Did you have to take your shoes off in Ohio but not Colorado? Post all of your thoughts about inconsistencies on this blog post.
In response to an cmac's frustration with those who seem ungrateful for the job TSOs do each day...
Don't take negative comments left by a few to heart. People have the right to voice their opinion even when some of those people don't do it with the same courtesy and respect they expect from you. Without question a lot of our brothers and sisters feel the very same way you do sometimes. This blog is intended to bridge the gap with people who have legitimate issues with the TSA, but let's put the negative into proper context. Consider there are at most a few hundred complaints on this site. Of those complaints there are without a doubt many posts by the same author. Now consider there are some 35, 000 domestic flights per day in the U.S. with millions of passengers using our transportation system, all of which have experienced the professionalism and security provided each day by our Officers (and don't forget this site is accessible worldwide as we've seen people from different countries leaving posts). So if this were an election one might consider those numbers to be a landslide victory.
There's no doubt some people have had a bad experience with the TSA. Our job is to fix what's broken, but hey let's face it - security is a tough business. There's an old saying, "Security is a great thing... until it applies to me". Sure some complaints are valid and we need to improve in many areas, but when you look at the posts there are an awful lot of complaints because people brought a prohibited item into the checkpoint which was identified, and when TSA identified the item they claimed the rules were stupid or ineffective. Those stupid rules weren't that ineffective obviously.
Keep doing the job you do, take constructive criticism constructively, and if it doesn't apply to you or your team – take it with a grain of salt. Your commitment and professionalism are appreciated and never go unnoticed.
Jay
lancifer, said
Q: For everyone telling the rest of us how we've not had another terrorist attack simply because of beefed up security, I ask you this: Prior to September 11, 2001, when was the previous terrorist attack against the US? Where was it? What happened? Now, when was the attack prior to that?" When was the last terror attack against the U.S.?"
A: Have you been living under a rock? The answer to that question is simple, available, and lengthy.
Q: "We've seen evidence of potential plots for attacks. The fact is, terrorist attacks in the US are rare and isolated incidents."
A: Thankfully yes terror attacks on U.S. soil are rare events. But when you consider these facts: the last terror attack cost 3000+ innocent lives in a matter of minutes, it has heavily impacted our foreign policy, it has placed military service personnel in harms way costing more lives, and in short order has cost our economy in lost capital and venture to the tune of more than one TRILLION dollars - the investment to protect U.S. interest if even only for the rare or isolated attack is worth the return.
Q: I could get a boat and troll Lake Michigan all day long, catching large fish, and talking about how my vigilance has kept the lake secure from shark attacks. Never mind that the likelihood of a shark attack in Lake Michigan is little to none. Prove that I don't prevent shark attacks in Lake Michigan. That is how I feel about our increased security. We've got the government telling us about how much danger there is around us, but only a handful of people are questioning the validity of their claims. So if you don't mind, I've got to go keep Lake Michigan free of shark attacks.
A: Lake Michigan is a fresh water body; there are no sharks in Lake Michigan.
Your fishing venture on Lake Michigan doesn't change the fact we are still surrounded by sharks.
Jay
544 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 401 – 544 of 544My husband has a physical handicap, needs a wheelchair at the airport to the gate, takes several medications, a bipap machine is carried on the aircraft whenever we travel. My point is that I realize that there are "inconsistencies" as Frankie said, because of human error etc. But some of our experiences are laughable or at the time quite frustratiing. We flew last Christmas to Seattle and no one cared about the metal bipap machine or the bottles of medicine we were carrying. TSO's only interested in the bottled water that we had. Frist of all the TAS.gov website for Travelers with Disabilities and Medical Conditions and I quote "Additionally, we are continuing to permit perscription liquid medications and other liguids needed by persons with disabilities and medical conditions. This includes:
All Perscription and over-the-counter medications (liquids, gels, and aerosols) including KY jelly, eye drops, and saline solution for medical purposes;
Liquids including water, juice, or liquid nutrition or gels for passenger with a disability or medical condition"
I had full documention from doctors as to the medical needs of my husband and copies of the TSA.GOV website with the above information printed out. However, the TSO took all the bottled water we had including a samll bottle of distilled water for the bipap machine. They told me that the print out was not correct and that we could not bring in any bottled water. At another airport, Seattle, they let us have the bottled water when I showed them the print outs. The only airport that checked the metal bipap machine was San Francisco on our way home to Newark.
Again this fall when we flew to Paris, we were told no bottled water can be taken through the screening process however, over $5,000 in medical supplies, with needles, etc., were not even opened!!
My question is why are the personnel not aware of the needs and the allowances for people with disabilites, when it is on the official TSA website? Do you not know how stressful it is traveling with a disabled person and all that is needed for them to travel? Why is the TSO making it so hard for these people to travel and those that are responsibile for them? Our last trip to Seattle was just a few weeks ago and I asked for a Visual Inspection as per the Special Needs page of the website - this did not help as all bottled water was again taken. Please tell me what I can do on future flights to make it easier. Thank you,
Frustrated in travel.
Most of the inconsistencies I've seen have occurred with my cpap and with my father.
On the same flight, my dad can go through the metal detector without issue in one airport, have to unattach one strap of his suspenders in the second to make it through (that still makes no sense to me), and have to take them off completely in a third.
One time, he took my backpack on a trip as his only luggage (he was driving back). Previously, because of my hobby, I had packed three sets of scissors in the pack. When he went through the airport in Omaha, TSA found one pair.
Just one pair.
Lastly, my cpap machine has been a problem when I have it as a carry on. I remember one time, TSA insisted on plugging it in to verify that's what it was. Now, I pack it in my checked luggage and pray it doesn't get lost.
To Jack, regarding...
"TSo screaming at someone makes them understand you better? Talk about the UGLY AMERICAN. I would like to pick you up and drop in in a foreign country where English speakers are a rarity. Let's see what you eat and drink for a week. Let's see where you sleep at night. Obviously you've never been a stranger in a strange land."
What is your point, exactly. You DO or you DON'T want TSO's with the ability to communicate with those who don't speak English, even if that means they have an accent?
Have you ever noticed that an airport is NOISY? TSO's are not "yelling" AT individuals, they are "yelling" over the noise, trying to address more than one person at a time, with the hopes of not having to repeat themselves every 30 seconds.
When I traveled to Prague, they didn't have a centralized screening. Instead, there were scanners at each and every gate. 30 minutes prior to boarding a roving team of inspectors came to the gate, started the equipment, and scanned the passengers as they were boarding.
To me, this seems like a good solution. The most frustrating part of the centralized TSA security is when you see the long line and worry if you'll make your plane. If the security was actually at the boarding gate, the traveler's anxiety would alleviated (since everyone in front of you is in the same situation). Also, your family and friends could sit with you and drink their > 3 ounce cup of coffee just prior to you actually getting on the plane.
I have been traveling to CLT weekly for the past six months. Overall, I have had predominantly positive experience in my brief interactions with TSA personnel. However, there is one inconsistency that I first noticed several months ago. During rush-hour times (Thursday and Friday afternoons), the bomb-sensing "puff machines" are generally disabled. I have repeatedly seen the swinging exit arms blocked open, with TSA personnel directing passengers to walk directly through the machines. When traveling at lower-volume times, the machines tend to be in use.
When going through security one lower-traffic time, I asked a TSA representative about this practice. He stated that they are inadequately staffed to operate the machines without significantly slowing down traffic flow at peak times. Whether it is a staffing shortage or just the additional time required for passengers too be submitted to the test, it seems illogical to consistently cease using the sensors during peak hours. I could understand not installing the sensors at all and saving the taxpayers the cost of underutilized hardware, or I could understand making the necessary process changes such that the sensors can be consistently used. However, this seems to be the worst of both options -- the capital was purchased and installed, but is consistently not used at certain times of the week.
Can't post anything on the Gripes and Grins page, as there is no "post comment" link
To those who say that the policy should be inconsistent and unknown to the public. You are wrong in many ways.
Security through obscurity is false security. It assumes that all the "chinks in the armor" are known to the authorities. This is false. It assumes that most people are trying to defeat the security instead of strengthen it. This is wrong. It assumes those who critisize the policy are trying to defeat security, when they may be trying to help it. This is wrong. It assumes that those who are trying to break the security wont discover the "chinks in the armor" This is wrong. In a nutshell this is what everyone is complaining about the TSA. The security it provides is dependent on the policies and procedures being secret. If they weren't secret your argueing then they wouldn't be secure. Guess what? They're not secret. These passangers who travel often are not security professionals and they know what the procedures are. If there are terrorists trained in security methods, and guess what there are, they know even better what the procedures are.
The difference is that the passengers were likely to tell the TSA officers they routinely encouter, i.e. TSA officers at the airport, where the procedures were hurting security. The terrorist wasn't. Of course since those travelers who have told the TSA representatives they are most likely to meet these problems are then treated like terrorists, we've stopped giving suggestions to the TSA agents and quietly suffer the "security theatre." And really thats all it is theatre. Ask 100 passangers if they think they could come up with a way to get by your security and 80 have a way and 70 would succeed. But if they tell you what/how you punish them. For some reason it is policy that "only terrorists look for holes in security." Why is that?
Indeed the security theatre is so full of holes that it relies more on good intentions than any actions it takes to keep us secure.
Someone asked in a comment if others would rather get a flight with NO security screening. My answer is yes. Let the terrorist try something on that flight and realize everyone on the flight are wolves and not sheep, and furthermore loaded for bear. Part of the reason that terrorists ever started targeting airplanes is that the people on board are disarmed.
I JUST WISH THE POWERTRIPPERS AT CHECK-IN WOULD BE LESS GESTAPO-LIKE AND STOP GROPING ME! THE POLITICS OF FEAR IS TRAUMATZING OUR ONCE GREAT NATION. FDR ONCE SAID,"THE ONLY THING TO FEAR IS FEAR ITSELF". WE CAN BE SECURE WITHOUT THE CONSTANT THREATS BY THE TSA AND OUR GOVERNMENT!!!
Batteries, watt hours, lighters, scissors and egg timers.
I had 2 TSA people at ORD pull apart my carry-on. I was wondering exactly what they saw/were looking for, being a frequent flyer I pack very carefully (only carry-ons). Turns out it was an Egg Timer. Yes the old ones with hour glass & sand. They'd never seen one I guess and we anazed - AN EGG TIMER ! Gezzz.
Checkpoints seem to be arbitrary in what they want to confiscate. Like another poster stated: an item is acceptable at 1+ checkpoints is confiscated at another.
Are the rules left up to each screeners? This all seems like guessing & threatening.
When lighter were banned, matches were OK. Did anyone check ? The shoe bomber used MATCHES! This ‘New Rule’ caused a lot of lighter to be left lying around airports within children’s reach. When I asked about TSA’s policy causing children to have access – they laughed! 2 weeks later collection points for lighters appeared.
I asked how they dispose of the lighters, they said we just throw them away – which is illegal in itself!
At SAC, my shoes set off a machine. I was pulled aside, the screener put my shoes into a machine and bells went off. I asked what was the problem and he stated a matter of factly 'I don't know'. I was detained 15 min and then told 'you can go'. When I asked what happened and how may I correct this (to help TSA in future travel) no one seem to know.
‘Go, get out of here.’ Nice – how about Thanks for your cooperation!
A friend in HazMat said later ‘don’t go to Home Depot 24hrs before traveling’ Maybe TSA needs to know this too!
As for Rudeness I completely agree with others here. Rather that 'may I assist the next traveler' The TSA screens at PHL shout 'STEP UP' with lots of attitude.
And Profiling is most definitely happening, they’ll deny it but it is happening.
Traveling in Europe, the security is tight but the screeners are friendly and helpful there.
My daughter has breast milk confiscated at screening before a 12 hr flight from Paris. The EU screeners actually said how ridicules this was but ‘US policy’ as they chuckled.
Yes, to the rest of the world the How’s & Why’s of TSA is a joke.
Oh and given the opportunity a screener will strive to make you miss your flight if at all possible. I believe it helps they’re feeling of power and self esteem.
Screeners should be held accountable for their actions. After all they work for us, right ?
This is in response to the post on Jan. 31st by poster Big Country, complaining that soldiers in uniform have to go through screening and that THEY are on the 'real' front line, not us.
As a TSO, I must ask you how many illegals have you stopped in the U.S.? How many potential IEDS have you stopped in the U.S.? What are you doing to keep US HERE IN THE U.S. safer. Mister Soldier, it is because of you and your irrational war mentality that the pentagon is draining our public treasury while the TSA and Homeland security has to tighten its belts. Let's realize that terrorism is an IDEOLOGY not an ARMY and can best be fought by well training and well-equipped law enforcement & special agents.
The current TSA is made up of an understaffed and underpaid cadre of low-trained and unqualified personnel who would otherwise be managing a McDonalds. If anyone in management is reading, I seriously hope you can turn us into the elite law enforcement agency we should be and ONLY THEN will the public and mister soldier take us seriously. Just a note: In some countries they have actual armed cops doing airport security and it is a smooth, quick and painless process.. because they know the right things to look for, the right people to profile, and passengers will listen because they speak with a gun at their side!
