Letters to the Editor
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Liquid Ban, it really doesn't work. & TSA reassignment.
I traveled to Columbia just as the liquids ban was fresh. I had gotten a horrible flu a couple of weeks before and still had one hell of a cough for which I had a large bottle of perscription cough-syrup. Not being up to flying, let alone extra searches, I dilligently had both prescription and bottle with my name/doctor's name on it in a seperate baggie. Upon reaching the x-ray/metal detector I informed the TSA agent I had perscription medication with me. Her response, "That's fine, just put the bag through." And that was that, she neither looked at the bottle or the prescription, both of which were described as necessary according to the TSA's website.
Same story on the way back from Columbia when I switched over in Miami... Luckily the drug-dog actually did do the rounds, because his TSA human companions sure weren't out to capture any drug smugglers, let alone liquid bomb making terrorists.
As for what we could do with all the TSA employees if we ceased with the ridiculous search rules, we could simply give them the equivalent of mall security guard training and put them out in the Terminals. More eyes-out for suspicious behavior and known criminals sure beats the (from what I understand to be) iffy facial recognitian cameras and puts more pressure on people who wish to commit crimes in airports. (Pick-pocketing, luggage stealing etc. could also be mittigated.)
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I've said it Before
But I'll say it again.
As a flight attendant myself, I agree that current US security checks are more about making passengers feelig safe than about catching all possibly dangerous materials. I would personally feel better if all security switched to focusing on explosive materials, period.
I do not, however, agree with making crew exempt from screening. Rather, all other employees with plane access should have the same screenings as crew. I too hate security, but there are many examples of crew uniforms and IDs being stolen. Need I remind (or inform) people that Mohammad Atta had a pilot's ID? Even if it wasn't him on the photo (that fact I do not know) - it was enough that he passed for a pilot and got to jumpseat in the cockpit. (I personally know a pilot that had him in his cockpit, posing in this way. Even if if you insist that said pilot is given to fancy, it's a plausible enough story.)
Exempting flight crew from screenings would only provide a big, new, well-defined hole for the bad guys to exploit.
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Navigators
Well, OK, but for what it's worth commercial aircraft no longer carry navigators. There have not been navigators on any U.S. registered commercial aircraft for many years.
Really? No more Howard Borden? This saddens me, but I suppose he'd be retired by now anyway.
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Winning the Hearts and Minds
Sadly, I agree with Patrick that quick change is entirely unlikely, no matter who is elected. Given McCain and Clinton's love of citing terrorism as justification for practically anything, they're not going to be helpful. Obama, on the other hand shows glimpses of thinking like a living, breathing human being, rather than a political caluculating machine. Imagine the buzz he would get if his first official act was an executive order eliminating the silly shoe removal and liquid ban. Sure a few talking heads would bash him as being soft on terrorism, but he's going to get that no matter what. The ridiculousness of airport security is very much in the zeitgeist, and right-wingers would attack a sane, fait-accompli policy at their peril.
Oh well, a boy can dream.
Patrick Smith for Secretary of Transportation. You heard it here first.
Pete
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gel and liquids
I, for one, am not entirely outraged by the restrictions on gels and liquids.
Yes, you are entirely correct in your stated objections. My acquiescence has everything to do with passenger imposition on others by insisting on bringing everything they own, and placing it all in the overhead storage!
The gels and liquids restriction forces many people to check their bags where they would have once carried on. I have recently flown completely full flights where there was sufficient overhead space! I don't believe that was ever the case before the restrictions.
Of course, my observations are only that, and subjective. If airlines don't delete the checked bag records from their computers, one can very quickly and easily do a little bit of computer data mining to determine whether increases in bag checking have actually occurred. I would be surprised if airlines don't already track information like that, how else would you manage baggage capacity and handling?
Of course, the calculus will change quickly with carriers like United charging $25 per bag on some fares now.
...Dan
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Purpose of TSA
Several posters have mentioned that the TSA security measures' only purpose is to make travellers feel safer.
Oh dear, I believe you are so wrong.
The purpose of the TSA security measures is to make the American people feel LESS secure. By making us feel that the threat of terrorism is so serious that we must take off our shoes and have our tiny shampoo bottles in quart ziplock bags, the people really running the country trick us into trading our rights for protection from The Muslim Menace.
A terrified populace can be very easy to turn into sheep.
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MY STANDARD TSA PRANK
I'm a frequent traveler and very few of my trips are more than one night, so I use carry-on luggage almost exclusively. My bag gets searched about once every ten flights. My way of having fun with TSA is that when I pack up my duffle, I put my bra on the very top, so it's the first thing they see when they open the bag. When they see that expensive, Frederick's branded 40D staring up at them, the look on their faces is priceless! I tell you, there are few things more amusing during my airport visits than watching TSA, both men and women, go to great trouble to dig around that bra when they are searching my bag. They reach below it, around it, anything they can do to not even touch it, much less remove it.
It's mean, I know. But that's my way of getting back at TSA for hassling me and demanding additional forms of ID for traveling under a shortened name instead of a name identical to my driver's license.