Daleandee
Final Approach
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Dale Andee
Your T.S.A. Tax Dollars @ Work or NOT ...
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MauleSkinner
Touchdown! Greaser!
Must’ve been intermission time at Security Theater.
Omalley1537
Cleared for Takeoff
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Sean
At least they saved our fellow passengers the horrific risk of .1 oz too much toothpaste in my dad’s carry-on a couple years ago, so there is that…
NHWannabe
Line Up and Wait
35 AoA
Pattern Altitude
I was in HNL KCM behind a full Delta crew that were all "randomed". Perhaps they might consider applying that scrutiny to unverified passengers, rather than badged and vetted airline employees.
So, what happened to him after he threatened passengers in flight with a box cutter? The article doesn't say how severe his bone fractures were...
jayhawk74
Pre-takeoff checklist
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jayhawk74
TSA was created because of 9/11 and yes box cutters were used on 9/11 to take over the airplanes. However at that time anything with a blade less than 4 inches was legal to bring onto an airplane so the Security Screeners didn't do anything wrong.
FancyG
Pre-takeoff checklist
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FancyG
Pinecone
En-Route
Actually, in that case the box cutters were placed on the planes by cleared cleaning crew personnel.
Pinecone
En-Route
Pre-TSA you had contractors running the security. A friend was in line when the screener decided to due a bag search. On a uniformed airline captain. The captain asked if the screener was looking for anything in particular based on the X-ray, and maybe they could tell them where to look. The screener looked up, and very seriously stated, "I am looking for anything that could allow you to gain control of the airplane." Hmm, isn't the Captain in control of the airplane always?????
MauleSkinner
Touchdown! Greaser!
Yeah…TSA are the people who make kids drink pond water and try to confiscate Medals of Honor.
(Full disclosure…I only know of one of each event.)
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Llewtrah
Ummmm….so…screening machines and inspections at each and every gate, since a carrier wouldn’t know which airline a passenger arrived on or what they got in the un-screened terminal area?
No thanks
Baked Potato
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Baked Potato
On 9/11 we discovered that unsecured airplanes pose a risk to people not on the airplane, so it's a moot point anyway.
Not to defend how TSA is ran though. We've all had horrible experiences with them.
MauleSkinner
Touchdown! Greaser!
No, we discovered that secure airplanes pose a risk to people not on the airplane.
GaryM
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Gary M
We’d be more accepting were it not for the fact that every other year the GSA runs penetration tests and tries to sneak weapons past various TSA checkpoints. Time and again the TSA fails to detect about 97% in these tests.
ElPaso Pilot
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ElPaso Pilot
I always have their website ready when carrying something slightly unusual.They saved everyone from my dangerous Texas-shaped cast iron pan, though! It never crossed my mind that cast iron had to be in checked baggage only. Thankfully, the first checked bag was free.
Turns out cast iron has been added to the explicitly banned item list (?!?) but in general, most of the front line folks haven’t seen to read or understand their own manual.
https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/pots-and-pans
ElPaso Pilot
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ElPaso Pilot
And, it’s not intuitive.
All the little knife blades, safety razors, and corkscrews with foil cutters are banned, but somehow big, honking, metal knitting needles are okie dokie.
https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/knitting-needles
All the little knife blades, safety razors, and corkscrews with foil cutters are banned, but somehow big, honking, metal knitting needles are okie dokie.
https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/knitting-needles
Daleandee
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Dale Andee
They saved everyone from my dangerous Texas-shaped cast iron pan, though! It never crossed my mind that cast iron had to be in checked baggage only. Thankfully, the first checked bag was free.
As the former boyfriend of a real Carolina Redneck woman I know how dangerous a cast iron frying pan can be in the hands of an angry woman!
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Llewtrah
The Texas State surplus store is in Austin and they sell all the stuff collected by TSA across the state. Victorinox tiny pocket knives go for $1 with a logo and $2 without. Corkscrews are 10 cents each, they’re so plentiful! I got a Makita drill for $5. Wrenches, pliers, kitchen knives- it’s all there. And, for a while, lots of snow globes - over 3 1/2 ozThey saved everyone from my dangerous Texas-shaped cast iron pan, though! It never crossed my mind that cast iron had to be in checked baggage only. Thankfully, the first checked bag was free.
MauleSkinner
Touchdown! Greaser!
My wife’s great-grandmother, a tiny Polish woman, was known to wield a 10-inch cast iron skillet pretty handily.They saved everyone from my dangerous Texas-shaped cast iron pan, though! It never crossed my mind that cast iron had to be in checked baggage only. Thankfully, the first checked bag was free.
I wasn't offering you anything, I was asking for my liberty back. To which you respond, "No thanks". In other words you have me forced to do just what you want, and you refuse to allow that to change.
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Llewtrah
Freedom isn’t free
MauleSkinner
Touchdown! Greaser!
What did that “liberty” look like pre-9/11?
