TSA Agent Cracks Timothy McVeigh Bomb Joke to Passenger

What do you think might happen to you if, while in line waiting to be screened at the airport, you decided to crack a joke about Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh? An enhanced pat-down would probably be the least of your worries.

So one airline traveler was taken aback recently at Boston's Logan Airport when, after opting out of the new full-body scanners and electing for an enhanced pat-down, a TSA agent decided to tell such a joke. Here's how he recalls it to The Consumerist:

After I passed the screening with no incident, the TSA screener quipped that "I guess you're not a member of the Timothy McVeigh Fan Club."

Now, if I had made a joke about Timothy McVeigh while waiting in the TSA line, I'd end up in a holding room somewhere. Shouldn't TSA take airline security as seriously as they force us to?

Odd, isn't it? The Consumerist decided to contact the TSA and got a response. TSA didn't deny the incident, but said it would take action:

TSA trains its officers to conduct themselves with professionalism at all times. We regularly remind passengers that inappropriate jokes and comments will be taken seriously and that absolutely holds true for our workforce as well. TSA does not condone such remarks and will take the appropriate steps to ensure it doesn't happen again.

One can only imagine what "appropriate steps" means.

This isn't the first time in recent memory that a worker at the airport has been accused of either joking about security or abusing it. Earlier this month, a woman in Philadelphia was allegedly thrown off a plane after a gate agent complained to the pilots that the woman was a "security risk." But the woman claims the agent was simply upset because she snapped a picture of the agent's name tag after she said the agent was rude.