Foursquare’s irreverent sense of humor couldn’t have come into play at a better time. As millions of travelers prepare for the US’s busiest travel weekend of the year, foursquare has released a new badge picking up on America’s latest punchline, the TSA. It’s called Baggage Handler and it’s available starting today.
To unlock the badge, all you need to do is check in at any airport and include something like “TSA,” “grope” or — my personal favorite — “Don’t touch my junk, bro!” in your shout. The unlock text reads:
Looks like you’ve had your baggage handled. Happy Holidays and have a safe flight!
Enjoy the new badge and have a Happy Thanksgiving!
UPDATE: This badge was retired in February 2011.
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#1 by ack154 on November 23, 2010 - 1:59 pm
Figures… I’m not traveling anywhere except about a half hour away for dinner.
#2 by JR on November 23, 2010 - 2:10 pm
This probably isn’t a limited time badge though, right? I’m pretty certain people will be having their “baggage” handled for the indefinite future. lol.
#3 by ack154 on November 23, 2010 - 2:21 pm
The holiday specific message means 1 of 2 things I think…
Either a) It’s limited to this holiday season (through xmas?) and will be retired or b) They may keep the badge and change the message after the holidays.
#4 by Geoff on November 23, 2010 - 2:10 pm
I just took my only flight(s) this year This weekend. just my luck
#5 by Sal Cano on November 23, 2010 - 2:17 pm
It’s not limited
#6 by jason on November 23, 2010 - 2:21 pm
I know it’s a running joke now, but how many of our eastern hemisphere friends will be getting a US airport security badge?
#7 by Michael on November 23, 2010 - 3:00 pm
Best…badge…ever!
#8 by Carlos S on November 23, 2010 - 3:03 pm
I have to agree with Jason on that. Same with Macy’s, Radio Shack, Toys R Us, etc.
#9 by Chris (FoursquareHelp) on November 23, 2010 - 3:10 pm
Hopefully this extends through the holiday season… I won’t be flying until the week before Christmas. With all the company sponsored badges released lately it’s nice to see another general badge come out.
#10 by jeremy on November 24, 2010 - 12:23 am
I hope so too. I’m in the same boat..or uh plane, I guess.
#11 by Mrjunk on November 23, 2010 - 3:50 pm
The only reason I’m flying…..comando in kilts. If I tell them I’m gay I get to be groped by a female.
#12 by Ryan on November 23, 2010 - 4:55 pm
I may have to get a smart phone now.
#13 by Wanderlust or Bust on November 23, 2010 - 4:57 pm
Is there a badge for watching the new TSA movie premiering tonight:
http://robustwanderlust.blogspot.com/2010/11/invasion-of-body-scanners.html
#14 by Andrew Lillie on November 23, 2010 - 5:39 pm
Is this only valid in the US? What about UK and Europe? Thanks Andrew
#15 by Paula Bardell-Hedley on November 24, 2010 - 1:32 pm
You can definitely get it in the UK (and elsewhere). I shouted out “touch” at Chester Airport and got it straight away!
#16 by Dawn on November 23, 2010 - 7:15 pm
I’m with Andrew in wondering if this is only for the US. I’m on the opposite side of the world – New Zealand to be precise – and would love to get the TSA badge.
#17 by Carlos S on November 23, 2010 - 8:09 pm
Andrew and Dawn:
I believe that is valid worldwide because one of my friends in Paraguay got the badge by checking at a local airport and mentioning the joke about TSA.
#18 by Leroy Torner on November 23, 2010 - 10:09 pm
I’m from Paraguay, and I can’t unlock it. I guess is only valid in US.
#19 by Carlos S on November 23, 2010 - 10:20 pm
Sorry Leroy, you are one of my friends that I saw checking/shouting in a local airport and I assumed that you got it. Unless of course you use the “back door” as our friends from far away…
Saludos
#20 by Leroy Torner on November 23, 2010 - 10:31 pm
No, we’re going in the right direction. I was talking about it with people of foursquare, ask why 95% of the latest badges can only be unlocked in the U.S., and talk about their economy, these badges are provided by their sponsors and they should be, more or less already do not bother to develop general badges. Well.
#21 by comment on November 23, 2010 - 11:09 pm
You should be able to get the badge at any airport shouting touchdown. Unless your airport is not categorized as airport in 4sq venue.
#22 by Really on November 23, 2010 - 10:17 pm
Aside from violating our rights, I want to ask this, has anyone been talked out of suicide by a fine? So what is hte purpose of an 11K fine for somone who refuses to be irradiated, or groped.
