The TSA Says That 56,213 ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Fans Have Asked Them About Their ‘Spaghetti Policy’

It sounds like someone at the Transportation Security Administration is in serious need of a spa day.

The story of safe travel in the United States during the 21st century is punctuated by the regular addition of increasingly complicated security measures at American airports. According to the TSA, all shoes must go through the X-ray machine except for sometimes; we must always remove our laptops from our bags and place them in separate bins unless when we don’t have to; and paying $200 for CLEAR to collect all of your most personal biometric data prevents an individual from ever attempting a terror attack. 

With the safety criteria constantly changing from day-to-day and from year-to-year, it’s hard to keep up with the proper safety procedures, so it’s only natural that travelers will have questions — especially the ones who can’t read the proper safety procedures.

The ever-playful social media department of the TSA recently posted a slideshow of their version of “2024 Wrapped” on Threads, showing all the thankfully rare and strangely common travel mishaps their agents experienced in the last year. As it turns out, there are tens of thousands of thrifty janitors out there who need to know that they can provide their own in-flight meal — though I can’t help but wonder how there are so many flights that don’t leave the Philadelphia city limits… 

So either the orchestrators of TSA’s surprisingly solid social media presence are big It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia fans, or Always Sunny fans like to mix pranks and air travel, an admittedly unusual combination. Or, in the wild card third possibility, there really are thousands upon thousands of semi-responsible frequent flyers who want to save money on overpriced airport food but have a hard time keeping track of the constant changes to the list of acceptable items that can fly in a carry-on bag.

Frustratingly enough, nowhere in the “TSA Wrapped” post do the water-bottle-banners actually explain the administration’s spaghetti policy on domestic and/or international flights, so they should prepare for another 56,213 inquiries in 2025. We’re also still waiting for the official TSA luggage guidelines to clear up our questions about denim chicken, birds with teeth and Wermhat’s wormhat, so anyone traveling for a surprise party should probably call ahead.