Transportation Security Administration Administrator John Pistole has responded to an incident involving the TSA denying a mother entry on a flight until she could prove her breast pump was real, saying that passengers need to be “better-informed” before flying by “looking at the TSA.gov website.” Pistole also recounted his personal experience receiving pat-downs from TSA agents.
“So the challenge is, with those millions of passengers and with 450 airports, it is a challenge to provide 100 percent total customer satisfaction and recognizing that many days, we don’t do that. There are opportunities for us every day to engage the public in ways that most agencies or businesses — for example, I’m trying to think of any businesses that have 100 percent customer satisfaction with that many customers, if you will — on a daily basis. I’m not aware of any government agencies that have that record. There may be some businesses out there,” Pistole said during a luncheon at the National Press Club on Monday.
“So it really comes down to, the better-informed the passenger can be before they get to the airport, by looking at the TSA.gov website. We have a lot of helpful suggestions and tips for how to pack, how to travel, what we look for and what are prohibited items, what things you can take on, what things you can’t, and what can, for example, go in your checked bag.”
According to the TSA.gov website, “TSA has modified the rules associated with carrying breast milk through security checkpoints. Mothers flying with, and without, their child are permitted to bring breast milk in quantities greater than three ounces as long as it is declared for inspection at the security checkpoint.”
KITV4 reports that the TSA has apologized to the woman who said a TSA agent would only allow her through the security checkpoint if she used her breast pump in the public restroom at the airport to fill up the empty bottles she was trying to carry on her flight.
Pistole also told the audience at the luncheon that he has received pat-downs from TSA agents “multiple times.”
“I go through security every time. On one of my recent international trips, I was transiting through a well-known Western European hub and went through, the walk-through metal detector and I knew I had no metal on me, and yet the alarm went off, so they said, ‘Over here, sir’. And they didn’t know who I was,” he said to laughter.
“And I received a thorough pat-down. I complimented the security officer on the thoroughness of his pat-down and made me stand up straight.”