I agree about the inconsistencies. One set of screeners want backpacks in trays, while another wants them out. All of the airports that I travel frequently seem to operate on different standards. It's my opinion that the TSA employees should be armed law enforcement officials. You have no problems traveling over seas when you see machine guns patrolling the airports. Why not do the same thing here (maybe not machine guns) but have the screeners be federal cops?
I have a gripe, and this seems the best sub-section of your blog to address it.
Your agents wear gloves when inspecting our carry-own items or frisking us for their protection.
How about my protection???
Shouldn't they change the gloves for each new bag, item or person they touch. I don't want someone elses personal iems/food/drugs/whatever being introduced onto my person or into my personal items by filthy contaminated gloves. The agents do not even have a sanitary means to cleanse their hands in the security area. How many people would an agent screen in one stint of duty all the while wearing one pair of gloves?
Surely the public deserves better treatment!
Camping Stoves and Lanterns without the gas cylinder.
I've had the TSA remove and discard a campstove.
A campstove is a bunch of metal with a tiny hole in it. There is no gas. There is no gas residue. It is not flammable. It is not volatile.
Can you please educate screeners about the differences between gas cylinders and inert objects?
Thanks.
I would like to say thank you TSA for solving the electronic device inconsistency – at least that’s what I’ve been reading on this morning’s news. It’s nice to know some one is trying to solve problems by listening to us. It’s a thankless task to read all this criticism and difficult not give up. Please don’t give up.
Before I start complaining, here’s an exceptional TSA experience worth noting:
Atlanta (05/07) The singing TSA agent. She sat on a stool in the center of the room and sang her own ditty about 3-1-1. I loved it. OK, some people next to me in line were grumbling, but geeze, it was nice to have someone with a sense of humor and an excellent voice help those travelers out who were clueless. In addition to signing the rules, she passed out baggies and talked to us in line. The line went smoothly and quickly. Two thumbs up for her. She deserves 15 min of fame on the Today Show.
I don’t have trouble with TSA all the time – around 30% are bad experiences. I fly about 25,000 miles a year and 30% can add up to a memorable list.
Following are some of the more difficult TSA experiences I’ve had. As you will see, some experiences are worse than others.
IAH (months after 9/11) (Houston) Experience 1. She searched my purse and would not tell me why, even after I asked. She tossed my purse to the end of the belt and turned her back on me. If I knew what the offending item was, I would have been happy to leave it home or take it out of my purse. Why wouldn’t they tell me? If I know what I did wrong, I won’t do it again. But if I don’t know then how can I conform? After clearing security our plane was delayed by 3 hours. I decided to go outside for a smoke. Left all my belongings with my husband except for ID, boarding pass, cigarettes and matches. On they way out, I notified the security agent where I was going and that I would be back.
Same day experience 2. Came back through security and was told I had to remove my jacket. The fleece shirt was not a jacket, but my clothing. My clothing was not a problem an hour earlier. Fatigue dressed Man with a large gun pointed it 3” from my forehead and barked an order at me to take off my coat. I meekly told them it was my shirt. I told them I would remove my clothing but I would prefer to do it privately. The agent (non-gun man) then threatened me with a stay in a Federal penitentiary for being a “wise guy”. (Guy was not the word he used) In front of everyone, I lifted my shirt and exposed bare skin to prove I wasn’t wearing anything underneath. Still at gunpoint, I was allowed to pass through the metal detector. I was so terrified there was no room left for humiliation.
This was my last flight for 3 years. I am so happy the uniformed men with guns have left the airport.
PHL 10/06 Philly. We had just disembarked from an international flight. In my carry on was an electricity converter. My bag was swabbed down for explosives. I asked why. I was told that the screener thought my electricity converter was a bomb. When the TSA agent was finished with my bag she flung it, hitting me in the face with it. No apology or excuse was given.
ROC 11/06 (Rochester) Checked baggage screening was done by hand in the airport lobby. The TSA agent asked me if I had anything to declare. I said yes. I had a sheathed blade and said so. The blade conformed to TSA’s regulations for checked luggage – I checked the web site before I packed it. After indicating I had checked with TSA’s web site, I was told that what I could or could not have was a matter of local policy, not TSA’s policy. The agent informed me that it was illegal to have that item and they would be calling local law enforcement to escort me to jail for an extended stay at taxpayer expense. He also informed me that nail polish and hair spray are illegal to fly and considered hazardous materials and punishable by jail time. After 45 min a different TSA agent informed us we were free to leave. My items were allowed to travel as packed. No explanation, no apology.
SFO 9/07 (San Francisco) I had a walking cane that I sent through on the x-ray belt. It got stuck on a screw inside the machine. The agent backed up the belt and tried it again, and again. I mentioned the cane was stuck on a screw. I was told to shut up and move along. Concerned they were going to break my wooden cane; I reached in to free it from the obstruction. The TSA agent slapped my hand and shouted, “MOVE”!
PHL 11/07 (Philly, again) This incident was with an ID checking TSA agent. I handed her my passport. It was easier to reach while juggling my possessions. While shaking a finger in my face, she told me that a passport was not considered valid ID for a domestic flight and I had to have a driver’s license or I couldn’t fly. It took me several minutes to dig out my license while juggling my possessions. When I handed her my license she refused to touch it, despite the rubber gloves, and demanded I hold it for her so she could see it. There was nothing nefarious on my license. I am a clean person.
In Rochester they say TSA rules do not apply to them yet they don’t publish the rules they do follow. Philly thinks electricity converters are bombs and flyers are scummy people who are to be beaten with their own luggage. In San Fran they don’t care if they break a woman’s walking device and slap her because she wants it to be functional after the screening. In Houston – well, that was too traumatic to summarize.
Over the years I’ve learned that TSA is free to destroy our possessions, point guns in our faces, physically accost us, threaten us with prison, and verbally abuse us in the name of security. All I want is to get to my destination alive and without bruises. I’m sure TSA wants the same for us. Why is it so difficult for some TSA agents to be humane?
"And if TSA was disbanded or if security was lighter and something did happen, could you look in the face of the survivers of 9-11 and say "it was just too inconvienient"?"
You have got to be kidding. Your argument is absurd and illogical. You are assuming that the current screening procedures are effective and that our concern is one of convenience, which is false. You also assume that the infinitesimally small risk of terrorism is worth abandoning the Fourth Amendment. It's not. We're all hundreds (maybe thousands) of times more likely to die in a car crash, on a daily basis, then during ANY FLIGHT. Look into it.
I am frustrated by the waste of money that is the TSA precisely because it is INEFFECTIVE. Being inconvenient is an additional frustration, but most of us would put up with something that was both inconvenient and valuable. TSA is neither. The sooner this abomination of a department is abolished, the better.
-Formerly Frequent Traveler
'for those of you who ask "how many terrorists has tsa caught?" instead, ask "how many hijackings have taken place" how many "9/11"s have taken place since tsa has taken over.'
Just because there have been no bear maulings in any airports since the TSA was installed doesn't mean the TSA is effective against bears. Your argument is logically invalid.
Asking how many terrorists the TSA has caught is valid. How much does the agency cost? Could that money be better spent elsewhere on more effective measures? These are perfectly valid questions.
And, as others have pointed out, the secured cockpit doors have eliminated the possibility of another 9/11 hijacking, so stop patting yourself on the back already.
-Formerly Frequent Traveler
TSA - I give you props for trying to reach out to the peeps. But the truth is that if we did not care whether we missed our plane or not, then we Americans would not put up with this type of scrutiny and ignorance. Your TSOs only authority lies in the fact that they CAN prevent you from getting on the plane. And unfortunately when your job requires you to be across the country for a meeting, or you have a significant financial investment in non-refundable airfare - then that "do you want to fly today?" becomes a powerful force.
The only time I worry at the airport is while I am bottled up in security lines with 500 other people, because that seems to me to be a bigger terrorist target than the 200 people who are getting on my plane with me. What is to keep a suicide bomber from blowing himself up in the middle of the security check point and taking half the airport with him? I say let him get through security so hopefully he will only take down a single plane.
Who instituted the TSA? Not the people of the USA. The people don't want your protection, the govenment does. Let us vote on it and see if you still have a job.
I praise you for allowing us to offer you feedback, but I worry that it will change nothing.
I often find differences in enforcement and rigor and different airports. Typically larger airports are less strict (LAX) and smaller airports are very strict (Tucson).
Every time I see someone posting about the oh so effective use of inconsistency, it makes me laugh. These inconsistencies are not making it impossible for any "Johnny Jihad" to know what to expect. Changing things up is only an effective policy for computer security. I'm sure some will disagree with me on this. I'll answer the statement of, "If they don't know what to expect, then they won't be able to prepare themselves properly." To all of you that tout the infallibility of inconsistency, I ask a question. Does the samurai adage, "Prepare for anything, expect nothing," mean anything to you? Or, perhaps the Boy Scout motto, "Always be prepared!" I'm certain that they know what to reasonably expect. After all, it only took one nutjob trying to set his shoes on fire to make a reactionary policy into a commonplace procedure. I wonder what will be the next method of deployment will be.
At Denver security they've started handing out one-quart zip top bags to anyone who doesn't have one. I had a container leak and make a mess in my bag in Orlando, so I threw it out, figuring I could get a bag at the airport. Apparently, it's up to the airport whether or not they hand out bags, and they do not in Orlando. I had to leave behind my shampoo and conditioner and cram everything else I had into my husband's baggie. If I'd known that not every TSA screening area has bags available for those who don't have them, I would have certainly have washed mine out and used it again.
"The current TSA is made up of an understaffed and underpaid cadre of low-trained and unqualified personnel who would otherwise be managing a McDonalds. If anyone in management is reading, I seriously hope you can turn us into the elite law enforcement agency we should be and ONLY THEN will the public and mister soldier take us seriously."
Hmm, interesting comments from the disgruntled TSA employee. I guess there is a difference between a law enforcement agent and a rule enforcement agent. Arming TSA agents is probably a really bad idea. Not to defend McDonalds, but their managers probably have a far better understanding of customer service than the average TSA employee. Their jobs depend on it. In fact, hiring more people who have retail service skills could be a plus to the TSA, especially bar and liquor store people who can spot a phony ID a mile away, and are used to being reasonable with impaired people.
As we passed through security for our international flight, the ID screener decided that my husband's passport was fake, so he demanded to speak to a supervisor, who agreed that his passport was, indeed, fake. The problem seemed to have to do with the fact that the picture was not perfectly centered in its square. My husband finally managed to convince them to ignore the passport (which he’d only presented because it was the easiest thing to get to having just presented it to get his boarding pass) and instead produced a Colorado driver’s license which seemed to satisfy the screeners. We’ll note that my husband has traveled using this passport not entirely infrequently for the past 8 years, and this was the first time someone had complained about it. What I want to know is, if you can't get a real looking passport from the State Department, where can you get one?
We recently flew from Milan to Philly. Italian airport security was more polite and more efficient than the TSA. The potential ramifications of being less efficient than the Italians should make the TSA tremble.
I don't mind taking off my shoes, my sweatshirt. I don't mind the inconsistencies. I don't mind the way in which TSA folks yell at people and try to make me foolish by assuming that I know exactly what they want and how they want it, given the inconsistencies.
I do mind their behavior, which is extremely rude and wreaks of ignorance and prejudices.
Recently, on a Delta flight out of LAX, I had the honor of being chosen for the extended security. I don't even mind that either. Even though I am quite sure, I will not claim racial profiling based on this experience. I have Asian heritage but the well qualified law enforcement agents mostly mistake me from South America, Middle East etc; basically anything but Asian.
On this particular day I was followed by a young black man, an elderly black lady and then a young mother of two small kids traveling with her kids and her husband. The kids watched the whole sharade while she went through the security.
Back to me. The excellent TSA agent who appointed himself to search me asked me if I spoke English and I said yes (no sarcasm or clever answers, just a plain yes) but for some reason, he chose to speak bits and pieces of spanish to me which I have no clue of. I never corrected him; what's the point. All the time he was searching me and my belongings, he had this smirk on his face as if to say he is God around here. After everything is done, he goes over to his supervisor and they are discussing something and I am thinking what else? Turns out they don't have the stamp to put on my boarding pass saying that I am cleared from TSA to fly. I had a brief exchange with the supervisor who was even more rude. Anyways, the whole situation was cleared after a few minutes. The airlines ask you to get to the airport an hour before flight, I am glad I got there 2 hours before.
I think TSA needs to get more involved in the layout of Airports.
Things have somewhat improved, but still. A nightmare is a flight from SFM to Europe via LAX and back. With all the checks it takes one would assume to be germ free for the rest of ones life. All luggage screened in SFM, getting off the conveyer, houling it over to the international Terminal, same procedure again. Coming back, one gets screened LEAVING the airport. At some airports the layout is so bad that food and drink is only available past the screening. All this is mainly due to the fact that Airlines operate different parts of the airport. In europe this is much less of a problem. Certainly if one has to go to a different terminal for a connecting flight. Exceptions are there (Zurich).
