Travel Day and a Recent TSA Experience

If you've been reading "The 'Right' Solutions," you know that we are critics of the TSA and their screening tactics. While we'll readily point out the bad, we'll also point out the good. I recently traveled to Atlanta and in my time at Newark International Aiport and Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, I had very good experiences with the TSA. At EWR, I'm starting to think that it's a Terminal A thing, as they seem to be less intrusive in the quieter Continental Terminal, as opposed to the main Continental Terminal (C). At Hartsfield, the largest and busiest airport in the US, TSA staff I encountered were friendly, easy-going and very unintrusive to this average traveler.

On this busy day of travel, we would like to provide you with some tips in reducing TSA headaches:

- If flying with children, be sure to ask the airline that their boarding pass will not be tagged as a spot search.

- Fly early! Not only will delays, especially at an airport as busy and overcrowded as Newark, be reduced, but there will be no waits at the security checkpoints.

- Be prepared before entering that line. Find a chair pr a bare corner, and take out your drivers license, your boarding pass and your Ziploc bags with liquids and electronics. If you do not separate the electronics through the machine, your bag will likely be opened and searched.

- Scan the lines and if you have an aversion to the body scanner, choose a line without it.

- Wear socks! You will be taking your shoes off and putting them through the machine. You can't necessarily eat off an airport floor, so why expose your feet to it!

- Do not wear cargo shorts. You will be frisked in the vicinity of the extra pockets.

- Look as if you know what you are doing and do not wait for the TSA to tell you where to go. Go through that magnetometer before they direct you elsewhere.

- If they do ask you to go through the body scanner, it is your right to opt out for a pat-down. Be firm and if they refuse, tell them you want to speak with a supervisor or you will report their badge number.

- If you are patted down, make sure it is in public and person doing the patting down is the same sex. This is imperative with children! Also ask the agent to change their gloves.

We wish you safe and quick travels on the way to your holiday destination!