TSA Agent Confiscates Cupcake

By Elina Shatkin Tue., Dec. 27 2011 at 3:50 PM

Frosted death: Could these cupcakes have explosive frosting?

What happens in Vegas really does stay in Vegas, at least for one Massachusetts woman. Rebecca Hains tells WCVB-TV that a TSA agent in Las Vegas confiscated her frosted cupcake because he thought the icing on it could be explosive. Hains says she was told the frosting was "gel-like" enough to constitute a security risk. If MI6 can turn bombs into cupcakes, why wouldn't terrorists try to turn cupcakes into bombs?

On her flight to Vegas, Hains breezed through security at Boston's Logan International Airport with two cupcakes purchased from Wicked Good Cupcakes of Cohasset. She only had a problem on the return trip, when she tried to bring one of them back.

TSA spokesperson James Fotenos tells WCVB: "In general, cakes and pies are allowed in carry-on luggage." Fotenos adds that the TSA is looking into why this cupcake was confiscated.

Welcome to the TSA, where consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. As is common sense.

Elina Shatkin is a staff writer at LA Weekly. Follow her at @elinashatkin or contact her at eshatkin@laweekly.com.

Tags:

Airport, Cupcake, Elina Shatkin, Las Vegas, Security, Terrorism, TSA

We Recommend

Dunrmac

These nuts are just as scary as the people they're supposed to be protecting us from.

Free Coupon

This is so hilariously sad !!! cupcakes are for tantalizing your taste buds not for your freaked out mind, who itself has become a terrorist after years of working in TSA!!!

Dave Lieberman

I don't understand why they thought it was explosive. Everyone knows that a cupcake that's been left out for a week or so is chemical warfare, not explosives.

Jessica

I am a 26 years old girl, down to earth and cute but still single ... I wanna find my lover who can give me a real love,so I joined in the seekcasual.COM,it's the best club for man and woman finding their intimate encounters. Well, you do not have to be lonely , you can meet the Mr. or Miss. Right there.

Lifeisadantz

This is not about a cupcake, really. An exploding one or not. Haines is not the only air traveler who is absolutely justified in the disgust for the imbecilic acts of TSA personnel at airports. What I find shocking - is the "shee-ple" who just nod & say "Oh, I'm glad we're so much safer now". I'm sorry - mindless robotic behavior does not equal safety! I feel we're at a great risk for total loss of any sense of accountability in any of our enforcement arenas.

Guest

uhhhhhhhhhhhh... she brought 2 cupcakes from Boston...and consumed one...and felt the remaining cupcake was SO VALUABLE it had to be brought back with her? Why is this woman schlepping around cupcakes in her carry-on baggage back and forth across the country...

and more importantly...HOW DID THIS MAKE THE NEWS??? I would think most people would just shrug when being told it was being disposed of...yet over the one cupcake, she contacts the media? lol

Stephanie

That is hilarious because TSA at long beach tried to take my batch of cupcakes as a "security risk" then stopped and said just kidding they just wanted o eat them. I think the TSA in Las Vegas just had a soft spot for yummy cupcakes!

Feliz Felix

A low-level government worker who, no doubt, is thrilled to have a secure job in this economy and who operates under the control of gigabytes of bureaucratic rules confiscated the "explosive" cupcake but did not arrest its owner? Lotta' gullibility in operation here on the part of people who believe what they want to believe. (I'm talking about the LA Weekly.)