As per other posts, consistancy in procedures is a problem.
It would also be great to create something for experienced travellers vs the holiday one. I always have my ID and boarding pass out way ahead of time, I don't wear shoes that require lacing, the jacket is off ahead of time. I always get a mental crisis when people ahead of me aren't prepared and hold up everything.
Probably the biggest inconsistency we are faced with as travelers is with the range of professionalism of the TSA agents. They range from considerate and compassionate, through simply competent, down to a few sad little bullies who nobody wants or should need to deal with. The biggest priority for TSA should be the safety of the public, it isn't to treat us all as suspects in some imaginary plot. There may be some serious threats out there, but most of us aren't involved with them. As travelers, we have our own priority, getting to our destinations with the least hassle, and of course, safely. Not that you need to apply any genius here, though a few talents in your staff could be put to use. Or run some commercials- a juggler juggling the 3 oz containers and catching them in a 1 quart ziplock, or an announcement preluded by a few riffs on a harmonica, could brighten up and add a very touching human side to the TSA, without endangering the seriousness of the mission. Please get rid of the bullies, they do nothing to enhance your reputation.
From this page of comments, it seems we have inconsistencies in what constitutes valid ID for a domestic flight.
PHL doesn't accept passports while other airports do.
TSA, what exactly constitutes acceptable ID for a domestic flight?
I just recently went through an airport in eastern iowa and was very dissappointed in the security
at this airport. the security screeners were very polite and courtious but when I first started to go through the checkpoint, I showed my bording pass and drivers license. well when I got through the walkthrough metal detector and showed my boarding pass again it seemed I did something wrong because they called the supervisor up and showed him my boarding pass.
well it turned out that the person at the very beginning of the checkpoint didnt put thier initials on my boarding pass and apperently that person got in trouble for it. when I talked to that person later it turned out that they got wrote up and could possibly be fired for not initialing my bording pass. I think it is more important to concentrate on the screening process than some one putting thier initials a boarding pass. I think that if those initials are that important on the boarding pass for someone to get fired over then our government is wasting my hard earned tax dollars. I think its more important to look for things that might bring the plane down and endanger the lives of the passengers that fly than those stupid initials.
I would like to apologize for my behavior and that of the public at large. I do admit I do not care for all the inconvience processes we must go through.I also think it is a necessary evil.But I do think I have been abusive to the agents for for no good reason. It is not there fault. After I became aware of my own behavior I watched those around me. Many of the travelling public are down right beligerent.I really think after reaching the ripe old age of 35 I can remove my liquids but aparently not all the time.So the next time this happens I will try to grin and bear it.I hope the rest of the public will as well. Keep up the good work.
Penelope Jackalope said...
As we passed through security for our international flight, the ID screener decided that my husband's passport was fake, so he demanded to speak to a supervisor, who agreed that his passport was, indeed, fake. The problem seemed to have to do with the fact that the picture was not perfectly centered in its square.
-----------------------
That wasn't IDA by any chance was it? I've used my passport for years for both domestic and international travel. I've never had a problem with my passport being accepted w/o question, before or after a flight out of IDA in Jan. '08. I still don't know what the IDA TSO found so odd about a USA passport, but I had the best seat in the house for their version of security theater at its finest. The best moment came when a TSO pulled out a jewelry loupe to examine my passport more closely.
The fact of the matter is, a visual inspection of an ID does nothing to ensure the safety of the flight I'm about to get on. It's not just that ID's and boarding passes are so easily faked, but it's the fact there is no comparison to any kind of list that makes the ID check a complete waste of time.
So to the TSO that felt it necessary to examine my passport with a loupe, I wasn't shaking my head and rolling my eyes at you personally, but instead it was directed at the people higher up the food chain that have foisted this nonsense on us.
I'm a Federal employee and I often travel on U.S. Government official business. I have a Dept. of Commerce photo ID. Two weeks ago at Dulles airport the initial screener would not accept my ID. He told me "only state ID's are accepted". This can't be correct, right? I've never had the Federal ID questioned, and surely it's more reliable than one of 50 state ID's, which have no common standard? So my question is: are U.S. Government photo ID's acceptable for identification?
What I find so amazing is that we screen the people down to the nth degree, yet we are STILL not screening 100% of the cargo that goes on the same plane. The luggage is now screened, but what about the other cargo, mail, etc?
One final thought...ya'all need new uniforms. You look like boy scouts with all the patches....
I have a titanium knee and, as other artificial joint bloggers have noted, I am unable to declare to the TSA screeners that I will need to be wanded. Some screeners get very angry when they ask me to re-enter the x-ray device and I explain about my knee and ask to be wanded. The message seems to be "Shut up and follow orders" And I pay these people to abuse me. There MUST be a better way.
In December 2007, my wife had some decorative refrigerator magnets confiscated by security at the Bangkok Airport (BKK) before boarding a flight for Tokyo Narita (NRT) where we would change aircraft for our trip back to the U.S. The explanation given was that TSA prohibited the magnets because they might "affect" something on the aircraft. It appears that the magnets would have been o.k. in checked luggage (where they would have been if we had known about this "rule"), but since they would still be on the aircraft I can't see why that would make any difference. In any case, I researched this situation on the Internet after we returned home to the U.S. and could find nothing about the prohibition of magnets in carry-on bags. It seems to me that there are a lot of possible ways that magnets could end up in the passenger areas of an aircraft, including magnetic money clips and purse latches. Is this a case of a security screener (and his supervisor) making up the rules or is there an actual prohibition on having small magnets in carry-on bags? This seems like an inconsistency.
"Armed TSA?!!!!"
No way. Who would give them a gun. Hell there would be guns found all over the airports.
I went through LAX last year just after the TSA decided to fire the 300 "no-show" employees who only worked when they felt like it.
LAX is the worst airport in the world. Ugly, nasty rude service people, ridiculous security. They deny that one can get to the international terminal without having to back outside security and reentering....
I flew out of the Memphis airport this morning on a 6:00 AM flight and I have never seen TSA screeners so insistent on barking out orders and intimidating people. I appreciate that they take their jobs seriously, but they were being way too overbearing. They were also having everyone remove ALL toiletries from their carry-on bags, whether they were liquids/gels or not (ie, just having your baggie of little liquid containers was not enough -- you also had to pull out your cosmetics bag even if the only things in it were non-liquid items like lipgloss/chapstick, powered makeup, etc), which is just excessive. They repeatedly threatened to search your bag and make you late to your flight if you didn't pull out ALL toiletries and cosmetics in order to prove you weren't trying to sneak in extra liquid items. That's not even TSA policy to begin with, and they were being purposely aggressive about it. They need to be reigned in there.
I have a good friend with muscular dystrophy. He is confined to a wheelchair. He is too weak to push himself, so he uses a large, three wheeled battery operated chair that wieghs almost 200pounds. He sets off every alarm in the place, of course. They just wave him on through. What are they going to do, make him wait on the floor while they dismantle his chair every time he flies?
He could be hiding ANYTHING in there. It is a big chair, with a lot of space. He could pack enough explosives in that thing (which has its own electrical power source for detonation) to bring down a whole terminal, let alone a plane. Screening is political theatre. All a terrorist needs to do is fake being disabled, roll up in an electric wheelchair, and it is game over.
I have tried to post comments/questions to this blog which in my mind met all of your standards of decorum. No names, no offensive words no nothing.
What are you people afraid of? The truth?
Where is the rejected comments page that was promised on day one?
So I'm going to try to put them all here again.
Retired United States Military ID rejected. Why?
No Privacy Act discloures provided as required by federal law when personal information is recorded by your agents. Why?
No action taken against TSA employee for violating federal law. Why?
Subjected to extra screening and abuse if any attempt is made to report abuse. Why?
Giving people of one religion preferential treatment. Why? Is it not a violation of federal law to discriminate base of religion?
Many, many comments on this blog report the same problems across the country, yet no corrective action has been taken by senior TSA officials. Why?
When an agency is so corrupt as the TSA only one person is responsible. That would be the head of the agency. The correct action would be for that person to stepdown because they have demonstrated the lack of ability litly to manage such a complex organization.
I suspect I won't see this in print, you folks have to much to hide already.
Folks, its time for your State and Federal politicians to hear from you. Security is fine, but TSA is not providing security.
This one is a DOOZY! I called the TSA the day before coming home because I had been given a plastic coffee container full of "Red Wriggler Worms" to start an indoor compost with. Go figure. Worms aren't on the restricted list but I thought that I would be a responsible traveler & call to make sure it would be ok to carry them on because I wasn't sure I wanted to check them (they couldn't be wrapped in plastic, they need air). Anyway, when I called and asked, I was informed, "worms aren't on the restricted list but it will be up to the individual screener as to whether or not they let you through the checkpoint with them." Then Preston had me spell my name 3 times to be sure he got it right so that they could be on the look-out for me the next day. Why did I have to give my last name if he didn't?
I digress.
The point of this whole stupid story is that even if it's not on the restricted list, Preston says that if your screener is having a bad day, they can take whatever it is away from you because they want to.
"No Privacy Act discloures provided as required by federal law when personal information is recorded by your agents. Why?"
As was discovered by a diligent participant on FlyerTalk yesterday,
THE TSA HAS EXEMPTED ITSELF FROM THE PRIVACY ACT STATEMENT REQUIREMENT.
Why?
Code of Federal Regulations
1507.3, August 2006
.....
(4) From subsection (e)(3) (Privacy Act Statement) because disclosing the authority, purpose, routine uses, and potential consequences of not providing information could reveal the investigative interests of the TSA, as well as the nature and scope of an investigation, the disclosure of which could enable individuals to circumvent agency regulations or statutes.
Very interesting that this same question has been asked on more than one occasion on this blog yet no one in an official capacity as DHS/TSA has responded.
Could it be that they don't want us to know?
Let's see if this gets published.
MIA seems to be the exception when it comes to allowing AA Exec Platinum members pass through security in the same express entry allowed to First Class passengers. I have asked the AA people in MIA and they say that it is a local TSA rule and encouraged me to complain. With every other major AA hub and almost every other airport in the country allowing this, why is MIA different?
This site does not let you make posts using FireFox!
Ever been threatened by a TSA employee? I have. On December 21st I was traveling from Dulles to Paris. I had placed my liquids in a clear plastic bag on top of my clothing but inside my bag (I neglected to pull it out and put it on top of the bag). I was asked by an older, white-haired TSA person if the bag was mine and if I would step to one side so that he could hand check the bag and re-run it. When I mentioned--conversationally and casuAlly--that I didn't realized the clear baggie should be placed on top, and that I'd traveled through Dulles 3-times in the past month, plus other flights through the system (DCA/ORD/SFA), and no one had mentioned I needed to, he became noticeably annoyed. He then went more deeply into my bag, took everything out, ran the bag twice and when I then began to ask what the problem was they were seeing in the scanner, he looked me in the eye, and with an officious tone said that "usually when people goof up, we make them go all the way to the back of the line"...pointing to the very long entry line that had taken us over 15 minutes to get through. It was an obvious threat to punish me for 1-Pointing out inconsistencies, and, I guess, 2-asking what he thought were too many questions. i never raised my voice, I was never insulting to him or pushy...not even close...he just didn't like the cut of my jib and wanted to handle me with a bit of a threat. I nodded, waited for him to finish and slinked off. Sufficiently afraid of what a bigger threat might bring. BTW: I'm a well-traveled guy in his early 40's who owns his own company, has consulted to the US government and I'm not a wilting flower. I wonder who else this jerk has bullied...foreign visitors, young people, women. It's amazing that when I'm in foreign countries, I'm treated with more respect than in my own. Sorry TSA, but your front line people are all your "brand" has...my wife doesn't even want me to post this..."you'll end up on a no-fly list"---she's asked I post this as "anonymous"...THAT THE TSA REPUTATION, PEOPLE. FIX IT!!
What are the official rules if I go on a domestic vacation and lose my drivers license (only picture ID) while travelling? What do I need to do to board a return flight home? Can I?
The Gripes and Grins blog does not have a Post a Comment link at the bottom of the scroll.
Inconsistency is a major problem: Any large organization struggles with it -- how do you keep everyone up-to-date on the latest policies, particularly when you're geographically diverse. For the TSA the problem is amplified as the fliers see many different sites -- I've discovered many TSA agents don't really travel much. All they know is what happens at THEIR location.
Certainly, the process runs more smoothly if we (the travelers) know what to expect: what to take off, what to take out of our baggage, etc.
The problems get amplified when a specific site operates idiosyncratically -- and then the TSA agent starts acting like a police officer making a traffic stop: giving orders, some of which are impossible to follow. (My favorite: At O'Hare Terminal 3, most of my stuff is still in the scanner, and am bending down slipping on my loafers, and the agent manning the scanner shouts at me, "Move on, keep moving, don't stop there.") Common courtesy will defuse much anger -- courtesy both by passengers and TSA agents.
