Funny that I see this thread today after I had a run in with the smurfs.

I travel on mini vacations all the time, both domestic and international. I always go out of uniform unless I am going straight after a trip.

Normally, I follow all the rules for passengers with two exceptions: I don't need a boarding pass an I can always go through the crew line bypassing the body scanner.

Today that all changed. Here at DFW of all places(my base).

As I walked up to the normal metal detector for crews like I always do one of the officers stopped me and told me I couldn't go there. I showed him my badge and he said that it didn't matter.

I was in no mood to argue so I just step up to the megatron scanner.

Then it got worse. I was given a pat down.. Then my hands were "tested" for something. I never experienced any of this as a crew member...even out of uniform. Not even in other countries.

I'm thinking this may be a "new" thing they are doing after getting a memo. Either way it is BS to treat crews this way. The liquids rule I can accept and have always complied. But this new policy? It's crap.