A TSA agent yelled at Anna Paquin at the airport and made her cry

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Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer have twins Charlie and Poppy, a boy and a girl, who will turn six next month. The family keeps a low profile and while Anna and Stephen are somewhat active on social media they don’t post photos of their children and aren’t attention-seeking. So when Anna shared a story recently about being yelled at by a TSA agent at the airport it seemed genuine and not like she was exaggerating at all. She wrote on Instagram that the signs at security were confusing and when she asked an agent where she should go the agent got rude and loudly told her to read the signs. Anna was traveling alone with the twins. She later clarified that she was traveling coach and that her luggage is not designer or even matching, not that it matters. Here’s what she wrote in a follow-up post, I believe her original post was an Instagram story. In the story she wrote that she was crying uncontrollably after this.

The kids and I had just done our goodbyes with Steven for the next several months (I’m aware we play make believe for a living it’s not life and death but it’s sad being apart regardless.)

Arrive at airport got checked in (and no yahoo.com I do not own a “full set of brand new Louis Vuitton luggage, the words best travel pillow or have a personal valet”)

I do however have one nylon backpack and one rolling carry on, some reusable water bottles to fill after clearing security and comedically miss matched checked in bags.

There were two signs pointing in different directions with what looked to me like the same info on them so I asked a TSA agent (who was not attending to anyone else at the time) which line I should be in and tried to show our boarding passes. To which she snapped/yelled “lady you need to read the sign” so I tried to explain that the signs weren’t clear to me to which I got an even louder and angrier repeat of “read the sign” “help”. Honestly it was less the words used than the volume and tone that caught me off guard. I never raised my voice, I said please and excuse me.

I’m not saying this is the worst thing in the world and I’m sure as heck not asking for anything special. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to cause a problem by being in the wrong place because I’m not familiar with that airport. And when you’re traveling with twins I feel like everyone already feels like you are in the way even if you aren’t and I’m used to it.”

[From Instagram]

Anna is referring to Yahoo’s initial coverage of this story, I think they were covering her Instagram story which I missed, where they opened with the caveat that “even if you have a brand new set of LV luggage… commercial plan travel is a drag.” They weren’t saying that Anna definitely has LV luggage, but she’s clarifying that she doesn’t and that she travels coach. In her original post she wrote “Makes ya feel super dignified walking through the airport with kids and gear unable to stop crying.” Aw, I feel her.

I used to travel overseas all the time and have lost my sh-t in airports twice. Once I burst into tears and another time I climbed over a divide to look for my luggage. (No one was there, I’d been waiting twenty minutes for my luggage after traveling over a day and a half with a six hour delay for my last layover and it was a small airport!) Both were after I’d been traveling at least 24 hours and was told my luggage was lost when I got to my destination. Some of the toughest times I’ve had have been at airports, which I’m sure shows what a sheltered life I’ve lived. Plus I haven’t had to face consequences for flipping out. I’m a white lady and get a lot more chances and breaks than most people. Traveling while black or brown can be so much worse.

How hard would it have been for that worker to say “If you’re in coach, go to the left and if you’re in business class it’s to the right?” Do you think the agent would have barked at Anna like that if she was traveling with Stephen? I don’t.

Oh and I checked Stephen’s Instagram and he had to be treated in the emergency room yesterday after he broke up a dog fight at the dog park! That post is below. Crazy.

This reminds me how much I miss True Blood. I’ve seen the first two seasons twice and I think I’ll start at season three and rewatch the rest. Anna is about to start working on the TV show Flack, on the Pop Network, which is out next year. Stephen is currently on The Gifted, on Fox.

Hopefully you can see a little smile in my eyes. There is rather a lot of irony in play. On the TV next to me in the hospital room I am in there is a documentary about police dogs. As I walked into the room a man was being attacked by a K-9 officer. The reason I am here is because I broke up a pretty gnarly dog fight today in the dog park & got pretty badly bitten in the process. Banjo & a big Pitt-Mix chomping on each other. I’ve had to have about 20 injections cos I couldn’t verify that the dog who bit me had all his records up to date… fun 👍🏻. But I’d like to thank Jason, Tim & Thomas at the #atlantamedicalcenter for being funny, knowledgeable & kind for the few hours I have spent here. @atlantamedicalcenter #rabies 🙀

A post shared by Steve Moyer (@stephenmoyer) on

photos credit: Instagram and Picture Alliance/Avalon.red

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77 Responses to “A TSA agent yelled at Anna Paquin at the airport and made her cry”

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  1. me says:

    She cried over that?

