Surviving Passenger Screening at Dulles International Airport

The Insider’s Guide to Surviving Passenger Screening at Dulles International Airport

Have you ever stood in line at the airport screening checkpoint and envied the person who breezes through screening, grabs his/her bags and heads on their way? With a little forethought and preparation you can be one of those people too. My objective is to provide you with some helpful advice on how to navigate passenger screening at US airports. I work at Dulles International Airport in the metropolitan Washington, DC area so a few of the tips I give you will be specific to this locale. However, most of what I tell you will be helpful at all airports across the country. There are a number of changes in the works as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) moves to "risk-based" screening procedures intended to ease some of the requirements for families traveling with children and frequent travelers. I will update this material as new rules and procedures are introduced at Dulles.

My goal is not to defend or rationalize TSA passenger and baggage screening procedures. Everyone has their opinion but changes can only be brought about by working with high level government officials not by arguing with TSA employees at the airport who have very little choice in how they execute their duties. Instead, my goal is to help you get through security screening without any TSA intervention whatsoever. Getting a pat down or having your bag inspected is almost always avoidable if you know how to prepare for screening.

I will likely tell you a lot more than you need (or maybe want) to know about passenger screening. But I think it is helpful to know the context behind what goes on to help you better understand why things happen the way that they do and, perhaps, make you a bit more tolerant of the inevitable delays that can occur in the effort to ensure airline passenger safety.

As Columbo (rest in peace) would say - One last thing. I know that many people question the rules and screening procedures used by the TSA. While I do believe that some of the screening methods inconvenience passengers without necessarily enhancing security I am also personally convinced that if we stopped screening passengers and baggage, our enemies immediately would blow up airplanes. They are obsessed with sabotaging aircraft and they have tried many times since 9/11. Terrorism is fundamentally about frightening people. There is something so frightening about an airplane falling from the sky or colliding with a building that terrorists stay up at night trying to figure out ways to make that happen. With the security we have in place today, commercial airplanes are relatively difficult targets. But that isn’t stopping terrorists from trying to find ways to penetrate our security. I am not an expert on security so I will leave it up to the people who are to determine what needs to be done to continue to protect airline passengers.

Top ten ways to avoid delays during passenger screening (last update 1/25/2012)

Contents

The Latest (last updated 8/1/2012)

About me. (last updated 1/2/2012)

Some things to know about the TSOs. (last updated 1/8/2012)

Screening of carryon bags. (last updated 1/2/2012)

Divesting of your carryon bags. (last updated 1/2/2012)

Liquids, gels and aerosols. (last updated 1/2/2012)

Laptops and other large electronic devices. (last updated 1/2/2012)

When in doubt, take it out: Items likely to draw attention. (last updated 1/9/2012)

Screening of your person. (last updated 1/2/2012)

Divesting of your person. (last updated 1/2/2012)

Walk-through metal detector. (coming soon)

Full-body scanner. (coming soon)

Pat-downs. (coming soon)

Prohibited items. (last update 1/9/2012)

Other helpful hints. (last update 1/2/2012)

Dulles-specific tips. (last update 1/2/2012)

Checked baggage tips (coming soon)

What are you guys looking for anyway? (coming soon)

Disclaimer: This material was written by a private citizen hoping to be helpful, not as a representative of the Federal government, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority or of the Transportation Security Administration. Any opinions expressed as well as any inaccuracies in the content are solely the author’s.