TSA says cause they could be a terrorist- so how does the fine help the errorist is hell bent on dying do you think he will be alive by the time they send him the bill
This is how stupid that rule is. They are sayig if youw ant your rights you need to pay 11K- but that fine is also to protect against terrorists- just another sign of how stupid this agency is and how illogical it is.
More recently, Adam Savage from Mythbusters got x-rayed and was let on the plane before he discovered he had 2 12 inch razor blades i a cardboard tube in his jacket.
http://wireupdate.com/wires/12663/now-this-television-host-claims-tsa-missed-his-12-inch-razor-blades/
Fines, Groping, radiation and they still did not stop the blades from getting on the plan- truly security theater. There leadership is not qualified to secure a jack
#23 by webmeister on November 23, 2010 - 10:51 pm
Doesn’t work in Australia
#24 by nathan mercer on November 24, 2010 - 1:36 am
no it doesn’t seem to be working
my local airport here in NZ is recognised as airport category (I guess as it has the airplane logo)
but no i can’t get the badge
#25 by Rich on November 24, 2010 - 5:22 am
I’m off to the airport en route to work – this is how sad foursquare has made me!!
#26 by ack154 on November 24, 2010 - 1:13 pm
I considered that as well. Our airport is near the mall and would be an easy stop. I’d just feel bad checking in for no other purpose.
#27 by DownerNL on November 24, 2010 - 11:02 am
Got this badge in Belgium this morning, so it should be work worldwide i think
#28 by Jump! on November 24, 2010 - 2:32 pm
Nobody complaining when every Indonesian get this badge?
weird…
#29 by Carlos S on November 24, 2010 - 4:03 pm
Everybody knows about them, but people at 4sqr decided to “look the other way” claiming “cultural differences”….
I had doubts that anyone of them would get the NY Marathon badge and what happened? Several of them got it!
Just few of them got the “Mile High” badge exactly because you must be using GoGo Wifi service. Yesterday I found a guy on Twitter begging people to use his 4sqr account and do the checkin/shout using GoGo, so that he could get the badge.
I have several “friends” on my list because I thought they were 4sqr dummy accounts just used for test/qa, but pretty soon I figured out. When I “blew the whistle” on another blog related to 4sqr, the “blogger” claimed that I was being unfair and blocked from posting, such hypocrite.
4sqr is doing the right thing on creating partnerships to attract money, after all, the $20M infusion that they got last July/August, must be justified. I just think that pretty soon partners would start to demand 4sqr to block “cheaters” which just upset real users/costumers. What is the reason to keep the web mobile app (which is what the cheaters use)? With 20x fold growth in the last year, they don’t need to “spread their legs” anymore in order to attract the mainstream, they ARE THE MAINSTREAM but will have to be very careful considering “keeping real”…..
#30 by netwrok on November 24, 2010 - 6:47 pm
Does this badge work in all airports?
#31 by Dayve on November 24, 2010 - 8:19 pm
Tried it today at Fresno Yosemite International Airport .. no badge
#32 by Downernl on November 24, 2010 - 8:43 pm
Maybe because some airports have ‘terminal’ instead of ‘airport’ as primary category?
#33 by Dayve on November 24, 2010 - 8:56 pm
I thought the same but the airport I checked into was categorized as terminal and airport; however, I found a similar entry that seemed to be more “official” and after checking into that one it worked.
Failed: (Most checkins at this venue)
http://foursquare.com/venue/214083
Worked:
http://foursquare.com/venue/13157715
#34 by Paula Bardell-Hedley on November 25, 2010 - 4:37 am
This one worked for me in the UK:
http://foursquare.com/venue/13184439
#35 by Stacy on November 27, 2010 - 12:49 am
Didn’t work at DFW either, one of the largest airports in the US. #fail
#36 by prowse! on November 27, 2010 - 7:59 am
Ha! While all you laff your asses off to the fun jokesters at FS (Hey, how about a Four Loko Badge – get the tie-in!? Accidental death is hilarious, no matter how anecdotal!)
Y’all better watch out that your FS accounts arent comprimised through that clever l’il plugin called FireSheep – h, you’ll sure be laffing then, wontcha!
Well, when my account gets put back to me, I want a Death2theFireSheep Badge!
#37 by AYCavill on December 2, 2010 - 7:56 am
Don’t forget to shout “touch” everytime u guys c/i at the airport. Goodluck!!
#38 by mikemost on December 8, 2010 - 11:33 am
I checked in @ JFK last week and yesterday. I’ll be checking in at MSP today and on my previous check-ins I have shouted “grope” or “groped” and did not receive the badge. Any thoughts out there as to what the actual trigger is or if the badge is indeed still active?
