Passenger: TSA Forced me to Remove my Nipple Ring With Pliers
Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 03.28.08 | 10:19 AM ET
Mandi Hamlin says Transportation Security Administration agents in Lubbock, Texas, would not let her fly with her nipple piercings in place. According to the AP, TSA agents declined Hamlin’s request for a female agent to look at her piercings and confirm they were benign. They instead asked her to remove the piercings if she wanted to fly.
Hamlin removed the bar-shaped piercing from one nipple, but had trouble removing a ring from the other. She said she could only do so with pliers, which were supplied by a TSA agent.
The kicker: Hamlin says she was eventually allowed to pass through security without removing her belly button ring.
“I wouldn’t wish this experience upon anyone,” the 37-year-old Hamlin said. “My experience with TSA was a nightmare I had to endure. No one deserves to be treated this way.”
Her attorney, Gloria Allred, said, “The last time that I checked, a nipple was not a dangerous weapon.”
Hamlin wants an apology from the TSA and an investigation by the agency’s civil rights office.
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Michael Yessis is the cofounder and coeditor of World Hum.
Ling 03.28.08 | 10:58 PM ET
Is it just me, or are flight horror tales getting freakier of late? As for a nipple not being a dangerous weapon, I guess that depends on the point of view…
Lea 03.30.08 | 8:20 AM ET
This is unbeleivable… My husband works for TSA here in orlando and he just laughed in disbelief when I told him this but than again he said nothing surprises him anymore!I’m so sorry this had to happen to you, but just so you know not every TSA worker is as rude as those in the Airport where you went.
Kylie 03.31.08 | 7:38 PM ET
apparently she could have chosen to do some other type of search but she was never given the option. The airports really don’t do enough to tell us our rights
Here 05.12.08 | 7:05 PM ET
Lol, nipple ring, leave it in forever!
Grizzly Bear Mom 08.27.08 | 11:22 AM ET
TSA’s goal is passenger safety. As soon as the agent established that the metal was a nipple ring and not a dangerous weapon, they should have approved the passenger for boarding. There was no reason to innsist that the passenger remove them. Would TSA have asked a person to remove the orthopedic pins in their bones? Unfortunatley when you have low levels of pay you can expect low levels of performance.
Raymond 09.01.08 | 3:28 AM ET
This is just a sad indication of how everything is running around in the country. Real assaulter are running away while pseudo-criminals are caught up and attacked.
saç modelleri 09.01.08 | 1:00 PM ET
Lol, nipple ring, leave it in forever!...
Ciarin 09.02.08 | 11:00 PM ET
The lady was an idiot. Nipple should NEVER be painful to take off as long as you are taking care of them properly. If she never took them out to clean or rotated them then she’s fucking disgusting.
The screeners did all the proper procedures I see no reason for TSA to give an apology. But I’d also like to add that I’ve screened many chicks with piercings and never required them to remove the piercing. Perhaps they were being overly cautious, but I really don’t think they should be raked over coals for that. Flying on a plane is not a right. You don’t like being screened, then take the bus or a train.
or maybe try on some non-metallic rings?
Atleast she got her 15 minutes of idiotic fame.
Enzara 11.13.08 | 12:12 AM ET
There was no reason to innsist that the passenger remove them. Would TSA have asked a person to remove the orthopedic pins in their bones? Unfortunatley when you have low levels of pay you can expect low levels of performance.