    • Lisa says:

      You must not be able to comprehend the overwhelming feelings that accompany having twin children by yourself prepping to board an airplane. Or, ya know, have basic empathy towards others.

      • Myname says:

        Believe it or not mommyhood isn’t the hardest thing in the world. Other people like POC actually have real crap to deal with when flying. Cue the white moms in uproar.

      • me says:

        Uhhh ok yeah I have plenty of empathy towards others. I just don’t understand the need for her to cry. I guess I’ve been through a lot in life and to me her story doesn’t seem that bad.

      • Missy says:

        @me. A lot of people have been through a lot in their lives, does that mean you can’t feel a bit of sympathy when someone gets treated like shit for no reason.

      • me says:

        @ Missy

        You call that “being treated like shit”? I call that a normal day. I guess you and I just live really different lives. Agree to disagree.

      • me says:

        @Myname

        I can’t tell you how many times I have driven over the border between Canada and USA and been harassed by the customs officers. You get accused of all sorts of things when you “look like the bad guy”. If I cried every time I was mistreated by a person in uniform, God knows where I’d be. I guess those experiences toughen you up real fast. I’m just use to it as are many others. It’s become normal for us.

      • Gretchen says:

        I have to travel through an awful landborder, I’ve been strip searched multiple times, yelled at, had guns pointed at me, been separated from my husband for interrogations, and have to wait a minimum of 6 hours to get through…and yet I can still sympathise with her story….

      • Julia says:

        If someone yells at me, it upsets me. It’s automatic. I don’t always actually cry, but I do always feel like crying. Often not in the moment, but shortly afterwards, when the adrenalin runs out. In this situation she was feeling emotional about saying goodbye to her husband and navigating the airport with two kids and I can completely understand that being yelled at would tip her over the edge. I am not from the US and I find that most US airport security staff and also police officers go straight to a very aggressive tone that is really unpleasant and makes you feel 2 foot tall, even if they are saying “ma’am” and “please”.

    • Hildi says:

      Um can you not comprehend the stress of traveling by yourself with two young children?

      • me says:

        I have traveled with a child and elder. I know all about the stress of travelling. I just didn’t think her story was all that bad.

      • Gretchen says:

        @me It isn’t that bad. Sometimes people just get overwhelmed. Saying the final farewells to your partner ahead of any sort of lengthy period of separation can be upsetting, pair that with the stress of traveling alone with two young kids and the unnecessary rudeness of an a-hole TSA agent and she cried. Sheesh, she didn’t say it was the worst thing in the world just that it upset her. And yeah, staff and fellow travellers can behave really crappy with people traveling with kids and it can make you extra defensive.

        I guess people that went to the school of hard knocks never get overwhelmed by petty sh-t…*eyeroll*

      • Nickname says:

        My mother used to travel by herself with two children under the age of 5 back and forth between Japan and California. Not coach or even commercial but MAC. Which is Military Air Cargo. What would be a 12-14 hour trip with a layover in Hawaii would often turn into a week long ordeal. We would spend days on random islands in the Pacific, some that are only a few acres big, Never once did I see her break down and cry.

      • Gretchen says:

        Your mum sounds awesome, but so what? Or are we still playing by the toxic masculinity playbook that says all crying is a display of weakness?

    • Veronica says:

      I mean…I tend to cry when strangers get nasty or yell at me. It’s not so much that I’m legitimately sad as that I have an anxiety disorder. The emotional overload from the shock can bring on the tears. I’m not a pushover – it’s just a physical response to the stress I can’t really control. Usually, I cry for about five minutes, and then you need to watch out because now I’m angry.

