A woman at the Los Angeles International Airport had her holiday travel plans delayed after the Transportation Security Administration found 88 illegal items in her carry-on, including explosives and knives last Sunday. According to the TSA, the woman was traveling with “82 consumer grade fireworks, three knives, two replica firearms and one canister of pepper spray.” It isn’t clear what the woman planned to do with the items, although a TSA press release did say the number of banned items “surprised even the longest tenured and most experienced TSA officer.”
“The sheer number of prohibited items discovered in a single carry-on bag is extremely concerning,” LAX TSA Federal Security Director Jason Pantages said in a statement. “This traveler should have followed TSA’s tried and true advice – unpack your bag before you pack it to ensure you don’t bring any prohibited items to the security checkpoint. We are in the midst of the holiday travel season when security checkpoints will be busy everywhere. Let this incident serve as a reminder to all travelers to double-check the contents of your bag prior to coming to the airport.”
While it sounds bad to pack 82 consumer-grade fireworks in your carry-on, the story gets a little less scandalous when you realize the fireworks in question were simply a box of “Mighty Cracker” firecrackers. Also, the “replica firearms” appear to be pistol-shaped keychains, with one very clearly intended to be used as a bottle opener. Oh, and the knives look like they were bought at the same gas station as the pistol keychains, but hey, not everyone can afford Benchmade, OK?
So if she likely wasn’t planning to blow up the plane, what was she doing? Flying to Philadelphia. Yeah, the whole thing makes a whole lot more sense now, doesn’t it? It’s not her fault she just wanted to party.
