A woman was left gobsmacked when she was taken for a ‘full body search’ at the airport after she set off the security scanners twice with her hand luggage. She was dumbfounded by the reason
She was left gobsmacked by what happened at airport security (Stock Image)(Image: Getty Images)
Airport security is stressful enough without triggering a major alert. Between removing your belt and wrestling electronics out of your bag, it’s easy to feel flustered.
But one woman is warning travellers to avoid a simple pre-flight habit that got her pulled aside by security not once, but twice. George, a lawyer who posts on TikTok as @awomancalledgeorge, was travelling with just a carry-on when she became the subject of a “double security alert.”
After her bag was pulled from the scanner, she was surrounded by security staff. She explained: “The scanner seemed to have picked up traces of something that could be dangerous.” The subsequent swabs of her hands and bag also came back positive.
“It’s a double problem,” she said. “When you know you haven’t got anything, you still feel guilty. I’m a lawyer, and I was standing there thinking I know I haven’t done anything wrong, but you still feel guilty.”
The alert led to a full-body search, and security staff had to unpack and swab every single item in her bag.
George shared that she’d “never seen anything like it” when her “hand luggage bag got pulled,” and people appeared and were talking “really seriously” to her.
She recalled having to go off and have a “full body search” and they “had to unpack every single thing” in her bag. Staff “swabbed most of it”, before letting her go.
What caused the drama at airport security?
It turns out that what had set it off was “hand cream and body lotion”. George had a shower before heading to the airport and slathered herself in the really nice creams.
But she urged others to take the “life lesson” from her and not do the same thing. She explained: “It turns out the glycerin in hand cream and body lotion can trigger the security systems.
“Who knew? I certainly didn’t know. Having gone through that, I shaln’t be doing that again”.
What are swabs at the airport checking for?
Security swabs primarily test for trace chemical residues associated with explosives.
Staff wipe a small area of a passenger’s hands, bag, shoes, or electronics, and analyse the sample for microscopic particles. Because these chemicals can transfer from harmless everyday sources – like lotions, soaps, or certain fertilizers – a positive swab doesn’t automatically mean you’ve handled anything illegal.
Less commonly, depending on the country and situation, swabs can also be used to detect drug residue or other prohibited substances.