Recent travelers, what has your airport security experience been like?

[Alegria-Paz]

I just want to highlight this brilliant point / question:

 

"If you think the government is protecting you, ask yourself this: If the official at the end of the video thought I had an incendiary device, why would he want me to go *back* into a small area crowded with hundreds of people instead of leaving the airport as quickly as possible?"

 

The charade at the airport is punitive and bullying... it's not effective for keeping anyone safe.

[zula]

I had a first hand experience that sometimes weapons are not detected. A few years ago we flew from Paris to Saigon (Vietnam) with a group of people to do a land tour. It was the time that you could not take any liquids on the plane (it was a brand new rule at the time). So in CDG (Paris) they made a big show of taking all the liquids out of the carry ons (they had a big glass container so you could see all the perfume bottles etc. they had taken away from fellow passengers). There were long lines but we got to Vietnam. We had an older couple with us. After a few days in Saigon, we travelled to Danang in group by air. In Saigon the security people discovered a big hunting knife in the carry on of the lady (not a little knife for peeling an apple but a big knife) Apparently the husband had put the knife in the bag of his wife back home (before the CDG paris). The vietnamese security people gave the (big) knife to be stored in the plane and they got it back in Danang. But what struck me was that while the security people were taking away little perfume bottles from people in Paris, they did not find this big knife in the bag. In Vietnam we were not asked to give our bottles of water, but they did find the knife (with more conventional apparatus). My fear is that now the security people will be so busy with their new machines, that they will not check the bags properly (as in Paris they did find perfume bottles but not the knife).

New methods don't always make me feel safer.

[bepsf]

Airports are very proactive in regards to keeping birds away from runways.

 

Have you already forgotten US Airways Flight 1549?

Seems it was a flock of birds that downed that plane - not terrorists...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Airways_Flight_1549

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travel/2008694301_birdsafety01.html

 

As to all the hyperbole by everyone (not just you) about screening grandmas and children -- drug runners have realized for years the benefits of using people who "don't fit the profile" to smuggle substances onto planes. Certainly terrorists can't be far behind....

 

Basically, my feeling is that if you are able to fly, you should be able to withstand a random security screening. Children need to be told in advance what to expect -- just like you would explain to a small child about getting a shot at the doctors office; another unpleasant experience, but a necessary one.

 

The big difference is that drug smuggling isn't going to kill Granny and the kids - However bombs tend to go off in the most unexpected times and places.

So please enlighten us: How do you explain to your prepubescent children that it's not OK for them to be felt up by a friendly neighbor, good old Uncle Max, the babysitter or their Teacher at school - but it's perfectly OK when it's a stranger at the airport?

[KirkNC]

Quote:

After he described, the pat down, I realized that he intended to touch my groin. After he finished his description but before he started the pat down, I looked him straight in the eye and said, "if you touch my junk, I'll have you arrested."

 

So, I'm guessing his junk wasn't touched?

 

I will try to enter this mine field without getting caught up in it.

 

The person quoted above was featured on 60 Minutes on Sunday. He has released his cell phone audio and video recordings for all to see. At the end of the piece they mentioned that he might be charged with a crime as the way the law is written, once you enter the "security process", you do not have the option to leave. Its intent is to not allow a terrorist to test the system.

 

Kirk

[Alegria-Paz]

Actually, the TSA director of the San Diego airport actually escorted him out of the security area (so, apparently, TSA is not aware of this "law," ie there is none). You can read the full account on his blog here:

http://johnnyedge.blogspot.com/2010/11/these-events-took-place-roughly-between.html

 

Brian, I've been meaning to thank you for the thoughts on the matter and for your service.

[Lard Greystoke]

Again, most travelers have a choice: either the scanner or a pat down.

 

This is a false choice. It's an old sales trick: "which will you have with that, the regular fries or the jumbo fries?" A choice which does not involve "no" is not a choice.

 

It seems like there is a lot of nay-saying, but no one is proposing a better alternative....

 

Here's one you missed: the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Read it and weep.

[bepsf]

I've been meaning to thank you for the thoughts on the matter and for your service.

 

Thanks to you and the others who took note for your support.

 

I am a 100% totally and permanently disabled veteran from my contributions during the Vietnam War. I get along quite well with the use of a cane and the Veterans' Administration has provided me with the absolute best of care...

 

RG - You're my new hero.

 

 

Your comment reminded me of my return flight from JFK in Sept: (Slightly off topic, so please forgive me..)

 

While waiting at the gate of a delayed flight to SFO for First Class boarding I noticed a scruffy, beefy, tattooed fellow w/ no legs below the knees in a wheelchair nearby - it was obvious from his appearance that he was a Vietnam Vet and would need help boarding and making his way back to his ticketed seat back in row 17, but he was quietly waiting among the throng of folks gathering at the gate entrance...

 

Meanwhile, a younger able-bodied couple tried rushing the gate and pushing past me to get to the entrance - I put my arm up to block them and firmly informed them that our friend in the chair had priority over us all. ("Oh - Uh Yes, Of course") Meanwhile, a heavy person whom I had earlier noticed had been walking back and forth to the desk from her seat in the waiting area ended up getting rolled onto the plane first in a chair, so I marched over to the desk personnel, pointed out our scruffy friend and asked "What about him? Who's going to help him?" That's all it took to get a couple of airline folks to rush over and escort him down the jetway onto the plane before us.

