I've reviewed a lot of Skooba Design (formerly RoadWired) products over the years, and their latest line of "Checkpoint Friendly" bags improve upon their previous designs in a number of ways. Their Checkthrough Brief ($139.95 USD MSRP) is one of the new designs, and they sent me one to check out. I haven't been able to use it yet for a flight, but so far I'm quite impressed with it. And guess what? You can win one courtesy of Skooba Design.
Want to win? All you have to do is tell me an airport security story - good, bad, or ugly. Ever been stuck behind one of those people who didn't understand the whole concept of "metal" and watched as they walked through the screening gate over and over until they got pulled aside for the more thorough search? Or those people who can't get their own stuff out of their bags? Tell me a story about it! And if you've never had the opportunity to go through airport security, just tell me a travel story of some type.
This contest is open to anyone in the USA or Canada (sorry rest of world, shipping is too expensive on a large product like this). There's one post per person allowed, and the contest will stay open for one week, closing down on Tuesday the 6th of October at 3pm GMT -7. One entry will be selected randomly.
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For a previous job I traveled 2 to 4 times a year to the UK. I also had long hair at the time.
I had my luggage rifled through often, returning to the US. No problems or questions in the UK.
Once I had my luggage rifled through, they patted the pockets of all my pants. Then looked in my shoes.
Then, two guys stepped over and asked me to come with them [no explanations or anything]. I wondered about my luggage, since they always say to keep it with you at all times.
They led me to a small room with a bench.
They asked me to put my hands on the walls (and at this point they said they were going to frisk me) and spread my legs. They basically had me spread out almost to the point where I was going to fall.
One guy patted me, the other watched.
Then, they asked for my shoes.
I gave them the shoes, and one guy took them to be scanned. The other guy waited in the doorway. I asked a few questions, and he was nice enough, but not very talkative.
I got my shoes back, and stuffed my luggage back in the bag so I could go. And, that was it.
I wonder if they are instructed to not be talkative for some sort of security reasons?
I watched a young girl with her parents one time. The little girl intently watched her father remove all the items from his pockets, and when he went through the scanner, she got very alarmed, yelling in a mostly incoherent 3 year old voice, grabbing his wallet and coins and running to give them to him, setting off several alarms, and causing this massive commotion. The mother's face went several shades of pink, and the entire family had to be searched and questions at length off to the side to sort everything out to the satisfaction of the alarmed security personnel. The girl was very happy, however, singing and laughing in her daddy's arms the entire time while mom and dad were flustered answering questions, explaining themselves. It was very cute.
Back in early August I had to travel home to Regina via a flight from Calgary. Just over a 1 hour flight, and domestic flights in Canada aren't usually THAT bad for security purposes. Because I was only due to be there for 3 nights, I opted to just take a backpack as my only luggage and carried it on so as to avoid the hassles of the baggage carousel.
Anyway, I went through the metal detector portion fine, and they found no issues with the items in my bags, but a polite young guy in a security uniform pulled me aside with a pair of gloves and a clipboard, informing me that he was going to search me.
Needless to say, they didn't take me to a private room or anything, I was standing at the end of the x-ray treadmill machine with him patting me down, checking the inside of my waist-band, hands on my butt, inner thighs, etc... in PLAIN SIGHT of EVERYONE!
Anyway, needless to say it was a tad embarassing and apparently a completely random check. I had at one point informed him that if I was going to let someone touch me in places like that, I usually like to get their name first, and would prefer a female. He smiled politely, but neglected to comment. Haha... anyway, that's my story. *blushes*
I was stopped by security because I had left a Helicomatic freewheel remover in the pocket of my backpack and forgotten about it. This is a flat metal tool that is designed to take off and put on bicycle freewheels made by Helicomatic. It also has two spoke wrenches, and a bottle opener, which is why I still had it. Security objected to the spoke wrenches, because it might be used to open something on the plane. This was true, if I found a nut that fit the spoke wrenches, 2 or 3 mm. Since I wasn't checking any luggage, I just threw out the freewheel remover.
Last summer, I was attempting to get through security on my way home from quick trip to Colorado. Learning from my first trip through security a few days prior, EVERYTHING was out of my pockets - keys, phone, belt, etc. Only thing left was my wallet that had the same contents short several dollars as it did the first time through security. The scanner kept going off as I walked through, indicating my feet were setting it off. I had some cotton socks on. I got to get patted down and wanded by a TSA officer, while my wallet was x-rayed and sealed in a clear plastic bag wrapped with TSA security stickers. All this while I got to stand in a mini glass box, while my shoes, backpack and laptop wandered down the conveyor belt and my GF was about having a mini stroke watching this.
On my last business trip I was flying to Austin. I got into the security line and realized I didn't have my wallet. I quickly called my wife and she turned around back to the airport in case my wallet was in the car. Nope. So I had no ID, no credit cards, no cash. And my house is more than 40 minutes from the airport so there was no way to go home and get it in time.
What did I do?
I grabbed the $40 in cash my wife had and got on the plane. Yes, that's right. On the plane. Thanks to reading BoingBoing I knew that you don't actually need ID to fly. You just have to be ready for some extra scrutiny. The TSA supervisor gave me a stern lecture, but you could tell she was amused and she was nice about it. They had to call some special number, I had to answer some questions to "prove" who I was, sign an affidavit, submit to secondary screening, and that was it. Even the secondary screener was apologetic when he couldn't find the big stamp they needed to put on my boarding card to say I was clear to fly.
My wife found my wallet at home and FedExed it to my hotel. It cost $28, and was at the front desk by 8:30am the next day.
I was going through airport security in Ottawa, Canada; we have our own version of the TSA. There was a new female employee working the secondary screening after you go through the metal detector(I am male). I was waved through, and no alarms went off. The supervisor who was training her, stepped aside for a moment as I was going through. The new employee asked me if she could pat my front pockets down, and I complied. As I was picking up my laptop bag, after the pat down I noticed the supervisor, who had returned, informing the new employee that she should have had a male perform the pat-down. I am a little surprised that they would not have covered that part of the job in a training session, before they hit the floor.
my "worst" experiance was rather tame. I was taking my mother to the airport to go visit my brother, wheeling Oxygen and all the other crap she needed. We had gone over and over what she could and couldn't bring, before during and after she packed. -- She assured me no problems....
They found sissors, lotions, and something else they had to confiscate.. "oh, you ment nail sissors, I thought it was only paper sissors".... sigh...
I hate when I get on a plane in Hong Kong bound for the US and they don't just screen you on entering the airport, but again at your flight. I have had multiple drinks and items purchased in the airport taken from me in the tunnel leading to the plane.
Win a Skooba Design Checkthrough Brief
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