A lot of us have so many different stories about TSA. Some of them are infuriating. Some are nice. Some are confusing.
But this latest TSA story is just funny.
Social media celebrity Emily Mei (Emily Ghoul on Twitter and Instagram) was flying to Korea from Los Angeles when she was stopped by TSA for suspicious items in her bag. When they opened the bag, they found 20 packs of Flaminโ Hot Cheetos.
Yes, you read that right. TWENTY packs.
โApparently, itโs hard to get [Flaminโ Hot Cheetos] in Korea so my friends ask me to bring it for them,โ Emily wrote on Twitter.
Emily thought they were just going to let it go when the TSA agent saw the snacks. But the agent actually inspected each pack with test strips.
Emily had to take a video of what happened because it was just too crazy. She posted a 9-second video on Twitter while the agent (whose face and name tag was deliberately not shown) wiped down each bag with a test strip.
Frito-Lay, the brand that makes these Flaminโ Hot Cheetos, got wind of this crazy story.
โThe thought that someone would take the time to bring bags of Flaminโ Hot Cheetos to a friend halfway around the world โ and seeing the video of it in action โ made us smile,โ Brandi Ray, senior director of marketing for Cheetos, said to USA TODAY.
And they made a promise to Emily if it became a problem.
โIf, for some reason, Emily Mei doesnโt get her Flaminโ Hot Cheetos to her final destination, Chester Cheetah will personally ensure she receives another shipment,โ Ray added.
But, fortunately for Emily and her friends, she didnโt have any problem because the TSA agent gave her back all her twenty Flaminโ Hot Cheetos packs.
Emily doesnโt endorse or get paid by the snack brand, she just really loves it. Sheโs posted about it several times on her social media accounts.
Last June, Forever 21 sent her a Flaminโ Hot Cheetos swimsuit because they found out how much she loved the snack. She posted the swimsuit on her Instagram account with the snack as props.
And on October 2019, she demonstrated her love for Cheetos in an outfit that resembled the Flaminโ Hot variant on Twitter.
According to TSA, the snacks are allowed to be carried in carry-on baggage. However, it is up to their discretion if there is anything suspicious.
โEven if an item is generally permitted, it may be subject to additional screening or not allowed through the checkpoint if it triggers an alarm during the screening process, appears to have been tampered with, or poses other security concerns,โ TSA states on their website.
And while this is funny, the TSA agents are actually used to this kind of situation already. When Emily posted about her Flaminโ Hot Cheetos incident, several of her followers shared their own TSA stories.
โI had 10 sandwiches (for my family to eat at the airport) and they opened and looked inside EACH sandwich,โ @fridge_repair shared their experience.
And they werenโt the only ones.
โMy wife is a supervisor for TSA and they did the same to us when we came back from Disney and she had TWENTY-FIVE bags of their granola mix,โ @divadoc9 shared.
Watch the video below to hear Emily Meiโs account of what happened to her at the airport.
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