Why hasn't the TSA reacted to the Brussels Airport bombing and stopped herding passengers together so that they present a big target to terrorists ?
Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security
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Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security
#52Here'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…
What kind of toy was it?
A standard-issue toy throwing star that every adult has on them when trying to get through security checkpoints.
Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security
#53How 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,…
If everyone comes a minute before departure, all lose the flight, whereas if everyone comes 24 hours earlier, none will miss the flight, so there is obviously a change. Plus you get people to sit in a huge store without any means to leave. So the airport doesn't have a throughput problem! They don't have a problem at all, as there is also no clear alternative - normally there is only 1 airport to choose from. So peop…
The airport can't hold that many people.
Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security
#54I will usually drive unless it takes more than 12 hours to get to the destination. If I'm bringing my wife and kids I would probably drive anywhere that's on the same continent, rather than fly. I do not enjoy being treated like cattle at the airport.
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Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security
#55Seems 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."
I signed up for PreCheck and most of the times I've tried to use it they haven't even had it set up. Seems like more and more of a shameless money/personal info grab every day.
Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security
#56That's a lot of hassle for what is little more than a placebo. In the 40y that terrorists have been targetting planes, I am not aware of a single major terrorist attack that has been stopped by passenger checks.
...and regardless, it's quite easy to simply switch to a different target for future plots.
Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security
#57I just flew out of Newark, and other family members flew out of LaGuardia, we didn't experience this at all.
In fact, on the way back I had Precheck for reason, and I'm waiting in that line, looking at the completely regular security line wondering if the regular one would have been faster. (and even in precheck I get "randomly selected" to go through the body scanner...)
Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security
#58The list of stuff to check for just keeps getting longer. First were the belt and shoes, then the laptop, then liquids. The latest seems to be portable batteries. Every time a crazy guy hatches a new plot with plans to hide dangerous stuff in everyday items, the list will get longer. Someone needs to work on prioritizing that list or reducing it.
In Asia, where there are more bullet trains, I often pick the trains over flight if it is within 3 hours time difference. (Factor in the wait time and the distance to airport) Bigger seats, leg room and you don't need to off your electronics during "takeoff"!
Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security
#59I 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…
Ok, the TSA sucks big time and should be abolished. I get that.
But what about the alternatives? In this day and age it's just not thinkable to let people enter a plane without a security check. So you need some entity performing it.
I think one factor on providing successful and to the passenger acceptable (they will never be pleasant) security checks is adequate funding and employing adequately compensated professionals.
It's weird that my wait time on any European airport I ever use is literally always below 10 minutes and usually much less than that. And it's not that checks are less thorough around here.
It really just seems to be a funding issue.
Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security
#60Some 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.
Excellent point. I forgot that private aircraft travelers get to skip it.