Lisa Farbstein and Emily Bonilla, TSA Office of Strategic Communication and Public Affairs

Lisa Farbtein
Lisa Farbstein is a dynamic, results-focused, creative veteran media relations/public affairs professional with more than 30 years of experience. She has been a spokesperson with the Transportation Security Administration for 13 years and is currently responsible for covering seven states, including seven of the largest airports in the country—JFK, Newark, LaGuardia, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Reagan-National and Dulles Airports.  Prior to joining TSA, Ms. Farbstein was the chief spokesperson for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority—or Metro--the subway and bus system in the nation’s capital, where she worked for 10 years. Ms. Farbstein has also served as the chief spokesperson for the Arlington (Virginia) Public School system and a spokesperson for Hood College, a small liberal arts college in central Maryland. She began her career as a journalist. Ms. Farbstein earned her bachelor’s degree from Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania, and her master’s degree from Hood College in Maryland.

Emily Bonilla - Pieton

Emily Bonilla-Pieton has been with the US government for nearly 15 years and is currently the TSA's Lead Social Media Strategist. A first-generation Salvadorian-Puerto Rican child of immigrants and so-called "Army Brat," she credits her cultural upbringing and life experiences as the foundation for her current success. A lover of pop culture and storytelling, she once aspired to be a news reporter and quickly shifted gears to a different type of media. Now, as TSA’s lead social media strategist, she incorporates trending topics and helps make them into relatable but informative content. Much of her and her team’s work has been recognized nationally, including being recognized by Forbes magazine as "12 Examples of Vocal Brands That Stand Out on Social Media."

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Transcript

00:00:05:14 - 00:00:17:15
Robert Tornabene
First thing. And Emily Bonilla. She's a social media strategist from the Strategic Communication and Affairs office. Lisa is a spokesperson for the TSA. Welcome to the show, guys.

00:00:17:17 - 00:00:19:21
Lisa Farbstein
Hey, thanks for having us.

00:00:19:23 - 00:00:39:00
Robert Tornabene
Thank you very much for being on the show. The reason I have this opportunity, and I wanted to interview you guys because I do interview a few people from federal agencies. Brave yet they have anybody on from the TSA. And I appreciate it. It's an organization that does a tremendous amount of work. I don't think anybody realizes how much you guys do.

00:00:39:02 - 00:00:54:10
Robert Tornabene
So I do appreciate you coming on. I'm sure everyone who has ever traveled since 9/11 has encountered you guys, right? Obviously, since that's when it started. Can you give us a brief overview of what the staffing of the organization agency itself?

00:00:54:12 - 00:01:19:02
Lisa Farbstein
Okay. So it's, this we're going to play a game. It looks like a stunt. The spokesperson. my favorite game. so I'll take that one. So, we have about 60,000 employees across the country. not all of them are frontline employees. About. I think it's right around 40,000 or TSA officers. They might all. But it's like some of them wear the blue shirts, right?

00:01:19:02 - 00:01:41:23
Lisa Farbstein
You see the blue uniform shirts at the checkpoint? But it's way more than that. we have TSA officers, the blue shirts, of course, that are working behind the scenes with check baggage. You don't tend to think about your check baggage, but all checked baggage is screened as well. But we also have canine handlers, and we have, lists, program analysts.

00:01:42:01 - 00:02:07:17
Lisa Farbstein
We have, you know, people are doing anything like payroll, administrative stuff. You know, like like my job and Emily's job. But we have explosives experts. We've got surface experts for surface. I mean, usually people just think of us as being, you know, at airports, but surface experts as well. We have cyber experts. We have pipeline experts, motorcoach experts.

00:02:07:19 - 00:02:13:02
Lisa Farbstein
mass transit. You know, I could go on and on. So for about 40 and 65,000.

00:02:13:04 - 00:02:27:02
Robert Tornabene
And that's important. I think that I appreciate you going into a little bit more detail because I think when people hear TSA, that's all they think of are the officers in the blue shirts. And I knew there was more that guys did. So I appreciate you going into some detail there.

00:02:27:08 - 00:02:37:08
Lisa Farbstein
Sure. So and then we we are one of many components of the Department of Homeland Security. Of course we think we're the best component. But you know.

00:02:37:10 - 00:03:05:20
Robert Tornabene
You have a very important job. So it's it's it's it's something I think that not a whole lot of people are aware of what you guys do. And and that's what the other reason why I wanted to get somebody from TSA on is their kind of talk about that. Sure. So one of the reasons I even reach out to you guys is because your social media accounts and they are extremely active, and you guys are posting information about, you know, what to pack, what not to pack, highlighting staff retirement notes, how to plan.

00:03:05:21 - 00:03:07:05
Robert Tornabene
How do you plan for it?

00:03:07:08 - 00:03:32:00
Emily Bonilla
Yeah. I mean, I can jump in on that. So here's the thing. We have a team that is so aware of who is following us. Our audience, we're meeting them where they're at. So we're participating in trends. But at the same time, not only it's called educating. So we're educating through interchange. for us, the goal is to have comforted travelers, right.

00:03:32:00 - 00:03:57:03
Emily Bonilla
So what we do is basically meet them where they're at and educate them in an entertaining way to showcase the amazing things our officers are catching, day in and day out. Also, some quirky things our regular travelers are contributing and, you know, teaching them a little bit of of best practice in the meantime. So, we jump in on social media holidays and.

