I flew to the USA a few years ago and TSA staff were the most gratuitously rude people I've met in airports in my life. Complete brain dead losers.
It's a job program. And mostly theater to dehumanize you. Most VIPs get to skip it all together.
TSA leaves passenger needing surgery after illegally forcing her through scanner
51–60 of 145 posts
Re: TSA leaves passenger needing surgery after illegally forcing her through scanner
#52Not shocking they seem to have pretty low professional standards. I recently had a friend travelling from the US back to Canada get suddenly thoroughly frisked without warning after the scanners showed some object near her thighs. She didn't have anything but clothes on her body on below the waist. The TSA agent spent time groping around, convinced there was something, then after there couldn't possibly have been an…
> "there must have been an issue with the scanner".
That's way better than them asking you twenty times why the scanner went off.
I don't know, I didn't build the fucking thing.
Re: TSA leaves passenger needing surgery after illegally forcing her through scanner
#53Like other post-9/11 things like DHS and ICE, we need to abolish TSA since it doesn't actually keep anyone safe, and actively harms people.
You say abolish TSA. That's a "how"; let me ask you about outcomes to better understand. Are you suggesting that the level of security at airports be reduced? Are you suggesting that people and object that get onto planes be given less scrutiny?
What is the smallest level of additional security such that, if you assumed that the TSA only provides that much additional security over the alternative of not having them, you would regard it as worth it?
And, is the actual amount of security provided greater than that amount?
Re: TSA leaves passenger needing surgery after illegally forcing her through scanner
#54I'm not a particular fan of the TSA but when you work with the public at that scale, stuff happens. It gets a bit tiresome to read articles like this that imply it's normal and frequent. It doesn't seem like it's worthy of discussion on HN: it's neither intellectually interesting nor a new phenomenon.
I've never had a single issue with the TSA. I went through a checkpoint when I had a shoulder injury and could not raise my arms above my head for the backscatter machine. I explained this and I was politely escorted through the alternate scan/metal detector.
My experience is one data point, doesn't mean much by itself, nor does the experience of the unfortunate person in this story.
Re: TSA leaves passenger needing surgery after illegally forcing her through scanner
#55Abolish the TSA
Re: TSA leaves passenger needing surgery after illegally forcing her through scanner
#56Whenever these situations come up, the solution is always "more train."
I suspect "MOAR PAIN" would have a better outcome. People check out, during training; especially the type of training that is designed to shield the organization from lawsuits, and are given by uninspired, bored speakers.
Some high-profile object lessons are more likely to have an effect.
Re: TSA leaves passenger needing surgery after illegally forcing her through scanner
#57Not shocking they seem to have pretty low professional standards. I recently had a friend travelling from the US back to Canada get suddenly thoroughly frisked without warning after the scanners showed some object near her thighs. She didn't have anything but clothes on her body on below the waist. The TSA agent spent time groping around, convinced there was something, then after there couldn't possibly have been an…
It has been my experience that they would call a female agent when they needed to pat down another female. Has this changed?
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Re: TSA leaves passenger needing surgery after illegally forcing her through scanner
#58There's no consistency in procedure from TSA agents. They're undertrained, unaccountable, and some combination of bored, disinterested, and high on petty authority. I don't think any amount of training or official guidance could improve the situation, though. The essential problem is the authority plus unaccountability or oversight. That will always go poorly for anyone subjected to that authority sooner or later.
Re: TSA leaves passenger needing surgery after illegally forcing her through scanner
#59I'm not a particular fan of the TSA but when you work with the public at that scale, stuff happens. It gets a bit tiresome to read articles like this that imply it's normal and frequent. It doesn't seem like it's worthy of discussion on HN: it's neither intellectually interesting nor a new phenomenon. I've never had a single issue with the TSA. I went through a checkpoint when I had a shoulder injury and could not ra…
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Re: TSA leaves passenger needing surgery after illegally forcing her through scanner
#60Like other post-9/11 things like DHS and ICE, we need to abolish TSA since it doesn't actually keep anyone safe, and actively harms people.
You say abolish TSA. That's a "how"; let me ask you about outcomes to better understand. Are you suggesting that the level of security at airports be reduced? Are you suggesting that people and object that get onto planes be given less scrutiny?
I say this as somebody who regularly travels around EMEA and the US: there is airport security at the same or higher level all around the World, and yet fewer people travelling in those countries seems to have the same level of problems.
My hot take is that its almost certainly a recruitment and training issue: there seem to be just enough bad apples getting through and not having poor behaviours trained out of them to mean the self-reported "these guys are idiots" numbers are higher than in other parts of the World.