TSA, the Fun Never Ends..

[Midnight Star]

I'll tell ya' a funny story ... it was back in the mid to late 80's, I was being sent to California to install a harddrive and setup a remote computer network, so they could login to the main office here in Kentucky. I had in my pocket a box cutter, in my briefcase a serial computer cable, and in my hand the harddrive (back then it was in a case - a really big case). Anyways, when I emptied my pockets, they said the boxcutter had to go (it was only .80c back then, so no big deal), then asked me what was in the briefcase since the x-ray looked like a long piece of rope or primer cord. I told her it was a computer cable, and she asked me to open it up for a look. Ok, were good there. Next she asked me about the harddrive (the box I was carrying), and then prompted me to send it through the x-ray machine also. All was good. Now, what's interesting, is, it really didn't take that much time, and no-one was really complaining about the wait ... which is oddly different from today. It's unfortunate, that those things were thoroughly checked back then, and not here recently before the "strike" occurred. Anyways, I just thought i'd share some of my more interesting "travel" experiences.

-----

Mike.

 

[Cacia]

Indeed.

Having had this wonderful experience lately with the TSA, my former opinion -lots of show for little benefit- has been downgraded quite a bit.

I would gladly put up with the hassle(s) if it really did something.

All the best, James

Oh my gosh.

I wish I had seen that.

They need to settle down.

I had to put my boy child on a red-eye flight to NYC last night, so I got to deal with

them AGAIN. I will spare you all. I think they are my new enemy. My new strategy is

to pretend I am deaf. Also, I love taking my dog to the airport to pick people up and

flash his kinkos-made service dog ID, complete with photo, so he can walk around and

lick people. The TSA is always very impressed with his credentials. Howarde would

not approve.

I bet you could make a laminated card at kinkos that said "airplane lap dancer" and get through, as long as it had an ID # and you were not packing any hair gel.

 

[HowardE]

Personally I don't care if you present a fake passport and make it through security, or if you tell everyone that your dog is the vice president of the United States.

All I have been saying is that these people are merely doing a job. It's not a pleasant job, and definitely the guidance is mislead. No matter what the situation, it's certainly difficult to keep a streamlined system in effect for the more than 500 Commercially serviced airports in the United States. Compare that to smaller countries with maybe 5 airports, and the task is 1000% more difficult. If everyone instead of griping about how bad it was, just dealt with it, and cooperated nicely, their experiences wouldn't be so bad. That's all I've been trying to say... All we can do is grin and bear it.

Can someone truly say that "it would be better if the airlines controlled the security" - well, that's just pure speculation. How can we find out, I doubt it will revert to a privatized system at this point. It would most certainly be nice if they would actually listen to comments and try to make things smoother for people, but it is a government agency, doubtful that they would listen to logic or reason.

Is the TSA a complete failure? That's also hard to say. It's always easy to point out the foibles of an agency that's most likely run by a chicken with its head cut off. My best advice for the infrequent traveler is to check the tsa.org website before heading to the airport, and just do the shoeless dance through the screening point, and get on with your life.

(BTW- I'll be on another plane again tomorrow - I hope they have a good movie)

 

[RonFrank]

We traveling a few years ago, my son was wearing his boy scout belt, you know the one with ALL the metal badges they earn attached to it. He was maybe 9 at the time, blond, green eyes, glasses, 75lbs in shorts, sandals, and a long tee shirt. You know the type, a real terrorist threat!

We told him to remove all the stuff from his pockets, and his shoes, but we did not realize he was wearing a belt. Sure enough he goes through the scanner, and it goes off like the Fourth of July!

The immediately grabbed him and escorted him off to the side. My wife turned into Mommy Bear, and I though she was going to go rip off this TSA dudes head when he told her to stay like she was a dog.

After about 5 minutes of scanning, his boy scout belt was returned to him, but this whole process is really a joke. I mean ALL he did was forget to remove his belt, but off to the corner they haul him?

We almost missed our flight out last summer with them going through my camera bag like it was a nuclear bomb. At the end of maybe 20 minutes, they proudly held up my hex wrench, a deadly weapon as I've laid eyes upon. Giving me the evil eye like I had just attempted to smuggle 2 Kilos of heroin into the country, they told me I was in violation of TSA carry on policies!

The irony here is that after I unpacked I found several more Hex wrenches, a screwdriver, and a knife in the bag as well. I have a few bags I use, and these were stashed away and I did not even know they where there. Guess I'd be in jail had they found that deadly stash! :shakehead

 

[RonFrank]

Can someone truly say that "it would be better if the airlines controlled the security" - well, that's just pure speculation.

Well at LEAST if the airlines controlled security, we would have ONE entity to blame when stuff went missing. Currently if your stuff get's ripped off, the airlines say, hey, we are not to blame it MIGHT have been TSA. TSA says it's the airlines, and NEITHER step up, and accept liability for their dishonest thieving employees.

Is the TSA a complete failure? That's also hard to say.

Keep in mind that TSA is NOT just the guys checking your bags. It's also the guys making the rules, and IMO YES it a complete joke.

I don't blame the people at the bottom, rather the people at the top.

The policies need to make sense, and be consistently enforced. IMO TSA fails on both counts.

 

[Cacia]

It's not a pleasant job,

Howarde, what are you people talking about? The job is very hard and unpleasant?

Compared to what jobs?

99.999999999999 % of the people they deal with are not terrorists. They scan you with a wand and tell you to walk through. They look into a TV screen and scan for weapons. Why does anybody think this is so unpleasant?