00:03:57:04 - 00:04:03:00
Emily Bonilla
Yeah, and at overall trends, I mean, social media, every day there's a new trend to jump on.

00:04:03:02 - 00:04:18:06
Lisa Farbstein
One of the one of the. Yeah, one of the things that I admire about a social media team is their ability to crack a good joke and a pun. These folks have more puns up their sleeves than anybody I know. It's amazing.

00:04:18:07 - 00:04:22:10
Robert Tornabene
So impressive. How many platforms? What platforms are you guys currently running right now?

00:04:22:10 - 00:04:36:16
Emily Bonilla
So let's say we are. We've got of course, our Instagram account. We are on threads. We are on LinkedIn x YouTube. am I missing any Facebook.

00:04:36:18 - 00:04:59:09
Robert Tornabene
Okay. So a decent spread of of of social media plus the differences involved in all those platforms. Now whether it's real or YouTube short or you know phenomenal. So great job on that. So I saw a post and this is kind of the reason I reached out to you guys on April 24th, your main account on IG said that you guys are posting an image.

00:04:59:11 - 00:05:17:09
Robert Tornabene
Passengers who entertain unruly behavior on a checkpoint or in flight may face substantial penalties and so on. I would imagine your staff sees a whole host of mannerisms, behaviors. Obviously, that's a that's an obvious reason for posting that. But let's talk about that.

00:05:17:11 - 00:05:43:16
Lisa Farbstein
So, it is very unfortunate that, some individuals who show up at our checkpoints, I guess have, have, gotten up on the wrong side of the bed. And I think that maybe the first person they engage with, other than their family, is likely a TSA, employee. Sometimes that engagement doesn't go, smoothly. it's, unfortunate that, officers are sometimes cussed out.

00:05:43:18 - 00:06:18:20
Lisa Farbstein
they are spit on, they're shoved, they're elbowed. and, when that happens and we notify the police who are staffing the airport, to come and, intervene and oftentimes calm down a passenger. Now, sometimes a passenger may be upset because, maybe they're flying to a funeral and they're upset about that. Maybe they're flying and, they they're, you know, I guess the term would be in a fear of flying, that they're not comfortable in an airplane and they're not comfortable at a checkpoint.

00:06:18:22 - 00:06:48:03
Lisa Farbstein
And maybe it's somebody who hasn't flown in several years and they're somewhat timid or frustrated by the process because they're not familiar with it. And so I think that, unfortunately, that those sorts of incidents do happen. And the majority of people who come through our checkpoint are very polite. They thank our officers, my God, during Covid, the the level of courtesy, toward our officers just went up like crazy because here they were out there working.

00:06:48:05 - 00:07:05:00
Lisa Farbstein
when people were, you know, masked and and staying home. And so that happened during government shutdowns where people would come and thank our officers. I will say that I know that that was very refreshing, especially during a shutdown when they're working and not getting paid.

00:07:05:02 - 00:07:37:16
Robert Tornabene
Right. And I'm sure that's really tough on them. especially during Covid with having to be masked and work inside. And, I hated wearing masks when I was inside and just having to I don't know how they could do that all day. Just kudos to them for that. I have a funny story that happened to, person in front of me at a checkpoint in a Dallas Fort Worth airport just got this is, you know, maybe four years after 911, and I'm going to the airport and we're coming and I'm coming back from a conference, and there's two gentlemen in suits in front of me, and one guy goes through.

00:07:37:18 - 00:07:55:19
Robert Tornabene
No problem. The other guy, he's kind of a brash, loud kind of in with. He starts going off on the agent. That's like throwing his bag because a bag keeps going through and coming back out because they now they want to check the bag because there's something in there. He's going off on him. And then he goes through it.

00:07:55:21 - 00:08:12:12
Robert Tornabene
What? He was wearing a belt. Get to go take the belt off. Come back through again. He kept getting worse and worse. And finally I heard them say, we're taking you to secondary check. They pulled him out of the line, and I left, you know, and the guy that was in front of him had picked up his stuff and was walking.

00:08:12:12 - 00:08:20:10
Robert Tornabene
And he comes back, he goes, hey, did you see that guy I was with? I go, yeah, I think he's going to he's going to probably suffer some delay in his flight.

00:08:20:12 - 00:08:21:13
Lisa Farbstein
Paul.

00:08:21:15 - 00:08:28:04
Robert Tornabene
Was that on the flight? The guy that other his friend was on the same flight as me. He was not on the flight.

00:08:28:06 - 00:08:28:20
Lisa Farbstein
I don't know what.

00:08:28:20 - 00:08:50:12
Robert Tornabene
I you know, it's it's unfortunate, but, you know, it's it just is the way it is. So here's something I saw today. You could have pinned on your on your X account. Voluntary facial recognition technology is being used to experience security. How is that being received? Because a lot of people, they get like nervous when they hear facial recognition.

00:08:50:14 - 00:09:15:22
Lisa Farbstein
So, I'll tell you, it's very convenient. And we're getting mostly really, really good feedback. What happens is it's a cloud credential authentication technology. the newer units, of which we have something like 800, installed so far at airports across the country. and what happens is it is matching the face that is there in front of the TSA officer with the face on the ID.

00:09:16:00 - 00:09:33:06
Lisa Farbstein
So whether that's, say, a passport or driver's license, and you don't even have to hand your boarding pass to the TSA officer, because that unit is smart enough to know that you are checking it to fly out of that airport for that day. Now, you might not think that's a big deal, but I can tell you that some people show up a day early.

