# How does TSA screening work at VERY small airports? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 4, 2023, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-tsa-screening-work-at-very-small-airports/984976 "2023-06-04T08:44:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2023, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-tsa-screening-work-at-very-small-airports/984976/21 "2023-06-04T19:03:29Z")
I fly to La Crosse, Wisconsin fairly regularly – the extent of their airline service is a couple of flights to Minneapolis on Delta and a couple of flights to Chicago on American. Actually, as an aside, the last couple of times I flew there I noticed there was less service each time. I think now they’re down to 1 flight to MSP (albeit now on a CRJ-900 rather than a CRJ-200) and 2 flights to ORD. I attribute that in part to shortages of new pilots to staff regional airlines to replace the ones laid off during the pandemic, and part to airlines phasing out 50 seaters. But like others said, it’s pretty much a standard TSA checkpoint, but there sill likely be no like to speak of. And that’s a big part of the reason I prefer flying to smaller airports rather than driving a few hours to a bigger one. > [@Twoflower](#): > > I’m pretty sure that the same 2 or 3 people handled check in and baggage, then became the TSA crew, and finally handled boarding. La Crosse has separate staff for the TSA, but I have noticed that the person working at the check in counter is always wearing a yellow safety vest, and after check-in is closed they’re out on the apron loading bags, and marshalling the airplanes when the bags are loaded and it’s time to depart. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2023, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-tsa-screening-work-at-very-small-airports/984976/22 "2023-06-04T19:35:42Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > Some of the smaller airports used to give precheck passengers a card that let them keep their shoes on. There used to be a hilarious corridor at JFK, this is from back in the 1990s when I was flying transatlantic frequently. On the way from the plane toward immigration, you’d enter this fairly wide corridor, where there was a big sign that directed U.S. citizens to one side, and non-citizens to the other, with a barrier between. You walked about 100 yards separated in this way, then the corridor narrowed slightly, the barrier in the middle disappeared, and everyone merged and continued walking together again for another 5 minutes toward immigration. I could never figure out what the deal was, I assume it was a legacy from some different configuration. But it seemed like they just wanted to minimize cootie contamination by furriners. ---
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2023, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-tsa-screening-work-at-very-small-airports/984976/23 "2023-06-04T19:52:08Z")
The first time we did a major international trip (Bali), we flew out of Cortez, CO (CEZ). About the size of 2 shipping containers. I called down because we were nervous and had a number of bags. I asked how long before the flight left we should get there. “Well, WE get here 45 minutes before the flight!” was my answer. Great airport–tiny, free parking, and guaranteed blizzard between there and our old house every time we flew… ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2023, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-tsa-screening-work-at-very-small-airports/984976/24 "2023-06-04T19:57:30Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > > [@Twoflower](#): > > > > On arrival, they just lined up all the checked baggage on the floor in the lobby. > > When I flew to Presque Isle ME to visit my sister, BiL, and nephew, the Presque Isle airport had just gotten their very first baggage carousel! Very exciting. Townsfolk went to the airport just to see it. It was just two holes (like giant mouseholes) on the wall with this teeny conveyor belt that curved between them. > > I was used to the baggage carousels at LAX that were larger than my first apartment. I remember thirty years ago flying from and to Westchester County Airport, just north of New York City. Very small airport with mostly private and corporate traffic and a few commercial flights at the time. They didn’t have a baggage carousel but instead just a stationary carousel-like thing. I think since then the airport has expanded and modernized. ---
**Author:** ![ToddBradley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/toddbradley/32/14213_2.png) [@ToddBradley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToddBradley)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2023, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-tsa-screening-work-at-very-small-airports/984976/25 "2023-06-04T20:02:37Z")
It’s funny to see your comment here. I was just about to write something about the Cortez airport, which beats most of the ones mentioned here in terms of smallness. I flew in and out of there last fall when I didn’t feel like driving from Denver to Cortez. At the time, they were in the process of switching from the old airline to the new. The old one used planes that carried 8 passengers. The new one was a whopping 12. My big mistake was that I didn’t realize that the order you go through security was also the order you go onto the plane, which is also the order you sit. So you go through security depending on where you want to sit on the plane. I was first, and thus got the very back seat, which sucked. I’ll never do that again. ---
