Woman passes airport security with no problem. Minutes later, TSA agents are on the hunt for her because of her ‘own fault’
Getting approached by TSA agents will have anyone worried.
Navigating airport security checks is often one of the most challenging aspects of air travel, and being put on the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) radar is rarely a positive experience. But for one woman, the challenge came when she successfully passed security checks, only for several TSA agents to allegedly hunt for her all over the airport as a result of an item she had.
“Just when I thought life was getting boring and nothing funny or exciting has happened to me recently,” Kristin Hughes (@im.krispy) began in her video on TikTok. According to Hughes, she was waiting to board at her gate after passing through routine security checks when several TSA agents approached her.
“A lady comes up and taps me, crouches down, [and] starts asking me all these questions,” Hughes said. “I look around, there’s a TSA agent, [and] security.” Hughes was asked if she went through TSA checks and if a special screening on her carry-on luggage had been conducted.
Her neck pillow triggered the alarm
Hughes informed the agent that she only went through the standard security check and that she wasn’t asked to do anything else. Right then, the agent showed Hughes a photo of her from the airport’s security footage before requesting that she accompany them for inspection.
“I look over, and they’re all, like, waiting for me,” Hughes said. Of course, suddenly being told by a TSA agent to follow them would set off alarm bells in your head. The agent, however, assured Hughes that she wasn’t in any way in trouble, but that her luggage needed to go through special screening.
Hughes and the agents returned to the TSA checkpoint, where it was explained to her that their X-ray machines malfunctioned at the same time she went through the checkpoint. According to Hughes, the technical malfunction allegedly stemmed from her neck pillow getting snagged as it was on the conveyor belt.
“It’s funny because it was my own fault,” Hughes told viewers. “I had my backpack, and I had my neck pillows. My neck pillow went through the screening, and it started setting off all these alarms.” She was later told by the TSA agent that her neck pillow “can’t go through like that” in the future. Hughes later commented that she had put her neck pillow on top of her backpack, not realizing it needed to be placed separately in a bin.
TSA agents were sent out to look for her
Hughes said that her luggage was initially flagged for special screening since she was transporting candles, but the malfunction inadvertently allowed her to pass without further inspection. When TSA realized this mistake, they allegedly sent half a dozen agents scouring the airport in a hunt for her using her physical description.
Fortunately for Hughes, the entire incident was only due to a technical error. Although it definitely made onlookers curious: “Everyone at the gate was looking at me because they’re like, ‘Oh, why is this girl getting hauled off by multiple security people?’”
Viewers praised Hughes for her calm demeanour during the incident, as being flagged by TSA is surely a worrisome experience. “You’re so not bothered by this which is a compliment to you. It says a lot about the type of person you are,” a viewer wrote.
Some even shared their own experience getting flagged by TSA. One viewer said, “I brought a c*** making mould kit to a bachelorette party. Homeland security was called and that part of TSA was evacuated because in the x-ray machine, it looked like a pipe bomb with the vibrating piece, the powder and the cylindrical mould.” Needless to say, this incident had Hughes rethinking attaching her neck pillows to bags in the future.
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