00:09:33:07 - 00:09:51:11
Lisa Farbstein
Some people show up a day late. some people show up at, Dulles, Washington Dulles International Airport when they meant to fly out of Reagan National Airport or Baltimore Washington International Airport. Some people show up at LaGuardia and they should be at JFK and say, you know, same thing in Chicago. You're in Chicago. There's a couple airports.

00:09:51:17 - 00:10:13:01
Lisa Farbstein
So, that machine is smart enough to know that you're checking it for out of that airport that day. But again, you don't need to show your boarding pass the ID, once it's a facial match, and it just takes like three, four seconds. And, so again, it's, very convenient. it's it's touchless because you can feed your driver's license or your passport.

00:10:13:01 - 00:10:37:13
Lisa Farbstein
It's a machine yourself. officer says, okay, you're good to go, assuming you're good to go, but basically it is a huge enhancement of security because it can really identify fraudulent ID. and, the TSA officers are focused on how to use that, technology. And if for some reason that technology is not available, they just go to the back up and, check IDs as they were previous.

00:10:37:16 - 00:10:46:20
Lisa Farbstein
But we have indeed, several individuals with falsified IDs and, you know, that's never a good, outcome for that individual.

00:10:46:22 - 00:11:04:01
Robert Tornabene
oh. That's awesome. You know, I didn't even realize you guys were using facial recognition. I mean, I know I, I have pre-check, so, I mean, I, I know they took a picture of me and all that, so I assume that that's part of the process, but, I didn't I haven't flown in, like, the last six months, so I haven't really realized that.

00:11:04:01 - 00:11:05:21
Robert Tornabene
But that's outstanding. Great job.

00:11:06:03 - 00:11:16:15
Lisa Farbstein
Well, the other important thing to note is you may opt out of the photo. If you're uncomfortable with that, you just tell the officer, I'd like to opt out of the photo, and you can still go through the screening process.

00:11:16:17 - 00:11:38:18
Robert Tornabene
And you know that. Okay, well, yeah, there is an option for people. And again, that's something, you know, maybe not everybody realizes. So it's good to know. So Emily, I noticed something today. And I always kind of peruse people's stuff before I get them on the air. And I and I'm going through your timeline on X. I saw something posted today with someone wearing chicken feet, socks.

00:11:38:20 - 00:11:46:07
Robert Tornabene
Where'd you get that photo? And and how are you getting this stuff from airports all over the country?

00:11:46:09 - 00:12:02:17
Emily Bonilla
That that one is a fun fact. We have seen a trend of people working out with these chicken socks is pretty hilarious. And we're like, wouldn't it be cool to find some sort of video of somebody going to the airport with the socks? And, well, it just so happens that a team member was flying, got her pair of socks.

00:12:02:17 - 00:12:04:14
Robert Tornabene
And oh, that's hilarious.

00:12:04:16 - 00:12:14:04
Emily Bonilla
Shot herself going through security. Oh, so that one was a stage one. But it was a great plug. Not only because it's attention grabbing. Right. So that's kind of.

00:12:14:08 - 00:12:14:15
Robert Tornabene
Right.

00:12:14:16 - 00:12:31:13
Emily Bonilla
At with social media, it's like how can we a little bit of a shock value, how can we get people to stick around and and pause a little bit and, you know, maybe scratch their, their head a little bit like what is this picture all about. So, you know, that was a great opportunity to plug in TSA PreCheck because guess what.

00:12:31:15 - 00:12:45:22
Emily Bonilla
You wouldn't have to expose your socks or your chicken legs for that matter, if you had TSA PreCheck. So, you know, we're always trying to find innovative ways to plug in, plug in something that makes traveling a little bit more easier for the public.

00:12:46:00 - 00:12:59:06
Robert Tornabene
And and on the other side of it is like, I've seen you guys post pictures of like, rocket launchers, things not to bring. At the same time, if you didn't say not to bring that with, you know, with somebody, be stupid enough to try and bring it.

00:12:59:07 - 00:13:26:08
Emily Bonilla
Those are the opportunities for us to humanize the workforce. I mean, they have such a thankless job. It's a reminder that, you know, our officers, day in and day out, are catching some crazy off the wall items and kind of risking their safety sometimes while looking through bags. And, you know, we have a responsibility to, you know, be mindful of our officers who, you know, they're the reason why you're able to arrive safely to your destination.

00:13:26:13 - 00:13:43:11
Emily Bonilla
So those are the awesome good catches that we're able to showcase to really, you know, not necessarily highlight a bonehead move from a traveler, but really to highlight the officers amazing catch of of catching it before it entered an aircraft.

00:13:43:13 - 00:13:45:00
Robert Tornabene
Oh, were you guys.

00:13:45:02 - 00:14:08:02
Lisa Farbstein
You'd be surprised that how many things at TSA officers catch that we call it artfully concealed, artfully concealed items. You know, people will take knives and and blades, under the handles of their shoulder bags, under the lining of their suitcase, in the soles of their shoes. they they will tape things to their bodies. I mean, you know what people do?

00:14:08:02 - 00:14:25:05
Lisa Farbstein
It's crazy. They will, keep things using, aluminum foil. I, I don't understand that. A little wrap, something aluminum foil and tape it to their body or or somehow conceal it among their carry ons. Tape it to something, and, you know, it's not.

