Has TSA pat downs affected airline travel?

[John Baker]

I rarely have to drive downtown, but yesterday was one of those days. I foolishly ended up on Harbor Drive without thinking about it until there was no going back. It was the middle of the day, on a Friday, Lindberg Field (KSAN)would be jammed with traffic. People traveling for the weekend, businessmen going home.

I could not believe it, hardly any traffic as I went past the terminals. The parking lots were only about half full. I did not see one airplane taking off or landing.

Normally on that drive past the airport, you will see at least one of each. You will see many airplanes qued up for take off while passing Harbor Drive and Laural Street. No que, no planes, as I drove by. The parking lots are usually jammed, there is a heck of a lot more traffic on harbor drive. Lindberg Field looked like it was half dead.

I know on the news how they are claiming the new TSA security checks are having no effect on airline travel, that most patriotic Americans love the enhanced security. However, after yesterday, I am not so sure our government, and the airlines, are being completely forthright with what they are telling us.

John

 

[Greg Bockelman]

Dunno, but O'Hare was packed yesterday.

 

[mikea]

Explainable. KSAN is where the TSA touches your junk.

 

[ScottM]

KSAN is never really busy on a Friday after midday. Lots of flights out early in the morning and then tappering off through the morning to early noon time. Most of the flights heading east have ended for the day by then. It may pick up later as the business rush starts about 5pm and goes to 11pm when the red eyes are heading eastward.

 

[Dave Siciliano]

John: There's no doubt it's having an affect on traffic but the evidence is all anecdotal. I'm on several web boards where folks have said they will opt out of commercial flight whenever they possibly can. However, traffic counts remain high. I think we're seeing a shift in who flies. Some folks just don't have a choice. Where folks do, they seem to be taking them. Last week car rental firms and fractional jet provides both reported upticks in traffic and some reported these were in lieu of a commercial flight.
Pretty hard to judge the net effect, but there are certainly folks opting out including me. I just declined a trip where I would have had to travel commercially on an air carrier. May still go if I can take the Baron, but it's a bit long and I may just scrub completely. I'm hearing a lot of folks with non-essential trips saying the same thing.

Best,

Dave

 

[CJones]

Based on what I saw while traveling last week, I would assume it hasn't had much effect on number of travelers. ALL of my flights (ATL-SEA, SEA-ANC, ANC-ORD, ORD-ATL) were completely full.

Security line at ATL was shorter than normal, but I was flying out after 'normal business hours', so that probably had something to do with it. Looked like the lines at ORD were busy as usual coming through there mid-morning on Tuesday.

At ORD, we had to go past 3-4 security checkpoints while walking between gates. One thing I noticed was how one of the checkpoints at at least 2-3 people getting groped every time I walked by while the other checkpoints didn't have anyone going through a pat-down. None of the checkpoints I saw had the 'full body scanner', so it's not like people were opting out of the scan and getting a pat-down at that one particular checkpoint. Is there a quota of sexual assaults that each checkpoint must obtain throughout the day, or is it completely at the discretion of the agents at the checkpoint? If it is a discretionary call by the agents, I would guess that that one particular checkpoint was full of agents with 'little man complex' and were flexing their 'power'.

 

[Dave Siciliano]

After posting earlier, I read the local business section and a headline is 'Airline's Passenger loads increase in November'. American, US Aiirways, AirTran set records.
Total passengers seem to be up. I think there are a lot of folks opting out; so, maybe a shift in whose traveling. I know of many folks opting out; so, the numbers would probably be much better if security was perceived as less intrusive.

Best,

Dave

 

[sba55]

Dave's right. Also, I would think that most people who opt out are people who travel somewhat regularly (ie., those who are informed, such as business travelers). Isn't business travel down significantly in December while leisure travel is up?

 

[Maxmosbey]

We went to New York City this weekend. Flew out of Des Moines last Thursday so we first went through security there, No body scanners and no pat downs. Walked right through like we always do. It took about ten minutes. We flew into La Guardia. So we returned today. I was very excited about going through security at La Guardia. On the way out, we checked in on line. At La Guardia we had to go through the ticket counter. Walked right up, collected our boarding passes, checked in our luggage, and headed for security. No problem there. As I was standing in line there were notices about passenger's rights in regard to body scanners and pat downs. There were about a dozen people in front of us. The line went fast. We got up to where you put your carry on through the x ray machine, and I started looking for the body scanner. I didn't see one. I walked through the metal detector, picked up my stuff that had gone through the x ray machine, and went on my way. Ten minutes top. We are talking La Guardia in New York City here. What is going on? I wanted to be body scanned. Instead I walked through a metal detector and that was it. I am very upset. My wife wanted to be body scanned too. I am a little disappointed. We just strolled right through.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

To answer the question in the subject line: Yes.

