On June 15, 2017, three of us were traveling to Spain. We had to change planes in Newark. We were among the first to board (preboarding) because my husband is disabled with a shattered ankle and our granddaughter has juvenile arthritis affecting all of her joints. After showing our boarding passes and being told to enter the rather dark walkway, 2 tsa agents materialized and sprang into action. They demanded to know how much cash, cashier cheques, foreign currency, etc that we were carrying. Other passengers were entering the space behind us, and quite a crowd gathered to witness this. At first we said that we weren’t sure, because we did not want to broadcast it and because of not knowing offhand the current conversion rate and how much USD we had after a last minute shopping spree, and not knowing what our granddaughter was carrying. The female agent got red in the face and yelled that we were lying. My husband said we had a few hundred and she yelled that a few hundred could mean anything. Meanwhile we were standing there juggling carryons, neck pillows, purses, and snacks, nowhere to sit nor set anything. Our teenage granddaughter was terrified and shakily said that she had $5.00. We said we had about $300.00. The agent who had been holding our passports then thrusted her arm past me, almost knocking me over, and slapped them into our disabled granddaughter’s hand. I have filed a formal complaint but of course we are not given any followup information.
By: Susan Sullivan