You packed your liquids in a quart-sized bag. You took off your shoes. Yet, you still got pulled aside for the dreaded “secondary screening.” You watch your bag get dismantled while other passengers breeze through. Why you? It often isn’t random. The TSA’s screening algorithms and officers are trained to look for specific anomalies—patterns that look innocent to you but suspicious to them. You might be flagging yourself as high-risk without realizing it. Consequently, knowing what triggers the sensors can save you 20 minutes of interrogation.
