TSA got you down?

[smurf doc]

I can't imagine how much of a sheltered life someone must live if they won't travel because of the "hassle" of airport security.

Wow. Sad, really.

I don't know if you are being serious or not. The U.S.A. has many places that you can see and dive on vacation. You can also go places via cruises that depart from and return to the U.S.A.

If I can get someplace without flying, I'll do it -- especially if I can drive there. This way I can bring whatever I want, and go and arrive at my own pace. I will drive 5 hours before I will take a 1 hour flight.

I hardly consider myself to be sheltered or sad.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Just think for a moment about how illogical it is to poke and probe the majority of the population to search for a couple of problem people. It makes no sense. This is like arresting everyone in the neighborhood when a crime is committed then checking them all out and letting each one go after they have an alibi. It is a huge waste of time and money.

I am happy for you that you were only patted down once. That has never been my experience at an airport since I began the sport of diving. I was pulled aside 3 times on my last flight and they dug through my carry on bag each time because of my regulator. That was before all the recent TSA changes. I won't fly if I am to be threatened with molestation or subjected to full body scans. I know I would end up talking back to someone and getting into trouble.

FYI: I got the up close and personal pat down because I lied to the security screener. My wife slipped a few items including the umbrella into my carry on without my knowledge before she went to Spain and I returned homed to work from Ireland. When confronted, I denied having the items which they could see on the XRay and I also told them I packed the bags. The story did not add up and they became much more interested in me than usual. They did their job. Not a big deal. Many of the TSA issues are self inflicted like mine.

 

[DennisS]

Related:
Newswire: Amtrak vs. TSA - Forums - Trains Magazine - Online Community: Forums and Blogs

VIPR teams!!!, who does their PR, there's a good acronym meant to intimidate the public, do they have jackets and patches with a viper on them

 

[tarponchik]

Just learned a new catch. If you fly Honduras (Curacao, etc--put pretty much any Caribbean destination here)-Miami-Washington, you pass through security in Honduras, and then through the customs in Miami. But if you fly from Canada, Calgary-Chicago-Washington in my case, then, though you've passed through the customs and security in Calgary, you still have to pass through security again in Chicago. As one of the TSA ladies in O'Hare terminal 1 checkpoint told me, "You passed security where? In Canada? They are NOBODY to us!"

It would be a reasonable guess that setting up security control of required level of quality would be easier in Canada than in some 3d world country, but go figure. Calgary security even has one of these new X-ray chambers where they allegedly check your penis size, but still they aren't good enough for TSA.

 

[naimis]

As one of the TSA ladies in O'Hare terminal 1 checkpoint told me, "You passed security where? In Canada? They are NOBODY to us!"

"So, kind of like a good sized chunk of the world feels about the TSA, yeah?"

 

[tarponchik]

I can't say for the whole world, but curiously, when GrumpyOldGuy writes that "Many of the TSA issues are self inflicted like mine" he apparently does not realise that the whole TSA issue is self-inflicted, so to speak. Since TSA is part of the government, I can paraphrase that "every nation gets the TSA it deserves".

 

[greta-inbaja]

Hello, I was just on a trip where I was in a leg brace and crutches so the scanner was not an option. I found the tsa workers to be more uncomfortable patting me down than I was w/the procedure. We all have the same stuff so I didn't really care. I work in a hospital in radiology so I prefer the pat down. I get rads in my work life already. If the scanners really bother you and you are female, just tell them you don't know if you are pregnant or not. They will not question that. I had a patient that worked for tsa, but she was actually just working for a company that contracted w/tsa. That meant low pay,, no benefits, just hoping to get on w/tsa. She was nice, but the requirements were minimal. I agree, if we are going to go that route we should be following the practices of Isreal. Enough of fake feel good security. If our privacy is to be violated it might as well be an effective deterrent.

 

[tyesai]

If our privacy is to be violated it might as well be an effective deterrent.

Yep, might as well stand on our necks with both boots.

 

[Jim Baldwin]

We fly out of relatively small airport, Monroe, LA, MLU. It just has two gates and you walk to the planes.

We have flown out of there so much that the TSA folks there know us. And since we own a home in Cozumel, MX we have taken suitcases packed with just about anything you can imagine. An ice machine, microwave, commercial airless sprayer. A never ending supply of electrical supply parts. Rolls of wire. You name it.

This past Saturday we checked in and found that they had a new scanner for the luggage. The TSA guy loading the suitcases told the scanner operator there were two coming through that were going to set off alarms.

Don't know if it was the 25 lb. vise, the four foot long PVC tube with a steel rod inside, my speargun; or the grease gun, tube of grease triple wrapped in saran wrap or just the way I looked. You know guys with short hair, slender waists acting too friendly.

Security is just about the same way so we feel quite fortunate when we here all the horror stories. Flying back in Houston and Dallas have never really been a problem.

Our day is probably coming.

 

[dmoore19]

When arriving in Cozumel I always feel like it is some kind of a game show being played. Push the button, if the light turns green you win! Wink, tell the folks what they have won!!! If it turns red sorry, thanks for playing.