Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security • Hacker News Board

Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security

#61

Post by strictnein » Mon, May 02, 2016, 1:58 PM UTC

ChrisBland wrote: post #48

MichaelBurge wrote: post #39

I think Trump would abolish the TSA. Cruz has said he would, too. I'd like to see either one get in, though I wonder if the President should be able to just decide on his own to shut down an agency that Congress has approved. Why has Congress not shut it down? I don't think anybody really likes the TSA, so I can't imagine there'd be too much opposition to a bill abolishing them. It affects so many people you could pr…

This makes me sound jaded, but its a jobs program at its core. Every person in congress with a major airport in their district will try to prevent it from being privatized / disbanded. There are two types of people that go work for the TSA: 1) Those who can't get a job anywhere else, and 2) People trying to break in to the federal security market by going to TSA and transferring in. Yes, in gvt it is easier to get a…

It's not just a jobs program, it's a federal public union jobs program. Which means lots of money spent on politicians.

Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security

#62

Post by luma » Mon, May 02, 2016, 1:58 PM UTC

hashkb wrote: post #30

sneak wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Body searches to travel without suspicion of wrongdoing are absurd, period.

Just go get pre check?

Pay billions in your tax dollars to create a huge interference to free movement around the country, then pay hundreds more individually to get around some facets of the interference you already paid for. Also, let's throw in submission of your fingerprints and a background check into a database secured by hugely-ineffectual government organization.

I can't imagine why everyone isn't leaping at the opportunity...

Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security

#63

Post by xirdstl » Mon, May 02, 2016, 1:58 PM UTC

spyspy wrote: post #41

vincefutr23 wrote: post #4

Blaming volume? How about 1) the switch from metal detectors to less numerous and slower body scanners? 2) the allocation of employee resources to the "pre check" line leaving less staff for 90% of travelers. 3) still having to take belts and shoes off even with a full body scan? This program has gotten seriously out of hand and is incredibly frustrating. I don't care if it's 3 hours or "75 minutes" anything over 15…

You don't actually have to take your belt off for the full body scan. I left it on once by accident and wasn't questioned, nor was I the next dozen or so times I've flown.

I think it's highly dependent on which airport you're at and the current mood of the people working there.

Last year I was flying home, and there was a sign in the security line saying they we don't need to remove our shoes or belt, I cannot remember which. When I got up to the front of line, I was told, yes, I need to remove both.

Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security

#64

Post by calgoo » Mon, May 02, 2016, 1:59 PM UTC

dzhiurgis wrote: post #27

I love how this process was reengineered in London Gatwick airport. Each scanner has 6 pods where you can pack and unpack your stuff; you've got a dedicated person assigning you to the pod. The process felt much more parallel rather than serial. Edit: managed to find more info on it http://airlines.iata.org/analysis/smart-security-getting-sma...

Yea i was stopped, and had my computer etc wiped down. Line was long, but moved along quickly, and stopping and searching my stuff did not stop any other passengers from moving. Done in about 15 min from start to end.

Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security

#65

Post by buzzdenver » Mon, May 02, 2016, 1:59 PM UTC

freehunter wrote: post #8

jsnell wrote: post #3

How is coming to the airport earlier supposed to solve what's obviously a throughput problem? Sure, for an individual it reduces the chances they'll miss their flight. But if everyone does it, there's obviously no change. The only way showing up earlier would help with throughput is if there are periods of time where the security is under-utilized with absolutely no queues. Which, from my experience with US airports,…

This is one of the reasons I love the Midwest and living in smaller cities. My airport is international and flies just about anywhere you want to go, but 90% of the time I walk up to an empty line and I'm told "we don't have a precheck lane open, just walk on through". As a consultant, I fly the busiest times (monday and thursday), but the only trouble I've ever had was in Denver where I waited almost an hour and a h…

Most people do not realize, but Denver is a very busy airport. It has dropped from it's #10 worldwide ranking in 2010 to #19, but it's still #6 in the US and was just last year overtaken by JFK.

Short lines are nice, but it's also not bad the have direct flights to Europe and many US cities, and pretty low ticket prices.

Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security

#66

Post by chrisbennet » Mon, May 02, 2016, 2:00 PM UTC

creshal wrote: post #5

rayiner wrote: post #2

> At the same time, he said, the number of T.S.A. screeners has declined by about 5,800 because of tighter budgets. The agency currently has 42,350 agents assigned for security checks. Such a monumentally wasteful jobs program.

$7 billion a year just for the TSA budget. That's not counting all the indirect economic losses from the security theatre.

Or deaths due to people driving instead of flying.

"Increased delays and added costs at U.S. airports due to new security procedures provide incentive for many short-haul passengers to drive to their destination rather than flying, and, since driving is far riskier than air travel, the extra automobile traffic generated has been estimated in one study to result in 500 or more extra road fatalities per year." https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2013/09/excess_automo...

Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security

#67

Post by nfriedly » Mon, May 02, 2016, 2:01 PM UTC

tehwebguy wrote: post #25

Here's an awesome TSA story for you: Late last year while trying to fly out of LAX a TSA employee thought I was carrying a throwing star. They called the police, who correctly identified as a toy in seconds. I thought the whole ordeal was over until I got a "notice of violation" in the mail from TSA 45 days later. Now I'm banned from pre-check for three years, even though I have global entry and even though the fine…

They're just as bad at identifying actual "weapons": I flew to South America with a layover in Miami a few years back. Got past TSA without any trouble on the domestic leg, then I had to go through again for the international leg.

The second time through security, they said they saw a blade on the x-ray.. turns out they were right. I forgot I had left a multi-tool in my bag.

Thankfully, they just trashed it and let me continue on my way. The story still flabbergasts me, though.

Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security

#68

Post by strictnein » Mon, May 02, 2016, 2:02 PM UTC

dccoolgai wrote: post #13

Seems like a perverse incentive to let them slow down the lines so you have to buy a "membership" in their precheck program. "Nice flight you have there...be a shame if you missed it."

They did exactly that at MSP (Minneapolis/St. Paul), almost literally.

They recently consolidated the checkpoints from 4 down to 2. No one knows why, but they did. Security immediately went from 30 minutes to 2 hours. They blamed everything from funding (which they received $91 million more than they asked for in 2016) to people's bags (which somehow changed overnight). When the local government and our fed reps complained, one of the people they sent to respond was a promoter/marketer specifically for pre-check.

Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security

#69

Post by sneak » Mon, May 02, 2016, 2:02 PM UTC

luma wrote: post #62

hashkb wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just go get pre check?

Pay billions in your tax dollars to create a huge interference to free movement around the country, then pay hundreds more individually to get around some facets of the interference you already paid for. Also, let's throw in submission of your fingerprints and a background check into a database secured by hugely-ineffectual government organization. I can't imagine why everyone isn't leaping at the opportunity...

You can drop "around the country". Your nation or any other nation's national borders do not make free and unimpeded travel any less of a basic right for all people, in all places.

Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security

#70

Post by buzzdenver » Mon, May 02, 2016, 2:03 PM UTC

sneak wrote: post #45

hashkb wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just go get pre check?

TSA Pre is the equivalent of "fuck you, got mine". It makes it personally more convenient for you , while simultaneously ignoring or condoning the waste of millions of person-hours without consent, which basically equates to mass murder if you squnt hard enough at the math.

You also have to squint really hard to think that standing in the security line for half an hour or missing your flight is an effective protest against waste.