Fresh from The Consumerist is another story of aviation travel woe. A passenger wrote into say that on a recent flight that went through Sacramento, the TSA dutifully confiscated a Hunts Pudding Snack but became so fixated on its sugary goodness that they neglected to notice the 4" Swiss Army knife that was also in the bag, here's the scoop-
I was passing through Sacto airport security checkpoint. I sent my
carry-on backpack through the Xray machine. The operator found
something, and raised her hand for assistance. Another TSA person came
over and pulled my bag out of the machine and commenced with a hand
search. Inside he found a package of unopened Hunts Pudding Snacks in
my lunch. He confiscated the pudding "it's a liquid" and sent me on my
way. Absurd, but forgettable. However later in the day I had a layover,
and was going through my backpack looking for a pen and came across my
Swiss Army Knife with a 4" locking blade. I had been camping and had
inadvertently left it in my backpack. I was stunned that the moron TSA
agent had confiscated my pudding, but missed my knife. I am left
wondering if the X-ray person ordered the hand search because she saw
my knife on the xray, but the hand searcher got thrown off his game by
the delicious, and apparently dangerous pudding. If so the lack of
communication between the Xrayer and hand searcher indicates a serious
weak spot in their protocol. After I discovered the knife, I took a
cell phone shot of it in the airport bathroom, and a shot of it as I
was LEAVING the secure "sterile" area of the airport.
