The TSA screening is stupid, everyone knows that, but it is also really stupid to think that you can ignore them. Carrying a metal knife of any sort is just asking for a hassle. I guess that by wearing a pilot's uniform, you usually get a pass on that sort of thing but any other frequent air traveler would have known better.

And dont get me started about how unbelievably overempowered flight attendants are. I dont think I have been on a flight over 3 hours in the last few years where some passenger who had the audacity to voice a complaint about being stuffed into a sardine can for 3 hours was told that if he/she kept it up they would land the plan right away and throw them in jail. I once personally was on a plane that had been delayed at a gate for over two hours. When I asked a flight attendant what was going on, she said we were waiting for some connecting passengers. I politely and in a normal tone of voice said "It would be nice if the people who actually were here were also considered. That resulted on me being removed from the plane and lectured to by an airport cop about 9/11 for 5 minutes. Things have gotten utterly ridiculous.

The problem here is that the staff are basically DMV rejects - little Hitlers with a ninth-grade education, too much power, no common sense and a grudge against mankind. I detest the whole thing and haven't flown for close to two years because of it(except when unavoidable.) If I feel this way as a passenger, I can't begin to imagine how it feels to be treated this way as a pilot. This is the kind of thing that makes one realize how the Nazis were able to take over - it happens when sad, stupid, unhappy, misanthropic people are handed power, and it's one of the least attractive traits of human nature.

Thank God not everyone behaves that way..

I travel a lot for work and the only way I can stand airport security is to make it a game - to see how much I can get thru. It's that or vibrate with rage thru the process, which will get me arrested.

When lighters weren't allowed, I discovered *no one* looks at a 45 year old woman's butt. I placed my smokes and lighter in the back pocket of my snug jeans and strolled thru security. Never got caught. Never.

Refusing to believe in the Magical Powers of the Ziplock Bag, I have several .5 ounce or smaller containers of lotion and eye drops in my purse and computer bag. Rarely are they confiscated, and when one has been, I've been told I can't take all of them, I have to pick one, in some bizarre Sophie's Choice for personal products. Hmmm, do I like the eye drops more or less then the lip gloss?

Watching the chaos of everyone unloading their bags in bus trays to get thru security, there is no way this is secure. Rather, we look like refugees trying to get on the last plane with our pitiful belongings before the Communists arrive and the city falls.

I've had my prescriptions stolen by the baggage people (I applaud the airline for finding another revenue stream to keep seat costs down), TSA has taken my TSA lock with no explanation but a note that they were in my bag at some point (good to know, I guess), I've had my bag come down the chute so destroyed my clothes were hanging out, I've had security want an explanation because the underwires in my bra made the hand-held wand buzz (I wound up with my blouse up around my neck to show the bra and offending underwires. *In the line.* Fortunately, it was my best black lacey bra but no one said later "Nice bra.")

I'm supposed to respect these people? I think not.

I simply do not fly anymore. We used to but we now structure all our vacations around driving and avoid airlines at all costs. The only flights we take are emergency and if work requires it which is not even once a year anymore, thank goodnes.

Flying is nothing but a miserable experience to be survived when you have no choice.

Patrick:

No amount of writing about this topic would tire me out. I frequently think of the scene in Fargo where the guy operating the parking lot gate won't open it despite the fact that Buscemi has been shot in the face. Naturally, Buscemi does what we all wish we could do which is blast a hole in the ridiculous person who feels all powerful because they have some idiotic function that they take waaaay too seriously. The worst part about it all is that - just by writing this in an email - I seriously paused to consider whether I should relay a scene from a movie and place it in the context of shooting a TSA "officer" since this will probably make its way through some NSA spy network to some functionary in "Homeland" Security (I guess Fatherland and Motherland were taken by the Nazis and Soviets respectively) who will ban me from flying for life. All I can say is thank goodness Virgin flies out of the international terminal at SFO - security is much less virulent in international. And yes, I fly Virgin whenever I can for this reason alone.

My 15-year-old son put it this way: “Well, if the terrorists hate us for our freedom, it must be the government’s plan to keep taking away freedoms until the terrorists don’t hate us anymore.”

A poster upthread hit the nail on the head – this is more than mere bureaucratic mindlessness (although there is plenty of that). This is part of a concerted effort to re-train the citizens of this country. (Indeed, the very notion of “citizen” is being replaced with the status of “subject.” )

Why not shock bracelets for everyone attending a football game? Or for every student coming onto campus? Or -- hey I know -- how about everyone entering a voting booth? In fact, let's stop fooling around -- these things don't cost that much, I say everyone gets one at age 10 or so.

Read the article about the shock bracelets with care, and do a quick search. The manufacturer suggests that “most passengers” will not object to the “minor inconvenience” that assures their "safe arrival."

The real horror is, that’s probably true.

I'm convinced it is already too late.