I once went through and my bag flagged up. I had a battery bank I’d forgotten about in a side pocket i didnt use. Must have flagged up as a big block.
The security guy went off when I couldn’t immediately find it “WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN THE BAG? SHOW ME WHAT IT IS?” Right screaming.
Then went and (after I explained where the hidden pock was) found it and said “oh it’s just a battery charger I forgot I had in here.” It was like a flip switched and he was just cheery “oh ok. Move on”.
I was flying out of the US to join my fiancee. My bags were very strategically packed for weight limits. My carry-on got flagged. I had one of those Woodwick Boat candles. She really liked them. If you dont know what they are, they can look strange. They are football/boat shaped, and instead of a normal wick, there's a long chunk of wood to serve that purpose (which makes a pleasant crackling sound when lit)
TSA guy had no clue what it was and ttying to make sense of it.
"Its a candle."
He was not buying it. I ended uo having to go through a full patdown afterwards. I have no idea how having a candle in my bag requires that, but whatever.
I wasnt able to keep my mouth shut though and tried to joke with him, "You guys really take candles seriously, huh?"
Heard the same thing happen in an IceCreamSandwich video, where he was bringing a candle through TSA, but apparently people have hidden bombs or something in candles and that might be why
My dad likes to watch the airport security reality shows. One episode featured a (commercial) shipment of those glass prayer candles hollowed out with drugs. So it’s definitely on their radar.
Yup, i remember that one. Let your dad know about Contraband: Siezed at the border, its on a lot of platforms. That was my next rabbit hole after the airport security lol
The TSA doesn't really give a shit about drugs, and never really has unless you're caught flying with like a huge bag of unmarked white powder or something.
Can confirm, I’ve brought heaping servings of weed and mushrooms all across the country, but the day I had a container of baby powder left in my toiletry bag I almost missed my flight because they needed the advanced testing kit
TSA don't really look for drugs to tell the truth. Yeah they'll take em if they find em, but they aren't gonna go through the full process like a drug stop or a DEA search will. TSA is primarily focused on terrorism
It's because wax is a dense organic material and x-ray machines show densities. A dense organic that airport security are reeeaaallly looking for? Explosives. Explosives are typically formed into easy shapes like football lumps or tubes. Turns out they're also the same shapes wax is formed into usually for the same reason, it's easy. Add a wick and put it in a bag where it doesn't make sense to have a big blob of something with a similar density to plastic explosives and yeah, they're gonna want to have a look at it.
Im.gonna say, somebody claimed someone had hidden bombs in candles to justify the major sec industry that sprang up after 9/11 but that probably hasn't once found a legit threat.
I accidentally found that out after I tried to send a Yankee candle to my future MIL by sending it with my fiancé. He packed it in his carry on bag to keep it safe, but unfortunately had a layover in Amsterdam and was intensely questioned by airport security and had everything gone through when he tried to get on his flight to the UK 🤦♀️
For some reason this made the time TSA flagged a hockey puck in my carry on make sense - luckily the combo of hockey puck and a shirt with my hometown team on it lead to the agent who found it not needing me to elaborate that I had simply grabbed the puck as a souvenir as it was one of the first years that city had a team.
They're rolling those at at US airports too, but they don't always have the new scanners in every line at every airport yet, so it's a crapshoot whether you can have big containers of liquid in your bag or not.
Yeah, I mean, I get the confusion of it all. I think those candles are a little more well known now than at the time, but even still, I would get someone being a little confused by it.
For me it was just the general attitude that was exhibited the whole time. I was fully cooperative and trying to be good humored, and it got me absolutely no where.
Yep, unfortunately our airport security is kind of insane.
I dont even think this actually makes us safer to tell you the truth, but apparently Americans will give up almost any freedom or dignity to feel slightly safer from statisticslly negligible events.
Dealing with TSA in the US vs other countries really is a trip. I never fucking know if I'm supposed to take off my belt or shoes. It seems like whenever I think I have to, TSA yells at me to keep them on. When I don't take them off, TSA yells at me for not knowing better. And when I ask TSA before making a decision one way or another, they are very annoyed by my existence.
After this candle encounter, I landed in Japan. I don't speak the language. Terrified, and approaching their own version of TSA I hesitantly asked for directions on how to get somewhere in the airport. She was the nicest woman I've encountered and was super helpful, lol. And this isn't meant to be a "Japan is so awesome!" type post. I feel like that's been my experience in most other countries I've since flown in and out of.
I think the difference is partly because our TSA is under the Department of Homeland Security, which is more of an intelligence agency and paramilitary organization and was created in direct response to 9/11.
TSA is also paid very badly and understaffed, and doesn't get paid during government shutdowns but still has to work.
You are basically dealing with people trained to have the mindset of counterintelligence officers and military police but paid McDonalds wages and pulling lawyer hours.
I think this is an extremely stupid and paranoid way for us to set up airport security. It all came out of the wave of madness in the Bush era after 2001.
Yeah, it was the most recent shutdown that really put a huge strain on TSA, right? With the solution to backfill missing employees with the national reserve? And then creating even longer lines as a result somewhow?
I won't go too hard on the individual TSA members simply becasue of what you're pointing out with the wages. But yeah, surely there is a better way to go about that whole thing.
I, in an effort to be less wasteful use a solid metal safety razor for my shaving needs. I had forgotten it in a side pocket and it got flagged in the X-ray and it was like something out of a disaster movie. I got grilled so hard for it and I was like. Yes. I understand that the razor in my bag cannot be there in Carry on. Honest mistake. You guys can throw it out.
But they were not having it and I nearly missed my flight due to the "advanced security screening" they put me thru 💀
Candles get flagged every time for me. After I spent 30 min trying to gift wrap a candle for Christmas, I had to pull it out and watch the TSA agent unwrap the whole thing 😑
Can confirm, they take candles seriously. I was traveling with a very recognizable candle in a glass jar, think the stereotypical bed bath and beyond candle jar. They pulled me aside and swabbed it for explosives.
Went through customs in Denmark once while changing planes. They had to pull me aside for a random security check, and the guy asked me if I had ever been through this process before. Apparently jokingly answering "No sir, this is my first time being suspicious!" was the wrong answer. We still made our flight, but my wife was very mad.
I think it makes sense why he was concerned. A thick wax like you find in a candle can appear as a dense unidentifiable solid mass in a TSA scanner; Im not sure if the wick would be easily discernible for most candles, either
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u/Narradisall 29d ago edited 29d ago
Airport security in the US can be intense.
I once went through and my bag flagged up. I had a battery bank I’d forgotten about in a side pocket i didnt use. Must have flagged up as a big block.
The security guy went off when I couldn’t immediately find it “WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN THE BAG? SHOW ME WHAT IT IS?” Right screaming.
Then went and (after I explained where the hidden pock was) found it and said “oh it’s just a battery charger I forgot I had in here.” It was like a flip switched and he was just cheery “oh ok. Move on”.
Weirdest thing ever.