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2023, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-tsa-screening-work-at-very-small-airports/984976/26 "2023-06-04T20:05:23Z")
Yeah–back in the dark ages United (Great Lakes) used to service CEZ with a turboprop 24 pax Beechcraft. Now (as of 4 years ago) it was a little airline flying King Airs and capitalizing on the rural airport subsidies. I flew that a couple times–intimate! ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2023, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-tsa-screening-work-at-very-small-airports/984976/27 "2023-06-04T22:22:08Z")
> [@ToddBradley](#): > > My big mistake was that I didn’t realize that the order you go through security was also the order you go onto the plane, which is also the order you sit. So you go through security depending on where you want to sit on the plane. I was first, and thus got the very back seat, which sucked. If I’m the last one through security, do I get to be the pilot? ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2023, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-tsa-screening-work-at-very-small-airports/984976/28 "2023-06-04T22:33:55Z")
I fly in am out of Santa Fe, NM all the time, and its pretty much exactly like this. Once it was rush hour, and I was _third_ in line! I do find that at some of the smaller airports, the TSA/contracted staff are actually _pleasant_ This is on contrast to the “big” airport I fly in/out of: ABQ’s Sunport, where the ~~Gestapo~~ TSA agents all have a chip on their shoulder, and wear it with pride, because you are guilty until proven innocent down there. They get all huffy when I insist on carrying my identification with me through the body scanner , and answer in simple terms (“prior surgery”) when the metal in my leg sets off their detectors. Nope, Santa Fe is actually kind of laid back . . . Tripler I’m flying to Nevada this week. Las Vegas is busy, but it _moves_. ---
**Author:** ![ToddBradley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/toddbradley/32/14213_2.png) [@ToddBradley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToddBradley)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2023, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-tsa-screening-work-at-very-small-airports/984976/29 "2023-06-04T23:54:56Z")
Great question! I have no idea. I’ll have to try that next time. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-tsa-screening-work-at-very-small-airports/984976/30 "2023-06-05T00:08:22Z")
So what do those folks do for the rest of the day? Do they hop on the flight with everyone else and work the rest of their shift at Sea-Tac? Or is it just an hour-a-day part-time job? ---
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-tsa-screening-work-at-very-small-airports/984976/31 "2023-06-05T00:20:25Z")
I bet it’s part of the rural access deal–I know the CEZ flights were subsidized at $300+ a seat, so I bet TSA is the same way. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-tsa-screening-work-at-very-small-airports/984976/32 "2023-06-05T01:15:59Z")
You can do that with airlines that have conventional seat selection too. > **[Seat Selection](https://xkcd.com/726/)** > > Don't click on the wing. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-tsa-screening-work-at-very-small-airports/984976/33 "2023-06-05T06:26:24Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > When you do take the trip, report back on the indy wrestling and on YKM. Back when I lived in St. Louis city proper we used to go to local indy wrestling that was held in an old boxing gym every month. Strictly local amateurs. It was great. I’ll definitely be writing it up in the pro wrestling thread. This is going to be the single largest Pacific Northwest show by a non-nationwide promotion since the days of the NWA and Portland Wrestling. It’s being run by DEFY, a Seattle promotion that started up in 2017 and is something of a farm league for AEW, in conjunction with AAA (one of the two major lucha libre promotions in Mexico), and they’re bringing in Ultimo Dragon, Juventud Guerrera, and Hijo del Vikingo (the current AAA world champion) as headliners. They mainly run their shows out of an old ballroom in Seattle’s Vietnamese neighborhood - this is their first time putting on an arena show. