TSA explains its method, leaves madness to fliers

Today's Wall Street Journal (page D1) has an article in which representatives of the TSA explain the method behind their rules on liquids. Unfortunately, it's the last sentence of the two-page article, and the explanation has not been offered to the people doing the screening. Here's the answer: "It's not the ounces. It's the container."

My understanding (and it's not more than that) is that someone is concerned that an empty bottle can be coated inside with a clear substance that becomes dangerous when mixed with water.

Let me repeat the rules: Passengers may bring aboard liquids, gels, pastes, etc., in containers of not more than three ounces in capacity, provided that the containers are in a one-quart, self-sealing clear plastic bag. The WSJ article recounts the sad story of tubs full of small bottles and tubes, each capable of holding three ounces or less, all left behind at the security check because they were not in the requisite sealing plastic bag of one quart.

The TSA says the two rules provide two benefits: There is a limit to the amount of dangerous chemical that could be mixed in any one containter; there is a limit to the total volume of liquids passengers can bring on board that is easy to check and verify.

The major problem remaining is that these benefits have been explained neither to the passengers nor to the screeners.

Screeners, in my humble opinion, remain the worst experience in flying. The article mentions one passenger with asthma watching as the screener dropped her inhaler on the floor, picked it up, and told her, "No problem, the floor is clean enough to eat off." Another screener tossed unmarked bottles which a passenger had bought and put shampoo and other liquids in, telling the passenger that only bottles labeled with the makers' labels were permitted. This is wrong, but trying to argue with screeners usually results in the police being called, having the passenger checked for outstanding warrants and police records, and general harrassment with no correction of the improper behavior by the screener. There can be no discussion of the propriety of the screener's actions.

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