The system is a set up for failure: You give us room to "undo" everything into the four or five pieces we need (our carry-on, our jacket or coat, our laptop, our baggy of liquids, our shoes) but you do NOT give us any place to put things together. We're somehow supposed to carry all these multiple items? Then, you demand of your scanners they keep the lines moving. This is a system problem, not in the control of the passengers.
Thoughts for improvement:
1) Start training your agents that while they are in security / law enforcement, courtesy plays a role. Think about it from the passengers' perspective. Some of your agents are excellent -- others, well...
2) While unpredictability is important in security, emphasize predictability for what we -- the travelers -- need to do. Remember, we move through many sites. Your expectations for us and our behavior should not vary from site to site. (e.g. what we need to take off; what we are allowed to carry; what we need to take out of our bags)
3) Emphasize that if we need so much room to take ourselves apart for screening, we need time and room to put ourselves together, too! Design your checkpoints to allow us to do that.
As a TSO, I have found that most passengers think that they should be able to get to the airport 15 minutes before their flight, go through security and get on the plane and it leave on time.
They do not think that their cell phone is made of metal and needs to go through the xray.
Today I had to search a man who walked through the metal detector with his cell phone in his pocket, the clip on his studded belt that he did not remove. As he alarmed with the hand held metal detector with each of these items, I explained that he would not of alarmed the walk-thru if removed them, he became agitated. Then we find a pocket knife in his carry on bag. He chose the option of taking the knife back to his car.
When he returned through the screening checkpoint he came through with the same clip and studded belt on again and had to be hand searched again!
Please tell me how this is the TSA's fault. Whenever there is a delay in the checkpoint line in front of you, please remember my example, because this guy or someone just like him is probably up there in front of you.
How come at London Heathrow, there are all these police standing around with machine guns, ready to fire, and in the US, all the cops are so dignified and refined? I would be scared to try anything at London Heathrow with all those big guns!
In response to Rick and his photo ID comment. Government ID's are acceptable by all means just make sure they are not just a normal ID but a photo ID. Not sure why they wouldn't let you use it if it was government issued.
Also for everyone before flying the TSA rules do change on occasion so a good rule of thumb is to just check www.tsa.gov before you leave for your trip there is a list of prohibited items on there that you can go over. If you think that they might take something that isn't prohibited you could always print out that list and bring it with to double check. It never hurts to ask questions.
I travel for work and like to relax in the various locales target shooting. So I've been hauling around my .45 on many flights. The problem is the TSA. In one airport they want one lock on the pistol case, another wants the same and a lock on the checked bag that contains the case. The culmination was the demand for 3 locks: double locks on the pistol case and a lock on the checked bag. But at the airport at 1130PM there's no easy way to buy the additional locks. I was frantic. I couldn't leave the $2000 pistol behind. I was returning home so I had nobody to hand the pistol to. Because of the late hour, I couldn't mail it. Luckily, a fellow passenger had an extra lock and key to give me.
Now I have to travel with 3 locks and keys in my pocket in case of TSA.
I would also like to praise the screeners in PHL. Philly is notorious for delays, in and out. PHL TSA is the most efficent and proficient of all of the domestic airports and they've never been a part of any delays I experienced.
None of the irrational behavior on the part of TSA employees should be a surprise - they are only reacting to the situation that their bosses have put them in. Even if the bosses have not tried to create sadistic irrational behavior, the way that humans are wired creates those behaviors - remember if you will the Stanford Experiment that made some undergrads guards and some prisoners - despite the researchers efforts to maintain levels of decorum and decency the guards got bullying and sadistic and the prisoners got cowed and depressed. For those not familiar see the link below. The question is: What is the TSA management doing to counteract this effect? - whatever they are doing it doesn't sound very effective - at least from the evidence of this blog.
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2001/august22/prison2-822.html
At Skyharbor PHX I passed through security. No problem. But the TSO was an old angry disgruntled man. He pointed to my Rolex. "Take it off!" He made me put it in a container to run it through the machine even though I didn't set off the alarms. I wonder if he may have been in a theft ring to steal nice watches. My husband had a similar issue. The same TSO made him place his cash wrapped by a rubber band in the container. He had not set off the machine either. We are very frequent flyers and find this most disturbing. Are they all thiefs?
While traveling several months ago out of Newark, we observed a TSA employee hold up a small bag of apples at the security check point, look of deep concern etched on her face, and yell for a supervisor. What on EARTH???
I appreciate the hard work done by the TSA. I also understand the work being done is very stressful. But on the job stress should not effect the customers being served. TSA must adopt customer standards to ensure job stress is kept from spilling over into the customers traveling. Having one rude TSA employee spoils it for all of the other employees. By rude, I mean someone that makes comments about a passenger based on visual clues.
Being a disabled traveler is tough enough, I don't appreciate being shouted at or told I am slow. You should already expect a certain percentage of travelers to take more time at the scanner.
If there are times where the TSA knows there will be a backup of customers there should be more employees working. Since I already pay for the staff why not keep two screeners open at all times? My poor experience has occured at OAK and IAH. So it is not limited to one TSA official. TSA supervisors must act if they are presented with this type of situation. Not just laugh it off.
When is TSA going to address the questions that have been brought to your attention?
Do we get one explanation per week by Kip?
Anonymous 2/10 12:19 said :
"I have a good friend with muscular dystrophy. He is confined to a wheelchair. He is too weak to push himself, so he uses a large, three wheeled battery operated chair that wieghs almost 200pounds. He sets off every alarm in the place, of course. They just wave him on through. What are they going to do, make him wait on the floor while they dismantle his chair every time he flies?
He could be hiding ANYTHING in there. It is a big chair, with a lot of space. He could pack enough explosives in that thing (which has its own electrical power source for detonation) to bring down a whole terminal, let alone a plane. Screening is political theatre. All a terrorist needs to do is fake being disabled, roll up in an electric wheelchair, and it is game over."
It is ironic how some travelers interpret the screening of people with disabilities and in wheelchairs as harassment. Yet, you just made a critical point. "All a terrorist needs to do is fake being disabled..."
That is why we DO screen ALL travelers, and their property. As a TSO, I find it really hard to believe that your friends wheelchair was not screened inside the security checkpoint. We have a whole section in our SOP detailing the screening procedures for EVERY wheelchair and other assistance devices. Your friends wheelchair should have, and is REQUIRED to be screened. The points you have made are the exact reason why we do screen people with disabilities, and I wish people would see that, instead of crying "harassment of disabled people in wheelchairs"!
I suggest that a bunch of you TSA people leave your TSA ID behind and take a few flights around the country. Have one of your kids pack your bag for you after reading the rules, and see how YOU get treated.
Don't forget to bring some gels and liquids, some food items, and a bottle of water, a laptop, and wear lace up boots. Then get back on your private TSA blog, and share your experiences. I hope you learn something from the trip.
Happy Traveling....
ARE YOU SERIOUS??? DID YOU ACTUALLY THINK ABOUT THAT BEFORE YOU SUBMITTED THAT??
there are no special exemptions for us when we travel buddy. why would my kid pack my bag??? I'm the adult, I should be able to pack my own bag. I know to put my liquids in my checked bag cause i'm not boarding a hotel to stay at...its a damn airplane where you sit for hours!! they have food and water on the plane...and i do bring my laptop with me. Lastly, I wouldn't wear lace-up boots cause DUHHHH!! you have to take your shoes off...so i wear tennis shoes. Why make things more complicated for yourself than it already is??? How do you people live?? if you can't get this, how do you drive to and from work without getting into an accident?? don't the rules change on the road?? speed limits?? hmm yeah..so you ADJUST!!
I am a TSO and I fly quite a few times every year, and never have a problem...why?? well maybe it's because I "listen" (for some that's hard to do), observe, and come prepared. (fully knowing the rules, coming 2 hours prior to my flight)
For instance, I was flying back home and on that day was when the liquid ban went into effect. That was when no liquids of any size could go. Well I took a minute, and thought about what might be concieved as a liquid. I took everything out of my carry-on that was a liquid and packed it in my checked luggage. This was with no prior knowledge or briefing on the subject. Guess what?? i made it through with no problems.
Granted...I don't think anyone should be disrespected when they don't deserve it. But don't disrespect the nice TSO's just trying to do their job. I have been more than helpful to passengers that have come through with oversized liquids just to find them other solutions for keeping their items. I've gone out of my way to help them check their bag, find their loved ones, help them mail their stuff home, etc. So please, give us a break. We go through long, hard hours of repetitive work and complaints. Thanks.
I have not had the opportunity to read through all of these comments, but I did want to chime in about the people who complain about the elite/business/first class lines at the airport.
For those of us who travel frequently it is a godsend to have such lines available. If you are a leisure flyer you couldn't understand the frustration of being on your 4th flight of the week and it's only Tuesday while you're stuck beind the Grizwald family in the security line on their way to Grandma's house.
Elite/Business/First lines are for those of us that travel frequently and know what we're doing. Live with it.
"When is TSA going to address the questions that have been brought to your attention?
Do we get one explanation per week by Kip?"
When is the blog going to publish many of the comments that have been submitted, comments that don't contain profanity but that apparently deal with subjects that the TSA doesn't want us to know about, such as the Privacy Act?
Can't find a thread for this, but there should be one. Subject: Trusted Traveler. I have written a couple of times without answer concerning this program -- which I support. Why go to the trouble and expense to do background checks on people already holding government security clearances? The checks for a reasopnable level of security clearance far exceeds that of the TT background check. If I were king of TSA, I would issue these individuals (and their family members if they has also been subject to a background check) a TT card upon request through their agency security chain.
This is just an amusing, yet scary, story. Two years ago at the Colorado Springs airport,(COS)four of us were selected for additional screening; myself, my 2 year old grandson, a young man about 20 and his puppy. We walked into the screening area and to keep my grandson occupied while he was been patted down, I gave him a cookie to munch on. The young man was instructed to take his puppy off the leash and he tried to tell them that it would not be a good idea to do that. The puppy was totally fixated on the toddler with the cookie. They insisted and the puppy took about 3 seconds to grab the cookie and take off down the concourse. The three screeners ran after the puppy and left the rest of us standing there wondering if we could go or just stand around and chuckle. After several minutes the puppy was retrieved and we went on our way.
Now for the scary part. Last year at the same airport, I was standing in the security line relating this story to some friends I was traveling with. At one point we were laughing about the "terrorist Granny". The young girl who was at the scanning machine must have been listening to the story and she abruptly left her seat and started walking toward me yelling that she could have me arrested and removed from the airport for using that type of language. We all stood there staring for a moment and then started laughing. That was the wrong thing to do, because she then threatened to detain all of us so that we would miss the flight. We all just stopped talking and had to submit to a 10 minute tirade, but at least we made the plane and were not arrested.
In hindsight, I'm sure that she was embarrassed by the story, but her reaction was bizarre to say the least.
To those of you who say print a copy of the permitted/prohibited items list and take it with to explain why you have a given item. Have you ever read the first paragraph in the brochure? "A TSO may determine that an item not on the prohibited chart is prohibited. The TSO may also determine that an item on the permitted chart is dangerous."
Each individual TSO makes his/her own rules. The government's own policy says so.
There has been some discussion of first class travelers getting faster/special lines at the security checkpoint. I don't see how their ticket has any bearing on what TSA does. The ticket is for the seat on the airplane, not for better treatment by the government going through security.
Pilots should not be screened. They are already in control of the aircraft. Cabin crew yes, they are not in direct control of the aircraft.
For people with no carry-on baggage set up a fast lane. All they have is themselves & maybe a purse. Otherwise get in line with the rest of us.
Re-think the liquids rules. Seems to be the number 1 complaint here with shoes being a close 2nd.
TSA, treat us like the citizens we are, not like a bunch of cons. We might be nicer to you also.
Question for TSA. Do you guys verify that every bottle of water, can of soda, little bottle of booze is in fact the real thing? I suspect not. Not asking about methods but all kinds of things get loaded on the plane. Checked baggage, bags of mail, some cargo. In the cabin we know that snacks, food (some flights) and beverages are loaded on every flight. What is in the truck delivering these things? Who check it? Whats in the bins going from the service truck to the aircraft?
Yet you wont let me carry one little bottle of water or soda to the plane.
Lastly, why not concentrate on keeping the bad guys out of the country? Heck they can just walk across the southern border now and cause whatever kind of grief they wont.
Wouldn't your guys be of better used on not letting them even get to an airport in the first place?
I have a ticket to your theater in a few days. I bet nothing will have change at TSA since my last trip.
Thats not a good thing!
I don't know where this comment belongs. There is no way to post to Gripes and Grins so it is here.
The official PDF of the brochure about permitted and prohibited items has no date.
Hey TSA - A government document should have an effective date, or published date, or expiry date. This brochure cannot be trusted because no one knows if it is out of date, or valid.
Definately need to beef up on making the rules consistantly applied throughout the country. I once traveled from texas to washington and then from washington to michigan with a bottle of Purel hand sanitizer just sitting in the bottom of my bag, not in a zip top bag. The current guidelines are for all liquids and gels to be in one and put through the scanner separately. When I left Michigan is when someone lectured me for the Purell. Going from Washington back to Texas I had no one say anything again.
