I just don’t understand what she thinks her little outburst is going to achieve. Also, if you know you’re going to want a patdown vs. scanner when going through security, wouldn’t you leave yourself more than fifteen minutes wiggle room before you “almost” miss your flight? Or could it be that–gasp!–she’s exaggerating?
She seems nice.
Fifteen minutes?!? My heart bleeds for you, young lady.
IMO, TSA is ‘security theatre’. Yes, we need to keep weapons off of planes; but I think their rules are too stringent.
It’s security theater, so it’s just a big waste of time and money. I don’t fly that often, but ever since 2019, I can count on being molested by a TSA agent at some point during my travels. While it’s a slight indignity, it’s an unnecessary indignity nonetheless.
Some good could actually come of this. If somebody in the current administration gets a bee in their bonnet about TSA we might see some meaningful change.
They’ve already gotten rid of the shoe removal, and maybe that wouldn’t have happened under a Democratic administration for fear of looking weak on terrorism or something. Perhaps Trump’s people could do a Nixon going to China sort of thing with regard to relaxing or changing TSA’s procedures.
Duffy has called for people to dress well. But if you have to remove your jacket, until recently (I suppose) your shoes, and your belt – not to mention your watch, wallet, and other contents of your pockets – then not dressing up is more practical for the TSA checkpoints. I prefer to wear ‘business casual’ when I fly (which hasn’t been in a while); and I hate disrobing to get through the checkpoint.
Not to mention sweatily running for a gate, sweating while waiting in an interminable line, and being crammed in a narrow seat for 9 hours.
Au contraire! With the number of weapons confiscated every year (about 6,800) with no repercussions, it’s past due that anyone bringing a weapon through TSA should be denied boarding for 24 hours (minimum) and the weapon surrendered (confiscated). How long has it been since 9/11 and people are saying, “Oh, I forgot ..” Bull.
I recently had to wait out a security slowdown flying out of Baltimore because a dad had “forgotten” that he had packed a handgun in his carryon.The TSA agent verified that the gun wasn’t loaded.
”Where’s the ammo?”
”Oh, my son has that packed with his stuff.”
Forgotten, yeah, right.
I’ll start taking TSA seriously when they do something about nearly every passenger on nearly every flight carrying a bomb with them, often multiple bombs. Of course, that level of security would also mean that nobody would ever fly again, so I’m basically never going to take them seriously.
If someone wants to blow up a plane in the air, they’re going to be able to do that regardless. If someone wants to do anything short of suicide-bombing a plane, then that can be stopped with measures much less intrusive than TSA, like simply locking the cockpit doors.
That’s an awful lot of nail clippers.
An awful lot of guns. And 94% of them are loaded.
This, exactly.
I dislike waiting in the airport security line as much as anyone else. But it’s probably a necessary evil, although I agree that it could be streamlined. (Probably a topic for another thread.)
Well, there is always Israel’s approach to security. But that would cost billions and billions to implement. But it is very very effective.
Could you flesh this out a little? What is Israel’s approach to security?
I don’t think I wanna hear this.
And BTW, the younger Duffy accuses the TSA of being “passive-aggressive.” This is the second time this week I’ve heard this term used; the other time, it was by someone young, and the other time, it was a mistake. I’m not sure exactly what she thought it meant, but it wasn’t what “passive-aggressive” actually means. I’ve got a similar feeling that the younger Duffy does not quite know how to use the term either.
My young co-worker meant something like “increasingly direct”; not entirely sure about Duffy, but maybe she meant “steadily more adamant”?
A very different situation in a country with only three airports.
I’ve flown in and out of Israel, and IMHO @Duckster is talking about how Israel’s approach is far more about results and very careful, detailed review of any carry on, personal items, et al are far more rigorous than the USA commonly uses. Very little theater, very much security emphasis. And there are areas I feel I disagree with some of their choices, but as @Dewey_Finn points out, it would be incredibly expensive to roll out to all the airports in the USA. Not impossible, but expensive.
Moderating:
After reviewing with the OP, this thread really isn’t P&E material. There’s nothing framed in the OP about a specific Political issue, rather complaints about a politically-adjacent individual not getting extra treatment the rest of us don’t get either. I’m moving it to IMHO for the moment, as most of the discussion has been about how good/crappy the TSA is as actual security. If we want a more formal discussion of the TSA, we can spin off a specific thread or restructure this one.
How to Reply as a linked Topic
Click Reply, in the upper left corner of the reply window is the reply type button, looks like a curving arrow point to the right.
Choose Reply as linked topic and it starts a new thread. As an example, you can choose GD, IMHO or The Pit for it.
That is actually the best method.
I’m prepared to be ill-disposed towards anyone related to the current administration, but I share in this young person’s disdain for TSA.
And knowing how irrationally policy is formed these days, for all I know, her tantrum could result in significant overhaul of TSA.