On my last business trip, I was carrying a lot of small computer gear to install in a UAV. Per the company’s instructions, it was all carried with me. In the max-carryon-sized bag, were a variety of electronics, small flight computers and hardware, and connectors running between them. Seriously, this stuff would have been convincing as a terrorist’s gear in a movie. Security glanced into the bag, and ignored it completely. This happened 4 times at two different airports. At DFW, my supposedly TSA-safe suspender buckles caused concern, and I had to remove my coat so they could wand my suspenders. That’s the only attention I got on the entire trip.
This convinced me that the security in airports must mainly be to comfort passengers. The actual TSA workers seem to be following a strict script of what to look for (bottles of water, guns, belts, etc.). If actual security were the goal, it seems that independent initiative would be encouraged among the security staff.
There are a large number of articles from 2015/2017 detailing how the TSA failed to detect (fake but real looking) weapons, bombs, etc in undercover testing 70-95% of the time.
A lack of any more news leads me to believe the problem was solved by not conducting further undercover testing.
Do I really want it? No. Would I prefer real security that requires four screenings/interviews to waiting in pointless lines that don’t really provide any security ? Yes.
Has anyone run across studies/analyses assessing the extent to which TSA-type security DOES enhance comfort?
I’m afraid it would contribute to my overall cynicism if I were to suspect that a sizable percentage (majority?) of my fellow species-members take comfort in having their suspenders/belts scanned - for no meaningful purpose other than theater.
I’ve suggested before that the market could handle this. Have certain flights where passengers are strip/cavity searched, and all luggage/carryons are sent via separate plane. Maybe a middle class where folk are screened for obvious guns/bombs and cockpit door is secured. Then another where anything goes.
If the government thinks you’re a terrorist or too closely tied to terrorism you’ll be on a watchlist and either you won’t be allowed to fly at all or you’ll get searched every single time. Everybody else is searched to some extent based on TSA risk analysis.
I personally would rather them follow a script created by experts rather than relying on the differing intuition of thousands of underpaid TSA officers. Do you know that they are not allowed to take initiative over and above this?
I’ve flown a bit recently, and the TSA people have been polite and cheerful. I’m sure they get shit, given what flight attendants get these days. Other passengers bug me far more than TSA.
This is not from lack of content. My wife’s left shoulder always sets off the machine for no reason anyone has ever determined. It’s far more of a problem than her fake knee and hip. But they’re still polite, maybe being 70 helps.
I’ve told this here before but, during a trip for work, I grabbed a laptop used by a few different people. I didn’t think to look through the pockets before leaving and found a box cutter inside one after I got to my destination.
I mean, I flew out of Ben Gurion last week, and I just went through a short interview while I was waiting in line to check in, and the usual screening every airport has (albeit with no shoe removal, because that’s stupid). Oh yeah, and the guard at the entrance to the airport looked me over and asked where I was flying to. That’s it.
Of course, I’m an Israeli citizen, middle-aged, and Jewish. I’m sure other travelers underwent closer scrutiny. But the fact that I wasn’t delayed means that they were delayed less than they would have if I had, right?
Yes it probably is. If you are a normal traveller this wait and display of security is not for you. If you are a ‘bad guy’ you are going to get nervous, maybe display some behavour that will tip off the people who are watching.
I was checking in for a flight in Canada, and the security guy found and took away my small screwdriver in the bottom oof my camera case. I was impressed, that same screwdriver had crossed the Atlantic twice in the two years before that.
It’s not like these are retirees from thr FBI and Army MP’s - they are basically security guards, most likely with minimal training and no great standards to meet.
Nope, both regular. I haven’t been through the pre-check line in easily five years. I’m pretty sure it’s the tech they have at the stations.
In Oakland you take your phone and Kindle out of the bag. In Indianapolis you leave them in the bag.
Now, I’ve been flying at 5:30 am, so maybe they’re still cheerful then.
I don’t know anything about their training or script(s), beyond my observations on (rare) airline flights. It seems as though “follow these steps, but if you see a bunch of unrecognizable, connected electronic devices in a carryon bag, feel free to follow your gut” would be a good idea. I understand allowing complete independence would be a disaster.
Agreed. The TSA employees have been, by far, the most polite and agreeable in any of my travels. I have no beef with them, and sympathize (somewhat) in their thankless job. My comment was about the scripting itself, not the individuals I interacted with.
And i once found a 7" kitchen knife in my bag after i got to my destination. I’d put it there months ago when i brought a cake into the office, and forgotten to remove it.
I got a friend who was driving home to take it home for me. I didn’t want to be caught with that at security.
Nothing it couldn’t have done if it had been in your carry-on, where it wouldn’t have attracted any attention. But just like the point of “remove your belt” is to get you to have no detectable metal, the point of “remove anything from your pockets” is to get you to the point of no detectable lumps. (I usually get patted down because my pockets are bulky by themselves, even empty.) The metal and lumps are all supposed to be in your luggage, where in theory, they look at them.
I have a friend who routinely carries live cell cultures through airports. (He does biological research with people around the world.) That’s not allowed. But he just pops them into a travel-sized shampoo bottle and no one has ever noticed.
I am in contact with TSA constantly in my job, and they are almost always polite - except in Newark, NJ. Something about that airport… It’s just the worst, and it makes me notice how nice TSA is almost everywhere else.
Besides what has already been covered in this thread, what bothers me most is that there really can’t be any sensible reckoning for how we do aviation security because nobody with knowledge and power to take any actions is allowed to talk about it.
We can’t know how many times nefarious plots have been averted, or if it’s all nonsense because to disclose relevant details would in itself be a security risk.
I don’t like this. While I realize certain information needs to be locked down, we in the U.S. vastly overdo it. We classify everything, thereby making it inaccessible to public debate. It would be good if we could change this.
We had a family member who had a lock-blade hunting knife that a few months before had gotten lost. What no one knew until the TSA screening was that it had somehow gotten between the lining of her purse and the leather and worked its way to the bottom so no evidence of it other than the x-ray and it was so well hidden it took 2 TSA ten minutes to find it… Honestly, if you were trying to smuggle a huge-ass knife to do some damage on a plane, it would probably be this way. We were asking ourselves who was going to cancel their vacation to go with her to jail and bail her out because although WE knew it was a mistake, they certainly did not. When they found it they of course confiscated it (and it probably went home with one of them) and then they
I don’t have a problem with the fine men and women at the TSA, but I do find it odd that they act like the rules are the rules and we should all know them by now, when, as you say, they vary from place to place (and sometimes day to day)
Never been to Newark, but allow me to offer as a potential contender - O’Hare. We actually commented on how pleasant our flights out were this time, as no one yelled at us.
I agree with you that much of my disquiet flows from an inability to make sense of the process. I feel similarly when a store or business does something that strikes me as unreasonable, and just says, “It is our policy.” And if you innocently ask, “What purpose does this serve?”, more likely than not, you’ll get an armed officer in your face asking if you want to go to jail. That sort of forced unquestioning following of heavily armed authority bothers me - seemingly more than it bothers many people.
I was traveling to New Orleans on work related business when a TSA agent gave me a hard time because on my ticket my middle name was Steven instead of Stephen. The employee who arranged everything made a minor mistake.
I made a more major mistake when I laughed at the whole situation. The TSA guy told me I might not be flying that day, and kept me long enough so that I had to run in order to board my plane.
