TSA is not allowed to take a document or a possession. They're not even supposed to go through your carry-on without you present to supervise. It's for their protection and yours.

It sounds like the original poster forgot about his driver license, rather than TSA having confiscated it and refused to give it back, and it sounds like there was some confusion.

If a scanner was used for screening, and then a followup pat-down given (either based on random assignment, or something noted on the scanner), it may appear as multiple screenings, when in fact one is a follow-up or part of the other.

It's not uncommon for people to forget items at a screening checkpoint. I once left a laptop in germany during a screening; I picked up the bag on the other side of the scanner, got distracted, and didn't notice the laptop was missing until I got back to the US. I contacted the airport, and they sent it to me. It happens.

Be sure to follow up with the TSA folks in Casper to get it straightened out. It's easy to leave an ATM card in a machine, or a document with TSA...but it should be straightened out right away with a phone call or a visit.

It was very difficult to keep my temper in control! It may have been different if I was not going to the most important knife of the year for me.
I filled out the complaint form and sent it, thanks for the link.
The folks in Atlanta were very professional and polite.

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:
TSA is not allowed to take a document or a possession.

Their incompetence is no surprise.

I imagine that's a small airport in Casper, huh, Ed?

quote:

Originally posted by Shaql:
I usually have the opposite experience. Small-town TSA being reasonable and Atlanta having sticks up their asses.

Same here. Worst TSA experiences I’ve had were in Atlanta, Boston and Orlando. The best ones were in tiny airports.

Last year, leaving Orlando, my carry-on got flagged for further inspection and I was behind some young family that the young female TSA screener was positively convinced that the Mickey Mouse chocolate bar they bought at Disneyworld was an explosive. Mom had a girl under two in the stroller and they had a boy of maybe four. This took nearly twenty minutes of examining, opening the package, unwrapping it, and an ever-widening conference of blue shirts marveling at this Mickey Mouse chocolate that set off their equipment.

Then the father, mid 30’s made a mistake. “Look, keep it, throw it away, I don’t care what you do, I don’t want us to miss our flight over a fucking candy bar.” Young Miss trainee didn’t like being mocked, so they offered him a choice: leave the candy bar and agree to a detailed pat down, and pass through, (after already having passed through the Total Recall machine) or they could give the whole family a detailed examination in a private room. He opted to take the hit. They did have the decency to ask if he wanted a room and he said “no, let’s do it right here so everyone can see.” Young Miss took further offense to his lack of respect to her newfound authority.

So they got on the radio, and a few minutes later, a guy nearly seven feet tall and looking exactly like Stone Cold Steve Austin shows up and very carefully, very slowly gropes every last inch of this guy in front of his whole family, and everyone in line for a solid three minutes. I caught the dad’s eye at one point, a shamed, humiliated look on his face, and I offered the best comforting and conciliatory look I could muster. When Stone Cold was done, they waved the family on and they flat out sprinted to catch the tram, all but certain they’d missed their flight over a fucking chocolate bar, which the young Miss hastily wrapped up in the foil and put in a drawer in her station under the x-ray scanner. Safest place to store exploding chocolate for later examination, no doubt.

Meanwhile, I had to get someone’s attention about my backpack, and it was given a ten second glance and an “ok, you’re good to go” by another worker who wasn’t so hot to trot.

TSA needs to go.

Kabuki theatre.....

Firstly, do they have arrest powers?...

No.

Secondly, they have no authority to seize your personal property, or the state who issued the ID/DL....it actually belongs to them...and

Thirdly, if they take or seize anything, they would be required to provide a receipt for said item, and that can be ta ticket for false I’d or whatnot....I probably would have been arrested for disorderly conduct after taking my ID..

You did better than me.

Make the complaint online and call your representatives. I've done both. My incessant complaints to my US Rep. were part of the reason there were signs put up (for a few months) stating you did not have to consent to a search. It was changed shortly thereafter when congress passed an emergency bill making it illegal to exit the grope zone without permission. My first beef was when my wife was randomly searched by a male right after the Tactless Sadistic Abusers came to be. Since then, I've made complaints for each bad experience and a compliment for every good one.

It doesn't sound to me like it was seized at all. The original poster said that he forgot it. Not the same thing as it being seized.

TSA runs the gamut; there are some very professional, competent people who work for the organization, and some real idiots. I've worked closely with both.

