While I was working as a trainer at the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG), I had the pleasure of working with a group called Circle Tail. Circle Tail is a non-profit organization that trains and provides service animals for people with disabilities. We helped each other understand how best to navigate a security checkpoint while traveling with service animals. We both learned a lot from each other, and when the folks at Disability.gov asked me to be a guest blogger, service animals were the first topic that came to mind. So be sure to check out my blog post at Disability.gov by going here.
Thanks,
Blogger Bob
TSA Blog Team
31 comments:
Thank you for this wonderful information! One thing I have to ask, though... Will my seeing-eye dog be subject to an enhanced pat-down? If so, what exactly does that entail?
Aha! So I can avoid the WBI and possibly the extended pat down by traveling with a service animal.
And how will TSA verify that my service animal is not a trained attack animal?
What a "Puppy-Post".. Excuse the pun. By the way Bob, when are you going to let us see high-quality WBI images?
AH, yes, another puppy post, literally this time.
Woof! Woof! No pat down here, look a doggie!
Will the dog's testicles be squeezed by your employees, or is that special treatment only reserved to us humans? Just curious...
Are any of these service animals cute puppies? Oh what a cute puppy, I'm no longer thinking of enhanced pat-downs.
You forgot the pictures.
Your dog will be patted down by a same sex screener.
Al
Your dog will be patted down by a same sex screener.
I hope they use the proper term for the female dog....
According to that post, persons traveling with service animals will not be subjected to the whole-body imaging scanners. Is that correct?
Blogger Bob wrote: "You will not be eligible for screening using Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT)."
And why is that? Does the WBI not work on animals? Or are the insufficient studies showing that it's safe on animals and therefore presumed unsafe? (heh... that would be ironic)
Good to see that your people are being trained to accommodate service animals. Now if you could just train your people to understand that they don't have to talk extra loud and extra slowly to blind people. Being blind doesn't mean the person is also deaf and slow witted.
I see it isn't just Americans the TSA humiliates. Our allies, too. Congratulations on you new diplomatic mission. I'm you'll handle it as well as the other missions you've taken on.
Bob, you stated in the article that
Don’t Get Separated: Our officers have been trained not to separate you from your service animal. If they try to separate you, please let them know that you can’t be separated. If there is still a problem, you should ask for a Supervisor or manager.
It should not be up to the passenger to tell TSOs that a person should not be separated from his or her service animal. The "highly trained" TSO should know better.
If they did, then episodes like this one
http://inciid.blogspot.com/2010/08/tsa-violates-10-year-old-child-at.html
would not happen.
Bob, how do you have the time to be a guest blogger at Disability.gov and DoD Live but not to get those WBI pictures or answer some of the hundreds of unanswered questions here?
Your disability.gov post says "You will not be eligible for screening using Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT). You can choose to undergo Walk Through Metal Detector (WTMD) screening or request a pat-down."
However, there are reports on FlyerTalk of airport checkpoints where passengers are being told they cannot opt out.
At Richmond VA, at least one person was told they must use the WBI, and another had to wait for the WTMD to "warm up" as it hadn't been used all day. How are people with service animals (or indeed, anyone who wants to opt out of the WBI) supposed to get through a checkpoint under these circumstances?
What, is this blog a joke? No updated comments published in over 24 hours?
Like everything else related to the DHS and TSA, this blog is a complete farce and PR exercise designed to look like they care.
How you Americans put up with this gross abuse of power is absolutely shocking. You'll fight for Taxes but not the dilution of your freedoms? What happened to your country?
I'd wager a week's pay that most TSA folks have no clue how to handle service animal situations. TSA can't get through a week without a great embarrassment or disaster. And those are just the reported ones. The expertise seems to be limited to barking "prison orders".
Please tell us that the rumor of arming TSA people is only a rumor.
Anon sez - "I'd wager a week's pay that most TSA folks have no clue how to handle service animal situations. TSA can't get through a week without a great embarrassment or disaster."
I am from a small Cat 1 airport, but I have never seen anything like what you are willing to wager on. We see service dogs almost every day and simply clear the passenger and the service animal and send them on their way. Most folks that have worked a checkpoint at TSA for more than a couple of months have screened at least one service animal hands on, I would think there is an even better chance of someone at the larger airports getting more hands on time with service animals. All of us have had the training, most of us have actually screened service animals. The process is actually fairly smooth if you take a small amount of time talking to the passenger and working with them during the screening of the animal.
West
TSA Blog Team
GSOLTSO said...
Anon sez - "I'd wager a week's pay that most TSA folks have no clue how to handle service animal situations. TSA can't get through a week without a great embarrassment or disaster."
