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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

#261

Post by tlrobinson »

nfriedly wrote: post #67
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 m…

My friend accidentally took a multi-tool through airport screening shortly after 9/11 and had to lawyer up to get the resulting shitstorm to go away (and he's white and an American citizen)

On the other hand, I remember when I was a kid in the 90s and accidentally took my pocket knife (3" blade) through screening, and they found it but let me bring it on the plane...

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

#262

Post by nommm-nommm »

nfriedly wrote: post #67
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 m…

I routinely bring contraband through airport security, not weapons, mind you, just silly contraband (unallowed arosols). I am almost never "caught."

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

#263

Post by AndrewUnmuted »

dragonwriter wrote: post #240
AndrewUnmuted wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> 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. The GOP (including the both of W.'s campaigns, and his administration) has been beating the "smaller government" drum for decades (pretty consistently since at least Reagan's first campaign). Its not exact…

So what? Bill Clinton also ran on a platform of smaller government and cutting expenses in order to balance the budget.

The fact is that Bush (and the US population) spent very little time or intellectual effort on matters of monetary policy during that election cycle, compared with where we are today. Bush, in 2000, ran on a platform of relatively progressive positions such as his 'no child left behind' proposal, tax breaks for small businesses, criticizing Clinton's several foreign policy gaffs, getting the US off of its foreign oil reliance, etc. The size and scope of government was not a major talking point for either campaign. Thus, the suggested 'irony' mentioned in the OP to which I was replying is misplaced.

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

#264

Post by [deleted] »

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.

[deleted]

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

#265

Post by mindcrime »

Hondor wrote: post #35

If a terrorist wanted to kill a lot of people confined into too small space to run away, what better target than these densely packed zig-zag queues? Really, what's the point of protecting a plane carrying hundreds of people by putting those same people into harm's way like that? It already happened in China - Muslim terrorists killed dozens of people waiting in a ticket hall a couple of years ago.

Exactly. The goal of a terrorist isn't to "blow up an airplane" per-se, it's to, well, cause terror. The TSA lines do NOTHING to fix the problem, they only move the problem. Any terrorist with half a brain can see that you now just blow your bomb up in the security line. So what do you do, put a security checkpoint in front of the security checkpoint?

It's TSA checkpoints all the way down...

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

#266

Post by CrazyCatDog »

kogepathic wrote: post #205
firebird84 wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds about right. I married a foreigner - costs $1500 and about 6 months to process the paperwork that lets her stay. I got sticker shock when I first learned that. I've never before seen government fees that high.

> costs $1500 and about 6 months to process the paperwork that lets her stay Really not cool. Probably justify it by saying it takes a lot of time to process paperwork (that they created the requirement for in the first place...) Did you know that it also now costs $2350 for someone to renounce their US citizenship? It also takes an undefined amount of time (typically 12+ months) and they publish your name online on…

Revoking citizenship is a costly exercise. It was previously subsidized by all tax-payers, now it isn't.

Not that it matters to the price/cost of doing it, but what do you think are the most common reasons for forfeiting US citizenship? I suspect it's tax-evasion.

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

#268

Post by seizethecheese »

oh_sigh wrote: post #224
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?

It would be more like forcing a baby to spend her whole life going through airport security.

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

#269

Post by toxik »

joering2 wrote: post #247
dntrkv wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 o…

How can the US not have something like this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_to_roam

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

#270

Post by seanp2k2 »

Diederich wrote: post #201
nfriedly wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 m…

I have passed through TSA on four different flights (across two trips) with my multitool in my backpack. This was, of course, completely accidental on my part. These events caused me to put together a pre-TSA personal checklist, since I can't count on getting lucky again, and I really like that multitool. (:

Same. It's basically a crapshoot if they'll find it. I've accidentally brought pocket knives, bottle openers, and multi-tools. The detection rate is about 1 in 8 if I forget to grab it out of my carry on.
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