My son's feet and legs... my hand holding the bottle... I would have rather held it up to see the aisle and passengers in the background but didn't want to advertise the water bottle by holding it up. There was enough commotion going on with the weird doll someone had strapped into a seat they thought was vacant.

lol That picture is NOT fake! I wish I hadn't drank most of the water out of it before I thought to take a photo. It's MY picture. TSA let a half full bottle of Walmart water through security. Safety is job one, ya know?

Taken from an airliner seat, looking at the seatback ahead. The object is a water bottle. TSA no longer allows anything like that on board, and certainly nothing so large. So unless the cabin attendants handed that out, that picture is a fake.

That is what I was thinking! Quite a surprise to find someone thinking in parallel...not used to it.

Jan

Todays news from the Ukraine proves the theory about the TSA being a sham. If an airplane or two of ours were shot down we might actually come around and do something about it, and I need to emphasize might. Instead we go through all these antics that just take away our freedom. We don't really seem to care about others that are shot down, or countries that shoot missiles into other countries, or aggressive countries that invade other countries, or even being ruled in our own country, we even bend to the ridiculous demands of foreigners in our country in order to comply with political correctness. Either we will wake up and do something someday, or we will continue to just stand in line while the TSA harasses us just for fun and our country gets down to just like the places where those trying to come here are trying to escape from.. I guess what I'm trying to say, everything seems to be a scam today, we've lost our morals, or beliefs, our honor, and soon our way of life.

On a plane with contraband water? I see a shoe also. Maybe your hand, lol!

Yes...it's all feel good (safe) bullshit... and the masses go along with it as if it's meaningful.

OK -- so I'm disabled. I walk with a cane. I wear a boot with an orthopedic brace on my left foot. For a few years after 911, I had to travel from Florida to California once a year for a number years. I cannot begin to describe what a hassle it was then to take off the brace which entailed laces, straps, and assorted bells and whistles. And then, to try to walk through the detection unit without my cane, which was made of wood fashioned for me by my Eagle Scout grandson. After that experience, we drove the 2,500 miles or so for the next three years.

Quite so. There are a number of "invisible" people at any airport. People who drive baggage carts and fuel trucks, for example. Or any number of other "support staff".

Not sure if anyone here has ever read Frank Abignale's delightful book, "Catch Me If You Can". He had a "replica" pilot's license made, then went to Eastern Airlines and requisitioned a complete uniform including insignia, claiming to be an employee. He then flew all over the world as a "pilot" who was given free transportation as a courtesy, and wrote large phony checks at each stop along the way.

Surely one could not get away with that now....could they?

On another occasion, he stole a mail cart, rented a security guard's uniform, and stood next to the after hours deposit slot at a bank, on which he had placed an "out of order" sign. Police did show up at one point. They helped him put the cart in his vehicle.

A couple years ago, I am going through Phoenix airport security with a friend after having crossed the Grand Canyon. Anyway, he sends his backpack through the scanners... picks it up on the other end. We get to our gate and he looks at his pack, then looks at me and says "This pack still has three quarts of water in it and nobody said a word." So much for security. The other bit that gets me - you are walking up to the security cattle corral and the officer sees you holding a bottle of water. Can't bring that bottle through security -- so what do they do with it? Drop it into the trash can sitting right there in the security area... Now what would happen if that bottle contained bleach and a sugar cap... and another person, 10 minutes later, ends up discarding a glass bottle - this time with hydrochloric acid and a soluble plastic cap. Several minutes later, the two ingredients react to form a poisonous green chlorine fume. Depending on the volume of the trash can, most of the heavy chlorine would sit in the can until such time as the liner and contents were dumped into a larger mobile trash bin. At that time, the chlorine would make a real mess... The point here: if those water bottles are supposedly dangerous, why are they then treated like water in the context of their disinterested disposal? Answer: for the purpose of creating The Theater of Security.

Not a trained eye, but everyone is watching the bottle of water. Is that plastic baggie under/behind the bottle a bag of weed?

I was once "randomly selected" for "enhanced screening" (I think that was what they called it). They seemed disappointed when they couldn't find anything, which concerned me a bit. I would not put anyone in the TSA past planting items to make themselves look good.

Funny thing is, over the years I have thought of many ways that different potential weapons could be gotten past TSA screening. If they occurred to me, those with evil intent must know of them and more.

In one airport I have used a fair number of times, there is a steakhouse at the far end of the concourse. Where you get real steak knives. Long after you pass through any form of screening. It's cafeteria-style, so you get your silverware from a group of tubs at the end of the line.

That's why I stopped buying water @ the airport. I found several places at my usual airports I can fill it for free without much trouble.

Midway even has a faucet for filling bottles

Some member of my family is almost always targeted-usually my son. He has a very cleancut appearance but an unusual name. He is always asked for the extra patdown and luggage look through.

My bottle was half full when I went through tsa... I usually buy water right after I get through security.. I spent on two bottles what I normally spend on 3 CASES. Apparently that's how they fund the oh so highly qualified security personnel.

You can buy a water bottle in the terminal too. I bring soda et al on planes almost every trip.

You can take an empty water bottle through security and fill it after that.

I do it all the time.

I once had the TSA steal three (of six) guitar strings out of a CHECKED BAG. No explanation ever offered, nor was I about to ask for one.

The last time I traveled by air I was in a somewhat whimsical mood. So....as I was traveling to perform a wedding (I am a "mail order minister"), I wore a clerical collar to the airport. I had a bottle of water in my carry-on bag ("holy water" if anyone asked), and several other items that were too large for TSA regulations. They looked at me and didn't even open my bag.

I was amazed. I had half-expected to end up in The Little Room. It can't be that easy to breeze past the TSA....can it?

Imagine the mayhem we could have caused with your lighter and my bottle of water... ugh, if only they hadn't caught my soap!

I managed to get a lighter through the airport last May, didn't even realize I had it till I got off the plane. Then got through the airport with my lighter again on the return trip. Too Easy.