Flying nowadays is a bit of a headache. So when we asked people from the BuzzFeed Community to tell us the wildest TSA stories they have ever experienced, they delivered so, so, so many. Here are some of the top answers below.
1. "It was literally my first flight ever. I was 12. I guess my mom thought I was old enough to pack my bag. My, uh, monthlies were due, and I was already freaked out because of the flight. So I packed the ENTIRE bottle of Ibuprofen and a fresh pack of pads, as well as a heating pad. I think you can guess how THAT looked to an overly aggressive male TSA agent who saw the x-ray and the preteen sweating bullets. I was fucking crying and about to throw up when they pulled me aside. To add further embarrassment, the bag of pads got stuck on my zipper, and when he yanked real hard to pull them free, the bag broke open, and pads flew everywhere. Granted, it was a 6:00 a.m. flight, but the security line went dead quiet. I wanted to die. Thank God for the very sweet TSA female agent who quickly stepped forward, finished the search, calmed me down, helped me repack my bag, and guided me to my gate."
2. "The one time I flew with my late brother-in-law, the TSA agents seemed convinced that he must be smuggling stuff in his huge motorized wheelchair. They tried to insist that he get out of the chair so they could thoroughly inspect it. At that point, his muscular dystrophy was fairly well advanced, and he had to use a transfer board to get from bed to chair and back, but it took a loooong time to convince the TSA that it was not only unreasonable to ask him to stand up, but also LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE for him to do so."
"Ugh, I’m so sorry to hear that! There seems to be a huge blind spot between airports and people with disabilities. My mom has a neurological disorder and used a wheelchair for a long time, and they’d always try to get her to switch to *their* wheelchair so they could inspect hers. She was just like, 'My dude, sure, if you’re going to physically lift me, otherwise I’m not going anywhere!'"
3. "My uncles were on the SCA team for the US, going to Poland to fight for the national cup. (SCA is medieval knight fighting; swords, armor, everything.) Each player had signed paperwork from everywhere they needed to get through with their weapons and armor, including papers from their Senator. As they were coming back to the US, they had a layover flight in Paris, and security had a conniption saying they had stolen artifacts from France and could not go back to the US with 'France's history.' Uncle #1 resisted, and the army showed up, not security, not cops, the French army. Even though they had an itemized list of things they were carrying and signed paperwork, the French officials wouldn't let them leave to board their plane. Rather than dealing with all that BS, both uncles decided to leave all the armor and weapons in France so they could go home."
4. "This happened to me when I was in Germany, so it wasn’t TSA but whatever their equivalent is. I was traveling from California to Sweden, and Frankfurt was where I needed to make my connecting flight to Sweden. I had to go through the entire airport because I ended up missing my connecting flight (my first flight was delayed, which set off a chain reaction) and had to get a new ticket. After getting it, I had to go through security again. I had two carry-ons; one had a blanket in it, and the other had my medication, which had syringes and needles. I was also wearing a light fleece jacket, which was apparently so suspicious that security made me take it off so they could test it, my blanket, and my hands for GSR. But the syringes and needles in my bag? NO PROBLEM. They didn’t ask anything about them at all. I was so confused and still am (this was in 2012)."
5. "Baby wipes. My 1-year-old and I were stopped in the TSA line for a brick of baby wipes. The male agent tried questioning me on the amount, and the female agent waved me on while trying to explain things to him."
6. "I worked for a refugee program a few years back and was flying with a Spanish-speaking child to another state. The child had a sad, horrifying backstory and was here seeking status and obviously didn’t know English yet. The TSA worker had the audacity to say, 'Well, he really should learn English if he’s going to live in the country.' EXCUSE ME?? He’s seven and just got here! What in the world!?"
7. "In 2005, I was going to Australia, and I was leaving out of Chicago. A couple of weeks before, I'd broken my ring finger on my right hand. It wasn't just a simple fracture; it was a spiral fracture. My whole finger was swollen with amazing shades of black and blue and green and teal. I told the guy by the scanner that my splint was going to be a problem, and he said it wouldn't. I walked through, and it buzzed. He had me remove my shoes (hiking boots), and I said it was probably the splint. He made me go through it, and it went off again."
8. "I had undergone open heart surgery in Cleveland and, a few weeks later, was flying home. They wheeled me past the machine to scan me by hand. They asked me to stand, which I could do, but many recent open-heart patients cannot. They had me standing for a while and then said, 'Ok, last thing, we need to swab your wheelchair for explosives.' Dude. It's an airport wheelchair. See, it says CLE in paint on the back. I have no idea where this thing has been or who has been in it... Can I sit back down now, please?"
9. "I was flying back from Paris through Philadelphia. After deplaning, I was pulled aside down a long hallway because something looked suspicious in my checked bag. Turns out that having 48 macarons looks pretty suspicious to TSA. I sheepishly explained what they were."
10. "I had a double mastectomy. They would not believe that I had two prosthesis, one for each side. After the scanner, hand wand, and being groped in front of all the other people in the area, I finally had to undress and take my prosthesis out of the bra pockets. I felt like the TSA agent still didn’t believe me, and I was right! She manually examined and distorted the prosthesis and then wanted to feel my scars. I finally had enough and demanded a supervisor be called. He was like what she did was no big deal. You should have seen the letter and heard the phone call to TSA once I got home."
11. "I fly with a lot of food in my hand luggage because I have so many dietary requirements that I can never eat plane food, and once I arrive at my destination, it might take me a bit of time to find food I can eat. I just flew to the US, and my bag got flagged and had to be searched. Well, the guy doing it was like the sloth from Zootopia. I swear I'm not even exaggerating. He took each individual item out of my bag more slowly than I thought it was possible for a human to move. Eventually, he decided everything was ok, but I almost missed my flight because it took so long."
12. "I went to Europe on vacation in 2006. It was five years post-9/11 and one-year post-London Bombings, so security was tighter than it had been in most of my previous flights. I was wearing a skirt from Old Navy. Do you remember those tags they used to have that said, 'Remove before washing or wearing?' Well, I failed to do so, and it apparently set off the metal detector in the Frankfurt airport. I was frisked, and I attempted to explain the situation and why I couldn’t just remove the offending item from my person right there in public. I was then escorted behind a curtain by a very brusque German TSA agent (thankfully a woman) and told in a thick accent, 'Give me your skirt.' I did so, gladly cut off the tag on the spot, and was allowed to catch my return flight."
13. "I am a young person with a cane, so most of the airport and TSA staff who I encountered are very nice and willing to help with anything. I was returning home after visiting my dad when the TSA said my carry-on was suspicious. I had to go through the whole grope-down. The agents unpacked my very efficiently (stuffed) bag in front of everyone. They finally got to the bottom, where there was a 'suspicious' item. I was leaving Louisiana, the day after Mardi Gras, with a king cake in my bag. It was frozen, so the scanner couldn't really read it. It was pretty funny, and the agents even threatened to confiscate it for themselves."