I am from a small Cat 1 airport, but I have never seen anything like what you are willing to wager on. We see service dogs almost every day and simply clear the passenger and the service animal and send them on their way. Most folks that have worked a checkpoint at TSA for more than a couple of months have screened at least one service animal hands on, I would think there is an even better chance of someone at the larger airports getting more hands on time with service animals. All of us have had the training, most of us have actually screened service animals. The process is actually fairly smooth if you take a small amount of time talking to the passenger and working with them during the screening of the animal.
West
TSA Blog Team
September 2, 2010 7:35 PM
................
When TSA can't even teach its employees to recognize a Passport Card why should anyone have confidence in any other area of TSA training?
@West: All of us have had the training, most of us have actually screened service animals. The process is actually fairly smooth if you take a small amount of time talking to the passenger and working with them during the screening of the animal.
TSOs are supposed to be trained to deal with "exceptions," that is, passengers who differ in some way from the standard sheep in the herd. An "exception" could be anything from someone with a nipple piercing, to someone carrying medication that needs to be kept cool with gel packs, to a blind person with a guide dog, or maybe even someone who requests visual contact with her belongings during the strip search.
In theory, when an "exception" presents itself for screening, the TSO's training and professionalism are supposed to ensure that the TSO works with the passenger to make everything go smoothly. That's what should happen, especially if the passenger cooperates and does his best to comply with whatever bits and pieces of the secret rules he's allowed to know about.
Unfortunately, the "exceptions" seem to be what separates the knowledgeable professional TSOs from the incompetent bullies. "Exceptions" are what create the embarrassing "incidents" that make Blogger Bob work overtime to spin away. The sad reality is that the training and professionalism of TSOs is so variable and unpredictable that anyone with an "exception" has to be prepared for a needlessly unpleasant "screening experience."
The TSA's website and this blog tell us what should happen. But because the TSA is incapable of doing anything consistently, it amounts to rolling the dice when you get to the checkpoint. Things that "should" happen too often don't, and things that "should never happen" too often do happen. Anyone whose life or health depends on a TSO knowing the rules and applying them correctly should avoid flying. The risk is probably small, but the TSA's inability to get their act together, and the complete lack of any accountability, make that risk greater than it needs to be. And the worst part is that the TSA's leadership doesn't seem to care.
Seems like this blog has lost a spark. It would be interesting to hear a real debate on some of the more expressive topics of the day.
" I would think there is an even better chance of someone at the larger airports getting more hands on time with service animals."
Seems like you all want to get a lot more 'hands on' time with everybody.
George, I agree with much of what you say. Any TSO on the floor should be prepared to assist any passenger to transit the screening process. If that means taking an extra couple of minutes to help a small child that is a member of a family, a service animal, a passenger with disabilities of any kind - that is what we are supposed to do. I understand that not every passenger has a good experience screening through (really, come on, who wants to be screened in the first place?), my hope is that passengers have a neutral experience at the worst. I WANT all passengers to have a positive experience, and be treated with professionalism and courtesy every time they enter our checkpoints, and I make everey effort here, and at my aiport to influence things to that end.
West
TSA Blog Team
@West: Any TSO on the floor should be prepared to assist any passenger to transit the screening process. If that means taking an extra couple of minutes to help a small child that is a member of a family, a service animal, a passenger with disabilities of any kind - that is what we are supposed to do.
Yes they should. But what is there to ensure that TSOs do what they should? Are TSOs accountable for assisting passengers? Is that in the criteria the TSA uses to evaluate TSOs? Or does it conflict with the mandate to keep the herd of sheep flowing efficiently flowing through the gate into the paddock, which means some TSOs have reason to feel they'll be penalized for "taking an extra couple of minutes"?
I know that between the sacrosanct secrecy of your rules and the inviolate right to privacy enjoyed by all TSA employees you can't answer that. But my suspicion is that many TSOs will put efficiency ahead of doing what's right for passengers with "exceptions." When the lines are long, "DYWTFT" is much easier than "taking an extra couple of minutes." Since passengers can't know what TSOs are supposed to do under the secret rules, and their bosses will ignore or spin away complaints from passengers, what's stopping them from putting their own convenience first?
That's the impression I have. It may be completely wrong, but I haven't seen anything from the TSA to convince me otherwise. I'm sorry, but telling me "You're wrong, but I can't tell you why without getting permission from Headquarters to reveal SSI information" will never convince me. But that seems to be all you can offer.
I WANT all passengers to have a positive experience, and be treated with professionalism and courtesy every time they enter our checkpoints, and I make everey effort here, and at my aiport to influence things to that end.
