r/tsa

Please help me, I lost my ID and I cannot find it, completely gone. I’m in Tennessee trying to get home to Connecticut. I don’t have a picture and I don’t have a passport. How do I get on a plane with no identification

Hey everyone, still shaking a little bit while writing this from my gate at MIA. I just had the absolute weirdest and most terrifying experience of my life and I need to know if this is standard procedure or if I’m now on some kind of government watch list.

I’m currently flying to Bogotá, Colombia for a street photography trip (connecting through Miami). I’m a freelance graphic designer, totally clean record, never even had a speeding ticket.

I was going through security at my home airport, put my backpack through the X-ray, and everything stalled out. The TSA agent (guy named Harris) calls over his supervisor, they start squinting at the screen, and then Harris looks at me and says, "Step over here, please."

Instead of just doing a bag search at the table like they normally do, he grabs my backpack and tells me to follow him. I had to awkwardly shuffle down this secure hallway holding my shoes and laptop to my chest like an idiot.

They take me into this tiny, windowless concrete room with just a metal table and a couple of plastic chairs. A supervisor named Vega comes in and starts hit hitting me with the heavy questions: Where are you going? What’s the purpose of your trip? Did you pack this bag yourself? Did anyone ask you to carry anything? I was sweating bullets because her tone was so intense.

Then Harris snaps on some rubber gloves and starts pulling out my gear. Out of the side pocket, he pulls this heavy, cylindrical object wrapped completely in black electrical tape.

Instantly, the supervisor locks eyes with me and her whole vibe changes. I panicked for a second because I genuinely forgot I put it in there — it was a vintage 1970s Soviet camera lens (a Helios 44-2) that I literally bought on eBay last week. The seller from Ukraine had wrapped it in layers of tape to protect it during shipping, and I just tossed it in my bag before leaving.

They used shears to cut the tape open right in front of me. I thought for sure I was going to jail if the seller had hidden something inside it. Fortunately, it was just the lens.

The supervisor completely relaxed, sighed, and told me that the "dense lead-glass and heavy brass casing" of old Soviet lenses completely blocks the X-ray, so on their screens, it just looks like a solid, shielded mass (which apparently looks like an explosive component). She told me next time I must take vintage glass out of my bag and put it in a separate bin.

They let me go and I had to sprint to my gate with my shoes untied.
Has this happened to anyone else traveling with old camera gear? Am I flagged in their system now? I’m terrified for my return flight or what’s going to happen when I go through customs in Colombia.

Just wanting some information to make sure nothing happens lol, flying from Australia and then into LAX, is it okay for me to have 1kg bag of creatine, 1kg protein powder as well as a few vitamins and supplements in my checked bags? They’re all in the original packaging, and obviously all legal haha.

I wanna get to indiana from new york.Someone's offering to send me a plane ticket.But I wanna make sure I can actually get on the plane

So his explanation is he doesn't have a boarding pass and wants to go to Arrivals gate D for skylink..? It makes no sense.

The only thing I can think of is he actually did have a flight but lied because he thought that would be a harsher crime and then made up some bs about going to arrivals.

It's weird tho, half a million views and tons of comments, but no one seems interested in what the dudes actual motives were. Maybe I'm just missing something?

For the last few days, all flights have had additional, random checks at the gate. I’ve noticed this is only for flights going to EWR and JFK. Anyone know why?

If I put it in my carry on or in my pocket, will they really care? I know not to put it in checked luggage.

I've looked at like 20 different posts on reddit about this but I am still too greatly worried.

Basically, I'm flying Sun Country Airlines and I plan to take my dogs ashes with me because I'm moving. I do not have access to the death certificate for him (long story short my family is made of assholes) and I cannot leave without him or it will break my heart. I triple bagged his ashes (yes ziploc) and have a wooden box with a picture of him on top, along with his collar and a ball of his. I do not have anyone else to give his ashes to and if I get turned away I lose my chance to move.

Will I be okay?

Edit: I will mention I'm flying MSP to LAS.

Edit 2: Thank you all for the responses, I feel a lot better. I'll double check Sun Country Airlines policy or contact them about it just incase for the airline policy. Again, thank you all!!! <333

After my scan red or yellow squares appeared, 1 in my armpit and one on my crotch. I was then hand searched in both areas. What would prompt this or cause this to appear in the scan?