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TSA defends flyer nipple-ring removal

By Audrey Hudson
March 28, 2008

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) today stood by its decision to require a Texas airline passenger to remove a nipple ring with pliers before boarding a flight, but says more discreet screening procedures may allow the sensitively placed piercings to be worn in the future.

"TSA acknowledges that our procedures caused difficulty for the passenger involved and regrets her discomfort with the situation," said TSA spokesman Christopher White.

"In the future, TSA's procedures will meet the security need while giving additional flexibility for this kind of screening situation," Mr. White said. "This could include a visual inspection without removal."

Mandi Hamlin, 37-year-old graphics artists, says she was forced to remove the nipple ring with pliers on Feb. 24 before boarding Southwest Flight 35 from Lubbock to Dallas.

Gloria Allred, Ms. Hamlin's lawyer, read from a letter to the TSA during a video teleconference Thursday asking the TSA's Office of Civil Rights and Liberties to investigate the incident.

"After nipple rings are inserted, the skin can often heal around the piercing, and the rings can be extremely difficult and painful to remove," Allred said in the letter.

"Still crying, she informed the TSA officer that she could not remove it without the help of pliers, and the officer gave a pair to her," said Ms. Allred.

"This encounter was one that she will never forget," Ms. Allred said.

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