I lost a knife on a fire assignment a few years ago, and I was fairly sure it was somewhere in my gear, though I couldn't find it. I flew out of Twin Falls, ID, and when I got to the airport, I asked the TSA folks if they's scan my bags and look for the knife. They were happy to help. Some places, too busy, and couldn't be bothered.

A few years ago in Minneapolis, I believe, several TSA "agents" decided they'd embark on a security check of a number of parked regional jets. They felt that they had to look in the cockpit of each, so they used the handles on the sides of the airplanes to climb up and look in the cockpit. Except that jets don't have handles. They have very expensive angle of attack probes, and pitot probes, each of which feed flight critical information to the cockpit, engines, pressurization system, etc. They bent the probes and took something like 25 transport jets out of commission. Rocket surgeons, every one.

When I travel in uniform, I use a "known crewmember" point at which I go around security; I actually enter through the exit point. I am allowed to carry a bottle of water, and sometimes have a red bull in my bag. I did a flight into Cherry Point MCAS, and had to catch a commercial flight to Charleston, which meant flying from a nearby commercial field. Being small, it had no "known crewmember" checkpoint. I was in uniform, with a crew, and the TSA agent(s) took great pleasure in confiscating our things, one by one, and throwing them in the trash, and made a show of it for all the passengers to see. Assholes (the TSA agents. Not the passengers).

I came back into the US a few years ago, cleared immigration and customs and then had to return to the terminal at Detroit to visit a pilot supply shop under the terminal (the "Stopover Store"). That meant turning around and passing through security to re-enter the terminal. I'd just done multiple trips including a dozen times through security, as well as numerous international securities, and has just come from Amsterdam where I had to go through three screenings just to get to the aircraft. Never the less, the TSA agent held the line for 45 MINUTES while he searched my crew bag, over and over.

He finally produced a small Leatherman Micra from my shaving kit, and held it up above his head, and marched back and forth waving it, pronouncing that he had discovered contraband. It was engraved from my wife, a tiny little tweezer and scissor tool, with a note "happy anniversary." He took it. I was in uniform, full crew ID. Didn't matter.

TSA has it's share of absolute dickheads out there, full-fledged card carrying assholes from whom major surgery could not remove the large, gnarly stick from their tight sphincter, so closely is it lodged against the few grey cells that they laughingly call a brain.

While the TSA may not have arrest powers, there are plenty at the airport who do, and you can find yourself on watch lists and all kinds of other things, including denied entry, boarding, etc, based on behavior and response to the TSA.

Most of the time, not a problem. Some of the time, big problem. For the big problems, I've found it's easiest to comply and move on, and if necessary, file a complaint later.

We were flying back from Blade on Sunday. The TSA line was brutal. The fire marshal came very close to shutting them down. It took almost an hour to go through. Checking one bag at Delta was just as bad.

The Atlanta airport was shutdown the night before due to inclement weather. Lots of flights cancelled and rescheduled the following morning.

It was no fun.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
TSA needs to go.

A concise summary. I agree with this.

My rant from last October. Seems apropos to repost here. I hate these fuckers, and have zero respect for them or their organization.

quote:

Flew from Manchester to Orlando on Monday morning. 0500 check in. Went through security and got the Full Monte. Fingers inside the waist band, armpits, ball bounce, crack of ass, you name it. I didn't feel safer, I felt fury. A free people should not be subjected to this level of indignity to get on a damned airplane. I'd already been through a totally clean bag x-ray, two hand swabs at different locations, and a clean scanner sweep, so some prick was just checking a box on some form that requires some number of middle aged white guys to be groped by some smiling jackwad who couldn't pass highschool. You're a real go-getter Unterwachtmeister Stinkfinger! Make that quota, and you'll get promoted to Oberwachtmeister Stinkfinger in no time! Maybe get a house in the suburbs and a mistress on the side. Have a second one with the boys tonight after work.

I hope that entire agency is burned to a crisp in the eternal fires. Fuck it, I'll build a fire and burn them one at a time if that's what it takes to get it done sooner.

I will never forgive the politicians for sticking us with that miserable group of serial molesters (Fuck YOU, GWB), and then letting it unionize (DOUBLE FUCK YOU BHO). Those pricks will still be drawing checks when we no longer even need an airline industry because we get StarTrek beamed from point to point. Now that there's a union, they will NEVER go away. Hell, they are still trying to expand into subways, bus systems and every other place people congregate. I'll bet they'd like to check the balls of sports fans heading into high school basketball games or when going into a restaurant. "Big Brother should make sure you are SAFE the TSA Way everywhere you go!" is probably their motto. "Every day is better with a Cavity Search!" must be something like a prime directive. Can't be too safe you know.

