Most humiliating and frustrating airport experience yet. Was supposed to fly back home this evening but that is not happening. Will update when I calm down a bit because had a full on mental b in the airport lol

So yeah. Things started off as they usually do. Couldn’t check in online or at a kiosk. Got to the front desk to check in where I waited over 2 hours for them to get approval from TSA to let me through.

Before leaving they asked if I was checking a bag. I said yes, one. They proceeded to charge me for the bag and sent me off with my boarding pass equipped with the SSSS stamp. Before I left they called me back and said TSA told them I had to take my checked bag with me to be screened by TSA. This was a first. I double checked that my bag would still be checked since I just fucking paid for it. They said yes for sure and that TSA just needed to do a thorough inspection- which they always do, but never at security checkpoint and never in front of me.

When it was finally my turn at the checkpoint they asked me to step to the side and wait. I waited about 20-30 minutes until someone came and escorted me through security. Before allowing me in, I had to pull out all my electronics and prove that they could turn on. As he was leading me through, he kept telling other TSA people “we have a houseguest with us.” It took about 3 times before I realized I was said “houseguest” they were referring to and wondering if that was just airport speak for “terrorist.”

He then made me walk in and out of the metal detector 3 times, then led me into the scanner thing where you have to stand legs open wide and hands above your head. After that they took me to a secluded (but visible) area. They explained I needed to take off all “excess” layers of clothing (?) and had to have a pat down and that all my belongings would be inspected item by item.

They tried to lead me to a private room after this. I refused and told them I wanted to stay where other people could see me. They do the pat down, the most invasive and aggressive pat down I’ve ever gotten. Then they swab my hands and feet and told me to wait as they check my things.

They started with my personal bag and carry on. Unzipped every section and pocket and flipped my bags upside down dumping everything that’s in them. One by one they were going through it. One by one they were swabbing everything. By the time they had finished with this it had been about an hour.

They move on to my checked bag and call me over. “This bag is marked to be checked in” TSA says. “Yeah… I was told I had to bring it here,” I responded. They seemed confused and annoyed and then began doing the same thing as my other bags.

At this point I was already holding back tears. Idk how to explain it but today’s experience was just really overwhelming in a very different way.

As they were emptying out my checked bag the spectacle of this whole situation just dramatically escalated. So many people were watching and staring at me. It was obvious something not normal was going on. As they were going through everything one by one they get to this book I have that’s written in Arabic that my friend got for me in Berlin since I wasn’t able to meet him there. “Did you have this with you,” they asked. The TSA person then takes the book and starts flipping thru it page by page. Then says that they have to dispose of the book, and then said that book set off the explosives alarm (lol bs) and that they needed to call the specialist down to test it. The book? It’s a journal about the studies of Palestine, all written in Arabic. Of course the explosives specialist tests came out negative as they do every fucking time.

As this is all happening, I start seeing some of my belongings getting tossed into the trash. First a setting spray, then some hair stuff, then some skincare stuff, my perfume… then I see the hair oils I just got from the Middle East that I literally can’t get here. I went over and asked wtf was going on and if that bin is trash or if it’s stuff that still needs to get tested. They told me it’s trash because it’s over the allowable weight for carry ons. I said ok but that bag is getting checked. It’s marked to be checked and I have the receipt right here. The people at the front desk were directly told by DHS that they needed to check my bag there. They said “yeah, but to bring it on the plane, you can’t have a checked bag.” Why I wasn’t allowed a checked bag is beyond me.

I lost it at that point. Why the fuck make me pay for a checked bag then? Why not communicate this before? This bag was packed SPECIFICALLY to be checked in and that’s why there’s liquids or whatever over 3oz because it’s supposed to be checked. They told me it’s not their problem I didn’t understand.

Of note- my liquids/non solids that were properly sized for a carry on and labeled in English were fine. The only “minis” that got tossed were in Arabic packaging.

So not only did they toss over $200 worth of my belongings, some of which I quite literally cannot replace, but they made it somehow my fault. Oh yeah and my luggage is completely cracked and broken now and it looks like they drilled 4 holes in it?

Also during them searching my main checked bag, they took out every single piece of underwear/lingerie, stretched it out and made a huge show of it as many people were watching.

I was in their custody with no access to my phone and freezing as everyone stared for over THREE hours. I got to the airport plenty early since I’m used to this. But that holdup was apparently my fault. So had to buy a new ticket and now stuck at the airport overnight

Idk why today was so overwhelming but it was. The bag thing is really the only difference from other times. I’m not sure if it was the unanticipated change up, how much this is now costing me/I had to lose, or just the frequency of this happening catching up with me because it really is traumatic, but either way it was a lot. It takes a lot for me to cry, especially to cry over myself/something happening to me, but I cried a lot lmao. Then I was able to contain my emotions for a bit only to see a mom and her 3 daughters, all hijabis, waiting behind me for their turn in this hell. And I lost it again.