 

I guess my point is, if you and I don't speak up and say, "Hey, this isn't right: No more feeling up the Children, no more harassing Granny and enough of these X-ray photographs for this charade of public safety", then we all deserve public fondling by strangers and virtual strip-searches.

[Kittycat2009]

We just got back from NYC. Security seemed to be about the same as when we travelled in September for our cruise. Dh did get picked to go thru the scanner on the trip home. Wasn't really a big deal, he just walked thru a different door than I did. Lines seemed to be about the same, though we were travelling Elite so we went through the shorter of the two lines.

[caribill]

The letters are being written, no worries. Started them in my head this weekend as I fumed. I don't know if complaining to anyone will do any good in the end but I figure the more folks know, the more likely something will change. Or at least I hope that.

 

The most good may come from sending them to your congressman and senator in Washington DC.

[caribill]

You can have a long needle in your scarf that bents and made out of plastic. It won't beep and can be used a weapon. Let's not make big deal out of them checking your scarf.

 

Lots of things than can be used as weapons are allowed through security:

 

There can be disks that lood like CDs or DVDs but which have a razor sharp edge on part of it. Security never examines CDs and DVDs to make sure they are the real thing.

 

The pills in a container can be cyanide. Just add water on the plane and you have the equivalent of the California death chamber. TSA never makes sure what each pill actually is.

 

The contents of an inhaler could really be deadly sarin gas. TSA never makes sure it is not.

 

Condoms are allowed through security even though some prisons ban them because they can be used to choke someone.

 

The glasses you wear can really be breakable glass. Get on board, break them into a very sharp weapon.

 

etc.

 

etc.

[caribill]

OMG big deal. TSA is government agency , so they all get back ground checked.

 

And no TSA employee is every arrested for stealing passengers' belongings.

[DizzyDallasDi]

Don't go to Vegas, you'll lose.

 

That advice should have been given to me long long long ago. :D

[world~citizen]

And no TSA employee is every arrested for stealing passengers' belongings.

 

Are you sure about that?

 

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/19/1618259

[caribill]

In the future, instead of playing "house" or playing "doctor", boys and girls will play "TSA inspector."

[caribill]

Are you sure about that?

 

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/19/1618259

 

My comment was meant as sarcasm.

[world~citizen]

My comment was meant as sarcasm.

 

OK. Sorry. :o

 

I just read your previous post to see the context.

 

Smooth sailing...

[Cybergoth]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/kswb-man-faces-fine-for-refusing-tsa-scan,0,1421539.story

 

[caribill]

On the other hand, no one has flown any planes into buildings since security was stepped up.

 

a) That is because it is almost impossible to get into a cockpit anymore, not because passengers cannot carry a bottle of water or a cup of coffee past security.

 

b) What you say applies to commercial flights. A private plane was flown into an IRS office in Texas this summer by an irate taxpayer.

[kalliekae]

I haven't read all the replies to this thread so I am just responding to the op. My dh flies every week due to work obligations so he has gone through the body scanners quite often and has no problem with it. One new thing is that he now has to remove his belt which was never done before. When we flew out of Chicago to FLL last week, it was my first time going through the scanner at O'Hare. It really didn't matter to me. I certainly prefer the scanner to a "pat down" as I don't want a stranger touching me. I know some people think the scanner is invasive, but you don't see who is looking at you, it is quick, and I doubt the person who is actually doing the scan has time to sit there and think about your parts.

 

This is just a sign of the times and the way it's going to be if you fly. In FLL,it appeared that the TSA agents were randomly choosing people to go through the body scanner since they only had one at our security checkpoint. Dh and I were not chosen, but it would not have mattered to us if we were. Look at it this way, those terrorists created TSA jobs in the US. :)

[sail7seas]

I worry about how do we watch our pocketbook and carryon to be sure they aren't stolen while we go to the scanner? How can they expect us to just leave our pocketbooks unattended?

 

[Alegria-Paz]

Kalliekae: Look at it this way, those terrorists created TSA jobs in the US.

 

Factually speaking, the terrorists did not create those jobs, the US government did.... as an overreaction to it's failure to do it's job correctly in the first place.

[Old As Dirt Mom]

............. Look at it this way, those terrorists created TSA jobs in the US. :)

 

Terrorists kill people. And they don't use a smiley face when they do it.

[jhannah]

After much thought, I'm thinking I'll go for the x-ray, even though some are cautioning that it creates too much radiation exposure. Let them gawk at my nether-regions if they must; but I don't want anyone touching my "junk" as the man in San Diego put it. Beyond what I have already booked and paid for, though, I'm thinking my flying days are over unless this methodology is rescinded. Like Brian, these techniques don't make me feel safe at all; just intimidated and embarrassed.

[Old As Dirt Mom]

My flying days are over too, Jim. I was a flight attendant for seven years. I've travelled the world via train, plane, car, and ship my entire life. But enough is enough. I don't accept that my own government treats me like a criminal and violates me as a person simply because I choose to travel. It doesn't have to be this way, and I won't accept it as a "sign of the times".

[CowPrincess]

I worry about how do we watch our pocketbook and carryon to be sure they aren't stolen while we go to the scanner? How can they expect us to just leave our pocketbooks unattended?

 

 

Can't answer that, having chosen the "pat down" on my last flight. I was expected to leave my handbag and carryon about 30 feet away from me, and when I tried to watch them, the person patting me down started screaming "LOOK AT ME, LOOK IN MY EYES".... so I suspect being scanned, one can expect similar. Your personal belongings are out of reach, and if you are travelling on your own, they will be unattended.