A few days ago, I flew from Columbus, Ohio to New York City. In Columbus, as I deposited my belongings into gray bins, I was reminded by a TSA agent to empty my pockets. I patted down my pockets and didn’t feel anything in them.
However, when I went through the X-ray machine, I was pulled aside and told I had to receive a hip and groin pat down. Right there, in front of hundreds of people, I had my waistband searched, and my upper, inner thighs patted down. Then I was scanned by an instrument that was inserted into a machine to determine if I was carrying explosives.
“You tested me for explosives?!” I asked the TSA woman.
“We have to treat everyone the same way, ma’am,” she said, rather rudely, in my opinion.
Guess what caused the panic? A hair tie with a tiny piece of metal in it.
Once I found the hair tie in my back pocket and showed it to the TSA woman, I figured she would send me back through the X-ray machine. But no. She decided to do a body search and scan me for bomb-making materials in front of everyone.
I’ve set off alarms before in New York, Dallas, and other large airports. I never knew why, but each time, an agent waved a wand over me and said I could go. That’s why I was shocked by the treatment I received at the small Columbus airport.
A woman behind me said, “The agents here are stricter than the ones at LaGuardia.” I agreed. I don’t know why, though.
Maybe they’re bored.
Patsy Porco's Blog: Free and Worth It! 
I don’t know Patsy, you always set-off alarms for me! 🙂 The principal of treating everyone the same in the context of security seems strange, until you consider the alternative, like in Israel, where only certain individuals are searched thoroughly, usually based on ethnicity or a certain “look”.
It’s fair to treat everyone the same, but I didn’t see anyone else being checked for explosive materials. Re Israel, I’m surprised agents don’t do explosive checks on everyone, including babies. Thanks for reading!
Patsy, for some reason now that I’m an old man with a bent back and vertigo I’ve become the ‘target’ that our TSA folks need to scrutinize. Each time I fly.
Returning to the USA, there is always such a difference in how our Border Control treat me versus how I was treated by Canadian or British customs inspectors.
You, like me, must just look suspicious.
Thanks for the laugh! Maybe terrorists are using older people these days to carry out their evil. As a 62-year-old, harried woman, I must look like I’m up to no good because I’m always pulled aside. I get vertigo from my computer. Check the back lighting. My vertigo was so bad that I fell down, cracked my head, and wound up in the hospital. Nothing turned up on the tests. I finally realized it was my Mac wreaking havoc with my eyes.