It looks like a cakewalk to me, compared to say.....cleaning the bathrooms or flying the plane. Yea boy, it's right up there with the guy that takes the ticket at the parking lot. Stressful.

Hey, I am not snotty to them. I am just amazed at the lack of their reasoning skills compared to most of the other people I come in contact with, in daily life.

My dog is legit, just no one was in charge of making ID's, so I did it myself.
I guess he should have sat in a cell for six months so the citizens of Hawaii could avoid rabies. More brilliance, based on no science.

At some point, people have to have little silent rebellions, or the world will just keep requiring more and more madness.

Fdog, I guess should have gone off with robo cop and been strip searched or even interogated? No, he told the guy to go fly a kite. If things get any goofier, I won't recognize reality. Rules are fine to a point. At some point, you have to resist a bit and tell "them" they are off their rockers.

If you are too compliant, they get encouraged and too self-richeous. TSA is getting too puffed up with themselves, that is my impression. They give lectures not sound enough for a 5th grade paper. I do not think they know what they are doing...which is excusable. That's fine. Just don't act like the world's authority on international procedures and scold me.

Oh? And I just this minute got a call that the airline did not want to release my 15 year old to his grandma because her name was spelled wrong.
LA N D A vs LANDAU
SECURITY BREECH!

So, she said what are you going to do with him then?

Except they don't know what to do with him....so they let him leave. They had to make a big problem first. Did anyone call me? No. (except grandma, to marvel and laugh)

Oh...and another thing. His own father has to have a letter from me to travel to Vancouver. But any adult can take my daughter and travel all over the world, as long as he is not the father.

Howarde, if you think things are swell over at the TSA, fine. I would like for them to understand some of the inconsistencies, that's all.

And, if you don't have kids and pets, then I guess you wouldn't care. It is a lot easier to travel with a nice little brief case. Try traveling with my posse.

 

[HowardE]

what is unpleasant is dealing with whiny travelers constantly complaining about everything. I'm not saying the job itself is difficult. just unpleasant

 

[DiverBeth]

Let's not just dump on the TSA employees. Sure there are some idiots but most I've dealt with are OK and are trying to best cope with the many types of people they deal with in addition to some of the most idiotic and inconsistent regulations they have to enforce.

Last Friday night when my kids and I passed through security my 14yr old son had to have his backpack opened. It's was the one he used for school and he forgot he still had a scissors in it. The TSA agent took out the scissors and measured the blades. Since the blades were just under 3 " (handle is excluded) the agent gave the scissors back to my son. :11: The agent was a nice guy and I commented to him that if I had the little swiss army knife I usually carry in my purse with me he would have to confiscate it even though it was much smaller than the scissors. He laughed and said he didn't make the rules just trying to enforce them even when they didn't make real sense to him either. Those scissors would make a much better weapon then my pocket knife as we're not talking safety scissors but sharp pointed ones.

The unfortunate reality is when the bad people and crazies in the world want to do harm they'll always find a way.

 

[Cacia]

The unfortunate reality is when the bad people and crazies in the world want to do harm they'll always find a way.

That is why making us pay for this circus is sad.

I don't whine, Howarde, I really don't. I laugh. I think it is very entertaining and breaks up my monotonous trips. My son is a big baby and got bent out of shape when he had to leave the airport, with the hair gel.

I just wonder if there isn't something else that they could be doing, based on logic.

Meanwhile, they aren't scanning the bags in the belly of the plane? Or are they?
The only time I was ever whining was when I had no water, there for about a week, before they decided that water purchased in the newstands was secure water. And they haven't made me sip any breast milk yet. It could be worse, I guess.

Another thing that has messed me up, is that I usually go to the lavatory when the seat belt light is on, to avoid the line. I figure the risk is a function of time as well, right? So...a fast bumpy trip might be comprable to a long stand in the aisle trip. But now, they are telling me to sit down.

Okay, another good one. Two days ago, my plane is circling in Atlanta in heavy fog.
They make an announcement that they have a "medical emergency with an baby". So...no doctors on the plane, nobody standing up. So, I say, "well, I USED to be a trauma nurse, is it his airway?" They tell me to hurry and come take a look. I get up there and see a two year old crying and holding his groin, rocking in pain. So, the flaps have abruptly opened and we are slowing our air speed faster than I am accustomed to. I tell dad, his boy is going to be okay, but probably has a tortion of the testicle and should go to an ER so he can get into an OR and save it, as the wheels hit the runway. The whole time the flight attendant is just standing there, and she goes flying into a man's lap head first with her legs in the air....

So, I give him the number of a peds urologist, who told me later it was a tortion. I just can't believe we were standing there as the plane landed. The G force felt pretty amazing. (what was the flight attendant thinking?)

When we were getting off, the pilot told me thank you and I said "thank YOU, for landing that thing in the fog!" And he said "oh I DIDN"T they brought us in on auto THIS time." He looked very pale. (I think that could be a hard job)

So...what do you all think happened? I have no idea. Is that different than an instrument landing? WHO are "they"? Air traffic control? Also, I think we were landing quickly for the "emergency" because of how we just popped right down on the runway, and landed so "hot".

As long as somebody can breathe,.... please just land the plane in a normal fashion? But, what do I know?...I'm just a housewife.

Howarde, I will have you know, I never whined. I like excitement.

 

[HowardE]

I don't whine, Howarde, I really don't. I laugh. I think it is very entertaining and breaks up my monotonous trips. My son is a big baby and got bent out of shape when he had to leave the airport, with the hair gel.

I didn't say you were whining (don't get defensive ). But many people do... all day long. I imagine it's a step above the love and respect telemarketers get.