I have a suggestion for you TSA agents...
Try to keep in mind that the chances of YOU running into a terrorists are literally about a billion to one...
The other 999,999,999 of us are just average Americans trying to get from point A to point B - and we damn sure do not appreciate being treated like we were on a suspect on "Cops"....
Several places I see the TSA reminding us that the agents should be treated with respect...
Respect is earned. Being petty and combative will not earn you respect, but it will earn the type of responses you see most on here.
You want me to show you some respect?
Lead by example...
The whole system is fatally flawed. Your most glaring weak spot is the gaggle of passengers lined up waiting to get past the FIRST TSO screener.
It's all just Security Theater.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS??? DID YOU ACTUALLY THINK ABOUT THAT BEFORE YOU SUBMITTED THAT??
there are no special exemptions for us when we travel buddy. why would my kid pack my bag??? I'm the adult, I should be able to pack my own bag. I know to put my liquids in my checked bag cause i'm not boarding a hotel to stay at...its a damn airplane where you sit for hours!! they have food and water on the plane...and i do bring my laptop with me. Lastly, I wouldn't wear lace-up boots cause DUHHHH!! you have to take your shoes off...so i wear tennis shoes. Why make things more complicated for yourself than it already is??? How do you people live?? if you can't get this, how do you drive to and from work without getting into an accident?? don't the rules change on the road?? speed limits?? hmm yeah..so you ADJUST!!"
Well, that wasn't the point of my prior post. The point was, make the same nitpicking prone mistakes as the average passenger poster has made, or even to the best of your ability try to follow the convoluted and arbitrary rules, and see how you as a TSA agent are treated, acting as a member of the general public. Not just flying one round trip, but through a number of different terminals, different airlines, traveling with aging parents or toddlers, and just get a rancid taste for the swaggering that a few lame little bullies are handing out. Really, see it from the passenger standpoint, it does nothing to highten our sense of security.
"Actions speak louder than words". Just one of the comments that my parents referenced that have stuck with me from childhood.
Clean up your own house, get a lock on the concept of professionalism, and do your job in a way that deserves the public's admiration and respect.
This is the way the job demands to be done. If you want to be seen as a professional security force, BE one. Please, do yourselves a favor and get rid of the bullies.
My comments are made with the best of intentions- to further improve the dialog and interaction between the TSA and the public.
When going through TSA in Syracuse on Feb 9, the TSA rep took almost 3 minutes per person examining the boarding pass against the ID. There was one agent examining the documents and 3 TSA agents watching him. This caused the line to go extremely slow.
Does anyone know why it can take this long to compare the boarding document to the ID since the only item that is on both documents is the first and last name?
I have found an interesting trend in my attempts to post on this blog. I have submitted now 9 different posts under 9 different names. Of those 9, 7 have reminded people that their constitutional rights are not abrogated by the simple purchase of an airline ticket and that the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 14th amendments are still in force in this country, despite anything in the Patriot Act that may state to the contrary. These comments have urged people to exercise their constitutional rights of redress of grievances with the government and have suggested that the TSA is an agency that is ripe for dismantling and retooling. None of these comments have made it past the blogger "censors" despite all being related both directly and tangentially to the specific sub-topic under which I addressed them. The two that have been published have also suggested that the TSA has gone too far, but have not suggested that people complain more or exercise their rights as American citizens to work to disband this agency.
I challenge the TSA censors to let this comment pass. I have a right to free speech. I have a right to freedom of movement about the country.
Thank you.
Try to keep in mind that the chances of YOU running into a terrorists are literally about a billion to one...
And with those odds, what are we so afraid of?
I have found an interesting trend in my attempts to post on this blog. I have submitted now 9 different posts under 9 different names. Of those 9, 7 have reminded people that their constitutional rights are not abrogated by the simple purchase of an airline ticket and that the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 14th amendments are still in force in this country, despite anything in the Patriot Act that may state to the contrary. These comments have urged people to exercise their constitutional rights of redress of grievances with the government and have suggested that the TSA is an agency that is ripe for dismantling and retooling. None of these comments have made it past the blogger "censors" despite all being related both directly and tangentially to the specific sub-topic under which I addressed them. The two that have been published have also suggested that the TSA has gone too far, but have not suggested that people complain more or exercise their rights as American citizens to work to disband this agency.
I challenge the TSA censors to let this comment pass. I have a right to free speech. I have a right to freedom of movement about the country.
Same as I have experienced, winstonsmith.
I just said the same thing in another post in the thread:
'Why We Do What We Do: Additional Screening for People with Hip Replacements"
I wonder if either that one or this will be published.
The TSA is in a no win situation. They will never satisfy both the traveling public and the bureaucrats that govern them.
I'm a frequent flyer (Delta Platinum Medallion), so I see a lot of different airports. The TSA was established as a result of a knee-jerk reaction by the Federal gov't to the 9/11 attacks (granted, they needed to do something). It's been my observation (both before and after 9/11) that US airport security is a joke (maybe somewhat due to our constitutional freedoms). US airport security compared to the best international (i.e., Israel, Germany, Japan) security is a joke. The best use highly trained, armed, skilled, and paid security professionals. The TSA are low-paid, moderately trained, low-skilled government employees (think DMV...).
I do not think we are more secure traveling since 9/11, rather I think the TSA creates the ILLUSION to the general public that doesn't travel as much as frequent business travelers.
If we want US airport security to be the best, then we need to copy the best (especially Israel or Germany), and if that means armed SWAT-uniformed security agents, then so be it.
Has anyone else noticed this?
There will be a 2-hour long line, 3 unused security stations, and 2 TSA agents yelling at everyone in line.
I guess they've got to feel like they're doing something.
So, let's talk IDs.
Apparently there is a new policy that states that only drivers licenses are acceptable, except for foreigners who must present a passport.
I've been turned down at various airports when I tried to use a SIDA badge; I've been turned down at one airport for using a US passport - that screener only allowed a US driver license. My 85year old father got rejected for trying to use his Retired Military ID (a Gov't issued photo ID if there ever was one).
That is stupid.
The published policy is "government issued photo ID". Not a subset thereof. SIDA badges (which require background checks) should be OK everywhere. Passports should be OK everywhere. Military IDs (including retired IDs) should be OK.
My parents will no longer fly because of the TSA hassles. It's just not worth it to them & they can't deal with it any more. Rejecting a retired Mil ID (which gets him onto military bases) should be good enough.
Let's stop with the foolish policies, and the inconsistancies between airports.
I suspect that this will not get posted because it's critical of the TSA, but I gotta say it nonetheless.
PS.. as for the ID's, your names are run through a NO FLY LIST system, if you put in a different name, it won't check it the correct way, so JACOB and JAKE are different on the list.. that is why you now MUST have the proper Identification.. Quit crying...
I think I posted this in the wrong place orginally.
I am concerned about a trend I have been seeing. I fly quite regularly and it seems in the last few months it has become quite obivious and even overt as to who the Air Marshalls are. In December in San Diego they walked up to the gate with all of us there, presented their credential and were let on early. As I boarded, there they were two in first class and one in coach. If I was not sure, one in a first class aisle seat got up to let the window seat passenger in. While he was up he leaned over to say something to the other sky marshall and you could clearly see his gun at his backside.
Several times I have seen this play out the same way (but not the gun part). Last Saturday at Dulles airport for United 919 (11 Feb) to San Diego the three sky marshalls showed up, gave the gate agent id’s and were boarded early. When I got on there they were two in first and one in coach.
Arn’t they suppose to blend in so we (and the bad guys) do not know who they are? This procedure seems very unsafe to me.
Re: Anonymous @ February 7, 2008 3:47 AM
"Look...the rules are simple..."
"Second, there are a standard set of rules that are supposed to be followed at every airport. Just like you and me, we're going to have different opinions on things...WE'RE HUMAN!!"
Which is it? Either the rules are universal and simple and can be followed easily by anyone, or they're so complex that even the TSA can't interpret them constantly and they vary from airport to airport.
Perhaps this is the problem? The TSA is staffed by people who don't understand the difference between consistency and case-by-case reinterpretation.
Lastly: "Third, WHY BRING a HUGE CARRY-ON suitcase?? extra stuff"
Because the TSA randomly opens my luggage that is checked and on occasion the contents will go missing.
When you eliminate the thieves in your ranks I will start letting my valuable possessions out of my control.
There is one issue that has not currently been addressed, and it is an issue that would greatly affect the ability of TSA to do it job.
We have seen disgruntled employees or ex-employees (think of the term "going postal") venting their frustration by bringing weapons to bear on their fellow employees, supervisors, and innocent bystanders. This would of course not be an act of terrorism, but is a cause for concern. Do you have safeguards in place to absolutely prevent a scenario like this from occurring?
In the general category of consistency, why would a hip replacement require a "private screening" in Oakland (2/12) but not at Reagan or in Albuqerque? The people were courteous, but the screener could not understand why he got a wand signal on both sides of my upper thigh. After the "private screening" I was allowed to proceed, but the problem with the wand was never resolved, even though I asked what they intended to do about it. So, the next person who gets screened will have the same problem. Fortunately, I had plenty of time to get to the gate--others may not be so fortunate!
Question for the Blog managers.
The new postings to this blog seems to be in fits and starts. Are you guys running any kind of schedule for updates?
Since all submissions are being sent to government computers, posted comments and rejected comments alike what record retention are you doing to comply with FOIA request?
If I do a FOIA for all received post will you be able to meet my request?
Thanks
Kudos TSA for rising to the challenge and publishing my last comment. I challenge you to publish this one as well as it also deals with issues of free expression and equal protection under the law. It has to do with our ability to question the arbitrary and apparently capricious orders the TSOs feel empowered to bark at us as we go through the security line.
There has been ample anecdotal evidence on this blog of people being on the receiving end of veiled and not so veiled threats by TSOs should they question anything the TSO orders no matter how ridiculous. Typically the threats come in the form of "Do you want to fly today?" or "Do you want to make your plane?" When a passenger requests to speak to a supervisor, frequently a supervisor is not available. I personally have been in situations where I would have preferred to follow up with a supervisor but was pressed for time to make a flight and had to let the matter drop. The first amendment to the Constitution guarantees each individual the right to freedom of speech and freedom of expression and to the free expression and redress of grievances to the government. A person questioning an action of a government functionary (a passenger questioning a capriciously barked order on the part of a TSO) is exercising a constitutional right and is not committing a criminal act. To have the government or an agent of the government retailiate against an individual because the individual chooses to exercise a constitutional right is in fact unconstitutional.
There may be a good reason for the TSO's actions in regard to the passenger in question in the situation I outline above and there may not. Either way, the passenger is entitled to a response from the TSO, or from the TSO's supervisor. Each checkpoint needs to have people in place to address passenger questions on the spot and to take reports of actual or perceived abuse of authority on the part of TSOs. The TSA then needs to follow up on those complaints that have merit and take disciplinary or other corrective action to ensure that the constitution rights of the flying public are not violated.
The only way the TSA is going to be able to clean up its public image is by cleaning up the way it deals with the flying public where the two groups come together: at the security checkpoint.
Hey Kip,
1). Why can I take 12 inch knitting needles and 7 inch screwdrivers on a plane but I can't take my 2 inch keychain swiss army knife? How about a little common sense here!
2.) Why do we screen Pilots and Crew but yet the airline baggage handlers have free roam of the airport with no screening what so ever?
3.) Why do we bother to check ID's for fakes or forgery when you don't even need an ID to buy a ticket or board a plane? It is a lot safer to just submit to secondary screening than to bother trying to fake an ID.
4.) Ever wonder why the turnover rate for TSO's is so high? Could it be that the pay is no more than what Walmart pays?
5.) It's time to start a new program called "The Common Sense Approach To Screening" and include it in the SOP.
I have found an interesting trend in my attempts to post on this blog. I have submitted now 9 different posts under 9 different names. Of those 9, 7 have reminded people that their constitutional rights are not abrogated by the simple purchase of an airline ticket and that the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 14th amendments are still in force in this country, despite anything in the Patriot Act that may state to the contrary. These comments have urged people to exercise their constitutional rights of redress of grievances with the government and have suggested that the TSA is an agency that is ripe for dismantling and retooling. None of these comments have made it past the blogger "censors" despite all being related both directly and tangentially to the specific sub-topic under which I addressed them. The two that have been published have also suggested that the TSA has gone too far, but have not suggested that people complain more or exercise their rights as American citizens to work to disband this agency.
I challenge the TSA censors to let this comment pass. I have a right to free speech. I have a right to freedom of movement about the country.
Just to clear up any confusion . . . I respect the fact that many of the traveling public and posters to this blog are distessed and indignant about being subjected to searches of their persons and property when they fly in the United States, but none of these searches violates any amendents to the United States Constitution, especially the 4th amendment.