00:14:25:07 - 00:14:43:06
Robert Tornabene
Yeah, I think it it's not going to get caught. Yeah, I know I went through the last time I went through checkpoint, I was going through the scanner and the, all body scanner and he's like, oh, you got a spot here? And, and I'm like in the middle of my back. I'm like, I'm trying to think was one of those days I was wearing a sweater and I was really warm.

00:14:43:06 - 00:14:57:10
Robert Tornabene
And he said, I bet you it's a hot spot. Don't worry. And he patted me down. He goes, you're going to go, it's but I mean, it's like things like that. I appreciate them explaining because it helps me understand better, you know, for a future.

00:14:57:12 - 00:15:18:10
Lisa Farbstein
Where when you do go through, the body scanner, the one that you put your hands up over your head and some airports, you just put your arms down to the side, depending on which airport it is. what happens is you can kind of look over your shoulder at the monitor that the TSA officer is looking at, and if it has a yellow, we call it a bounding box, or maybe your shoulder or your back or something.

00:15:18:16 - 00:15:36:15
Lisa Farbstein
That way they can just do a pat down. We call it a targeted pat out of that area as opposed to a whole full body pattern. And so if you if they tell you it looks like there might be something on your leg, you can kind of turn around and look at that screen and say, and you don't know why they're, they're saying that.

00:15:36:17 - 00:15:44:19
Robert Tornabene
Well, thank you for that, Emily. How are you getting this stuff? How do you get the TSA agents across the country to send you this,

00:15:44:21 - 00:16:11:09
Emily Bonilla
Well, so here's the thing. This is why we have an amazing working relationship with our spokespeople, because they have these amazing working relationships with the airport. So this is where working as a team and collaborating really comes in hand. Because, airports have to report these artfully concealed items. And I know we we're talking about the artfully concealed items, but equally, people are forgetting that they're packing items that aren't allowed.

00:16:11:15 - 00:16:32:16
Emily Bonilla
And so this is a great opportunity for us to do those reminders of, hey, you might have been a while since you last traveled, so check your bags, make sure everything's like emptied out of pocket. So, it's kind of like 5050 down the line. Yes, our flight concealed, but then there's these whoopsie moments as well. So these good catches come from our fellow spokespeople.

00:16:32:16 - 00:16:47:18
Emily Bonilla
The airport, the field. at this point, we've, you know, we've had our cowboys for well over a decade. So, so people can feed these information to us very easily as a learning experience. So, that's pretty much how we get our info, our Intel.

00:16:47:18 - 00:17:08:03
Robert Tornabene
I find the level of humor and and educational engagement you guys have in your, in your account exceptional. You guys are doing a great job and I you know, kudos to you for putting out the content and the level that you're doing it. And it's all over the spectrum. So it's so enjoyable that you know and and I there's value in it.

00:17:08:03 - 00:17:10:19
Robert Tornabene
So again kudos to you guys for the great work.

00:17:10:19 - 00:17:39:06
Emily Bonilla
You know thank you a fun fact and a shameless plug. Our team is made up of predominantly former officers of agents. So former field officers. So they all worked in the airport at one point in their lives. and are all self-taught. So they're bringing expertise from their role on the field. Also relating to the traveling public. So I really, truly believe that that is the secret to the SAS is just having that level of experience there.

00:17:39:07 - 00:17:56:23
Emily Bonilla
And we're all spread out across the country, so little experience across the country and, you know, having a little fun and, you know, staying true to the mission and making sure that the takeaway is that the travelers are educated and kind of know where to go for more information, if needed, to.

00:17:57:01 - 00:18:18:07
Robert Tornabene
Awesome. Lisa, I brought up something before we started the interview today, and I'm going to I'm going to grab this from you because you mentioned it. We are coming into trap busy travel season, right? There's a lot going on. and you had mentioned some numbers in in travelers and so on. So I know Covid you don't Covid really shut down the airline industry and stuff.

00:18:18:07 - 00:18:23:09
Robert Tornabene
What what are you guys seeing numbers wise right now going through the airports?

00:18:23:11 - 00:18:50:01
Lisa Farbstein
thanks. Yeah. So we're seeing, elevated numbers of travelers going through our checkpoints just this last week on Monday of last week, we we recorded our seventh busiest day in TSA history. And then Friday, just a few days ago, we recorded the ninth busiest day in TSA history, right? Nationwide in terms of we call it throughput, meaning the number of people who go through our checkpoints and we screen.

00:18:50:03 - 00:19:13:14
Lisa Farbstein
So the busiest day, in our history, it was November 26th, 2023. So that would have been right around Thanksgiving, likely the I don't know if time ahead. I'm going to guess it's the Sunday after Thanksgiving, which is usually the busiest day of the year. And we screened 2.9 million people. Well, right now we are expecting this summer to be so busy that we're exceeding prepared levels.

00:19:13:16 - 00:19:29:09
Lisa Farbstein
And I'd say it is very possible that we're going to be seeing many more days hit that top ten, and possibly even a new number. One of the real, watch will be we're going to be on the lookout for any day that might actually hit 3 million for the very first time.

00:19:29:11 - 00:19:37:16
Robert Tornabene
And talk about the stress level of everybody involved. Because of that, many bodies are going through their checkpoints. So it's going to be tough.

00:19:37:18 - 00:19:58:09
Lisa Farbstein
Yeah. And so you're going to see my team posting many reminders, whether that is, urgency to get to the airport early, because if we're going to see 300,000 more people on a given day than another day just to single, all 300,000 of those people are in front of you. Okay. So you need to get to the airport early.

