Long security lines snaked into baggage claim areas and parking garages at some U.S. airports this weekend, a possible indicator of more widespread travel problems as the latest government shutdown drags on.

That kind of disruption, while not yet widespread, is not a concern that typically surfaces at San Francisco International Airport, the largest of nearly two dozen U.S. airports where screening checkpoints are staffed by private contractors under a little-used federal program that allows airports to outsource security screenings while maintaining TSA oversight.

Because contractors’ pay comes from a federal contract, it often continues even when the government shuts down.

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[–] 14 points 6 months ago (3 children)

I have to take certain tools with me on my business trips, and I've learned to take a cheap Home Depot pliers because they occasionally get confiscated for being 1/4" too long. I started buying these cheap $3 pliers after my $25 pair got confiscated.

How am I supposed to hijack a plane with a pair of pliers? Why is a 7" pair unable to hijack a plane, but a 7 1/4" pair can?

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