TSA searches are and exception that the U.S Supreme Court calls "adminstrative" searches and all TSA checkpoints have notices posted placing the passenger(s) on notice that in order to travel by air the passenger(s) impliedly "consent" to the adminstrative search.
There is no constitutional right to travel by air and regretably more security not less became necessary after 9/11.
This may not be the place to post this comment on your site, but this was the first place I found a 'post a comment' link & I looked in a number of places on your site.
This is a gripe. A couple weeks ago, when I traveling (alone) home from a trip to help with placing my mother in a nursing home. Needless to say, it had been a stressful trip. On my return trip, I was bringing my mother’s cat (Cleo) to come live with me. Cleo was in a carrier that would fit under the seat in front of me, so she had to go through security with me. At Eppley Airfield in Omaha, NE (my departure airport), I was asked to remove the animal from the carrier & I was instructed to carry the animal through with me & her carrier would go through the scanning machine without her.
If anyone knows anything about cats, they’ll understand that for the most part cats do not like being in their carriers & they do not tolerate new surroundings & strange noises all that well. I explained to TSA that this was a cat & I didn’t think that taking her out of the carrier was a good idea. They insisted that the cat needed to be removed from the carrier. I relented & took Cleo out of the carrier and tried to hold on to her firmly. When we got through the scanning procedure & I went to place Cleo back in her carrier, she panicked & was able to get out of my grasp. I had the scratches to prove it. I immediately called out for help & for someone to stop her. TSA agents & security came running – I’m surprised no guns were drawn. Eventually, a TSA agent was able to pin Cleo down until I could get to her and with the agent’s help I was able to get Cleo into her carrier. Needless to say, both Cleo & I were a bit traumatized by this experience.
Here are my questions about this:
1. Is this normal policy at all airports? (to remove animals that are traveling in passenger cabins from their carriers)
2. Couldn’t the animal stay in the carrier & have the carrier go through the scanning machine or is there a fear that the x-ray would harm the animal?
Inconsistancies start from the top down. TSA's Standard Operating Procedures are anything BUT and constantly updated info is mostly gray and leaves too much room for misinterpretation which then leads to inconsistent policy enforcement, which leads to passenger frustration which leads to TSA officers being constantly harrassed and thus, defensive and become less compassionate towards those they are trying to accomodate.
Sadly, TSA's system will never become consistent & tolerable because security can't be fully divulged publicly, and those in power are constantly updating procedures that 1) take a long time for TSA officers to interpret with 100% clarity and enforce properly, and 2) takes the flying public even longer to digest and accept. It's a perpetual cycle of too many self rightous 'experts' passing down too many illogical protocols to too many ill-qualified employees (some deserve credit) that try to enforce the madness with too many people flying & trying to comply with inconsistent, ever-changing policies. It's a plagued system that I would challenge anyone to try to improve upon (can't be done amongst 40,000 people, half of whom try to do a good job, the other half: power-hungry, corrupt, greedy, incompetent bullies that are in their position because of who they know) and while the stage show is still open, the pork barrel is full tilt so a lot of cronies get rich from the mismanaged budget and unaccountable spending. Set up as the Gov'mt's step-child agency, you get what you pay for.
Well...I hope this gets through.
I just did some research on air travel safety. The information was quite enlightening. According to the statistics, we are more likely to end up in a plane crash than a hijacking or bombing. The FAA reported no incidents of hijackings on US flights from February 1991 to October 2001. This seemed to be a pattern. If anything, the "security measures" that are in force now would have made more sense in the time when the majority of hijackings occured, which is 1968-1974. What seems inconsistent is the reaction to what could arguably called an isolated incidnent. Seriously, security had been relaxed in 2001. I noticed this from when I had flown in 1991. In 1991, airport security checked out people going beyond their point. In 1997, security checked passengers. In 2000, you could practically go to the gates unchecked if the timing was right.
Beside the point, it wasn't airport security that failed us in 2001. These guys used innocuous items to get what they wanted. The INS failed us when they let these known criminals into our country. The FAA failed to do a proper background check when they were issued pilots' licenses. Two organizations failed to do their job properly, and we have to deal with the consequences. Was the INS given an overhaul for it's lack of dilligence in keeping up on who we are allowing into the country? Was the FAA given any hassle for failing to check the backgrounds of these individuals?
Also, how is it consistent to say that you are trying to keep one step ahead of "terrorists," when security measures are being implemented after highly publicized incidents? I don't see how that is keeping ahead of them. If anything, that is reactionary. The only thing I see that is consistent is that I haven't seen any reports stating that a domestic flight has been successfully hijacked since 2001. That, and the lack of information regarding such incidents. I had to really dig to find what little information I did find.
anyone know if you can take a flashlight onboard an airplane? I have a maglight that takes 2 d cell batteries???
Thanks
Screener Jane
I have read almost all of the comments above, and I am sad to find about this many frustrations on checkpoint lanes all over the country. I apologize for unprofessional personnel; seem to you, nonsense rules, long lines and for all, the inconsistency.
It bothers me, as an TSO, that some things are done on some airport and on some not, then if I have to ask someone to do something which is required (like the liquids in the baggie” I often get response like; “Well, in Boston (or elsewhere) I didn’t have to do that!”
I have no explanations why that particular screener did not bother to do his job and I am appalled that person like that is employed by TSA.
But, honestly, did anyone ever experienced anything good on these airports, is there at least one screener that was nice, professional and did his job with proficiency and make your travel experience a bit better?
"coca-cola is not a liquid!!"
wow and you guys call us dumb?? haha
Mag lights are fine to fly.
"But, honestly, did anyone ever experienced anything good on these airports, is there at least one screener that was nice, professional and did his job with proficiency and make your travel experience a bit better?"
Actually, the TSA staff at my local airport seem to manage to do their jobs effectively without annoying anyone. I think they might be an anomaly, so I won't divulge where our airport is, we are keeping them.....
Inconsistency? Sometimes we'll open your bags to view a suspicious item. Sometimes we'll open it to go Christmas shopping...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-airport-agent-theft_bothfeb15,1,845467.story
If all the screener's who post here would learn to spell and use proper grammar, it mght help to dispell the widely-held belief that so many of them are not particularly intelligent.
When your posts contain misspellings and poor grammar, it takes away any of the credibility of whatever argument you are trying to put forth. All it does is reinforce the notion that so many travelers have that you got a job with the TSA because you couldn't get one anyplace else.
If all the screener's who post here would learn to spell
I need to correct my own grammar: If all the screeners......
ok, the funny thing about the post by "anonymous" above is that while you are criticizing the spelling/grammar of the TSAs, you wrote "screener's" instead of "screeners" - apostrophes are only for possessives, not for plurals.
please don't demean other people's intelligence when you are making the same mistakes. thanks.
-a teacher
to anonymous regarding screeners misspelling words... I assume you meant dispel instead of dispell...
It is a sad day when we stop minimal process adjustments which were done in response to addressing specific test findings weaknesses. These were addressed by a working group who made specific recommendations, some of which were easy to impliment and FSDs made easy adjustments based on risk based decision making. But instead we bowdown to persons unhappy with being required to remove electronics, which allowed for a much easier process to screen. Guess what...it worked and we were able to succeed where we had been failing. Then our own public affairs sucks up and acts like it was some giant find and thanked the blogger. In my 5 plus years and after working in many airports I find that if asked many paxs do not see much of a need for most of what we do anymore. Sure, we love to listen to those who praise us but many are just annoyed. We are victims of our own success and this one really shows where the real focus is.
I have no problem with security and applaud TSA for undertaking the Herculean task they have been assigned. As a frequent traveler with a full hip replacement, I am always subjected to a secondary screening - no problems here either. What is a problem, however, is how each individual airport's TSA Staff handles my personal property while I am undergoing the secondary screening. In some airports a TSA employee will ask which items coming out of the conveyor are mine and will bring those items to the secondary screening area. In other airports the items are left at the end of the belt and I am told to keep an eye on them during the secondary screening. Because I never know which to expect, I no longer remove my wallet and place it in the bin with other personal items because I refuse to leave it unprotected. Usually this results in questions from the screener like "You were supposed to remove all items from your pockets - why didn't you?" I would like to see TSA make it policy that your personal property is ALWAYS moved to the secondary screening area to prevent the potential for loss or damage.
Yes, I saw that misspelling as soon as I hit "publish" and could not stop it. Both errors came from attempting to edit my post here rather than in the original Word document.
maybe the other people posting with mistakes are in the same situation. shouldn't judge...
I don't know if this fits under the inconsistencies label but I am curious to know why airport security screeners do not recognize the Transportation Worker Identity Credential as a government issued ID when it clearly states on the card that it is "...issued under the authority of the United States Government..."? The card is issued by TSA.
I work in the transportation industry and I am required to have this card. I cost me more than $130and had to go to a TSA facility to give my fingerprints, take a photo and submit to background checks, yet the organization that issued the card does not accept it in the airport security line. All those who are issued these cards have already been subject to more scrutiny than the average traveler and are not given any consideration. A person with a first class ticket or an Advantage Gold member is given the courtesy of using a special line for security when they haven't given fingerprints or background checks to TSA or anyone. TWIC card holders should be given at least the same consideration when travelling. Please share your comments.
To Anonymous regarding misspellings... my point being errors here do not necessarily equate intelligence (or lack thereof). Perhaps if we can stay on point and work together, we can make this blog work as it should instead of insulting eachother through innuendos. I'm a TSO, and I'm a college educated woman. I want to be a part of the solution.
Let's get right to bottom line.
I live in the Phoneix metro area.
We are taking an Alaska cruise out of Seattle this summer.
We will drive to Seattle and back again rather than subject ourselves to the whims of TSA.
Let's get a REAL complaint up here.
PAGO PAGO, American Samoa - American Samoa's delegate to the U.S. Congress is calling for an investigation into the death of a baby at Honolulu International Airport.
Delegate Eni Faleomavaega has asked the Department of Homeland Security to begin an investigation into death of 14-day-old Michael Tony Futi last Friday.
The baby had been flown to Honolulu for emergency heart surgery. He died while detained inside a customs' room at the Honolulu airport with his mother and a nurse.
A lawyer for the family announced plans to sue the federal government over the baby's death.
Faleomavaega called for the probe in a letter issued to Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff.
An infant flown in for emergency heart surgery died because of being detained. Pilots can rush to get a plane on the ground in an emergency, but the TSA can hold things up until the kid is dead.
This is unacceptable. I hope the TSA will at least do the family the courtesy of settling this matter rather than dragging this through a prolonged legal battle that the family can ill-afford. A family who just buried their infant son.
There is no way that this can garner good-will, but maybe, just MAYBE, if the TSA is willing to step up, they might earn a little respect.
Bob, If your gripe is that the baby died while being held in the Customs holding room, seems to me you are on the wrong blog. TSA doesn't have interaction with those coming into the country.
One annoying inconsistency that I've noted occurs in the TSA's own backyard--at DCA. I frequently travel with a portable DVD player, and in recent months I've been stopped when a screener at the x-ray machine notices what they think is a laptop in my bag.
They then call for a second person to come look at the image, and then inspect my bag and send the DVD player through the x-ray by itself. Mind you, all of this is holding up the line.
I was hopeful that this problem was solved when I saw Kip's post last week presumably hailing the correction of inconsistencies with the screening of electronics. However, I just flew out of DCA yesterday (Feb 14) and again, this happened to me. When the second TSA screener asked if I had a laptop in my bag I informed him that it was a DVD player, to which he replied, "well, that's like a laptop."
I honestly am fine with removing my DVD player--if it is a TSA policy to do so (i.e., to remove laptops and items that "look like" laptops on x-ray machines). But I also find it odd that this only seems to occur at DCA; I've never been stopped on my return flight. Also, this only started happening within the past 6 months; I've traveled with a portable DVD player for about 2 years, and was never stopped until recently. Kip, what's going on?
"Let's get right to bottom line.
I live in the Phoneix metro area.
We are taking an Alaska cruise out of Seattle this summer.
We will drive to Seattle and back again rather than subject ourselves to the whims of TSA.
Good for you! You're accomplishing two things: reducing the airline's revenue (which if enough people would do the TSA as it is today would disappear) and you are reducing the carbon footprint the trip entails.
nytso said:
"I'm a TSO, and I'm a college educated woman. I want to be a part of the solution."
If you want to be part of the solution, find another job. The TSA is just a show and is doing next to nothing to prevent "terrorists" from boarding planes. Oh yes, you are finding lots of fake ID's, toothpaste, and perhaps a weapon or two once in a while, but nothing that would bring down a plane.
Inconsistencies? I am troubled by the tendency of the TSA's in different airports to allow flight crews through screening with liquids (from Starbuck's and Panera) and shoes. I have seen this several times at LGA which I think is one of the most likely airports to be assaulted by some kind of attack.
How about we put an end to the security theater?
First off, boarding passes can be printed at home just as easily as they can be FORGED at home.
Checking for a boarding pass will not stop a terrorist, it won't stop a 5th grader.
Since faking a boarding pass takes under a minute, it is easy enough to create a boarding pass that matches whichever ID you have. Fake IDs are also relatively easy to produce.
