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Underwire bra dispute causes woman to miss her flight
First it was loose change in your pockets, then it was jewelry, and then it was shoes. For Jet Blue passenger Nancy Kates, it seems like bras might be the next thing to go in the airport security line. A big-busted woman, Kates was wearing a large underwire bra as she went through the security check at Oakland International Airport but when it set off the metal detector she was pulled aside by a TSA agent.Kates accuses the agent of getting a little too personal. "The woman touched my breast. I said, 'You can't do that,' " Kates said. "She said, 'We have to pat you down.' I said, 'You can't treat me as a criminal for wearing a bra.' "
Refusing to be fondled, Kates asked to see a supervisor and then the supervisor's surpervisor. Kates reminded the TSA agents that the Constitution bars unreasonable searches and that "scrutinizing a woman's brassiere is surely unreasonable." She was offered a private room to have her pat-down, but Kates refused. Instead she asked if she could simply remove her bra, to which the TSA agent agreed. This isn't the first breast related TSA incident, but the whole escapade took 40 minutes and caused Kates to miss her flight. Jet Blue was nice enough to put her on another one.
Being a woman, I myself have had the bra pat-down several times, and I'm sure there are other fellow females on the Gadling team that have gone through the same experience. Normally such pat-downs are off limits to fingers; TSA agents only use the side of their hands. But all the same it's still a little unnerving. As Kates said, "If I was carrying nail clippers and forgot about them, I wouldn't have gotten so upset. But here I was just wearing my underwear."
What are your thoughts? Is it humiliating to get a pat-down to make sure the underwire in your bra is what's setting off the metal detector?
10 tips for smarter flying
Filed under: United States, Airports, Consumer Activism
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 17)
tnlin Aug 27th 2008 3:42PM
Things like that are why I don't fly any more. I drive or take the train. It takes longer but it is much more relaxing and you get to see the scenery.
Shannon Aug 27th 2008 3:42PM
Seriously - these guidelines have been in place since 9/11 - why are people still acting all shocked like these rules are something new? The woman should have offered to just take her bra off initially rather than wasting everybody's time ranting to supervisor after supervisor. Rules are rules sweetheart - do we need another midair catastrophy to remind everybody why they're there???
JANINE May 7th 2009 11:38AM
BOY ARE YOU STUPID. IF YOU RESEARCH - YOU WILL FIND 9/11 WAS DONE BY OUR CIA BLACK OPS TEAM ON AMERICA. THE PROOF IS OUT THERE - GO RESEARCH. THIS WAS DONE TO US TO STRIP US OF OUR RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS. IN ORDER TO SET UP A POLICE STATE IN AMERICA.
DON'T YOU PEOPLE READ ANYMORE OR DO ANY RESEARCH. THIS LIBERAL AGENDA IN AMERICA IS TURNING OUR COUNTRY INTO A USSR STATE, DON'T YOU CARE AT ALL.
FOR 30 YEARS THE LIBERALS HAVE DUMBED DOWN OUR SCHOOLS AND KIDS WITH TEXT BOOKS WITH WRONG INFORMATION IN THEM. THEY HAVE BEEN WRITTEN BY LIBERALS - ALL OF THEM. IT HAS BEEN PROVEN - READ AND FIND OUT. INFO ON GOD, PRAYER, AND AMERICAN HISTORY HAS BEEN REMOVED OR CHANGED TO FIT THE LIBERAL AGENDA.
EVEN THE EUROPEANS DON'T HARRASS WOMEN WITH UNDERWIRE BRAS THEY WAND YOU AND LET YOU PASS. THEY DON'T FRISK YOU OR MAKE YOU GO INTO A PRIVATE ROOM TO STRIP DOWN. THIS IS HARRASSMENT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. THEY WANT US TO GET USED TO IT FOR THE FUTURE COMMUNIST-SOCIALIST SOCIETY THEY ARE TRYING TO IMPLEMENT IN AMERICA.
WAKE UP DUMBA*SES. YOUR FREEDOMS ARE SLIPPING AWAY - DON'T YOU F*CKING CARE ANY MORE. READ AND GET EDUCATED ABOUT THE TRUTH. DON' T TRUST MAINSTREAM MEDIA - THE ELITE OWN THEM. THEY ARE THE ONES THAT ARE DUMBING DOWN AMERICANS IN THE FIRST PLACE, THEY LIE.
sieben13 Aug 27th 2008 5:31PM
Do Whatever necessary to keep us SAFE in the skies
anjakham@aol.com Aug 27th 2008 3:55PM
I set off the alarm every time I go through security because of a total knee replacement. I go through the pat-down, including the female assistant checking my underwire bra. If that's all it takes, what is the big deal. I've never missed a flight or felt "unnerved." The first time someone gets through security with hazardous materials in their bra, you know who will be the first to complain -- the lady with the big boobs. Get with the program!
depcons@aol.com Aug 27th 2008 3:58PM
I went through security. I removed my folding money from my wallet and put it in my pocket. TSA stated " What you dont trust me." I came back real fast, " I appears you dont trust me, so why should I trust you."