I'm glad you do. The effort you invest in making the experience positive undoubtedly enhances whatever effectiveness airport screening can provide. Unfortunately, it seems that too many of your colleagues (and their bosses) don't share your desire. I even suspect that some of them believe that making screening a negative experience will somehow improve security. If innocent people are terrified of entering a checkpoint, the TSA must obviously be effective at deterring terrorists! That may explain why the "bad apples" and DYWTFT remain firmly in place.
"I WANT all passengers to have a positive experience, and be treated with professionalism and courtesy every time they enter our checkpoints, and I make everey effort here, and at my aiport to influence things to that end."
By taking naked pictures of them and sexually assaulting them.
Are you joking? Every single time I've traveled with my service dog, the TSOs have separated us and made me go through the metal detector separately from my dog. So, what, I can now say "oh, the venerable TSA blog says I don't have to"?
Er, doesn't the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibit anyone asking for "identification" of service animals, because that is a privacy issue?
There is no "certification" for service animals, you can't ask for "identification" of them because in many cases there is none.
Also, your advice in your article is just bunk, because screeners make me take the leash, collar and harness off my dog, every single time. They also NEVER ask if they can touch him. Then they "pat him down" around the neck - why, because that's where dogs hide all their contraband? It makes no sense at all. Why would you need to pat down a dog? It has no clothes on, no way to hide anything. If humans were naked, would you pat us down too?
Seriously. You people have no idea what you're doing, what your TSOs are doing, or what makes sense to do.
I second George's motion regarding "exceptions". Also, I wish more screeners had West's attitude to make the checkpoint experience neutral at worst.
I've been through too many checkpoints where the screeners stand there and yell for no good reason. What's wrong with a little ordinary civility? Consider the following experience.
I was the first of four passengers in line. The screening area at this airport has very little background noise. I already had my plastic bins on the table, my notebook PC in a bin, my regulation ziploc in the bin and was starting to take off my shoes. The people in line behind me were doing similarly. Obviously, we all "knew the drill." Then, the screener started barking orders. "TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES AND PUT THEM IN THE BIN. PUT ANY NOTEBOOK COMPUTERS IN A BIN. KEEP YOUR BOARDING PASS AND PHOTO ID IN YOUR HAND AT ALL TIMES."
Did the screener really expect people to remove footwear, pull out notebook PC's, pull out ziploc bags, handle bins, etc. one handed in order to keep their boarding passes and photo id in their hand at all times? What is that supposed to accomplish? What's wrong with a simple request to "please have your boarding pass and photo id in hand as you approach the metal detector"? Is it necessary to yell at four people in a fairly quiet area? I think not.
I wish TSA leadership would put as much emphasis on knowing the rules and interpersonal skills as they do on finding violations of the "rules".
I also wish the powers that be in the TSA would remind the screeners that the overwhelming majority of people they interact with are decent, law abiding people and to treat them and their property with respect.
Mark
qui custodiet ipsos custodes
I was under the impression that it was violation fo the HIPPA laws to collect/acquire medical information without permission?
Since the ada was passed in 1990 it is easier since the Americans with disabilities act to travel on an airplane with a service animal or in a wheelchair and I'm very pleased to see a lot of progress in the sense of how the government agencies to make it easier to travel with this in the United States for people with disabilities
http://www.adalaw.org/
I disapprove of the notion that someone with metal in a knee needs a full body pat down... it just makes no sense. What person with nefarious explosive motives would EVER decide to sound a metal alarm? I mean, really...
I am an amputee, caused by birth defect, caused by my father's exposure to radiation. I insist on removing my prosthetic and sending it through the xray machine, as that is the only way that I can avoid a gross grope. That same birth defect event is causing me to need a hip replacement in the near future. I will neither expose myself to ionizing radiation without significant cause (I won't even have routine dental xrays or mammograms), and I will excuse myself from any hands-on pat-down, especially with the new and revised approach. I will remove my prosthetic and hop through a millimeter-wave machine, but I have no way of knowing which airport has what machine. So my choices are to never buy an airline ticket or take my chances, knowing that I might be throwing my ticket away if things go south. As to the fine and the court ruling that once you enter you can't go back... well, you have my LIMITED implied consent to search. You want to fine me if I turn around, have at it. I will publicly embarrass your agency so much that you will rue the day.
Since the ada was passed in 1990 it is easier since the Americans
with disabilities act to travel on an airplane with a service animal or in
a wheelchair and I'm very pleased to see a lot of progress in the sense
of how the government agencies to make it easier to travel with this
in the United States for people with disabilities
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