Checking IDs against boarding passes will not stop a terrorist, it won't stop a high school freshmen.
After the "liquid explosive" scare it was determined that the plot could not have worked. This wasn't determined by the Government, but by chemists. There is no reason to ban liquids.
A terrorist can get on a place wrapped in explosives, but I can't bring on a Pepsi.
Still, the TSA claims to be worried about people smuggling binary compounds onto a plane, but then dump these same "suspicious liquids" into one big container. If there was a danger? Screeners would have blown themselves up by now.
We're worried about people bringing bombs aboard planes, so we crowd everyone into nice compact bundles so that terrorists could detonate a bomb while AT the checkpoint and kill more people than they could by bringing down a plane.
The TSA even posts rules, and updates what can and cannot be brought on a plane. HOWEVER the TSA agents across the country aren't even kept in the loop. That isn't THEIR fault, it is the fault of the TSA.
The TSA screeners I've met have mostly been nice folks who are ordered to enforce idiotic laws that are more harmful than helpful.
We've set up a system that makes people think that they are safer, when they aren't and have created bottleneck points where people are at even GREATER risk than they were before.
Bravo TSA, you've made us LESS safe under the guise of improving our safety.
And since I'd rather stay OFF the mysterious "No Fly List" I'll keep my identity to myself.
- Ceronomus
Marshall - thanks for the attack. That's a mature attitude. I plan on staying with the TSA, improving the issues that need work, and helping to secure the aircraft and flying public. This is a fledgling agency, nobody promised perfection at the outset, and the improvements are numerous. Contrary to your belief, we, the TSA, are doing a helluva job.
Here are my questions about this:
1. Is this normal policy at all airports? (to remove animals that are traveling in passenger cabins from their carriers)
2. Couldn’t the animal stay in the carrier & have the carrier go through the scanning machine or is there a fear that the x-ray would harm the animal?
Yes it's normal for animals to be removed. The animal has to be screened and the bag/carrier has to be screened as well.
The x-rays in the machines used to screen carryon bags are not approved for humans or animals. I'm not peronsally sure if it would be safe, but we don't want to take a chance in harming your animals.
TSA Screener
I honestly am fine with removing my DVD player--if it is a TSA policy to do so (i.e., to remove laptops and items that "look like" laptops on x-ray machines). But I also find it odd that this only seems to occur at DCA; I've never been stopped on my return flight. Also, this only started happening within the past 6 months; I've traveled with a portable DVD player for about 2 years, and was never stopped until recently. Kip, what's going on?
DVD players can be close to laptop sized. Back when the lighters being allowed policy changed another policy changed that didn't get much publicity. Large electronics should be removed from the bags. Dvd players in a bag full of other things are hard to clear through x-ray.
Cell phones, palm pilots, digital cameras and other small electronics should remain in the bag, but larger electronics such as laptops, xbox's, cpap machines, should be removed. The list isn't all inclusive because the number of large electronics carried on by passengers is beyond what we can list.
Just because it's removed or small enough to not need to be removed doesn't necessarily mean it won't be screened more thoroughly by a TSO.
TSA screener
mag lights are Not allowed. flashlights are not a prob but this particular type is considered a club like item.
To Anonymous February 15, 2008 7:01
"Let's get right to bottom line.
I live in the Phoneix metro area.
To anonymous
We are taking an Alaska cruise out of Seattle this summer.
We will drive to Seattle and back again rather than subject ourselves to the whims of TSA."
I am sure TSA won't miss you!!
For those of you who are on here showing appreciation for the great work we do at the TSA, thank you. This comment is directed, however, toward the individuals who are on this blog who can do nothing better than to complain about everything. Removing shoes, rude officers, minding their liquids. You folks should be ashamed of yourselves.
Those of you who have nothing better to do than to gripe have obviously forgotten the very difficult lessons of 9/11 already. Do you really think that there hasn't been another significant terrorist attack in this country since 9/11 because of a lack of interest or effort on the part of our enemies? Do you think these people woke up one morning and decided not to hate us anymore?
The reason we haven't suffered another tragedy is due to the hard work and dedication of all of our federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. This includes your local police officer or deputy sheriff, the CBP, the FBI, and even the TSA. Thousands of skilled law enforcement officers work day and night, in your view and behind the scenes, in order to prevent further aggression.
In addition, our proud military is waging a proactive offensive in order to keep the war as far away from the homeland as possible. As far away from your back yard as possible. All of these folks working together toward the common goal of protecting YOU are responsible for the absence of terror at home.
Over three thousand people died on that day because radical extremist Islamic terrorists infiltrated our aviation system and used jets, just like the ones you fly in, as weapons of mass destruction. If you think for one second that they would hesitate to do it again if the opportunity presents itself you are foolish. The point is, however, that the task undertaken by those hateful people many years ago is today nearly an impossible feat thanks to the TSA and other law enforcement agencies. The very regulations that you complain about, regardless of whether or not you agree with them or feel they serve a purpose, are what prevent a repeat performance and safeguard your life, and the lives of your loved ones, from terror.
Have some respect for the very many of us who are highly trained, constantly tested, and dedicated to the mission of protecting you from terror. Have some appreciation for the fact that you make it to your destination in one piece and without having been shot, stabbed, incinerated, or blown up in the process. When your plane lands the first thoughts in your mind should be ones of thanks, not of having to suffer the minor inconvenience of removing your shoes, having to leave behind your oversize liquid, or having to undergo random screening as part of our layered protection.
"nytso said...
Marshall - thanks for the attack. That's a mature attitude. I plan on staying with the TSA, improving the issues that need work, and helping to secure the aircraft and flying public. This is a fledgling agency, nobody promised perfection at the outset, and the improvements are numerous. Contrary to your belief, we, the TSA, are doing a helluva job."
Yeppers, just like "Brownie" did during Katrina.
Keep telling yourself that, nytso.
A comment for all who think TSA is a waist of time or who complain about going through a process that is here to help keep us all safe. Is it really that much of a inconvience to take your shoes off, or to seperate your liquids or to get a pat down. Let us not for get that the people who lost their lives on 9/11 or family members of those would not or don't complain about going through these procedures. How soon we forget about the people who didn't have a choice that day, they went about their day minding their own business at work when a plane was flown into the side of the building they worked in... why because there are people out there with the mentality that no matter if they are pregnant, 80 years old or whatever the case maybe they will strap explosives to themselves and kill themselves, innocent bystanders and their own unborn children because they believe so strongly in what they are doing. Let us think twice before going off on any of the TSA officers who do not make the rules, they enforce them!!! My belief is I would rather go through 15 minutes of screening than get on a plane that was not screened at all. As my father would say... if you have nothing to hide than you have nothing to worry about.
9/11 happened; it was a tragedy. Now it's time to get over it.
5,500 people die per day in this country, some just as horribly as those unlucky folks on that day.
I personally know people who lost loved ones. They have moved on with their lives and most of them in no way support the TSA's procedures as they realize that the "procedures" are purely security theater.
If you believe that you have nothing to worry about if you have nothing to hide, I strongly urge you to read "A Nation of Sheep" by Andrew P. Napolitano and "'I've Got Nothing to Hide' and Other Misunderstandings of Privacy" by Daniel J. Solove.
This is unacceptable. I hope the TSA will at least do the family the courtesy of settling this matter rather than dragging this through a prolonged legal battle that the family can ill-afford. A family who just buried their infant son.
There is no way that this can garner good-will, but maybe, just MAYBE, if the TSA is willing to step up, they might earn a little respect.
ok seriously? tsa is not part of customs. both customs and tsa might be part of the department of homeland security but you cannot blame tsa for a family being detained in customs. im not saying that i dont feel sympathy for this family, but please dont blame one company the problems of another.
Why is it that a 30 year veteran of the United States Marine Corps who served in Korea and Viet Nam feels like a criminal when passing through your checkpoints just because he has a rebuilt knee? There is a serious flaws in your system. American citizens, especially military veterans, should not be treated as suspects. I have felt the same way when singled out for special inspection even though I possess a military ID card. Your policies are wrong and your people are morons. Semper Fidelis from a United States Marine. Ooh-rah!
"American citizens, especially military veterans, should not be treated as suspects."
Ummm, Timothy McVeigh (OK City bombing) was a veteran, as was John Muhammad (Washington, D.C. sniper).
I believe there also was an incident in Iraq in which a disgruntled military man threw a bomb into a tent, killing his superior.
Past or present military service is no guarantee of lack of criminal intent, sadly.
"STOP COMPLAINING! Notice that not one plane has just dropped out of the sky since 911? Before that an average of 4 did a year! If you dont like how we (TSA) does its job, DONT FLY!"
I'd like to see a source for those statistics. As far as I've seen, equipment failure was more likely than hijackings and bombings combined.
Even if what you said were true, you were still more likely to end up injured or dead from equipment failure than hijackings or bombings. With the exception of 1978-1982, hijackings and bombings were rare instances. Bombings were the lowest occurrences, while hijackings were more likely to occur. Also, previous to the September 11 attacks, the odds of surviving a hijacking were quite high. Thus, the passengers were not aware of their imminent danger until it was too late. Up until that time, the procedure was: Person hijacks plane, the plane gets flown to where they want to go, hijacker makes demands to the government, negotiators stall them, passengers get released, and hijackers get dealt with in the appropriate manner.
The truth is that planes haven't been bombed on US soil in a long time, because bombing a plane is not a common tactic of terrorist groups. It happens, but bombings are more likely to occur on the streets than on a plane. It takes more work to bomb a plane. Even before September 11, it took getting past airport security measures and actually buying a plane ticket to bomb a plane. It just takes a nut getting a hold of some explosive materials and big coat to bomb a market.
For everyone telling the rest of us how we've not had another terrorist attack simply because of beefed up security, I ask you this:
Prior to September 11, 2001, when was the previous terrorist attack against the US? Where was it? What happened? Now, when was the attack prior to that?
We've seen evidence of potential plots for attacks. The fact is, terrorist attacks in the US are rare and isolated incidents. I could get a boat and troll Lake Michigan all day long, catching large fish, and talking about how my vigilance has kept the lake secure from shark attacks. Never mind that the likelihood of a shark attack in Lake Michigan is little to none. Prove that I don't prevent shark attacks in Lake Michigan. That is how I feel about our increased security. We've got the government telling us about how much danger there is around us, but only a handful of people are questioning the validity of their claims. So if you don't mind, I've got to go keep Lake Michigan free of shark attacks.
This entire blog seems to be an inconsistency. The blog authors are blithely ignoring the fundamental failures of the TSA and, instead, write Lewis Carrol-like Alice-in-Wonderland puff pieces.
I'm boggled.
I recommend that everyone who has a beef with the TSA to write to your congressmen about it. It should now be obvious that this blog is just a publicity piece, not an honest request for feedback.
If enough people make their voices heard in congress -then- the TSA will change.
I would have to agree with Michael Borgstrom's comment on the TWIC Card. This card should be acceptable as a form of ID at Airports. TSA estimates that 1.5 million people have to get this card by Sept.08. Why is TSA not accepting a form of ID that it issued?
I think we need a Section in this Blog to just adress TWIC Issues. With the trouble I had to go through to get my card, I am sure others would like to comment on the process to make it better for the 1.2 million who still have to get thier card by this fall.
So - where are the answers and replies to comments?
Here is the LAW - not TSA procedure - not TSO wishful thinking - but the LAW.
The airlines put the names into CAPPS or CAPPSII or whatever the system is called and the system checks the names against the DNF list.
The airline CONTRACT requires that you present identification - NOT TSA.
You do NOT need identification at ANY TSA checkpoint.
There is NO legal requirement, no law, no regulation, which requires or even ALLOWS TSA to request identification from travelers.
So, all you TSO's out there who reply here - show me some evidence that you have the legal authority to request identification prior to accessing a checkpoint? You do NOT have that authority.
Absent that legal authority, we do not have to present identification of ANY kind to access the checkpoint.
If I refuse, fail or simply stand on my right to no show id, what is the LEGAL basis to demand SSSS? There is none. None.
There is NOT legal or regulatory requirement that a passenger present ID, nor is there any legal or regulatory requirement which states that not presenting ID is a sufficient basis to mandate SSSS.
So, all you TSO's out there - are you violating the law every time you require ID from a passenger?
You certainly are if you refuse access to a checkpoint for various kinds of ID other than a 'government issued photo identfication card.'
YOU are responsible to SERVE the Citizens of the United States.
YOU have a responsibility to do the right thing and comply with the law - not with what you are told.
YOU need to education yourselves on the law - instead of blindly claiming 'it is policy' or it is the 'rules,' because YOU are exercising the only ability of government to search Americans without any suspicion of a crime being committed.
YOU need to stop giving people the SS defense of 'we were just following orders' and exercise common sense and what you know the law is. Or is that $10 an hour job worth that much to you that you allow yourself to violate the law every single day and do nothing about it?
I am TSA says: "I respect the individual needs of each traveler, carrying out my duties with dignity, courtesy and integrity."
