Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 512 posts

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

#221

Post by gsnedders »

tehwebguy wrote: post #209
stevesearer wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similar story - a member of my group went through security at LAX with no problems, but was stopped at Heathrow because of something suspicious in her handbag. We emptied everything out of the bag, re-scanned it, and the object was still detected. After feeling around in the bag we discovered some fabric cutting shears had apparently been accidentally been sewn into the lining by someone on the factory line (they loo…

TSA factors in if an item appeared to be intentionally concealed as well, I'm glad you didn't get a notice with a significant fine

The TSA has nothing to do with Heathrow where it was found, though. (I don't think in the UK anyone can be fined: if there's any belief of malice, you're likely to be dealt with under normal criminal law such as conspiracy to murder, or potentially terrorism related offences; if there's not, you can either surrender your property or return landside).

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

#222

Post by WildUtah »

CaptainZapp wrote: post #24

This, in combination with American airports being completely ignorant to the transit concept must cost American airline companies dozens, if not hundreds of millions a year in lost revenues. Case in point: if I want to to fly from Zurich to Lima I have essentially two choices: I can connect either in Amsterdam, or in Madrid. Madrids legal connection time is 55 minutes max (on Iberia). In AMS on KLM it's a maximum of…

AeroMexico has a monopoly on flights from Latin America to Asia. (Technically, you can fly from Brazil to Abu Dhabi or something, but only AM goes to east Asia.)

The AM flights run from Mexico City to Narita (a third-tier city in Japan) and Shanghai, usually on 787s. They may add Peking.

Similar services are available connecting through LAX, SFO, or DFW and those are often faster if you're going to other Asian cities or connecting into MEX on the way.

But somehow those AM flights usually carry ticket prices 30-50% higher than the equivalent service through US airports. That's often a $500+ premium. And the flights still fill up. AM catering may be a bit better in economy than on US carriers but the service is mostly identical.

Turns out, that's what it's worth to avoid US airport procedures. The value in the market for avoiding TSA, the lack of sterile transit, US customs and immigration, intrusive slow humiliating US embassy visa operations, and the random nightmares passengers are treated to once in a while is about $500.

A bargain, really.

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

#223

Post by jayhuang »

To this day, I still have "SSSS" (Secondary Security Screening Selection) printed on my boarding pass and have to go through advanced screening every time I go to the U.S (relatively frequently) as a Canadian.

Swab my clothing, dump my backpack, open my laptop up and mess around with it, rub up and down my arms and legs, rough up my privates, the whole shebang.

I can imagine I'm probably on some list somewhere so I have to go through this "random" and time consuming screening every time.

I was once asked why I had a laptop with me, and why such a device was justifiable and necessary for a young male who works in this industry.

Seriously though, it's common knowledge that "SSSS" on your boarding pass means you're going through advanced security screening. What's the point of this if a malicious person can simply see the label and decide not to go through with the flight afterall?

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

#224

Post by oh_sigh »

danieltillett wrote: post #21

How many hours does the security theatre have to take before the number of human lives lost waiting in line equals a plane blown up a month?

Is wasting 1 minute for 42,000,000 people equivalent to just killing a newborn baby?

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

#225

Post by AndrewUnmuted »

nobody_nowhere wrote: post #212
fblp wrote: post #197

I find it absurd that a central agency manages the hiring of tsa agents. In Canada and Australia the airports hire private security to do the checks. They are more competent and friendly than tsa agents. It's also not obvious how a government run tsa could be trusted any more than regulated private security contractors (overseen and kept accountable by a smaller government agency).

Ironic that the "smaller government" party implemented this system after 9/11 then, no?

No, you actually have it very wrong. George W. Bush was not a 'smaller government' president. It was the grassroots conservative reaction to the GWB administration's "progressive" Republican administration that leads you to even think of the modern GOP as the 'smaller government' party in the first place.

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

#226

Post by TheRealDunkirk »

enraged_camel wrote: post #187
superuser2 wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please fund them fully or eliminate them entirely. The inbetween states just suck for everybody.

What will funding them "fully" accomplish? Do you believe that their inability to catch terrorists is a matter of lack of funding?

This is like the time I asked someone on Reddit what they meant by funding education "fully." They said, "double." So... we'd be a world leader in primary and secondary education again if we just spent twice what we currently do? Well, I guess it was an answer.

There are 2 kinds of people: those who think that more money will somehow fix everything (them), and those that think more money will only exacerbate the problems that have brought us to the current point of the debate (me). As a matter of fact, as I write this, I think that may be the single most significant distinction between "conservativism" and "liberalism," as practiced in the US.

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

#227

Post by shawkinaw »

tacon wrote: post #211

This is the part that really ticks me off: >Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina recently said it had experienced three-hour wait times. [...] (T.S.A. officials denied that the wait had ever been that long, telling local reporters that it had been 75 minutes for a short time.) Will someone, anyone, please write the simple app that you punch in as you start the line, you punch out as you leave scr…

That's pretty much what this app does: http://gomiflight.com

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

#228

Post by jayhuang »

brandon272 wrote: post #166

Why are Canadians (who are often flying to U.S. cities) not required to take their shoes off in the security line whereas U.S. travellers are required to do so?

Canadian here, I most certainly am required to take off my shoes every time I go to the states. Though I don't use NEXUS and always have to go through secondary screening.

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

#229

Post by jghn »

tehwebguy wrote: post #49
raldi wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of toy was it?

It was from League of Leagends (Sivir). It's not sharp or aerodynamic, just a "spinner" toy. One of the vendors from the League convention I put on gave it to me as a token of thanks just before the event ended. I dropped it in my bag and forgot it until flying a few weeks later. Bonus: My business partner was given the same one and the same thing happened at BUR. TSA asked if she wanted to mail it home, she said "to…

As a child in the early 80s I had my bag searched due to some GI Joe toys, in this case knockoffs of missiles for some SAM launcher or somesuch. It's not just a modern TSA thing.

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

#230

Post by peterwwillis »

xyience wrote: post #173
venomsnake wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A stab in the jugular will get the job done. But of course you can break the plastic knife and fork they give you and still stab someone in the jugular. You could even sharpen the headphones connector.

Or repurpose any of the other things you can buy after the security line: http://www.terminalcornucopia.com/

I'm sure i'm on some watch list for visiting that site now, but it's still fantastic that somebody put all together. It's like an anarchist cookbook that isn't designed to maim bored teens!
Post reply on HN