00:19:58:11 - 00:20:25:02
Lisa Farbstein
and we have a saying is called know before you go and ideas. It's important to know what is in your specifically your carry on bag before you get to the airport because you don't want it to trigger an alarm. because that means you're going to get pulled to the side, your bag is going to get pulled, and so somebody is going to have to go open it and, figure out what it was that triggered that alarm, to make sure there's, nothing that's prohibited and that can slow you down.

00:20:25:02 - 00:20:34:19
Lisa Farbstein
And eventually, that can slow down other people behind you. So those are some of the tips that you're going to see them bring in very creative ways.

00:20:34:21 - 00:20:38:07
Robert Tornabene
Thank you. A I didn't realize this. The TSA has an app.

00:20:38:08 - 00:20:42:05
Lisa Farbstein
Do you want to see that one? Emily? You want me to take the take that one either or.

00:20:42:06 - 00:20:45:00
Emily Bonilla
You could take the lead and then I can time it where necessary.

00:20:45:01 - 00:21:06:18
Lisa Farbstein
So we have a free downloadable app. and, it's called, my TSA, my favorite feature is, what can I bring? And so you can type in an item and it will let you know, where you can pack it. Should you bring it in your check bag, your carrier bag, either or neither. good example would be, knitting needles.

00:21:06:18 - 00:21:24:03
Lisa Farbstein
I think a lot of people might think you can't bring knitting needles, but I will tell you, you can, bring the knitting needles in a carry on bag. Sparklers. right around July 4th, we're going to see people bring, who want to bring sparklers and fireworks. even sparklers are not permitted in a carry on bag or a check bag.

00:21:24:05 - 00:21:46:03
Lisa Farbstein
if you do want to bring your tools, people bring a lot of tools. and if they're larger than seven inches, please put them in your, in your, check bag. So, you'll find lots of, handy tips there. But that app also has other features that can talk to you of Eric and inform you about whether there are delays at your airport.

00:21:46:05 - 00:21:57:20
Lisa Farbstein
and so that you're aware of those sorts of things. And we can let you know what times the TSA PreCheck lanes are open and at the various airports. So super helpful. Free downloadable app.

00:21:57:20 - 00:22:08:00
Robert Tornabene
My TSA and I'm on it. I'm on it right now. Right now. And it's it's really great. I mean, it's a great little app. I had no clue they have this because.

00:22:08:02 - 00:22:32:09
Emily Bonilla
Yeah, you can even store your pre-check number as well, your CTN number. So everyone always misplaced places or can't find their CTN. And it's a great place to store that number for your pre-check travel. And then of course shameless plug. There is a direct link to contact our ask TSA team which is a customer service app that anything you need to know about your travel?

00:22:32:11 - 00:22:36:11
Emily Bonilla
The ask TSA team is able to answer in real time.

00:22:36:12 - 00:22:39:18
Robert Tornabene
So that's real people. That's not an I.

00:22:39:20 - 00:22:41:14
Emily Bonilla
It's real people.

00:22:41:16 - 00:23:03:11
Robert Tornabene
Oh, that's good to know. Excellent. So every year I see information posted about seizures at airport checkpoints. You know you guys just do a great job of education. But people have you shouldn't decrease an increase when you're putting on your educational stuff for people just like you said, forgetful, dense or just plain stupid.

00:23:03:12 - 00:23:24:04
Lisa Farbstein
well, probably a combination. But first of all, let's go over what happens when somebody has a prohibited item with them. So if somebody has a permanent item with them in the most common or different types of knives, people travel with knives all the time, whether that's a credit card knife, a fishing knife, a keychain knife, whether it's a hunting knife, a boy Scout like I would just any a knife.

00:23:24:04 - 00:23:44:18
Lisa Farbstein
And so let's say somebody shows up with a knife in their carry on or among their carry on items. The TSA officer will give the traveler a choice. How do you want to handle it? Do you want to put it in a check back? Because all those items are fine in a check. But during a handoff to a non traveling companion, somebody perhaps who has just dropped you off at the curb, you call them up.

00:23:44:22 - 00:24:10:07
Lisa Farbstein
Hey, swing back around. I forgot I had my credit card knife in my wallet. you can, some airports are mailing centers to come out either to your destination or to your home. and your last resort really is to voluntarily surrender to TSA. So you used the word when we started this little, conversation. You use the word seed, so we don't see it that way, because the traveler was given the option of how they wanted to handle the situation.

00:24:10:09 - 00:24:30:21
Lisa Farbstein
And, if they wanted to then eventually decide to voluntarily abandon it with TSA, then, you know, we'll make sure that we take care of it. Those items are then donated to the States. and the state then has the option of disposing of it. Many states will, sell them either online or at auction or in a local shop.

00:24:30:23 - 00:24:55:04
Lisa Farbstein
And, with the state makes a profit. TSA makes no profit. Something similar happens with a firearm. If somebody shows up with a firearm, not always are prohibited. But, you know, hey, that's illegal whether that's loaded or unloaded. And so what happens is if there's a firearm found in a carry on bag, the, X-ray machine is, is basically stopped.

00:24:55:06 - 00:25:15:22
Lisa Farbstein
The conveyor belt is stopped. So everybody in that line, has to wait for a police officer to show up at the checkpoint. And usually that does not actually take long. They're in the airport and we have the the police officer remove the carry on back from the actual machine because we do not want our officers handling firearms, because I could just be an accident waiting to happen.

