TSA To Change Procedures After Nipple Ring Flap

[TJ Phaserman 2]

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― The Transportation Security Administration said Friday it will change they way its officers search passengers with body piercings after a Texas woman complained she was forced to remove a nipple ring with pliers in order to board an airplane.

 

Mandi Hamlin, 37, had demanded an apology and her Los Angeles-based attorney sent a letter to the TSA this week requesting a civil rights investigation.

 

Hamlin said she was trying to board a flight from Lubbock to Dallas on Feb. 24 when she was scanned by a TSA agent after passing through a larger metal detector without problems.

 

The female TSA agent used a handheld detector that beeped when it passed in front of Hamlin's chest, the Dallas-area resident said.

 

Hamlin said she told the woman she was wearing nipple piercings. The agent then called over her male colleagues, one of whom said she would have to remove the jewelry, Hamlin said.

 

Hamlin said she could not remove them and asked whether she could instead display her pierced breasts in private to the female agent. But several other male officers told her she could not board her flight until the jewelry was out, she said.

 

Hamlin was taken behind a curtain and managed to remove one bar-shaped piercing but had trouble with the second, a ring. She said the officer gave her pliers to remove the ring, a process which caused a lot of physical pain.

 

The TSA said in a statement on its Web site that the officers properly followed procedures, but that the procedures must change. In the future passengers can either allow a visual inspection of their piercings, or remove them, the agency said.

 

The statement stopped short of apologizing to Hamlin.

 

"TSA acknowledges that our procedures caused difficulty for the

passenger involved and regrets the situation in which she found herself," the agency said in a statement. "We appreciate her raising awareness on this issue and we are changing the procedures to ensure that this does not happen again."

 

An after-hours call to Hamlin's attorney, Gloria Allred, was not immediately returned.

[Kor37 9]

This situation was totally ridiculous. All that needed to be done was to show a female TSA employee the piercings to prove what was causing the metal detector to go off. Nipple piercings are NOT a National Security issue so there was no reason to force her to remove them. I see that the woman in question has already hired Gloria Allred, the well-known high priced attorney. She will probably get a pretty good payday out of this.

[TJ Phaserman 2]

Well thats only of the TSA does apologize for the misconduct that had happen to her. but it's been a full month and yet no saying we're sorry.

[Theunicornhunter 2]

I can't read this story without feeling sympathetic agony for this woman. Cringe, cringe, cringe.

[ussvwbeetle 0]

I do feel sympathy for the woman and do believe that the TSA officers should have solved the ordeal in private than out where others can see. But they were just doing their job.

[TJ Phaserman 2]

granted they were doing their job, but you have to understand, female passengers have to be checked by female TSA officers if they have body piercings like nipple rings and so on. i mean if not, someone is going to cry bloody murder sooner or later like this incident.

Edited March 31, 2008 by tj_hawk