The holidays may be the most wonderful time of the year—but if you're going to the airport, they may be one of the most stressful times of the year, as well. A couple of travelers through LAX discovered that their airport experience could become even worse than they'd imagined, as they were informed by the TSA and their airline that their giant teddy bear could not accompany them on their flight.
To make matters worse, the TSA posted an Instagram picture of the gigantic teddy sitting next to a trash can, where he had been "abandoned by his owners" when they learned he could not come with them (even though they had actually purchased a ticket for him). The caption read, "Why does this gigantic teddy bear look so sad? He was abandoned by his owners at LAX after the airline and TSA determined that he was just too big to be screened as a carry-on and taken on the plane," the caption read.
The post led to hundreds of comments, many of them outraged: "This is NOT OK TSA," "omg this makes me sad." A headline for Time magazine read: "The TSA Just Made This Giant Teddy Bear Homeless."
But now the TSA says that it was all a ruse. An updated TSA Instagram post read, "This was a stunt to see if he could get the giant bear on the plane. He even made up a backstory that the bear was a gift for his girlfriend. The bear did not belong to a child."
Potential Preaching Angles: Abandonment hurts more than just stuffed bears; it hurts real people. Fortunately, with Jesus Christ you'll always have a seat on the plane.