00:25:16:00 - 00:25:43:10
Lisa Farbstein
So it's the police that will confiscate or CS a firearm, not TSA. We are not law enforcement. So then it's up to the police whether somebody is criminally cited or arrested or neither. That often depends on the jurisdiction. And TSA will typically end up committing a report. Then the individual is likely to be, cited by the federal government, and that is a federal financial, civil penalty.

00:25:43:12 - 00:25:45:18
Lisa Farbstein
It can run into thousands of dollars.

00:25:45:20 - 00:25:58:12
Robert Tornabene
Okay. So there's there's two different penalties and there's the arrest that may potentially happen. And then there is the financial penalty that comes via the federal government via the TSA. Correct? Correct.

00:25:58:12 - 00:26:03:17
Lisa Farbstein
And then if the individual is enrolled in the TSA PreCheck program, they're booted out.

00:26:03:19 - 00:26:26:02
Robert Tornabene
Oh okay. Good to know. Yeah, I always make sure I checked my bag many, many years ago. This is oh, I think no, not 2002. It was pre pre pre 911 I had flown I had flown to Orange County for a conference and I had a work bag with me and in the work bag was my off duty weapon and it, it went through.

00:26:26:02 - 00:26:48:06
Robert Tornabene
I got off the airport and I go to grab my wallet, which was in the outer pocket, and I had a firearm in there. I'm like, crap, what do I do? So I walked up to the desk at Orange County and there's a cop up there. It's like a big, tall desk. I walked up there and I said, I have a problem, and I, and I, and I go, I have my duty weapon in here, and I shouldn't I don't know how got jury.

00:26:48:07 - 00:27:09:00
Robert Tornabene
He walked me over to his office because it happens. You be surprised that it happens. And, we ended up calling the airport Collier O'Hare. I don't know what he who we talked to, but I guess the the X-ray machine was set in test mode. And they asked me all kinds of questions. They wanted to know where I came through, what my flight was, what my time was.

00:27:09:02 - 00:27:19:12
Robert Tornabene
They found me on camera, you know, and then they found at the machine. So they had to clear the whole terminal for that section because that machine was not operating the whole time I flew.

00:27:19:14 - 00:27:22:06
Lisa Farbstein
And that was pretty. 911 before 911.

00:27:22:06 - 00:27:22:11
Robert Tornabene
Yeah.

00:27:22:17 - 00:27:25:14
Lisa Farbstein
9/11. Wow. That's interesting. That's interesting.

00:27:25:16 - 00:27:40:13
Robert Tornabene
Yeah. That was yeah, that was a tough one. Get it back. I had to get my chief to send a letter. It was all kind of that was that was even pre that was even pre loca. You know, that was before you could carry, you know if you had the gun with you and you had your credential.

00:27:40:15 - 00:28:03:15
Lisa Farbstein
So, so all right. And if you're gonna time yourself out on that I'll tell you an embarrassing story. I don't know if family is like this. So, this is, before pre-check, and, I was traveling for work, so this was at LaGuardia airport. And so I went through the checkpoint and the, officers holds up, and backpacks is his backpack is is.

00:28:03:15 - 00:28:22:08
Lisa Farbstein
And I was like, it's my gosh, I forgot to take my laptop out of my bag. And he reaches for the luggage. Now, the luggage tag was my business card, and he reaches for the. And I was like, no, no, no, no, no, don't turn that over. Don't turn that over. And I said, don't look, please don't look at me.

00:28:22:08 - 00:28:41:14
Lisa Farbstein
Looks at the luggage tag. And he sees, you know, the TSA logo and everything. And he looks it is really I was like, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. This is happens all the time. And then he says, hey guys, check this out. So he totally embarrassed me. I have never made any kind of mistake like that again.

00:28:41:16 - 00:28:52:09
Robert Tornabene
Yeah. So I, I'm always been very careful since then to. Yeah. Just so that I make sure I empty my I shake my bag out before I leave and load it up because I want to make sure I don't have any mistakes in there.

00:28:52:11 - 00:29:13:13
Lisa Farbstein
That that is one of our top tips is start, with an empty bag. If you've got a backpack or a duffel bag, your roller bag, a handbag, whatever it is you're traveling with, really do that and then start from scratch and repack it. I mean, I, I can't tell you what I put in my handbag two weeks ago, so I certainly could have put something in there that shouldn't get through, a checkpoint.

00:29:13:13 - 00:29:15:15
Lisa Farbstein
So Lisa is correct. That's a good step.

00:29:15:16 - 00:29:21:17
Robert Tornabene
Is a recommendation for time to arrive at the airport? Is it still two hours?

00:29:21:19 - 00:29:43:00
Lisa Farbstein
you know, it honestly depends on the size of the airport and the time of day. The busiest time at most airports. first thing in the morning. So it could be anytime I mean, like, maybe 430 in the morning to maybe 730, in the morning. And then then there's usually in the afternoon rush hour. So, so many people, especially at a smaller airports, are making a connecting flight to a larger airport.

00:29:43:02 - 00:30:05:03
Lisa Farbstein
So yeah, it's real, especially at the larger airports that have, tens of thousands of people who are screened every day. Definitely two hours before, you're scared to fly the say that this way, especially now, especially after Memorial, it will take you longer to park a car. If you're returning, a rental car could take the longer to return the rental car.

00:30:05:05 - 00:30:14:10
Lisa Farbstein
If you're checking a bag, you are going to see lines at your airline, checking counters, and all of that is before you even get to the TSA chair.

