Friday, November 3, 2006

TSA can KMA


Okay A little gripe about the OBNIXIOUS amount of security that I had to go through to get home from Mexico. First, because they do not have x-ray machines at the airport in Jalisco, they hand search all of your luggage.  They hand searched ALL of my luggage, but didn't search Andy's. Since we were traveling together, they usually will just check one person and not the other, so I didn't think much of this.  Our flight was 45 minutes late. When we were in the air on the plane, they hand you a customs form to fill out and inform you (only after you have checked all of your luggage of course) that the liquor laws have changed for the state of Arizona and you can only bring in 1 liter of liquor and not the 1.75 as stated on ALL of the government forms and that any excess of liquor will be destroyed.  After landing in Phoenix We had to wait another 30 minutes for our baggage. You get your baggage only to go through customs and be searched yet again, then recheck your bags AGAIN.... we missed our connecting flight because of this crap.  So we had to be redirected to Las Vegas and then take the red-eye to MKE.  We had to go through another security check point where we had to remove our shoes and I was yelled at for bringing a bag of marshmallows onto the plane. Three hours later we get on out Las Vegas flight and  since we changed flights and airlines... the baggage had to be rechecked again and we needed to get our tickets.. Well, mine was a special "random" ticket that meant I got to get "extra searched" and patted down and my luggage hand searched AGAIN, and I had to walk through half the airport barefoot because they had to x-ray my fucking flip-flops. Where I was then yelled at for not having my chapstick in a quart sized clear plastic bag.  I was informed that chapstick is considered a liquid.  Logical Chemistry tells me it's not, but hey, I can respect security. We then board the Milwaukee flight and 3 hours later I am back in Wisconsin where no one looks at anyone like their a terrorist. We collect our baggage and head over to my sisters house where I open up my suitcases to get out gifts when, low and behold, BOTH of the check bags were searched AGAIN by the TSA.. again "randomly" Where they did not place items back properly and my aerosol hairspray can emptied itself into my luggage and made on of those red "Thank you for shopping" plastic bags leak a sticky red substance onto ALL OF MY SHOES and my favorite white pants. They also placed a heeled shoe into the luggage so the heel was facing out and it tore a hole in my luggage. Yes, I know they did it because it was not how I packed it at all! Over the entirety of my trip, my luggage was check 8 times..... in my opinion a HUGE invasion of my privacy. Andy's bags, on the other hand, were filled with many bottles of tequila and Cuban cigars,  were never searched once