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TSA: 'Attitude' not the reason passenger denied flight
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is saying that a passenger who was allegedly detained because of her attitude was actually barred from flying because she refused to be screened.
An anonymous passenger posted a video to YouTube under the name "AirportVideoofTSA" of an exchange with a TSA employee in Houston in which she accuses the agent’s search of her of being “retaliatory for my attitude.” The unnamed agent in the video appears to reply “pretty much, yes,” which the passenger contends “this is not making the airways safer.”
But in a recent blog post on the TSA’s website, the agency said there was more to the exchange than the YouTube video shows.
“You may have heard about a passenger in Houston last week who claimed that TSA officers prevented her from boarding her flight in ‘retaliation’ for her ‘attitude,’” TSA’s blogger Bob Burns wrote.
“But what you may not have heard is that the passenger refused a random screening procedure,” Burns continued. “The passenger initially ignored officers and then became verbally abusive. When a traveler does not allow a TSA officer to complete screening, it’s standard procedure for a law enforcement officer to be called to the area.”
“To be clear -- airline employees, not TSA, made the call about whether to allow this passenger to board their flight,” he said.
“We take these matters seriously, so we thoroughly reviewed the incident and have concluded that this passenger was screened in accordance with standard procedures,” Burns continued. “We also viewed the video circulating on the internet (although only part of the video is actually available) and watched as the TSA officer began to explain that screening is designed to make passengers safer. The video abruptly ends before the officer is able to answer the questions fully.”