00:30:14:14 - 00:30:21:10
Robert Tornabene
Okay guys, it's a question I should have asked, and if so, how would you have answered it and think anything?

00:30:21:12 - 00:30:43:16
Lisa Farbstein
you know, we talked about, travel tips here as well. This is one of my favorite things. We call this A311. So, it's, got my liquids, gels and aerosols in it. So call us 311 bag because each item has to be 3.4oz or smaller, one court sized back, one bag per person. And so, you know, 3.4oz.

00:30:43:16 - 00:31:01:23
Lisa Farbstein
Well, how do we get that part right. Well, 3.5oz is the equivalent of 100ml. So that's an international standard. Now what we're going to see this summer are people who are traveling to to the beach. wherever they're traveling, whatever beach in the, in in the country or out of the country, and they're going to be traveling with suntan lotion.

00:31:02:00 - 00:31:18:17
Lisa Farbstein
And so keep that in mind. If you're suntan lotion, your shampoo, your toiletries are larger than 3.4oz or 100ml. Please just pack it in your checked bag. Another option is buy it when you get there. Just purchase it when you get there.

00:31:18:19 - 00:31:31:16
Emily Bonilla
I think is is being very, very modest. She has the best slogan, in case you're curious of what a liquid is. So I think this is the best takeaway. best travel tip for the rest of the summer.

00:31:31:18 - 00:31:45:03
Lisa Farbstein
All right. So if you can, if you can smell it, spread it, spread it, then we can serve it a jar aerosol and it should go, in your little 311 bag, 3.4oz or smaller split spread. It's very popular for it.

00:31:45:05 - 00:31:51:13
Robert Tornabene
I like that, Lisa. Very good. That's awesome. All right, let's light this up, guys. Let's go to some rapid fire questions or.

00:31:51:15 - 00:31:52:18
Emily Bonilla
Let's do it.

00:31:52:20 - 00:31:54:00
Robert Tornabene
Texting or talking.

00:31:54:02 - 00:31:55:16
Emily Bonilla
It depends on the talk right?

00:31:55:18 - 00:31:57:04
Lisa Farbstein
I'm a talker.

00:31:57:06 - 00:31:59:04
Robert Tornabene
Yeah. Everybody's different.

00:31:59:06 - 00:32:03:05
Emily Bonilla
Yeah it depends on what you're talking to okay.

00:32:03:07 - 00:32:05:03
Robert Tornabene
Chocolate or vanilla?

00:32:05:05 - 00:32:08:11
Emily Bonilla
Chocolate swirl.

00:32:08:13 - 00:32:13:02
Robert Tornabene
There you go. That's okay. Coffee or tea?

00:32:13:04 - 00:32:16:08
Lisa Farbstein
Coffee. Touch okay.

00:32:16:10 - 00:32:19:12
Robert Tornabene
All right. Here's one. Guys, ladies. Adult drink of choice.

00:32:19:14 - 00:32:23:06
Lisa Farbstein
hot chocolate with a shot of peppermint schnapps.

00:32:23:08 - 00:32:27:22
Emily Bonilla
I like a cab. A nice glass of a tap.

00:32:28:00 - 00:32:30:00
Robert Tornabene
If you can have a superpower, what would it be?

00:32:30:04 - 00:32:30:23
Emily Bonilla
Minus speed.

00:32:31:04 - 00:32:31:15
Lisa Farbstein
As well.

00:32:31:19 - 00:32:36:18
Emily Bonilla
I could clean the house fast. I could pack my bag fast. I could make dinner fast.

00:32:36:20 - 00:32:45:17
Lisa Farbstein
That's a superpower. Superpower? I guess, you know, world peace, rolling back country, ending hunger.

00:32:45:19 - 00:32:47:00
Robert Tornabene
That's three. you.

00:32:47:01 - 00:32:48:21
Emily Bonilla
I have us.

00:32:48:23 - 00:32:54:13
Robert Tornabene
Very magnanimous I love that. That's awesome. Ask permission or beg for forgiveness.

00:32:54:15 - 00:32:56:11
Emily Bonilla
I think Lisa and I are the same. But with.

00:32:56:11 - 00:32:59:13
Lisa Farbstein
This work that is.

00:32:59:15 - 00:33:02:19
Robert Tornabene
It is a communication person's way. It really is.

00:33:02:21 - 00:33:04:08
Emily Bonilla
Slowly.

00:33:04:10 - 00:33:06:19
Robert Tornabene
Place. Who would most like to travel to right now?

00:33:06:19 - 00:33:08:08
Emily Bonilla
I'd like to go to Greece.

00:33:08:10 - 00:33:14:21
Lisa Farbstein
I am kicking it to, visit Sicily. later this year. So I have to say Sicily. That's my next big trip.

00:33:14:23 - 00:33:26:14
Robert Tornabene
Yeah, that would be my next one. My. My parents were back in Sicily. They went and visited my father's village where he came from, and they've, the family home and cousins they didn't know they had.

00:33:26:16 - 00:33:27:17
Emily Bonilla
It's amazing.

00:33:27:19 - 00:33:31:23
Robert Tornabene
Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely beautiful pictures. You're going to love it first. Pretty crush.

00:33:32:01 - 00:33:47:03
Lisa Farbstein
All right. So I don't know if this counts, but when I was little, I wanted to be Brooks Robinson. There was, Hall of Fame third baseman for the Baltimore Orioles. I grew up in the Baltimore area, so I don't know that it was a crush, but I totally wanted to be Brooks right?

