TSA Bans Snow Globes on Planes

Christmas travel is by nature busy, and airports crowded. When our security checkpoint line stopped moving, I needed to know why - and the reason was a snow globe.

Picture this: A security checkpoint line at the airport, as long as the eye can see. People looking forward to Christmas travel are busily unwrapping the gifts they plan to give, while others hush bored children and take off their shoes. A familiar scene, no doubt, played out over and over throughout the holiday travel season.

For me, this year, the line was the first part of our vacation in Hawaii. No American Airlines frequent flier miles over this peak flying season, so we booked cheap tickets (well, relatively cheap tickets) on Delta. And yes, those were my bored kids getting hushed. Thanks for reminding me.

But what's this? The elderly woman ahead of me on line is upset, her voice raising angrily. It seems that the TSA has decided to ban snow globes in carry-on bags, so hers was confiscated. A gift, she explains, for grandchildren in Hawaii who have never seen snow. No matter; her snow globe is taken from her, and she bitterly passes through the metal detector. When it's my turn, I ask the security dude why the TSA has decided to ban snow globes on airplanes, and he explained that terrorists could replace the water inside the globe with nitroglycerin. I glance at the elderly woman, who is recovering her Sudoku book and AARP magazine. Ladies and gentlemen, the face of terrorism! Go, TSA. Nice to know they've got the grannies-who-love-sudoku terrorist cell covered.