A passenger departing Portland airport cleared TSA with a meat cleaver in their carry-on that screeners didn’t notice. They boarded Delta flight 3233 to Salt Lake City where a flight attendant noticed it in their bag.
Newly-released surveillance footage shows passengers seated and waiting, the pilot stepping off the plane and speaking with airport staff, and then Mr. Cleaver being escorted off the aircraft by police.
Everyone was deplaned and forced to go through re-screening even though the cleaver was found and the passenger who brought it removed, so customers were punished for the TSA’s malfeasance. This process took between 2.5 and 3 hours.
The customer explained that he brought the cleaver because he got “a good deal” on it. He did not face any charges. In fact, he was allowed to board another flight.
The TSA agent who missed the cleaver continues to work it remains employed as a screener though the agency says they’ve received ‘additional training.’ Maybe having the government both regulating security practices and doing the screening themselves (i.e. serving as their own regulator) isn’t a best practice, after all.
The only data that the government has released suggests TSA doesn’t do a very good job identifying contraband proceeding through its checkpoints. When internal testing found 90% and 95% failure rates detecting threats, the government just stopped releasing the data. We do know that if they’d meaningfully improved, they’d be crowing about it – and they aren’t.
It’s worth noting that a United Airlines passenger boarded with a loaded gun, sat in first class, and bodycam footage shows police stormed the plane to yank him off. On the other hand, one passenger brought a gun through security and faced no consequences… because he worked for TSA.
It’s my firm opinion that no government department or large business should be allowed to self-police/certify. That’s the very definition of conflict of interest. Companies have outside accountants verify their finances as a matter of course. Why not have similar reviews for the rest of the business? Look what happened at Boeing as just one example. Having an outside review would have cost Boeing far less than the debacle they sustained.
@Greggb57 — Might’ve saved money money, and also, more importantly, hundreds of lives in Indonesia and Ethiopia… instead, Boeing did the ‘intimidate whistleblowers’ and ‘the bribe the corrupt government to drip fines and criminal charges’ strategies. This is a troubled era to live through. Lots of work to do to fix things. We can and must overcome this.
(Not sure why the duplicate, but, I guess I could’ve gone with mun-muns.)
No harm, no foul. Truly a victimless “crime”. Pathetic Americans frightened silly of their shadows. No longer a country composed “of the free and the brave”. Pitiful. Pathetic.!
And, @Gary Leff, seriously, nothing on the partial-shutdown affecting TSA, CBP, which most certainly affects commercial air travel? Yeah, meat cleavers… no, you right, focus on that…
Just crazy…they just confiscated my 4.0 ounce face creme-which was only 1/2 full, so it was only 2.0 ounces. (Accidentally, left out of my checked bag.)
Yup that meat cleaver sure will gain him access to the cockpit through that enhanced/bullet-resistant door. While you don’t necessarily want them aboard aircraft, knives and sharp objects don’t post the same level of threat as they did on 9/10/2001
What do you mean, “no harm, no foul”? Maybe no harm but the cleaver is no different than a loaded pistol, hand grenade, and the like. The TSA (too stupid for America) agent should be either fired or severely reprimanded. The flight attendant who caught the issue should be rewarded. Brent, you need a bit of help…in your attic. And, if you are a visitor or resident alien and don’t like the United States Of America, pack your bags and leave. “Delta is ready when you are.”!
TSA does not judge how much is in a container such as a bottle or a tube. They just look at the labeled amount and if the labeled amount is too much, they request you to throw it away as a condition for allowing you to pass. Your mistake and your decision. It could have went in your checked bag or you could have bought the travel size and put it in the quart sized zip lock plastic bag. I have bought drinking yoghurt from Thailand that is packed in 90ml sealed containers. The ICN (Korean) equivalent of TSA inspects it closely but allows it since it is under 100ml.
@Win Whitmire – Meat Cleavers are an edged tool used in a chopping fashion that relies on sharped tempered steel to maintain and edge without being too brittle while cutting through large sections of meat whereas guns and hand grenades are projectile weapons that rely on explosives to propel a variety of materials at high velocity through the bodies of enemy combatants. They are very different things.
I have watching about 26 seasons of Smithsonian’s Air Disasters, many of which deal with terrorism all over the world. Threats are out there. It is scary.
For example, in Air Disasters, Season 6, episode 5 entitles Bomb on Board, they tell the story of Philippines Airline 434 in 1994. Ramzi Yousef assembled a bomb in the bathroom using equipment in his shoe, his watch, and liquid nitroglycerin hidden in contact solution. Through luck, the bomb did not blow up the fuel tank (different 747 configuration). The bomb blew up one innocent Japanese Engineer. The plane did an emergency landing in Okinawa. You can look it up on Google.
I hate the restrictions on contact solution, since I wear contacts. Also, I hate taking off my shoes, although as TSA Preferred, I usually do not have to do it. TSA, even though I am sure they miss stuff all the time, is better than nothing.
Alexander Castleberry, gee, thanks for clearing that up. Having grown up in the foodservice industry for most of my life I know the difference between a paring knife, cleaver (Russell-Harrington, Victorinox, or Zwilling), and Hobart or Champion dishwashers and Libbey versus Anchor Hocking glassware. Now, having been in the airline business for 26 years, I’m pretty sure I know what a “weapon” looks like. The fact is, the cleaver CAN be a weapon and are BANNED in carry on luggage…remember? You, too, need some dust cleaned from your attic. The fact is…the TSA screwed up…big time.
Since TSA started after 9/11 it’s always been “security theater”. You can’t tell me a bunch of former McDonalds workers that found a federal gig without much training are gonna keep us safe. Our nearby federal facility was called upon to run tests on them periodically, and they failed way too often.