With the dollar the way it is? They’re accepting Euros in NYC these days.
Sure: New Figures from Dept. of Commerce Show Continued Decline in Overseas Travel to U.S.
– highlights mine.
And here you have a recent CNN video evaluating the situation:
Foreign Tourist NOT Coming to the United States
[ul]
[li]130 billion dollars lost[/li][li]an average of 2 million tourist less per year since 9/11 – and that’s spin from that apologist. As you can see from the prior article the figures are much higher[/li][li]most of those asked blame immigration/security checks/visa hassles[/li][/ul]
Lastly:
[ul]
[li]Travelers rate America’s entry process as the “world’s worst” by greater than a 2:1 margin over the next-worst destination area. [/li][li]The U.S. ranks with Africa and the Middle East when it comes to traveler-friendly paperwork and officials.[/li][li]54 percent of international travelers say that immigration officials are rude.[/li][li]Travelers to the U.S. are more afraid of U.S. government officials than the threat of terrorism or crime.[/li][li]Two-thirds of travelers surveyed fear they will be detained at the border because of a simple mistake or misstatement. [/li][/ul]
Much more at source. Lying a-holes, each and everyone of us that dare criticize the magnificent and curteous services provided by the TSA. I mean just look at the results…
Well, I put “probably” in my last post for a reason.
If there is anyone who thinks RedFury’s comment here is a fair one, I will compose a reply.
-FrL-
In regards to the veracity anectdotal evidence, what I see (and am disappointed by) are a lot of posters taking the side of the woman in the OP, based on that posters own (negative) experience they may have had with TSA agents.
Do I believe it’s possible that some agent snickered at the idea of seeing boobz? Sure.
But I don’t know that that is what occured in the OP case, specifically.
However, because a lot of posters have had frustrating, assinine, or possibly even outrageous things happen to them personally in the airport, they are ready to award the OP passenger a multimillion dollar settlement, and blame Dubya.
heh.
Really? Where have any of us said that? I sure as hell wouldn’t. But in a case like this, involving a violation of someone’s person, humiliating treatment, a total lack of professionalism and a lack of identifiable and cite-able guidelines, I tend to side with the woman who claims she was victimized, if only because based on personal experience with that agency, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit.
YMMV, of course.
It would probably take years of courteous, professional, friendly and standards-based service from TSA staff before some of us would change our minds. And maybe not even then.
[QUOTE=RedFury]
[li]The U.S. ranks with Africa and the Middle East when it comes to traveler-friendly paperwork and officials.[/li][/QUOTE]
Having travelled to Israel, Oman, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, two of the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, Kenya, Morrocco, Malawi and South Africa, I can tell you that US passport control in New York, Orlando or Tampa are about a million times more needlessly complicated and irritating than any of those places.
Well, except Israel.
And I’ve got a fucking green card. I hate to think what the poor sods on student visas go through.
That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Already from the get-go, it seems that the burden of proof (in your mind) is on the defendant.
Perhaps.
Did you read the story/quotes RedFury posted further up this page?
I highly doubt that the 54% of international travelers who say US immigration officials are rude are relying on anything aside from personal experience.
Besides, while personal experience may be invalid as an exhibit in a debate, it will certainly help you make up your own mind. I’ve visited lots of airports since 9/11, and I worked at one for six months, and what I’ve read here squares very neatly with my own experience.
On the other hand, between 1996 and 1998 (my first three years in America) I never met an airport staffer who was anything but nice (except for the customs people).
I will accept your point that in this particular case we’ve all rushed to judgment and burned the TSA in effigy- but that’s what the Pit is for. You want rational, objective analysis, take it to GD, fucker. 
My husband agrees with you. He has worked in Latin America, Panama, New Zealand, Africa, Europe, Australia and the US in the last 3 years. He has the worst opinion of US immigration and customs procedures and personnel. I actually traveled with him to the US 3 years ago and can testify that the procedures and paperwork seem to vary from airport to airport. There’s doesn’t seem to be any consistency in how they go about making sure I am not a terrorist.
We refuse to go to the US unless it’s for work. Sorry, I have my fair share of dumb government employees where I come from, no need to pay to meet more.
Thanks Red, I thought so. It’s funny that here tourism is such a big thing that there would be blood if things were going that bad. I guess a few billions is nothing to the US.
For what it’s worth, I’ve had exactly one bad experience with a TSA, at DFW in 1986. And one bad experience with an Immigration officer, at LAX in 1999, and the latter was almost to be expected, considering I fit some sort of profile on that particular trip. (I had flown into and out of the US in November/December 1998, then back in again in April 1999. Multiple trips in a short period of time between Thailand and the US set off some sort of red flag. However, once the official learned that first trip had been due to my father having an aneurysm and the second trip was because he died, she stopped the interrogation. Still, she could not seem to let me go without a parting snide remark and asked snarkily why I wanted to live outside the US.)
Other than that, I’ve been met with nothing but courtesy. The wife has never had a bad experience at any US airport even when traveling alone and unaccompanied by me, including major airports like Detroit and Boston. Our first trip to the US after 9/11 was to Honolulu, and we were braced for something untoward, but no, Immigration was as nice as they could be. (Yes, I know Immigration is not TSA, but I feel the need to emphasize happy experiences with officials of all types at US airports.)
Hijack-
I’ve obviously never gone through Ben Gurion Airport as a non-citizen, so I have no real appreciation of the full measure of bureaucracy that can be applied there. Just how bad is passport control here?
I’ve been sneeringly asked twice, once by TSA and once by customs, why the US wasn’t good enough for me to live in (US Citizen living in Europe). To the TSA goon I said ‘because of people like you - you’re bringing the US down.’ The Customs guy, with a gun, got a less snarky response from me about getting a good job and leaving for that.
I travel from Europe to the USA on business about twice a year and have done since 2002; I also travel all over Europe on a regular basis, for both work and pleasure. I’ve had far more bad experiences than good ones anytime I’ve had to deal with the TSA.
There weren’t any TSAs until 2001.
-FrL-
Not as bad as you might think, at least if you aren’t flying on El Al.
Still, if you look like me (of Indian descent, but people tend to think I’m an Arab) they can (and apparently do) detain you based on nothing more than that.
Heh. I have no real reply to that. (I half expected that card to be dealt.)
My family visited the Statue of Liberty the other day. There is a 45 minute wait to get into the statue itself, largely due to the excruciatingly slow security screening - which includes requiring every single visitor to go through the “air puffer” machine. Since no backpacks are allowed, and purses and coats are required to be put through the x-ray machines, I’m not sure what they are trying to prevent. To do any damage to the pedestal (the only part of the statue you’re allowed to enter - and which is basically a concrete bunker) would require truckloads of explosives, I would think. Not something that you’d hide in your shoe. Total waste of time and money.
This sounds like an O. Henry story.
Yeah. We decided not to bother taking our kids to see it last year- it’s not worth it. A sad state of affairs, indeed.
Okay, then their predecessors. Maybe I’m mistaken, but I thought we were talking about the security-screening personnel. I looked a bit scruffy in 1986 at the time I was flying out of DFW, and the security guy screening my bag insisted something suspicious was showing up on screen. He kept pointing to the screen saying, “See? It’s right there! RIGHT THERE!” But there was nothing at all visible I could see. I said look, let’s just open 'er up and take everything out, then he said never mind and let me go. 
I’m convinced to this day he was just screwing with me because of how I looked.
Are we not talking about the security-screening personnel?