fly the Friendly Skies

In time for the holidays, I thought I'd share the letter that I sent to my senators and congressman.
This is an issue that has been bugging me for a while, so I figured it was time to do something about it, no matter how small.

Dear Senator Clinton,
I am writing today to express my concern about the ambiguity of air passenger's rights. I realize that homeland security is a priority, but I am disturbed by the lack of clarity in airport screening procedures.
My first concern involves the questions that airport security personnel may ask, and the passenger’s rights to refuse to answer. Recently I was flying to Italy to visit my boyfriend. After passing through security I was detained on the gangway to the plane and asked a new set of questions. At some point these questions became intrusive and somewhat insulting. The two screeners began by asking me whether I had a job or was a student. When I replied neither, they proceeded to ask me how I was paying for the ticket and where I got my money from. I answered that I had some savings. They insisted on knowing where the savings were from, and whether I had ever worked. They did not seem to believe me that I had paid for my ticket myself if I was not employed, and kept asking how I had afforded a ticket to Europe without a job. After I told them I had inherited some money from my grandmother, they still had me run through my employment history. They were only satisfied when I told them that I had been an investigator for the City of New York.
I understand that they wanted to know whether my ticket was purchased for me by a terrorist group or drug cartel, for example. Aside from the fact that if I was a terrorist I would probably have a better cover story, what bothered me were not the questions themselves but the coercive nature of the questioning and my unclear legal situation. I had then, and have now, no idea whether I was obliged to answer their questions. I have no idea what would happen if I refused to answer their questions. I have no idea what the parameters of what they are legally allowed to ask are. I have no idea whom to speak to if I feel I have been asked overly intrusive questions. I have no idea what my rights are and whether normal search and seizure law applies, or if I give up my Fourth Amendment rights when I buy and airplane ticket.
My second concern involves items prohibited and allowed in carry-on luggage. When I travel, I try to bring only carry-on bags. Because I know that there can be problems, I check the TSA website and even call the airline ahead of time to find out which items are permitted on board. I do not want to bring anything controversial onto an airplane, mind you, but rather a small pink set of (blunt) tweezers and a set of wooden knitting needles. Every time that I have flown recently I have been advised, despite the TSA guidelines, that I could not bring these items in my carry-on luggage.
The heart of this problem seems to be the TSA Prohibited and Permitted List, which states in the introduction, “…the screener may also determine that an item on the permitted chart is dangerous and therefore may not be brought through the security checkpoint.” Essentially this states that the chart is useless, as the screener has ultimate authority to decide to permit or disallow whatever they like. With no hard and fast rules, and no appeals process or higher authority, one’s personal possessions are at the whim of the screener. Furthermore, there is literally no way to plan ahead, since the rules can be changed at any moment. This is not an efficient, reasonable or transparent way to run the system.
Whether it is completely ludicrous to forbid a 2" set of tweezers and a pair of wooden (ok - full disclosure - bamboo) knitting needles attached to a baby blanket is a discussion for another day.
I understand that these are fairly small concerns, and do not claim that any lasting damage has been done to me. It is simply that as a law-abiding citizen and frequent traveller, I am deeply disturbed by the lack of information about one’s rights as an air passenger.
In conjunction with the recent stories about female passengers being intrusively frisked and searched, I feel that it is time for the TSA to become more open and accountable. I urge you to create a security-related passenger’s bill of rights.
Thank you

Feel free to do the same!
And yes, I knit and I am a big dork.