      (That, and it’s a common psychological defense for humans to cry in respond to stress, intentional or otherwise. One, because it’s physically cathartic, and two, because the psychological impact of witnessing somebody cry induces sympathy.)

      • Anatha. A says:

        Same here. The moment someone screams in my face I start crying and then I get super angry.

      • Valerie says:

        People reacting to anxiety with tears is so interesting to me because I’ve never done it! I had an ex who would cry in stressful situations. She’d even joke about how easy it was to make her cry, lol, I don’t judge it, that’s just never been my way of handling it – and I had pretty big anxiety issues for a while. I usually just go silent and hold it all in, because I don’t want anyone to know they’re getting to me. Or I get angry.

      • Nanny to the rescue says:

        Ha, I cry too. I am really trying to fight it but often can’t. And am then thinking to myself what a dumbass I’ve been for overreacting. But at that moment, the tears just come rollin’.

      • Veronica says:

        Anxiety is weird because it comes out in different ways in different people. My doctor suspects it’s my ADHD that’s the real culprit for how my anxiety manifests – people with that neurological disorder tend to get emotionally overwhelmed easily because it interferes with our emotional cognitive function. Once I get overloaded, it takes longer than it would an average person to calm down and reorder myself because the sensation is more intense. *shrugs* It’s not something I’m thrilled about because it means I’ve cried in professional situations, but I’ve learned to do my best to work around it.

      • harpy says:

        I don’t cry when anxious, but I DO cry when I’m embarrassed or ashamed. Being chastised in public as an adult is humiliating. I took Anna’s response to be an understandable combination of being very overwhelmed and also being shamed for asking a reasonable question.

    • EnnuiAreTheChampions says:

      Eh, you don’t choose to cry; it’s an involuntary response that can be exacerbated by stress. I’ve cried over way dumber stuff than this, so I’m certainly not going to judge.

      • perplexed says:

        I think people will have different reactions to her story. I think she had a genuinely human response, which I can personally sympathize with. But whether I would I have actually shared the story is probably where the judgement comes in. Maybe celebrities aren’t used to general rudeness (which I can’t stand either), so maybe that’s why they share these stories which might be a general occurrence of living in city. Mind you, I hate rudeness too and can get angry on the inside when I don’t feel I’ve done anything wrong — I just don’t think anybody would sympathize with me, as a non-celebrity anyway, if I shared why an incident bothered me, since maybe others experience this in a city on a daily basis.

        On the other hand, I could identify with why she was bothered by the rudeness. I didn’t think it was bad she shared her story, but I would be hesitant to share my experience with rudeness since I anticipate everyone telling me “Get over it.” Then again, Instagram is really boring when there are only pictures to look at so maybe that’s why people share these stories. I guess I’m talking out of both sides of my mouth.

    • Msb says:

      The airport as you know can be very stressful and I can’t imagine how much harder it is with kids. I’m not a white mom but a brown female who is stopped constantly and told its simply a “random check”. I’ve been pulled to the side, had my belongings thrown out and searched, had my hands checked and when it tested positive I was whisked to the back and searched top to bottom by a stoic female agent. Only to be told “yea we get false positives sometimes” with a shrug. The airport is an awful experience and made worse by awful unfriendly agents with power trips. I don’t blame her for crying and have empathy. You don’t have to start a fund for her but shaming her for crying is not needed.

      • EnnuiAreTheChampions says:

        Ugh, I’m so sorry that you are treated that way when you travel. That’s awful and unacceptable.

      • Mel says:

        The searching is mortifying, it’s happened to me as a brown female traveling to the Caribbean alone( visiting my parents). If you’re stressed out and tired and you ask a simple question and you get yelled at in response,I can see tears coming. I don’t get people sometimes, it’s so much easier to NOT be an ass.

    • Missy says:

      @me. Well I guess your normal day must suck pretty bad if this is what it entails. I would’ve cried too if I was her, sounds like a stressful day made worse by a rude airport employee.

