I want to preface this spouting by saying, I’m not against the search of airline passengers. I believe it is a very sorry State of the World…I also do not feel that my rights are violated, I don’t care if they do a fully body scan or any of the other little tests they do on passengers…knowing full well that if they got a positive result they would probably pee down their leg. What I do find atrocious is giving perceived power to many of these idiots. I probably shouldn’t say perceived power because they actually do have the power to mess with people under the guise of national security and what choice do passengers really have if they want to board the plane. I’m not a new flyer, I’m an overweight 56 year old woman, I dress conservatively and honestly try to follow rules. I take my shoes off before prompted and remove my outer jacket before they have a chance to bellow remove all coats and outer garmets, I have my liquids packaged in the correct size plastic bags, I remove my cell phones, etc..Are you with me here…I’m a rules follower.
The Des Moines airport TSA agents are a bunch of assholes..plain and simple. I’ve been thru a lot of airports since 9/11. I’ve never been disrespected, searched, talked down to etc etc like I am everytime I go thru the Des Moines airport. This while they are advertising on TV to use the DM airport because it is there…notwithstanding the fact that you can travel 2 to 3 hours in any direction and board a plane with less hassle and always cheaper than you can fly out of Des Moines.
The Ecuador trip, the asshole dude had to search my bag which was okay…but after all of the hubaloo, they missed a bottle of mosquito spray, didn’t go thru my makeup bag which he said – Oh I assume this is makeup – Hello…that is where I carry my explosive, you dumb SOB. At the beginning of the line, they told me I could only have one plastic bag of liquid products and made me throw the other one out. Then at the end of the line, he gave me another plastic bag to put some items in that he felt might be considered a danger…BUT DIDN’T EVEN OPEN MY MAKEUP BAG!
Wednesday AM…flying out of Des Moines, I was sure to put everything that could conceivably be considered un-TSA-worthy in my checked bag. There were so few things in my carry-on, that it was funny…but the TSAss and the chick behind the screen were looking and pointing..then he looked at me and said, we need to run this thru again. Had they only opened up this bag, the would have seen it was full of air, pajama tops and bottoms, my wallet, IPAD and his Kindle…so…
I packed the carry on bag on the way back because we had made some purchases…I had chips, oatmeal, brown sugar, splenda, all kinds of miscellaneous things – it was heavy…it went thru at Akron/Canton without a blink…they were courteous – not screaming at people at the top of their lungs….
If at all possible, I encourage you to fly out of Moline – much cheaper – 2 hours from my driveway to the Moline airport…not that I want you to leave from my driveway. Unless you have to do it, don’t fly out of the Des Moines airport. This is an anti-ad for the Des Moines airport. You have many other options.
Until next time….
Ninasusan 
@Ninasusan – the DSM airport does not set the ticket prices either. This problem is from a lack of competition. DSM needs a cut rate airline to come in and compete for the same routes the current airlines operate. Southwest Airlines would be good, but it will only work to force prices down if they compete for the same routes as United and the others. Delta is pretty cheap in and out of DSM or at least it used to be. I could buy two round trip tickets for use anytime for less than 300.00 between Cincinnati and DSM. It was good for the time.
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@Ghog – point well taken. Now..what about the costs to fly out of Des Moines. I can almost always save $100 by flying out of Moline and usually the same flying out of KC or Omaha…those two aren’t quite as convenient. What excuse does Des Moines have for the higher prices?The only other airport that I’ve experienced copious amounts of angst is the Minneapolis airport…but not because of the TSA agents…and I suppose I should actually be blaming the ridiculous training or lack of training of the airline agents.
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You seem to think that the Des Moines Airport had something to do with these TSA agents. That would be incorrect. The Des Moines airport has nothing to do with these TSA head cases that are at the airport. The federal government hired this goon squad you are talking about. The problem is your local TSA administrator and the HR folks that picked them. The worst part is that the airport can do little to stop these federal bullies except lodge a complaint or threaten to hire their own security. Other airports that have tried this get threatened with loss of federal funds and sometimes the problems gets worse. Orlando is trying this right now.The most secure airport in the world is in Tel Aviv, Israel. They do not use dangerous body scanners and they do not touch your person. They use metal detection devices and only if they get some kind of positive reading do they invade your privacy further.The things the TSA does here in the US are not necessary for the most part and can be quite dangerous from a health point of view. Their purpose is not to eliminate terrorism. It’s to break down the resistance of Americans and prepare them for the secure world of the future where you don’t even dare take a dump without federal permission. Get used to it. It’s gonna get worse.
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@tracy – That is a tragedy!!
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One of the problems I see is that US Airport security is under civilian control … in most the rest of the world Airport security is handled by the military. Military security is much more professional … and people tend to behave better when there’s soldiers walking around with automatic weapons.
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@debbykp – I left my wine bottle opener in my carry-on last September! OOPS! Lost my husbands favorite corkscrew.
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@debbykp – I have not had problems at any other airport! I’ve thought there were some irritable TSA folks but I always chalked it up to o’well, I deal with the public too and they are probably just sick of dealing with the crap. But for the most part, they are courteous and almost apologetic…but not Des Moines.
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@tracy – The broom closet
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Duly noted. I will never fly in or out of there. I was expecting a complete horror show out of Boston in October after all of the negative press, but it was a complete breeze. Much much easier than leaving Kalispell on my return flight. They were not terribly rude but EXTREMELY thorough and fairly no nonsense. All about the job at hand – which I suppose is fine, although I didn’t expect it from such a teeny tiny airport. I packed my purse and my carry on super light too. Remembered last minute to ditch the wine bottle opener from my purse. Imagine the mayhem! She’s got a corkscrew! (I never leave home w/out one just in case of an emergency wine bottle opening need. )
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Well that is just a shame. I have (so far) never had any problem with any of the TSA’s. The closest I ever got was someone who was quite uppity with me because she apparently thought I was getting uppity with her. I just couldn’t hear her. It wasn’t much but you could just tell she was kind of itching for a fight. I am a rule follower too. I have had to deal with many of the government training agencies in a once removed kind of way, very often over the last couple of years. FBI, TSA, Marshalls, etc..and I am reminded very regularly that they are just normal people and the same percentage of them are jerks or dishonest or creepy as the rest of the world. Disappointing.If you were going to be visiting close to Manning Iowa, where would you fly in and out of?
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