00:33:47:05 - 00:33:52:14
Emily Bonilla
Might be between Jordan McKnight from New Kids on the Block and Jonathan Taylor. Thomas.

00:33:52:16 - 00:33:56:19
Robert Tornabene
Oh, okay. Okay. Guilty pleasure food.

00:33:56:21 - 00:33:59:06
Lisa Farbstein
Soft, hot soft pretzels from Philadelphia.

00:33:59:08 - 00:34:09:19
Emily Bonilla
I like and like the perfect season. Twice fried French fry. a little crispy within a really that for me? Would you ever.

00:34:09:21 - 00:34:16:00
Robert Tornabene
Awesome. If you can have coffee with any historical figure, living or dead, who would it be?

00:34:16:02 - 00:34:20:07
Lisa Farbstein
Jackie Robinson, baseball player. Yeah, I.

00:34:20:07 - 00:34:29:22
Emily Bonilla
Was going to say Marilyn Monroe because I wanted the tea something, and I want to expose what? Whoever, whatever happened to her? Her and I would talk.

00:34:30:00 - 00:34:35:21
Robert Tornabene
You are a Gossip Girl. I love it, ladies. What key points we'd like our listeners to take from today's interview.

00:34:36:00 - 00:35:12:05
Lisa Farbstein
I would go back to know before you go, Emily, I know there's so many ways you can find out where you should pack an item. If you should pass item. our Twitter team is a mad ask TSA. you can even text to them. we don't. Else we have a line called TSA chairs. So if somebody is traveling with a medical condition, somebody in their traveling group who has a disability, they can contact our TSA care line and they can find out or get their answer questions answered so they know what to expect when they get to the checkpoint.

00:35:12:07 - 00:35:21:10
Lisa Farbstein
so TSA cares as well. and it's 855787222. Emily, you want to talk more about the I.

00:35:21:10 - 00:35:39:18
Emily Bonilla
Would add trust the source. You know, we do a wonderful job being present and being fully aware of sharing the facts. And if in doubt, be sure to follow us on all our social platforms because you will be giving the facts. Go straight to the source. Would be my best travel tip.

00:35:39:20 - 00:35:59:13
Lisa Farbstein
I think of some other travel tips I have. People travel with gifts we do and encourage people to or discourage people from wrapping the gift or encourage them to that. Wrap it. because if it does trigger alarm, the TSA officer might have to unwrap it to determine the contents and just make sure that, what what they have to resolve the alarm.

00:35:59:13 - 00:36:00:16
Lisa Farbstein
What caused the alarm?

00:36:00:18 - 00:36:18:12
Robert Tornabene
Right. I remember I was coming back from New York City and I had stopped in Hoboken. My daughter wanted food from the cake boss's bag, and, I got all kinds of stuff, and and I ended up going on the TSA website, making sure to figure out can I bring food through? And they're like, yeah. And I was like, okay, perfect.

00:36:18:12 - 00:36:26:00
Robert Tornabene
So I came through and man, all those guys and gals that were there like, you may want to take a little bit before you go.

00:36:26:02 - 00:36:44:19
Lisa Farbstein
So, yeah, people travel with food all the time, whether it's holiday season or not. And for the most part, foods are permitted, to go through a checkpoint. again, it's got to be a solid, if you can't, you can smell it, spread it, spray it. Bumper report that it's not permitted through a checkpoint.

00:36:44:21 - 00:37:07:13
Lisa Farbstein
you do get a little questioning as it relates to spreading it. so Nutella, it's a spreadable. Peanut butter is a spreadable, you know, even think about a can of corn. and if you shake it, there's liquid inside. So you can always ask us about, should, holiday time of year. I mean, for Thanksgiving, we'll see people praying for turkeys.

00:37:07:17 - 00:37:13:04
Lisa Farbstein
Emily. What? What did somebody have concealed in a chicken? Do you remember our firearm?

00:37:13:09 - 00:37:15:08
Robert Tornabene
It's normal place to put it, right. Yeah.

00:37:15:10 - 00:37:38:13
Emily Bonilla
You're right. So I would I would say just one other quick travel tip, you know, ask TSA. Not only can you reach them through ECS and Facebook through messenger DM, but you can now just text them. And I'm talking about just take a photo and send it off to, TSA and the travel. They will respond in no time whether something can fly or not.

00:37:38:13 - 00:37:41:04
Emily Bonilla
So I think that's the best takeaway.

00:37:41:06 - 00:37:57:21
Robert Tornabene
I will add all that into the show notes, because I think a lot of, a lot of our listeners, as well as the general public, are not aware of a lot of those simple things that they could do. I love that, ladies. How can people best reach out to you if they want to connect or follow up or or learn where the humor comes from for your social media accounts?

00:37:57:21 - 00:38:00:05
Robert Tornabene
Because I just I love it. It's awesome.

00:38:00:07 - 00:38:08:06
Emily Bonilla
ours is simple. You can follow us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn threads, YouTube at TSA, and I.

00:38:08:06 - 00:38:10:02
Robert Tornabene
Will add all that in the show notes.

00:38:10:04 - 00:38:11:17
Lisa Farbstein
Yeah that's cool. Nice going.

00:38:11:18 - 00:38:15:07
Robert Tornabene
Lisa. Emily, thank you very much for coming on the show.

00:38:15:09 - 00:38:15:18
Lisa Farbstein
pleasure.

00:38:15:18 - 00:38:17:21
Emily Bonilla
Wants to spank you so much for having us.