TSA, the Fun Never Ends..

[agilis]

Chickdiver, Feds in general tend to have a blockage when it comes to admitting error. Apologizing is seen as showing weakness. Questioning authority is increasingly seen as subversive. We have a prime decider, and lots of minor deciders who display the kind of boorish hostility typical of dim-witted bullies when their decisions are questioned.

 

[chickdiver]

yea. You would get your jollies.

has to challenge the constitutionality of every moment.

Is your Dad by chance a largish man? It sounds as if your father and mine were cut from the same cloth- my Dad is 6'3" and was a defensive tackle in college (eons ago). I've watched him holler at all manner of people in any number of places. I took notes...:light:

Heather

 

[HowardE]

If I ever tried to return something to your store, Howarde, you might snap my neck. They understand me at Costco..

Personally - I am a reasonable man, and usually work out something with the customer, and usually I don't yell at them, but if they deserve it, or are trying to pull something, you know I'll let em have it...

Here's one of my favorites.

Someone tried to return colored hairspray (you know like for halloween etc) and she SWORE that they were all unopened.

I instructed my clerk to weigh the containers, and guess what. She used 1/2 of the bottle in 2 out of the 4 she was trying to return. The weight is right there on the side. :no - she was screaming and yelling, but she was also lying, and sticking to it.

The point is... People aren't always pleasant to deal with. Personally, I try to work with my customers, because I DO want them to come back... I don't think that people who work ON a plane or in security think along these lines, they figure that they will NEVER see these people again. Also, some people (TSA included) are just jerks and on power trips. It is unfortunate, but they are there.

 

[Cacia]

Is your Dad by chance a largish man? It sounds as if your father and mine were cut from the same cloth- my Dad is 6'3" and was a defensive tackle in college (eons ago). I've watched him holler at all manner of people in any number of places. I took notes...:light:

Heather

OMG! we might be related.

yea, 6' 5" played for Eastern Michigan. Huge, they call him Moose.

Howarde, you should make the seasonal stuff non-returnable maybe?

Costco actually TOLD me to return a big cooler I bought for Little League. I said "you don't understand, I ran over it with the car" They said bring it back...I don't see how businesses can compete with them, to be honest. Maybe that is what the Walmart hoopla is kinda about.

I hope I get my boy back eventually. I worry more when the TSA is involved than when they are not. Funny that they were going to not "release" him. Then what? he goes home with them? Guess that occurred to them at some point in the fiasco. Kinda like Airport, where whats-his-name has to live there until his visa comes through.

 

[mikerault]

Most people in positions such as TSA like it because there is a rule for everything. They forget that rules should never replace common sense. This happens in accounting as well.

I was on assignment in Rome, Italy and of course there were rules about what you could expense and what you couldn't. I get called into the supervisors office and they have the accounting guy in the USA office on an overseas call and we proceed to go over my expense report for "forbidden things" I think it ended up about 12$ worth of stuff after (razor blades, shave cream, etc.) at least a half hour on the call. At that time my billrate was a lot less than it is now, but it was still high, not to mention my bosses, the guys on the other end ot the line and the cost of the call. At then end of it all I pointed out to them they just spent close to $300.00 to address $12.00 worth of expenses. I was never bothered again.

Unfortunately when people have a rule they tend to follow it whether it makes sense or not. I got a set of doubles shipped from Miami to Atlanta. The delivery company, let's call them SPU, dropped them in my driveway on the wrong end of the "This End Up" and bent the manifold. What do they want me to do? Reship them back to Miami to be inspected...after a few calls they collapsed and said they would pocess the claim without inspecting...a miracle.

I wish they would just add cameras to the baggage handling areas that were displayed on big screen TVs in the departure lounges...with a red phone to call a supervisor with...that would straighten a bit of the mess out if they knew they were being watched by the folks whose luggage they were mishandling.

A last thought...they do almost no screening of shipped items that travel on the airlines and have no one checking the backgrounds of the luggage handlers so after you have the indignity of being judged a terrorist until you prove you aren't through the screening process some Bozo could easily add something to the luggage after it is declared clean...

Mike

 

[Bill51]

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.

As a former director with over 800 security/rent a cops under me, I can say without a doubt there is a better way to manage airport security and it would involve a much more direct participation of the airlines. I inherited a security group that had been under the direction and management of corporate legal and risk management – and was correctly despised by everyone in the company, and had a miserable record of creating any security. I moved them under direct supervision of administrative services operating under standardized procedures approved and monitored by legal, and we saw immediate improvements in corporate perception of the guards, more cooperation by the employees with the guards, and we reduced breaches of corporate physical security.

Under the current system those in government directly over the TSA guards have neither incentive nor understanding of how to interact with the public for maximum effectiveness. The guards at the bottom of the food chain have no method of making changes or even making their upper management aware of issues in the trenches. This is precisely why Congress, the FAA, and TSA are doing test privatization setups in a few airports right now.

The ideal system to me would be TSA and FAA establishing performance based standards for security with minimal operational standards, but total review of each airlines operation standards. An appeals process for the airlines through the FBI or FAA would be established for cases where the airlines and the TSA disagreed on what operational standards should be applied. The airlines would get a percentage of the TSA head fee paid back to them based on their performance during performance and security testing and monitoring. The airlines would be free to include additional head fees to cover the difference between what they were getting back from TSA and what they were spending on security, but those fees would be subject to audit and listed as a line item on ticket charges. In a way this would be similar to how an airline or charter operation develops their required operations and standards manual.

The key here is to find a way to let the public in on the process of grading the performance of security in regards to responsiveness to the travelers needs through selection of airlines and ticket costs. If Bugtussel airlines passengers really like the polite service they’re getting they’ll pay a few dollars extra and security will be much better if the passengers feel some cooperation with the security agents, and vice versa. The TSA can publish reports on the compliance records of each airline just as the FAA publishes on-time records, and the public can make the call as to whether they want to fly on the airline that let 10% of the threats through or the one that let 20% of the threats through but is a dollar cheaper.

 

[chickdiver]

OMG! we might be related.

yea, 6' 5" played for Eastern Michigan. Huge, they call him Moose.

Heheh I KNEW IT!! Lemme guess, you are also immune to that physical intimidation trick men try sometimes? I'm small (5'3") and not easily intimidated by anyone. I work with my Dad, and we occasionally give each other the evil eye in the office. He has often reminded me "Don't try that with me. I invented that look. ~I~ am the Daddy Tyrannosaur, ~you~ are just a hatchling!"

 

[HowardE]

They forget that rules should never replace common sense.

I don't believe in Common Sense... If there truly was such a thing, then it would in fact be shared by ALL

 

[Cacia]

Well, Bill, what would you think about optional pre-airport clearance? I am very puzzled why everyone gets the edge with my personal data except me. Is it not for me to decide if I would like to broker it for an advantage?

(And as a side note, when they say "brought in on auto" is that different than an instrument landing? In fog, for example. Since you fly..)

 

[HowardE]

Well, Bill, what would you think about optional pre-airport clearance? I am very puzzled why everyone gets the edge with my personal data except me Is it not for me to decide if I would like to broker it for an advantage?

I know I'm not Bill, but I think that a previous statement regarding pre-screening is quite valid.

All that a clean "pre-screen" would mean is that a person (or would be terrorist) would have to NOT have been a terrorist previously (on record). It seems more flawed than useful.