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-tsa-screening-work-at-very-small-airports/984976/34 "2023-06-05T06:36:58Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > because they are not immediately familiar with the precise current routine of what you must and must not unpack or take off as you go through security at this particular airport at this particular point in time Geez this shits me. “Do you want my laptop out?” Massive rolleyes “yes _of course_ we want your laptop out” [Me biting my tongue to prevent myself saying “this morning, at an airport run by the same corporation, staffed by the same security company, you didn’t. And last week, at this very same airport, you didn’t. But now you do. So don’t roll your eyes at me, kid”.] * * * I used to fly semi-regularly to Gladstone, Australia. To say it was casually staffed was an understatement. It was fun. One time I had to pop my head out of the door onto the tarmac to say “hey guys can you stop kicking a football around and come and check me in? Thanks”. And if you were wearing steel cap boots (as was common - it’s an industrial town), when the metal detector went off they’d just say “steels?” and you’d say “yeah” and they’d wave you through. Ahhh, the goodole days. It’s become all professional now and none of that stuff happens. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-tsa-screening-work-at-very-small-airports/984976/35 "2023-06-05T06:51:39Z")
I fly frequently in and out of Lethbridge, Alberta (YQL). It has two gates: one for departures, and one for arrivals. Every scheduled flight out of YQL goes to Calgary (YYC). Pity, because YQL has so much potential as a milk-run hub for western Canada, but that’s a topic for another thread. Anyway, yes, CATSA (the Canadian equivalent of TSA) staffs it, but YQL is so small that at least half the time, the CATSA officers are people I know. “Okay, Spoons, we’ll go through the motions, but I know you’re fine.” That’s pretty much it. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-tsa-screening-work-at-very-small-airports/984976/36 "2023-06-05T06:55:19Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Do they hop on the flight with everyone else and work the rest of their shift at Sea-Tac? Or is it just an hour-a-day part-time job? I found a job posting that says it’s a 32-hour-per-week job exclusively at YKM. > **[ykm.pdf](https://jobs.tsa.gov/AirportFAQs/ykm.pdf)** > > 654.14 KB It mentions the airport having 4 flights a day on weekdays and 2 on weekends, which I guess would cover the non-scheduled charter flights mentioned in the Wikipedia article in addition to the daily SEA-YKM Alaska run I’m taking. The posting is from last year, though, so that may have changed in the meantime. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-tsa-screening-work-at-very-small-airports/984976/37 "2023-06-05T07:02:09Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Geez this shits me. > > “Do you want my laptop out?” > > Massive rolleyes “yes _of course_ we want your laptop out” > > [Me biting my tongue to prevent myself saying “this morning, at an airport run by the same corporation, staffed by the same security company, you didn’t. And last week, at this very same airport, you didn’t. But now you do. So don’t roll your eyes at me, kid”.] I bought a laptop bag in about 2010 that was designed to a specific TSA spec. It’s kind of a tri-fold design, with one section that holds just the laptop. The idea was to unfold, and run it through the scanner. I’m pretty sure I did that a couple times. Then the rules changed and I have to take the laptop all the way out of the bag and run it through the scanner in its own bin. C’est la vie. It’s still a good bag. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-tsa-screening-work-at-very-small-airports/984976/38 "2023-06-05T16:14:36Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > If I’m the last one through security, do I get to be the pilot? I have flown on a few very small planes (like the Cessna 208 Caravan) where one passenger got to sit next to the pilot, where the First Officer would have sat if there had been two pilots. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-tsa-screening-work-at-very-small-airports/984976/39 "2023-06-05T18:00:46Z")
I used to pilot such flights. Sadly, for balance purposes we always put the big fat dude in the “co-pilot” seat, never the cute svelte young thing. 'Taint fair sez I. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-tsa-screening-work-at-very-small-airports/984976/40 "2023-06-05T18:14:32Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Sadly, for balance purposes we always put the big fat dude in the “co-pilot” seat, never the cute svelte young thing. 'Taint fair sez I. I remember, a couple of decades ago, flying on a small regional turboprop from either West Palm Beach or Fort Lauderdale, to Tampa, in order to connect on a bigger plane for our flight home to Chicago. There were about five passengers on the turboprop, and one was a very large man; the flight crew told us that we could pick our seats as we boarded, but once we all got aboard, and they saw the situation, they directed most of the rest of us to sit on the other side of the plane from the big guy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-tsa-screening-work-at-very-small-airports/984976.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-tsa-screening-work-at-very-small-airports/984976.md?page=3)