My cash was in my pocket.
carrie ann Aug 27th 2008 4:02PM
We were safer in the '70s. America has been grabbing power and control all over the world, installing puppet regimes and starting or encouraging war in order to grab more power and move toward a global gobernment (dictatorship). Look at how low we've sunk. If we keep going this way, we'll be scanned everywhere we go. It's already begun and shows no sign of stopping as Obama, Biden, and McCain are globalist.
carrie ann Aug 27th 2008 4:03PM
If we have another event, #29, it will be another false-flag to take away more of our constitutional protections. Governments have routinely employed them for centuries, and they are highly effective.
MoMKam Aug 27th 2008 4:04PM
I had to take off a WIG once because it was held in with metal clips!! They checked it, scanned it, then let me put it back on.
A. Mancin Aug 27th 2008 4:10PM
To all of you who laugh at this and the TSA, it is probably because you fly so little. Stop ridiculing an organization that is trying to protect us. Some of you people are so stupid with your comments that it raises questions as to your motives.
Lori Aug 27th 2008 4:08PM
TSA is joke. I want to know how these idiots get thier jobs. Obviosly, common sense is not a requirment to work as a TSA agent.
Hit Their Pocketbook Aug 27th 2008 4:12PM
Stop flying. Once it hits their pocketbook, they'll stop the invasiveness.
palucero1@aol.com Aug 27th 2008 4:14PM
So the one time someone says they have a bra on and don't worry about the machine going off and it turns out it is not an underwire bra, what then? Personally I would rather be safe than sorry. We all know the rules, I think that are allowing too many things back on the plane. Terrorist are very patient they will just wait for us to make it easy for them to cause another disaster. We want to feel safe but we are not willing to work for it. We will never be able to go back to what we had, so suck it up and deal with it. I am surprised the frequent flyers are more worried about the inconviences than in the security.
Steph Aug 27th 2008 4:14PM
Here's how you handle this...DON'T FLY! I hate flying and will never fly again. It's too expensive, too much drama, too scary and too invasive. And with 3 children...it's much easier to drive. Or...go bra-less!
A. Mancin Aug 27th 2008 4:15PM
To Lori:
Common sense is also not a requirement to place a blog here..........which you have proven!!
She-Ra Aug 28th 2008 5:06PM
I wonder if Janet Jackson can fly with those fancy nipple shields she routinely wears under her malfunctioning wardrobe. Maybe they're plastic.
kathy Aug 27th 2008 4:21PM
My 11-year-old daughter's underwire bra set off the detector last year in Orlando. They pulled her aside and would not let me near her -- she was 11!! We had to wait for a female TSA agent to come pat her down; they did let me stand with her for that (nice of them). I understand they are doing their job, but it's frustrating (especially for a pre-teen who just happens to be big-boobed -- she was mortified!). My own underwires never set the thing off! And my daughter's bra (same one) didn't set the thing off at LaGuardia... go figure.
infowarrior Aug 27th 2008 4:23PM
Yeah right palucero. Terrorists are just waiting for the right moment. Hah! USA is all over the globe and doesn't have any compunction about fire bombing people in their own homes. It's a wonder terrorists aren't setting off bombs all over the place all these years. It's certainly not for lack of opportunity. Meanwhile, fools like you will gladly watch our country morph into a police state and give this out of control government even more power.
http://www.infowars.com/
Dave I Aug 27th 2008 4:26PM
Honestly, what is the big deal. I understand the woman was inconvenienced and I feel for her. But this type of situation happens maybe one time in thousands of security checks. I would much prefer that the agents be over cautious than under cautious. I would have no problem being inconvenienced with a pat down or removing clothing in a proper private security setting if it means a more secure system. And while the situation probably should have been handled differently by those agents, the woman should have known the metal in her bra could have been an issue and she should have just cooperated at the first request and this would have been a non story. Millions of people pass through airport security every day without a hitch but with mass media and the internet, the few times an isolated situation like this comes up it immediately gets plastered online and blown out of proportion. If they had let this woman through and she ended up having drugs or a weapon under her clothes the agents would be getting praised for their thoroughness.
Joe Turner Aug 27th 2008 4:34PM
Look, you should know the rules if you have ever flown before. I don't want some Habib getting on just because we have to cut you some slack.
Guys can't wear steel toed shoes or even shoes with metal rims around the shoe lace holes. Mostly we have to take off our shoes every time anyway.
Just shut up, if you're wearing a push up underwire you deserve to be embarassed.