When Cara O’Bannon asked a fellow traveler at the airport to watch her bag, she expected a brief moment of reprieve in the bathroom, not a TSA-level pat-down on TikTok.
The 25-year-old from Nashville, Tennessee, was flying from Tampa, Florida, to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, last month when she shared a TikTok about an experience at the airport that caught her off guard.
While waiting to board at Tampa International Airport, O’Bannon asked a woman sitting nearby to watch her carry-on while she used the restroom, and the stranger refused.
In the video, posted that same day, O’Bannon recounted the interaction and her surprise.
“I fully expected her to say ‘yes.’ “And she goes …” O’Bannon paused to act out the stranger’s facial reaction. “‘No, you should honestly take it with you.’”
O’Bannon then explained that the bathroom was only a few steps away, well within view of the gate.
“I can see from here, a few steps away from where we’re sitting. I’ve never been so caught off guard, “ she continued. “So I fully thought she was going to be like, ‘Yeah, that’s fine. Go ahead and go.’ Like, our plane’s about to board. She fully said, ‘No,’ which is fine. You don’t have to watch it, but I’m not going to take all my belongings a few steps away when you’re already sitting here, and you could just watch it.”
“Guys, I’m so embarrassed HAHAHA she literally goes …. no….,” O’Bannon wrote in the caption.
But many online weren’t surprised by the stranger’s response.
The backlash on TikTok
Speaking to TODAY.com, O’Bannon says that while the woman’s refusal left her momentarily embarrassed, it was the internet’s overwhelming response that truly caught her off guard.
“I was kind of shocked by just how much it really bothered people,” she explains, saying that she had no idea her video would trigger hundreds of critical comments.
O’Bannon, who says she’s traveled alone many times, didn’t see her request as unusual.
“I always assumed if you ask a stranger to watch it, you’re technically designating someone to just keep an eye on it, not be responsible for it,” she explains.
She adds that while she respects the woman’s decision to say no, she hadn’t expected it because no one had ever turned her down before.
“She didn’t owe me anything. It was just that, in the past, people have said yes.”
O’Bannon says the video was meant to be lighthearted, not controversial. But once it went viral, she found herself at the center of a far more personal backlash.
“Girl, that’s the number one thing you DON’T do at an airport,” one commenter wrote. “Is this your first time in an airport?” another asked. “I feel like this is a phishing test email from IT,” someone else joked.
Many users mentioned airport security warnings to never watch someone else’s luggage or leave your own bag unattended, and some accused O’Bannon of being naive, privileged or entitled.
“Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, but … I do think there is a way to educate people by being kind,” she says. “I also don’t feel like it was necessary for thousands of people to comment on the exact same thing. I understand the first 10, you know? I got it.
What an airport security expert says
Dr. Sheldon H. Jacobson, a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an expert in airport security who contributed to the design of TSA PreCheck, says O’Bannon’s instinct — that there’s some nuance to the rules — isn’t entirely off.
In airport security terms, the non-sterile side includes areas accessible to the general public without security screenings, like ticket counters or baggage claim. The sterile side refers to the area beyond TSA screening, including boarding gates.
“If it’s on the sterile side, the same principle applies,” he explains. “However, there is a little bit more wiggle room that passengers use.”
While TSA discourages passengers from taking responsibility for anyone else’s bag in either zone, Jacobson says people tend to relax once they’ve cleared security. All the same, he says: “The general rule is: Don’t take custody of anyone else’s bag.”
“You didn’t pack the bag. You didn’t know what’s in it,” Jacobson said. “If the bag is brought to the attention of authorities, they’re going to ask you a lot of questions, and you can become, in some sense, part of the problem.”
“You just never know what somebody’s going through.”
Cara O’Bannon
Still, Jacobson acknowledges that passengers often find themselves in imperfect situations, especially when traveling alone.
“This is more of a human issue, rather than a policy issue,” he says.
Limitations of the self-policing system
Despite the strong warnings and announcements, Jacobson notes that enforcement is limited.
“It’s very, very difficult to enforce a policy when you have, you know, upwards of 3 million people, (who) are being screened every day around the over 400 commercial airports,” he explains. “So there’s not enough human capital footprint. They’re just not enough people working for the TSA to be able to check every single concourse. They do random sweeps and you see this in larger airports with a lot of look around, see what’s there.
“But in essence, this is something that is a self-policing process by the passengers themselves,” Jacobson adds.
Lesson learned from ‘a simple mistake’
In hindsight, O’Bannon says she understands why the video hit a nerve. She’s still not entirely up for accepting the nature of the criticism she received, though.
“People really do, I feel, take the hate to a next level,” she explains of the way commenters were quick to go beyond the context of her post and leap to attacking her character and appearance.
“A lot of people have just absolutely (torn) me apart about how I look, or how my parents raised me, and that sort of thing,” she explains. “From this few-second video, you’re just taking it way out of context. The video felt very lighthearted to me, and it really was just a simple mistake. So I was kind of shocked by just how much it really bothered people.”
O’Bannon acknowledges the value of having open conversations about safety norms and expectations, particularly in public spaces like airports. At the same time, she’s also reflecting on the judgment she received and the instincts that led her here.
“I would agree with some of the people that said I was naive, or maybe I live in like a fairy tale land,” she said. “If you ask me to do something, even if you’re a stranger, I try and be kind. You just never know what somebody’s going through.”
Still, Jacobson’s advice to those wanting to avoid having to ask for others to watch their bag is simple: Travel light and plan ahead.
“If you’re alone, pack in a way that allows you to keep your items with you — even into the bathroom,” he says. “That’s why most airlines limit passengers to one carry-on and one personal item.”
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
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