#39 by Tasha on December 11, 2010 - 6:29 am
I checked in at ATL North Security on Tuesday Dec 7th, unlocked the badge, but now I don’t see it on my profile. What’s up with that?!
#40 by Chris Thompson on December 11, 2010 - 9:16 am
That’s strange. Is there any chance you deleted the checkin?
#41 by Tasha on December 11, 2010 - 10:53 am
Definitely not! I’m the mayor of ATL North Security Checkpoint! Gotta keep my mayorship!
#42 by mikemost on December 13, 2010 - 1:11 pm
turns out “TSA” by itself, no other content in the shout within the Airport check-in was what unlocked it for me.
#43 by marie dzanis on December 15, 2010 - 9:49 pm
Not too bad this time!
#44 by The Flying Foodie on December 20, 2010 - 10:17 am
Got a nice TSA “glow” going on! Cheers!
#45 by pMy GaGa on December 27, 2010 - 9:41 am
i jst checked in at the airport and shout ” Don’t touch my junk, bro! ” but why haven’t i gotten this badge?
#46 by Chris Thompson on December 27, 2010 - 2:22 pm
The badge is still active. My guess would be that the venue wasn’t officially categorized as an airport. It must be the primary category. Many airports are actually set as “terminals” or even “gate” for some reason.
#47 by silvrayn on December 27, 2010 - 2:38 pm
I checked in with a comment about a TSA rep (not related to anything being touched) and got the badge last night at the airport in Atlanta.
#48 by Suphawadee on December 27, 2010 - 11:44 pm
It’s not working in Thailand
#49 by JR on January 3, 2011 - 11:49 am
Did this at Midway Airport in Chicago and Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta and it did not unlock. All of my settings are set to public and I checked in to the primary categories.
#50 by Kevin A. on January 13, 2011 - 10:36 pm
@ JFK T5… It’s not working!
#51 by Chris Thompson on January 14, 2011 - 6:31 am
The venue must be categorized as an airport as it’s primary category. Terminals, gates, etc. don’t work. Try checking in to the main JFK venue.
#52 by Christopher Stobbs on January 20, 2011 - 1:08 am
The place I checked into was an airport I can show my history if you need, please check my post below.
Thanks
Chris
#53 by stobbsc@gmail.com on January 14, 2011 - 10:32 pm
Hi All,
This didn’t work for me here is the venue I checked-in and shouted TSA: http://foursquare.com/venue/224844
Here is my history page which you can verify by checking on the 3rd Jan & 22nd Dec : http://foursquare.com/stobbsc/history
Please could someone help?
Cheers,
Chris
#54 by Kenneth on January 21, 2011 - 4:11 am
Is this badge retired?
#55 by Chris Thompson on January 21, 2011 - 6:19 am
Yes.
#56 by Carlitos on January 24, 2011 - 10:39 pm
Damn, I was wondering why I was not gettin’ it.
#57 by Christopher Stobbs on January 22, 2011 - 6:50 pm
@Chris Thompson, do you have feedback on why I didn’t get the badge?
#58 by Chris Thompson on January 23, 2011 - 10:47 am
No, sorry, I have no idea.
#59 by Carlitos on January 24, 2011 - 10:40 pm
They say this badge is retired… Is that true?
#60 by Phuong on February 10, 2011 - 2:10 pm
Checked in multiple time at Sea Tac with various shouts but no badge.
#61 by Chris Thompson on February 10, 2011 - 4:29 pm
The badge has been retired.
#62 by Phuong on February 10, 2011 - 4:55 pm
Thank you
#63 by Jessie on March 28, 2011 - 8:13 pm
So according to this thread the badge has been known to of been retired since mid January 2011.. yet here at the end of March 2011 it is still listed as “active” on the badge list.
#fail
simple updating would help–my hub and I tried multiple times in mid Feb to get this badge while on our anniversary trip and just looked ridiculous shouting out “grope” and getting nothing for it..LOL
#64 by Chris Thompson on March 28, 2011 - 8:41 pm
To which badge list are you referring? Baggage Handler doesn’t show up on foursquare’s badge list and we don’t have a badge list here.
#65 by Jessie on March 29, 2011 - 2:32 pm
My bad, I landed on this page following a link on another foursquare site that does have a list and did not realize I had left that site- I will post my comment on that site…but I was referring to this list
http://www.4squarebadges.com/foursquare-badge-list/
#66 by schwindelbude on April 12, 2011 - 2:51 pm
Can it be that this badged not available in Germany?
#67 by schwindelbude on April 12, 2011 - 3:01 pm
sorry for the bad automatic translated english in the last post.
Could it be possible that this badge is not available in germany?