The TSA detained the man (possibly illegally), called the police, threatened him, and ultimately only acknowledged their bad behavior under the threat of a lawsuit.

If that's reasonable, I'd hate to see unreasonable.

> The TSA detained the man (possibly illegally)

Not 100% sure that it was illegal. If you walk out of a retail store and set off those alarms, they do not have the right to search you. They do have the right to detain you iff they are holding you for the cops to get there (it becomes illegal when they detain you without calling the cops). This can vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but in general I believe this holds true.

Though I believe that the TSA should be held to a higher standard in their jobs (retail employees/managers are not trained to deal with this sorts of issues, at least not well).

I'd say "unreasonable" is not answering the reasonable, banal questions of people employed to protect travellers and the nation at large.

Protect from what? Cash isn't a threat and it isn't contraband. $5k is only half of what it takes to raise bankers' eyebrows, and they're at least qualified to investigate money laundering. The TSA goons had no defensible reason to waste this guy's time, much less go on a fishing expedition into what's usually intensely personal affairs.

The outcome was indeed good, but it took a heroic act to bring it about.

Jobs like TSA screeners often attract a certain type of person who revels in the chance to exert authority over others. It probably delighted this Bardmass fellow to no end to put this stuck up traveler going on about his "rights" in his place.

How many people were bullied into ceding their rights before Mr. Bierfeldt took his stand? A system that simply waits for TSA employees to overstep their bounds and then corrects them may be better than just letting them set up their own little fiefdoms, but lets make sure to remember that it could be much, much better by simply educating TSA employees about the rights of the passengers and proactively making sure that those rights are protected.

The screeners weren't reasonable, and it's unreasonable that these surly, unprofessional employees have the power to detain you and ruin your vacation. Their power should be sharply circumscribed to detecting threats to the physical security of the airport and the flights leaving it. They shouldn't have a generic law enforcement mandate that lets them detain and intimidate people they take a dislike to.