      • me says:

        I encounter rude people almost on the daily. I thought it was normal lol. Maybe it’s not. I’m just surprised that this was the first time she encountered a rude TSA agent. For me to cry in public, in front of kids, and then post about it on social media, it would have to be A LOT more than some TSA agent raising their voice at me. I guess she lives a great life otherwise because for most people, that “incident” was a non-incident.

      • Ange says:

        Are you missing the part where she said she was saying goodbye to her husband for several months willfully? She was probably already a little emotional.

    • Tilly says:

      I would have cried too…

      • Willow says:

        @me, i get what you mean. You know she has flown a bunch of times with her kids (who are not toddlers or babies) so save the “struggle” narrative and the crying in public over this. Annoyed, but this? She is not Busy Philips level on SM yet, but she is getting there fast. And why even mention your luggage or coach other than get sympathy like she is just like everyone else? Transparent.

    • Joss says:

      Oh my god, shut up you idiots who’re mocking her and get over yourselves. Some people are more anxious than others and being screamed at by some asshole when you ask a civil question would upset me too. The TSA are THE WORST in the world. They are tired little power-hungry tyrants who think they’re more important than they are. They make travel a nightmare. Every other country you pass through people are polite and helpful, but the US? You’re pretty much a criminal in their eyes.

      • GreenTurtle says:

        Look, I’m extremely well-traveled. I’ve had maybe one experience where a TSA officer was rude to me. When I traveled to the UK, one of the customs agents was so aggressive and rude that I almost cried. When I traveled through Germany, one of the airport security officers was also rude, barking at me, etc. I’ve been to those countries many other times with zero issues. The US has its problems, but it’s hardly the only country where overharried, underpaid airport workers are rude.

      • himmiefan says:

        I’ve encountered only polite ones, some even downright pleasant.

    • Keke says:

      @myname

      Oh, quiet you.

    • TandemBikeEscapee says:

      We all have “off” and sensitive days. I cried when my 20 dollar tweezers were confiscated. The TSA agent asked why I was crying, and I said, “travel is expensive and I live paycheck to paycheck. Twenty dollars is a lot to some people, and I’ve had these for years”. I guess the point is our culture is on heightened sensitivity- treat everyone with kindness.

    • nb says:

      I cried last time I flew home to see my family because it was such a sh*tshow. My Mom was in the hospital in the ICU on life support and things could have gone either way so I was very stressed and worried. I had worked a full day on very little sleep and rushed to the airport. The gate got changed 3 times and the flight was over an hour late, and we wound up standing in a not air conditioned lower level of the airport for an hour in 95+ degree heat waiting to board. I had forgotten my headphones and had to buy new ones, then had no way to open the anti-theft packaging (just a stupid thing that added to my frustration). Then while walking to the plane outside (it was so small that they made us walk out of the airport and board outside) my boarding pass blew away in the strong winds and I was yelled at by an airline employee when I tried to grab it. Finally I get on the plane and it’s a tiny plane and there was a guy fussing over his two little girls in the seats across the aisle from him, blocking the entire walkway. After waiting a few minutes while standing there holding all my stuff I tapped him gently on the shoulder and said politely “excuse me, can I get by you?” to which he got snotty and said “yeah yeah, why do you have to be so impatient, I’m dealing with my LITTLE GIRLS here, you could have just waited”, then proceeded to heckle me as I moved past him so everyone could hear, basically saying that I was a rude impatient b*tch (even though I had been waiting patiently while he ignored me, and it took him 5 seconds to let me by). By the time I got in my seat and the plane took off I just started crying – and I am not a crier. Air travel is stressful. You never know what kind of day people are having, so people who are paid to help people at the airport should be kinder and more understanding. We pay enough to fly and basically pay their salaries, how hard is it to be nice?

      What really put this is perspective for me was on a flight about a year ago the people seated in front of me were getting to know each other and talking about why they were travelling. The man said that his Mom was in hospice and ‘this was it’ and he was going to say goodbye. It was heartbreaking. Like I said, you never know what someone is going through, and sometimes all these little things – no matter how small the slight – just add up until you can’t take it. I don’t blame her for being upset.

      • ChipnSticks says:

        @nb
        I’m sorry for your story, but thank you for sharing. It is a good example of how we all can make the world a better place for others just by being nice.

