Photo of Nancy Furlong next to photo of LAX Airport police officer
Nancy Furlong, 78, missed her flight after refusing to let LAX security search inside her adult diaper – and has now been warned she could be fined up to $13,333 for doing so (Pictures: KTLA)

A 78 year-old woman faces being fined over $13,000 for refusing to let airport security officials search her adult diaper.

Nancy Furlong was shocked and humiliated when Transport Security Administration workers at Los Angeles International Airport demanded to see inside the waterproof underwear.

She refused, and ended up missing her flight as a result, with officials then refusing to let her leave the airport.

Nancy’s son Sean, who is also his mother’s caregiver, began recording the confrontation with officials and an airport cop who subsequently appeared on the scene.

Nancy, who can be seen sitting in a wheelchair appears stunned as she says: ‘And when they got to the diaper, we weren’t going to fly…’

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Sean can be heard telling the cop: ‘Because she does not want you to check her diaper we have to wait for the police to come to clear us?’

The officer said that TSA officials had acted correctly, explaining: ‘Once u put bag on the belt you’re submitting to all… they don’t know whats inside they just wanted to do a quick visual check.’

The Furlongs were barred from leaving the airport during last month’s incident, until the cop finally released them.

Sean told KTLA: ‘We start finding out that its the consistency of their diaper when they were doing the multiple pat downs so that’s why they want to look inside her diaper.

‘I keep telling them no, that we just want to leave.’

Nancy later received a letter saying that as she’d refused a search she now faces paying up to $13,333 in fines.

Sean says they were initially too worried about the ‘humiliation factor’ to share the story, but says his mother was adamant people should know what happened.

He explained: ‘She was strong and she says no it was wrong, and we should let as many people know.’