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

nytimes.com

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

#241

Post by spinlock »

stephengillie wrote: post #236
lettergram wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't get a warning, but I did have my bag opened, all my belongings thrown out on the ground, and was delayed for 30-45 minutes... All this because I had a box of poptarts that apparently looked like a bomb.

It may be an unpopular opinion to express, but these "horror stories of TSA incompetence" are somewhat entertaining to those who cannot afford to fly. It's like that "Cops" TV show, on location in the airports of America, with the men and women of law enforcement - the TSA in this case. Your having LEOs violate your rights and go thru your belongings - for someone thinking your box is a bomb - is no different than a…

This is why I can't support high speed rail enough. You get from downtown nyc to Washington dc without having your human rights violated. And its faster too.

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

#242

Post by WildUtah »

danieltillett wrote: post #40
grandalf wrote: post #26

Some suggestions for how to improve the situation: 1) Set up a large booth where people can sign up for the TSA pre-check program inside the airport, while they are waiting for their delayed flight, etc. 2) Institute fees for carry-on baggage and reduce fees for checked baggage to reduce the number of bags being screened. 3) Have a separate line for passengers with no carry-on bag that moves 5x faster. 4) Publish sta…

The best solution is to have everyone go through it. No fast lane, no special categories, just eveyone lined up including those in private jets. If the powerful had to stand in line with the plebes then the TSA would be history before the end of the month.

No fast lane, no special categories, just eveyone lined up including those in private jets. If the powerful had to stand in line with the plebes then the TSA would be history before the end of the month.

Nope.

My congressmen and senators go through the line twice a week, and yours probably do, too. Billionaires can influence them more than you or I but personal experience beats any outside persuasion.

TSA owns them. If anything ever goes wrong, TSA gets to blame them. If they've played along on every vote, TSA instead defends them from responsibility. That's everything to a congressman.

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

#243

Post by Symbiote »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #192
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…

Oh come on. I fly through Europe twice to three times a year. The transfer from Charles de Gaulle is a nightmare worse than any major US airport. They literally make you leave the security area and go through security for simple transfers if you're coming from the states. That's shit design right there. A lot of international connections are terrible and knowing which airports/airlines do a good job is important. Its…

A difference is that the USA requires people transferring through one of its airports to get a visa, or a visa waiver (for Europeans etc). And to queue up and go through customs.

This is very unusual. Paris might make security a hassle, but they won't look at their passport.

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

#244

Post by dawnerd »

lettergram wrote: post #206
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…

I didn't get a warning, but I did have my bag opened, all my belongings thrown out on the ground, and was delayed for 30-45 minutes... All this because I had a box of poptarts that apparently looked like a bomb.

Thats funny. I had an unopened box of amazon aa batteries which really looked like a bomb on the x-ray (got to see it when they were inspecting). We both laughed about it when the lady saw what it was. I could tell he was really nervous though.

Took me all of 5 minutes to resolve. Guess some tsa agents are just not very good at their job.

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

#245

Post by spinlock »

lostInTheWoods3 wrote: post #129
peterwwillis wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI you are allowed to carry on screwdrivers, wrenches and pliers less than 7 inches long. More bulky than a multi-tool, but at least you can carry something? https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/prohibited-ite...

I had a wine opener confiscated because of the 1 inch knife ... can't imagine how someone might use a wine opener to hijack a plane

The 9-11 hijackers used razor blades. So, its been done. Of course, no American passenger is going to believe that everything will be fine if they comply these days so I don't think its possible to pull off 9-11 again.

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

#246

Post by nitrogen »

spinlock wrote: post #241
stephengillie wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may be an unpopular opinion to express, but these "horror stories of TSA incompetence" are somewhat entertaining to those who cannot afford to fly. It's like that "Cops" TV show, on location in the airports of America, with the men and women of law enforcement - the TSA in this case. Your having LEOs violate your rights and go thru your belongings - for someone thinking your box is a bomb - is no different than a…

This is why I can't support high speed rail enough. You get from downtown nyc to Washington dc without having your human rights violated. And its faster too.

IIRC the TSA occasionally sets up airport style security checkpoints at train exits. A search of HN should show some examples.

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

#247

Post by joering2 »

dntrkv wrote: post #217
sneak wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

You are free to travel without body searches, just not on an airplane.

Correct.

You are also free to travel without body searches, just not on a subway, at least in NYC where they often setup mandatory checkpoints before you enter the platform.

Also more and more COBRA teams are swooping through Amtrack and yes they do search your property.

You are also free to travel without body searches, by a car; unless you are in a border zone of 150 miles, which currently covers the entire state of Forida, for example.

Once you get through all means of transportation, you can always walk without body searches. The problem is you won't get further than your local cigarette store, as the most highways are closed to pedestrians traffic and there is practically no other way to travel through cities/states, unless you okay with transpassing someones property along the line.

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

#248

Post by tlrobinson »

spinlock wrote: post #241
stephengillie wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may be an unpopular opinion to express, but these "horror stories of TSA incompetence" are somewhat entertaining to those who cannot afford to fly. It's like that "Cops" TV show, on location in the airports of America, with the men and women of law enforcement - the TSA in this case. Your having LEOs violate your rights and go thru your belongings - for someone thinking your box is a bomb - is no different than a…

This is why I can't support high speed rail enough. You get from downtown nyc to Washington dc without having your human rights violated. And its faster too.

What makes you think they wouldn't institute similar TSA-style [1] security on a shiny new high-profile high speed rail?

1. Or literally the TSA: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/06/us/tsa-expands-duties-beyo...

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

#249

Post by wiredfool »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #192
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…

Oh come on. I fly through Europe twice to three times a year. The transfer from Charles de Gaulle is a nightmare worse than any major US airport. They literally make you leave the security area and go through security for simple transfers if you're coming from the states. That's shit design right there. A lot of international connections are terrible and knowing which airports/airlines do a good job is important. Its…

Heathrow too. I've made international transfers through terminal 5 and had to go through both immigration and security. And Heathrow is absolutely crazy about liquids. No cough syrup for you, because it's impossible to find bottles of it smaller than 100ml.

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

#250

Post by hughes »

shawkinaw wrote: post #227
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

At the risk of meta-discussion: wow that is the worst scrolling hijack I've ever seen.

All the info could easily be in one conventionally-scrolling page, but scrolling is completely disabled, forcing mouse clicks to scroll down, up(!?), and left (!?!?) from the landing page.

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