    • K says:

      It’s probably a “you had to be there” situation. Something really threatening about the person’s tone, or way they looked at her and maybe it was the last straw after a really awful day for her, especially while juggling kids and luggage. Maybe Anna came off a little rude herself unintentionally because, IMO, she’s a shit actor who can’t emote appropriately sometimes.

      Airports and malls always give me anxiety. Everyone is rushing, preoccupied with their own trajectory and heading in all different directions so people will walk right into you or get in your way. Sometimes overstimulation and the rudeness of strangers piles up until you suddenly cannot NOT cry. And then the embarrassment over not wanting to cry makes you more upset. Ugh. Whatever, this is just another instance where fame doesn’t sound like a fun thing to have.

    • DesertReal says:

      My thoughts exactly @me

  2. Pandy says:

    I can sympathize. Was barked at last week by TSA for having to take a few seconds to see which bin I was supposed to use. Flying sucks nowadays. Well flying as a peasant anyway.

    • TandemBikeEscapee says:

      I think airport personnel treat us peasants like a mass of inconvenience. I literally avoided airport travel for 2 yrs, and my kids thanked me. We staycation- more affordable and more love.

  3. Jaded says:

    I’ve been yelled at by ground customer service people in the US but never in Canada or Europe or anywhere else I’ve flown. Newark airport is the WORST. They must send their staff on special training courses in rudeness.

  4. Hildi says:

    She seems nice but she also always takes things REALLY personally on social media. She’s been doing it for years and years. It seems bad for her mental health but she seems intent on persisting.

    • me says:

      You better stop or people here might think you don’t have empathy lol.

    • Veronica says:

      I had to teach myself not to do that, honestly. Sometimes, you just have to let others be dumbass, ignorant people and let others make that deduction from their behavior instead of letting it get to you. It’s one thing if something on social media is having real life repercussions. (i.e. people putting up slander) It’s another thing if it’s not going to really effect you outside of your pride.

  5. holly hobby says:

    I’ve been fortunate never to encounter rude TSA agents. The last time I traveled was to Canada, with my two kids, for a funeral. It was last minute and my husband was waiting for us in Canada so yeah it was stressful. I do have to say that when the agents saw that we were traveling as a family, they let us cut through the line and we got screened separately. That was good.

    Of course there are jerk agents. I think of those as failed law enforcement recruits on a power trip. I wonder if you can report them?

    • himmiefan says:

      I think it depends on the airport too. In Nashville, there are different lines you can get in depending on your situation: single traveler, families with small children etc.

  6. Aerohead21 says:

    I’d side eye the crying except traveling alone with twin kids can be super stressful. 6 year olds still require attention and redirection. At least it wasn’t a story about “don’t you know who I am?”

  7. EnnuiAreTheChampions says:

    I live in Atlanta (in fact I saw Anna, Stephen, and twins here about a month ago!) and can confirm that 1) some of the signs in the airport are confusing; and 2) some of the TSA agents can be quite rude. I had one snap at me recently; after she told us we didn’t need to take anything out of our carry-ons before sending them through the X-ray machines, I asked her whether that included laptops (just to be sure since that’s unusual), and she snapped “What did I just say? NOTHING. NEEDS. TO. COME. OUT.” Hmm, I wonder whether it was the same person?

    • Valerie says:

      So unnecessary of her! I think I would’ve either given her the attitude right back or killed her with kindness.

      • Yup, Me says:

        What comes of “killing with kindness”? I’m so curious how you get anything of value out of that (unless you’re hoping to change their behavior or something). The person you’re “killing” does not give a shit and you’ve just given them a chunk of the energy you needed to live your life and do your day. How is “killing with kindness” effective for dealing with assholes?

      • Valerie says:

        @ Yup, Me — I didn’t say I’ve ever done it. 😛 I I think it might be effective for people you have to deal with on a daily basis, where you might be able to change their actions or eventually talk to them about the way they treat you. I think it’s still about not giving them the reaction that they want.

