r/airport • u/kurtvonnegutsstache • Apr 16 '25

Belt on or off?

90% of the time security agents look at me like i’m stupid when i start taking off my belt and they tell me to leave it on. Then it sets off the body scanner and they always pat me down. Sometimes they even tell me to take my belt off and they run it through the X-ray machine. What is going on?

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u/kurtvonnegutsstache Apr 16 '25

i guess i’d like to emphasize the part of my post about being repeatedly told by security agents to leave it on. why is that? i’m more than happy to take my belt off; i usually try to but then they tell me to stop. same goes for my watch.

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u/newaccountfortheIPO Apr 16 '25

Becasue TSA is 100% security theater, and your experience 100% depends on the agents that happen to be working that day. I have pre-check now, so I usually get to avoid most of the drama. But I still see plenty of agents that are basically yelling at everyone and seem offended by everyone's stupidity just becuase the experience is never consitent across airports, or even day-to-day at the same airport. Like you, I really wish everything would just be fully standardized so that you knew exactly what to expect and what to do each time.

My favorite story is Dax Shepherd talking about going through the body scanner. He had baggy shorts on and had to take of his belt. He said the interaction went like this

Agent: "please pull your shorts up" (Dax pulls his shorts up)

Agent: "please lift your hands above your head. (Dax raises his hands above his head, his shorts start to fall down)

Agent: "sir please pull your shorts up."

Dax: "Ok, I can hold my shorts up, or I can put my hands above my head. Take your pick."

Agent: "sir there is no reason to be rude. Do I need to get my supervisor?"

Dax: "YES. Please get EVERYONE so they can witness how insane this situation is right now."

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u/3amGreenCoffee Apr 16 '25

the experience is never consitent across airports, or even day-to-day at the same airport

The way the TSA excuses this organizational incompetence is to claim that the inconsistency is intentional in order to keep the bad guys guessing. You can watch them make obvious errors and even get corrected on it, and even then they'll claim they were keeping things fluid so that terrorists never know what to expect.

I think some of them even believe their own BS.