Yea, right.
That's why women get patted down with the palm of the hand and not the back side.
That's why TSA views every passenger as a criminal having to prove their innocence.
That's why TSA employees are ranked right down there with IRS employees of those the public does not trust.
I'd never want a job where I have to view everyone as a criminal.
I think that the people complaining about TSA should be happy that they are still alive to complain, find something better to do with their time besides complaining. Ride the bus, ride the train, or drive your car to your destination if you don't want to fly, and simply stop all the whining. Go to the TSA website (www.tsa.gov) for information on the screening process and/or call TSA Customer Service if you have questions.
What does a person look like that would hurt me? Look at all the shooting in public places. Timothy McVeigh was a white male, Military.
Be thankful tsa does not check you like air israel. There needs to be more checks no carry ons.
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Lancifer said...
For everyone telling the rest of us how we've not had another terrorist attack simply because of beefed up security, I ask you this:
Prior to September 11, 2001, when was the previous terrorist attack against the US? Where was it? What happened? Now, when was the attack prior to that?
We've seen evidence of potential plots for attacks. The fact is, terrorist attacks in the US are rare and isolated incidents. I could get a boat and troll Lake Michigan all day long, catching large fish, and talking about how my vigilance has kept the lake secure from shark attacks. Never mind that the likelihood of a shark attack in Lake Michigan is little to none. Prove that I don't prevent shark attacks in Lake Michigan. That is how I feel about our increased security. We've got the government telling us about how much danger there is around us, but only a handful of people are questioning the validity of their claims. So if you don't mind, I've got to go keep Lake Michigan free of shark attacks.
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Lancifer,
First and foremost, the terrorist attacks are now taking place entirely overseas, because the opportunity for them to occur here is now nearly infinitesimal. Also, our brave troops are keeping the violence away from the homeland for us. If you need incidents of terrorism or a body count to justify what we're doing here at homeland security then take a look at how many of our soldiers have been wounded and killed during combat in the war on terror. These brave men and women are taking the hits from terrorism that, in their absence, would be directed at you and I here at home. Be thankful. Stop complaining.
A short reverse chronological history of terrorist attacks against the US:
September 11th 2001 - WTC Attack
October 2000 - Attack against USS Cole. 17 killed.
August 1998 - Simultaneous bombings of US Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Tanzania. 263 killed, 5000 injured.
June 1998 - Attack against the US Embassy in Lebanon
November 1997 - Five American oil company employees murdered in Pakistan as retribution for conviction of a pakistani terrorist who killed two CIA agents.
July 1996 - Bomb at Atlanta Georgia olympic games. 2 killed, 110 injured.
February 1996 - Attack against US Embassy in Athens.
November 1995 - Bomb attack against US military headquarters in Saudi Arabia. 7 killed.
This list only goes back through the 1990's. The complete list goes on and on and on all the way back to the 70's and prior. Terrorism has been around for a very long time and is not going to go away anytime soon. These people have hated all those who don't believe as they do since the beginning of time. They believe that killing infidels is the path to heaven. This belief will not change which is why you need to support your government in protecting you from those who would love to harm you for no reason at all.
Hi TSA,
I flew from Baltimore airport to Cleveland this past weekend, and I had a really strange experience. I work at a think tank in DC, where I do Homeland Security research, so I never have any quibbles with the rules (our program actually suggested some of them before they were adopted).
Anyway, as I was coming through the security checkpoint, I placed my bag and jacket on the conveyor, then walked up to the metal detector. I had forgotten to take my belt off, and I set the detector off. Whoops. I stepped back, put my belt on the conveyor, and stepped through again, with no problems. I thought something seemed odd, but I didn't realize it until I was collecting my bags.
I hadn't taken my shoes off.
And as I looked around, neither had the man in front of me or the two people behind me. From what I could tell, no one who came through my line had taken their shoes off, and the screeners never said a word. Granted, it was right at the station change (they were rotating the person on the x-ray machine), but it seemed really strange that this happened not just to me, but to a bunch of people.
Anyway, an inconsistency.
Keep up the great work, you all do a tiring, (nearly) thankless job, but some of us really do appreciate it. Thanks to everyone at TSA.
Terrorist: a radical who employs terror as a political weapon; usually organizes with other terrorists in small cells; often uses religion as a cover for terrorist activities.
From reading this board, it is rather clear that the TSA are terrorists. They have inspired terror in the populace in order to justify their own existence. They have become the bogeyman they claim to defend us against and we thank them for it. They treat us like criminals and we thank them for it. We are too afraid of having our mobility curtailed to complain, and we thank them for it. They have no hesitation at comment acts of thievery, sexual assault, and harassment and we thank them for it.
The TSA is terrific, they inspire terror.
What is not generally discussed here is the fact that the 3000 or so airports that the TSA doesn't protect have had the same number of post 9/11 attacks... zero. Looks like we are safe with or without them... It is nice to get on a plane without being treated like a suspect. Maybe the TSA could learn a lesson from General Aviation on how security should be handled.
I see my comment on duty free liquids was deleted, and the website now explains it more clearly. Thank you. I don't intend to travel internationally soon, but will some day. Hopefully, our ridiculous 3-1-1 rule will be done away with by then. After all, I have yet to see any soft drinks, bottled waters, or beverages of any kind be sold in doubleshot portions. Maybe the higher ups can wake up and look at things realistically.
i believe TSA regulates General Aviation...they may not screen every flight but they are responsible for GA.
I am amazed at the ignorance and repugnance that majority of these flyers (bloggers)have for TSA. My question is, did you feel the same right after 911 when the threat for terroist activity was high? If there have been changes to certain procedures since 911, it's because we have to try and predict what the bad guys next move will be and adjust. There are important reasons for what we do and why we do it. But the cosmopolitan flyer does not accept it because it's easier to ridicule, blame, and defame than to accept the fact that we the TSOs have chosen this job to protect you and your family while flying. So, please remember that we work to protect you. We are also humans and have feelings. Keep in mind that when you post you've opened yourself up to the public and it shows how much of a person you are. Please offer constructive criticism as it will help us do our work better. You talk about us not having customer service well, give respect and you shall receive respect. Also on a last note TSOs everywhere please, please, please give customer service to the cosmopolitan flyer. That's part of our job. Also bloggers please identify the airports in which you are having a terrible time with, because when you complain generally, it affects all other faithful workers and airports that are definitely doing their jobs.
I am a professional photographer. Three years ago, traveling from Detroit to Washington, the TSA refused to hand inspect my film, even though a) the web site clearly says that I can request hand inspections, and b) the web site clearly says that professional film and sheet film should not be scanned. All of my film was ruined ... yet the TSA refused my request to have the film's cost refunded to me.
Like most people, I have the option of NOT flying. Flying in many cases is more convenient, but I can't afford to lose hundreds of dollars every time I fly because the TSA gate agents don't know their jobs and their management backs them up.
Anonymous said;
TSA senior staff wants each officer to have more opportunities to make judgment calls, lead officers and supervisors have been making judgment calls since 2002.
With these increased opportunities, some passengers will complain that each airport has inconsistencies, they would be correct. Each time a perceived prohibited item is found there is a chance that one officer will let it go and another will not.
With everyone having different experiences with computers, not all folks traveling will know about the TSA website or the link from their air carrier to the TSA, or their airport’s link to TSA.
These are in place to help educate the public, to enhance the knowledge of each traveler allowing them to be better prepared to comply with all the ever changing policies.
A nation wide change in policy might take several days to take effect, causing more inconsistencies.
If you will be traveling by air in the USA, educate yourself before you reach the airport to effectively process thru security, read the signs posted, and follow the directions given by the TSA and airport staffs.
Lastly, enjoy your safe flying opportunity, or take Greyhound.
Jay, I don't expect this to be posted, but I hope you read it. It looks like you are becoming a bit testy from all the criticism.
It is pretty obvious from reading the comments that the complaints are coming from different people.
Try to step back and take a look at the big picture.
Remove all the "anything for the children" posts and the knee-jerk anti-TSA comments, and you will begin to see how the TSA is failing to meet its goals and, indeed, cannot meet its goals given the current management.
I write to my legislators regularly advocating that sweeping changes be made to the TSA. I suggest that everyone reading this blog do the same.
Administrator Hawley seems out of ideas. You need new leadership who can reconcile actual security needs with the reality of air travel.
On a separate point, I suggest that you implement some way of verifying that people who claim to be TSA actually are TSA. Some of the comments made by those claiming to be TSA reflect very poorly upon your agency.
Anonymous...
Thank you for taking the time to provide your thoughts. Your post was received and noted...
If I come across as testy please accept my apologies. Our officers (our team) are like family. And like family I will defend my team. My team of airports reflects but only a portion of the agency so I don't comment on areas of this Blog that don't pertain to my team (which explains why I don't have a lot of posts on this Blog). I can say I've had enough exposure to other operations to know all of our people take a great deal of pride in what they do.
On leadership...
I'm not here to defend one person, nor am I inclined to debate on behalf of the agency at large. I can offer what holds true and new ideas to improve the agency do receive a fair hearing by leadership components when possible, and in some cases the ideas generated by our workforce have not only been heard but implemented. Not in all cases, and perhaps not near as often as we'd like them to be but we are heard and that's more than most people can expect from an employer.
As a point of discussion allow me to comment on a tool used internally to TSA to promote new ideas called the Idea Factory. The Idea Factory has its issues and the similarities between this Blog and the Idea Factory are uncanny. The Idea Factory has its share of complaints as the officers who post want to see action from their post. There are also complaints about functionality as officers want more features built in. While most want their idea acted upon it doesn't always happen and there isn't in most cases a feedback post on it...bear in mind there are a lot of posts on the Idea Factory and a lack of feedback can be frustrating. Uncanny similarities between the two.
Considering all the problems associated with the Idea Factory there are indisputable facts about each. Like this Blog there is no two-way communication tool anywhere in TSA being more heavily utilized right now than the Idea Factory. The Idea Factory's value to the agency is further emphasized because of the complaints on user features and functionality. In other words, if people weren't complaining on the Idea Factory that would be cause for concern. And TSA's leadership regularly reviews each site so each is one more way we can get (all) ideas for improvement some much needed visibility. Do these tools exist in other government agencies? Maybe; but I'm not aware of it nor do I know how they are being used.
The Idea Factory (like this Blog) is a tool. It isn't perfect, it seems slow and there doesn't seem to be enough feedback. With all these faults each is better than the alternative. Like all people I credit any leadership which listens to and values the voice of its employees or customers.
In response to Anonymous:
"You need new leadership who can reconcile actual security needs with the reality of air travel."
Balancing security and ease of travel is something we think about every day. Part of the reason we launched this blog is to share the ideas we have to improve the checkpoint process and get ideas and feedback from people who post comments. As Jay said, we seek ideas from our workforce through the the IdeaFactory, and now we have this blog so you can suggest ideas as well.
Another way we get ideas on how to improve is having members of TSA's leadership also go out and work at a checkpoint for a day to see how the process works and get input from our workforce on ways we can improve. We also have an employee council that comes to HQ four times a year to discuss workplace and security improvements.
There's a post up in the main section of the blog now that talks about a pilot program we're trying out to let people choose the security lane that works for them - either families or people with special needs, casual travelers, or expert travelers. We know some people need extra time to go through security while others know the drill and breeze right through. So far, we're getting positive feedback, and we're looking at this to see if and how it can be implemented elsewhere.
I first submitted this post on February 2, 2008 but since I am unable to locate it anywhere on this site I will try posting it again.
In August I travelled from Logan Airport in Boston through Miami to Lima, Peru. I arrived at Logan Airport at 9am for a 12:30 pm flight. The conveyor belt was not working that day and everything was being done by hand. I didn’t get to the check in counter until 12 noon.
As I approached the Security area I heard my name being called to report to the gate. I have had a hip replacement and therefore set off the alarm. I was told to step over to a certain area to be further checked. All of my belongings (including a laptop, my purse with all of my money and passport etc.) had been scanned and were lying on the counter up for grabs. I asked if I could first gather my belongings. In a gruff unfriendly manner I was told, “STEP OVER THERE.” I mentioned that my name had been announced and asked if they could alert the gate that I was in security. Again in a gruff and unfriendly tone I was told, “WE’RE SECURITY, WE HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE GATE.”
By contrast on the return trip in Miami I once again set off the alarm. This time I was politely asked by the security person where my belongings were. On this occasion I had a companion with me and told her that they were being watched. I then thanked her for her concern. She said, “It’s only natural that you would be concerned about your belongings, if you were travelling alone we would have somebody watch them for you.”
I just flew to New York from Amsterdam. You can tell the folks in Europe take security seriously. They put me in this high tech body scanner that looked like a piece of medical equipment, instead of a regular metal detector. The whole process was respectful and dignified, and not intrusive in any way. TSA could learn alot from the Dutch. I know the idea of these body scanners is controversial in the U.S., but in the end I believe they will be accepted as the next logical step in effective screening.
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Thx!
Neil
TSA Blog Team
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