        For one-time things like this, I’d probably react as flatly as possible (no reaction, no energy wasted on my part, only theirs) or be sarcastic.

    • AG-UK says:

      I feel if they have to be that rude then they need to find another line of work. That’s bit the job for them you know you are seeing thousands of people a day maybe they need to do baggage claim.

  8. Valerie says:

    I can’t imagine sobbing uncontrollably over that. I guess I’m just not a crier. I would get angry, I think, and maybe boil over inside to avoid making a scene in front of my kids. But I wouldn’t cry.

    With that said, I can understand being stressed out by the situation. Taking my twin niece and nephew out for a day is stressful! They’re well-behaved kids, but they *are* kids… They can be a handful without meaning to be.

    • Veronica says:

      See, I would cry BECAUSE I was boiling with anger, and I wasn’t in a position to really let it out, so it would come out as tears. You flip your shit on a TSA agent, and you’ve got trouble. That’s the real issue, to me – the use of a position of power to make somebody feel like shit, knowing full well they can’t really tell you off.

      • Gretchen says:

        Yeah, I don’t know why but I am way more likely to start crying when I am angry than when I am sad, it annoys me, but I know lots of people are like that and it is what it is.

      • Valerie says:

        Yeah, that’s what angers me about this situation. Not only are they being unnecessarily rude, they’re doing it knowing that it’s their word against yours. Any consequences that come out of it won’t be on them.

      • Agirlandherdog says:

        Finally, someone got to the real problem. My husband and I travel quite a bit, and airports freaking suck. They ARE confusing AF. (We once stood in line at security, only to realize, as the TSA agent directed the two people in front of us to another line that we’d gotten in the wrong line and had to wait all over again. Maybe that’s a clue you need to clarify your signs.) And if someone’s rude to me, I will lose my shit. There’s a reason my husband calls me The Hulk. But you can’t stand up to a TSA agent. They have the power to make your life hell. And wouldn’t hesitate to do so. And when you’re in an airport, rushing to make your flight, it’s not like you can wait for a supervisor (who’s just going to side with the TSA agent anyway) to show up to file a complaint. I’m against anyone using their authority to be an asshole.

  9. maggiegrace says:

    1 – TSA agent was rude af. 2 – AP needs to buck up. I traveled alone several times with 2 toddlers while pregnant. Easy? No. Did I whine, cry, report it all on social media? No. Really, get some perspective.

    • me says:

      That’s what I was trying to say but got attacked for it lol. I’m done here.

      • Abby says:

        You can say what you like, but you’re clearly super offended by the responses and keep persisting.

        After having complained about someone getting offended over something silly. Ironic?

      • PP says:

        @ Abby

        But she/he is “loling”. Doesn’t sound offended to me. You’re really reaching there. Sounds like they were just conversing with other posters since that’s what commenting is supposed to be about. I’ve said “I’m done here” after commenting when there is nothin left to say, that don’t mean I left mad.

      • Bailie says:

        @me : People handle situations differently.

        Some people are more sensitive, some are less.

        Maybe she already didn’t have a good day going on, so the last straw might have been the TSA agent yelling at her.

        Travelling on your own can be quite stressful, travelling with young children even more so.

        Little compassion, empathy and kindness is good for all of us.

      • ChipnSticks says:

        @me/PP
        Okay. See ya.

  10. Kate says:

    I don’t think the TSA agent did something so objectively bad or outrageous and I don’t think Anna is even saying she did. If I’m putting myself in Anna’s shoes it was the “saying goodbyes” with her kids and husband that put her in an emotional headspace and then being yelled at just probably blew the lid off her composure. I’ve cried before when a deli guy got indignant with me because he forgot my order and couldn’t get my attention b/c I was texting with my babysitter about my sick kid. If you’re already stressed and vulnerable about one thing having someone be mean or inconsiderate to you can just escalate you fast. Some people will react angrily and aggressively (e.g. road rage) and some might start crying. I felt ridiculous about it, but whatever. You cry and move on with your day. (Except that I don’t go back to that deli now b/c f that guy)

  11. Cherie Bennett says:

    She’s not saying it was the worst that that’s ever happened to her. Just sharing an experience. She’s already sad about saying goodbye to her husband. Traveling with kids who may have been acting up or sad that they’re leaving their dad, who knows. But, having a TSA agent get nasty with her probably just made things worse for her.