Well, I could bring my pocketknife that I carry everywhere else onto the plane, I didn't have to remove my shoes and belt, didn't have to get to the airport two hours before boarding, I didn't have to throw away my water bottle only to buy a new overpriced one after going through security...
MauleSkinner
Touchdown! Greaser!
And how would having airlines do the screening change that?
jayhawk74
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jayhawk74
It's not just pre-TSA contractors there are TSA agents still doing it.
The day after Richard Reid tried blowing up an airliner I had a TSA agent who wanted to confiscate my toothpaste and mouthwash. This was while I was a Southwest captain in uniform with my FFDO weapon. His reasoning was that I might have hidden ingredients in them to make a bomb to take over the airplane but that I was authorized to have the loaded pistol so that was okay.
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Drake the Outlaw
They saved everyone from my dangerous Texas-shaped cast iron pan, though! It never crossed my mind that cast iron had to be in checked baggage only. Thankfully, the first checked bag was free.
I've told the story before. Went to Tx (DFW) with the bride via commercial. Was gifted with a frying pan as a belated wedding present. On the return, passed through Delta security with it in my carry-on, no problem. Flight cancelled, rebooked on American. They rejected it at security, but when I explained it was a wedding gift and Delta had allowed it, the nice TSA folks said "Ok, but just this once." This was all post-911.
Yowza.
And, it’s not intuitive.
All the little knife blades, safety razors, and corkscrews with foil cutters are banned, but somehow big, honking, metal knitting needles are okie dokie.
On my last international flight (JFK-AMS) my bag was kicked off the line for hand screening. They were looking for a foil cutter. Turns out they had never seen a corkscrew without a foil cutter!
About 15 minutes of futile searching later, I was released. I did make the flight but only because I always leave plenty of time… -Skip
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Llewtrah
We didn’t need to wear clothes in public, drive on the right side, could poop where we wanted, and a host of other “lost liberties”.
No wait…none of those “liberties” existed before 9/11. “Liberties” have been “lost” literally since the dawn of civilization. A civilization is recognizing there’s something bigger than just me that I fit into. Personally, I like it better than some Mad Max fantasy. But I’m not trying to personally push it on anyone…
Sadly, the TSA stuff is needed to protect the civilized from the uncivilized.
This, of course, is a response to EW.
I'm uncertain as to whether this is satire or serious, but it is worth noting that private security screeners (the norm in other countries) are generally more efficient and less costly than TSA screeners, but the TSA (who oversee the screening regardless of whether the airport uses private screeners or not) makes it difficult for airport sponsors to adopt private screening. Not entirely surprising, inasmuch as the first mission of a government bureaucracy is to preserve and expand itself (and I am not at all joking on that point, much as I wish it were thus) - this is Rule One.
Other, historical, note: DFW Airport's original design was crafted to minimize the length of walking for airport users, allowing them to drop off or park near the gate for their particular flight - but highjacking started occurring after the design was set (and teh airport partially constructed), so 3 of the 4 terminals had the inconvenient and delay-prone centralized screening checkpoints we all became accustomed to enduring. But, Braniff International Airways (the only airline that had its own terminal at DFW in those days) set up as-you-board screening at each gate, and it worked great. Of course, this was before the days of the X-Ray bag screening and Nude-O-Scope, but it is historically interesting, if for no other reason than it allows me to bring up Braniff International Airways.
As for the ludicrous, disruptive and costly measures that the TSA has taken at non-air carrier airports across the land - I haven't the words. But, note, Rule One applies. The good news is, the TSA has mandated measures that have served to make local GA airports inaccessible to the general public, and more costly for airport sponsors and users.
Oh, wait - that isn't good news, is it?
Larry in TN
En-Route
There are 22 US air carrier airports that use private screening instead of the TSA. SFO and MCI are the two largest. The complete list is here.
https://www.tsa.gov/for-industry/screening-partnerships
https://www.tsa.gov/for-industry/screening-partnerships
MauleSkinner
Touchdown! Greaser!
And you can carry a pocket knife and don’t have to remove your shoes, and all those other pre-9/11 liberties exist there? I’m guessing not, just like kids can’t carry pocket knives to school like I did, or keep rifles in their cars in the school parking lot like I did.
(In response to @Dana ’s claim, not your post.)
75% of the costs associated with them have to be paid by us the taxpayer and not just the consumer of the services (your ticket fees cover about 25%) - https://www.tsa.gov/for-industry/security-fees. That cost doesn't include the birth to death costs of the employees such as pension and medical and such and it will continue to grow.
At the same time, every single audit over their 21 year history has shown them to be incompetent, unaccountable and not improving. Moving toward a bunch of private contractors that can be given standards and held to them or face financial consequences is the right answer.
There are roles that are uniquely government and between my military and and post military career I've worked with government and there are also things they just suck at and should be outsourced. The operational side of TSA is one of those. TSA should be a coordination agency is all.
I was only replying about liberties lost since 9/11, not private vs. TSA screening.