Maybe not significantly - But I didn't go to TX for turkey day on the airlines, which would have been the smart thing to do. Instead, I dropped a boatload more money (probably 6-7 times as much) to fly GA.

Yeah, I like flying GA, so it's not like the TSA was the only factor that pushed me in that direction - But it was the one that tipped the scales.

 

[RJM62]

We went to New York City this weekend. Flew out of Des Moines last Thursday so we first went through security there, No body scanners and no pat downs. Walked right through like we always do. It took about ten minutes. We flew into La Guardia. So we returned today. I was very excited about going through security at La Guardia. On the way out, we checked in on line. At La Guardia we had to go through the ticket counter. Walked right up, collected our boarding passes, checked in our luggage, and headed for security. No problem there. As I was standing in line there were notices about passenger's rights in regard to body scanners and pat downs. There were about a dozen people in front of us. The line went fast. We got up to where you put your carry on through the x ray machine, and I started looking for the body scanner. I didn't see one. I walked through the metal detector, picked up my stuff that had gone through the x ray machine, and went on my way. Ten minutes top. We are talking La Guardia in New York City here. What is going on? I wanted to be body scanned. Instead I walked through a metal detector and that was it. I am very upset. My wife wanted to be body scanned too. I am a little disappointed. We just strolled right through.

I'm not sure they ever have the scanners at LGA, to tell you the truth. I've dropped off and picked up a bunch of people there, but I haven't been past the lobby in years. I'd guess that TSA doesn't consider LGA a top priority because it's limited in the size of planes it can handle, and it doesn't handle much international travel (except to Southeastern Canada) due to the Port Authority's 1,500-mile perimeter rule for LGA and the airport's dinky customs facilities.

I personally like flying into LGA, both because it has cool approaches and because it's about 15 minutes from my house (or two hours, depending on traffic). But I know a lot of people who hate it, including my mother, who would rather walk that fly into LGA. The approach to 22 especially seems to freak people out, but I think it's awesome.

-Rich

 

[flyersfan31]

I was very excited about going through security at La Guardia.

Maybe that's what discouraged them from giving you the federal grope?


Me? I'm gonna fly MeAir unless I absolutely, positively have to go airline. I go transcon maybe once a year, at my option (and usually on a relaxed schedule). Biggest trip I can reasonably expect is down to FL, and that's no more than 5.5-6hrs max by Matrix. I'm willing to do that to avoid airport parking/check-in/ticketing/screening/waiting/boarding/angry-wrinkled-bitter-flight-attendants/uncomfy seats/stay-in-your-seat-until-the-chime/where the f is my checked bag airline thing.

 

[TMetzinger]

TSA basically turned off the scanners over the holiday at most airports that had them and everybody got the detectors.

 

[Maxmosbey]

I don't fly commercially as much as some I would guess. I get out to New York twice a year, Mexico a couple of times a year, and make three or four business trips with my wife. That is the extent of it. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I just breeze through the ticket counters, security, and everything. It seems to me that they have it all down to a science. We do try to get as much done on line before we get there, but we can't always do that. Only two times have I even had any hitch. In 2006 we came through Munich and got questioned by the authorities. My wife and I went to get some kind of tax refund on a bunch of stuff that we had purchased in Germany. We sent the kids, twelve years old and sixteen years old, on ahead to the gate. We got there they had the kids rounded up and put us through the third degree. No big deal. The second time was coming back from Mexico. We had round trip tickets from Des Moines to Puerto Vallarta with a change of flights in Phoenix. A few weeks before we left my wife found out that she was going to have a business meeting in Phoenix the day after we came back, so she decided just to jump ship on the way through. When I went to board the flight from Phoenix to Des Moines without my wife, they took me in another room and grilled me for several minutes. No big deal. I explained everything, they made a couple of phone calls, one of which was to my wife, and off I went. That is it. Otherwise, no horror stories to relate. I guess I just don't draw attention.

 

[mikea]

TSA basically turned off the scanners over the holiday at most airports that had them and everybody got the detectors.

Do we get a refund on the $billions they paid for the obviously unneeded scanners?