Fuck that agency to hell. Why someone would choose to do that for a living is totally alien to me.

With apologies to The Clash;

So you got someone to boss around
It makes you feel big now
You drift until you brutalize
You made your first kill now

[/rant]

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:

Why someone would choose to do that for a living is totally alien to me.

Clearly, it's because they are too fucking stupid to get a real job. Their employment applications at McDonald's were rejected. Walmart didn't want them. The Dollar Store just laughed at them.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:

Why someone would choose to do that for a living is totally alien to me.

Clearly, it's because they are too fucking stupid to get a real job. Their employment applications at McDonald's were rejected. Walmart didn't want them. The Dollar Store just laughed at them.

The mall wasn't hiring.

CW

sns3guppy, I think you're right, but the OP thought his stuff was seized/confiscated. I think a reasonable person in his situation would think the same. His DL was taken away by an agent of the government after they said there was something wrong with it.

But I'm no lawyer.

That was his impression in the first post. He later clarified that he forgot about the driver license and left. I suspect it wasn't taken because something was wrong with it, but that he misunderstood what was going on, along with the 3 separate security screenings. I'm no fan of the TSA, but the description doesn't seem correct, and appears to be a misinterpretation or misunderstanding of what was going on. I used to live in in Wyoming, and have flown in and out of Casper quite a bit. The description of the original post isn't typical and doesn't reflect what one would expect. As Paul Harvey would have said, there's always the rest of the story.

I flew to california last week. TSA is just a big hassle. I even got the extra pat down. Jeez.

I have an Oklahoma drivers license as well as an official State ID. Anyone can ask for, pay for, and get a State ID. The State ID is an official ID that TSA accepts. It looks exactly like a drivers license but has NOT A LICENSE TO DRIVE on it.

My Drivers License always stays in my wallet, I only take it out when law enforcement needs to see it for driving issues (very rare for me to be stopped while driving. I do NOT show it to TSA.

My reason is, it’s official, it’s accepted, and if I lose my State ID I still have my drivers license to drive legally, fly, etc etc. If I lose my State ID it’s just a quick trip into tag agency and get a new one.

Let me be clear, I’m not now nor have ever been a State Employee, it’s not that sort of ID. It’s just a State issued ID that anyone can get, legally, that is accepted just like a drivers license. I got mine when I was talking to a State Trooper and asked what happens if you lose your wallet and drivers license, or it’s stolen. He suggested I also get a State ID as back up ID and carry it separately from my wallet. My Cel phone case has an extra pocket, so I keep a credit card, $50 bucks, and my State ID in it. The Trooper also advised me to never hand my drivers license to TSA, just show my State ID to TSA just in case something happened like our Original Poster described.

And just to clarify, the State ID was originally started for those who do not drive so they would have an official ID, but anyone can get one while at the tag agency for a back up ID.

So after all I’ve said here, you might see if your state will issue you a State ID as backup official ID.

The suggestion of a State photo I is a good one.
\
I just received an email from filing the TSA complaint. Very dignified and sterile, a reply that probably gets sent out many times. I was going to copy and past it, but the bottom line says this is a violation of law!!

It seems that it was all my fault and they were doing a good job!!

Will talk to senators Monday.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

A customer of mine has a friend that is middle eastern (I don’t remember where he was from but he fits the profile of what you are thinking he’d look like) and he told me that he jacks with TSA every time he flies. My friend asked him if he was afraid the TSA would stop him from flying and he said he’ll start saying they are racially profiling him and they always let him go. He says they are so afraid to appear non PC that they leave him alone, even when he’s messing with them. I don’t fly unless absolutely necessary and the TSA is the biggest reason for that.

quote:

Originally posted by Ed Fowler:

Will talk to senators Monday.

Please keep us updated.

PC

quote:

I have an Oklahoma drivers license as well as an official State ID. Anyone can ask for, pay for, and get a State ID. The State ID is an official ID that TSA accepts. It looks exactly like a drivers license but has NOT A LICENSE TO DRIVE on it.

Once went through Manchester NH. Decided I’d use my military ID card instead of my license. They didn’t know what it was. I was asked so showonly my drivers license.

I now have Global Entry and carry my passport.

I'm dreading flying to San Diego later this week. I do have TSA pre-check and that seems to make life easier. But I'm flying down to judge an archery tournament and have to have all my stuff in carry-on. I can just see some TSA agent flipping out over a set of calipers being a, "Deadly weapon".