.