    • lucy2 says:

      That’s what I’m thinking – she was already sad about leaving her husband, and this (plus traveling with 2 kids) just pushed her over the edge to tears. It happens. Sometimes it feels better to share it and rant a little.

  12. Teddy says:

    Please ME,

    Make this conversation all about yourself and your own experiences and how you’ve had it worse than everyone. Please do go on.

  13. aqdgsbh says:

    Travelling with two young kids sounds like a bloody nightmare.

  14. Diane says:

    I find it interested that people think about what they would do. Everyone is different.. Anna is sharing her experience. I flew for the first time with my twins from Arizona to Chicago when they were three. I am also afraid to fly which of course they don’t know as a strong mom trying to show no fear. lol My son had food poisoning the night before we flew home and he was up all night throwing up. I got to the airport and just wanted to get home and do everything “right” my first time flying alone with them. I get to the TSA and he holds up a large bottle of Pedialyte that I had for my son. I explained he could just throw it away and the “WHOLE story of my night” He tested it, handed it back to me and then sent me on my way. I then looked up to realize our gate was the farthest down on the jet way. We started to slowly walk and a few seconds later I heard a beep beep. The TSA had gotten a jetway car for us. It was an act of kindness I will never forget. Amazing how one act of kindness can make the difference. Anna and fellow travelers if you are reading this I hope your next encounter will be one of kindness.

  15. Miss Bea says:

    Always choose kindness. There is no reason for anyone to be cruel or rude or mean at the airport. Travelling is stressful whether you have kids or not. I’m a crier and some of us are a bit more sensitive than others.

    I’m bring up three wee humans & I would have used that moment as a teaching moment…. “You don’t have to be rude. You can chose kindness. Every time.”

    Good grief – TSA should have customer survey cards 😂

  16. Dlflygurl says:

    I was actually working the flight that she and the kids were on… She is soo amazingly sweet and humble they were in coach and a passenger asked her If anyone had ever told her she looked like Anna Paquin she was like yeah until I changed my last name lol..it is drizzling to travel alone with kids that small we stood and talked about that for a while

  17. Shadylady says:

    I find it interesting that people are commenting about Anna’s reaction rather than the fact that a person whom she had asked for help was SCREAMING IN HER FACE. Like are we all delusional about how terrible the TSA is here? I have travelled several times with small children throughout with US and abroad and only in the US do I feel like crying especially in regards to the treatment by the agents here. It’s absolutely horrible and the worst part is no one holds them accountable. I don’t think it costs any money to ask your staff to treat passengers with courtesy. I 100% believe that the agent, even if he/she didn’t scream, definitely responded in a rude enough way to upset her. This is particularly prevalent in larger airports; my particular experience happens to be with the NY airports. My husband used to work at Heathrow and he is horrified at how the TSA agents are allowed to have their jobs with that kind of attitude.

  18. avala says:

    You know as I read this I thought to myself “She must have been at the Atlanta airport” because those TSA people in ATL act like they think we are all prisoners. They yell at you and belittle you constantly, no joke. But she never said what airport they were at. Then her husband posted from ATL and I was like BINGO!

  19. SC says:

    BOY, I’ve had to take those same rabies shots, and lemme tell you….they go directly into the wound. 5 on each hand. No please and thank you.

  20. Jennifer says:

    From all of my experiences traveling my opinion is that TSA agents are foul people in general. I’ve asked very typical questions before, much like Anna’s question, and no one has ever been decent to me.

  21. Jenn says:

    Jerks being jerks make me cry sometimes too. I don’t think she’s snowflaking some of us (minorities who are too used to it too, but still aren’t … ) are just overly sensitive. I’ve been stifling sobs since I was a kid when it comes to people being jerks … pretty pathetic but it’s my personality. I don’t follow her so maybe she is a snowflake but from what I read I don’t think she’s snowflaking, just sharing.