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The TSA's New $45 Fee to Fly Without ID Is Illegal

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Re: The TSA's New $45 Fee to Fly Without ID Is Illegal

#591

Post by freeopinion »

mlrtime wrote: post #527
lazide wrote: post #478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The situation re: psychological safety becomes very apparent when you mention to foreigners how often guns accidentally make it through TSA in peoples bags - and get discovered on screening on the return flight. Saucers for eyes, saucers! Hah The reality is that screening raises the bar enough that most casuals won’t risk it unless they’re crazy, which is worth something, and makes most people feel comfy, which is al…

I think it's human nature to point at something you don't like and if it isn't 100% perfect then point to it and say it's flawed and must be taken down. Repeated examples on HN - TSA effectiveness - AI Writing code free bug - Self driving cars get into accidents

You are missing an important element. You can decide for yourself whether AI-produced code is worth the price. You don't get to decide whether the TSA is effective enough to pay for it.

Maybe you are willing to pay 15% for AI that saves you 20%. Even if it isn't very effective, you come out slightly ahead. Or maybe you pay 85% for something you deem to be 90% effective

With TSA you pay 300% for something you might judge to be 2% effective and you don't have a choice.

Re: The TSA's New $45 Fee to Fly Without ID Is Illegal

#592

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

stonogo wrote: post #231
raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many “working poor” have jobs that require business travel?

If the answer is more than "zero" then the fee is harmful. Since I've been in similar positions (specifically as a contractor, where I had to front-load expenses and submit for reimbursement), it seems pretty likely to me.

Yes so we are going to optimize an entire system for this mythical “working poor” business traveler?

Every contractor has to do that. That’s the price you pay for going into that business (reason #999 thet while I work in cloud consulting I work full time for consulting companies).

Even as a business traveler, I have to pay my own expenses and wait for reimbursement.

Re: The TSA's New $45 Fee to Fly Without ID Is Illegal

#593

Post by uncletscollie »

mothballed wrote: post #583
freeopinion wrote: post #578

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you offer the public FDA-inspected cinnamon for a 20% premium over not-inspected-and-may-contain-dangerous-levels-of-lead cinnamon, a lot of people will pay the premium. But a large percentage of people will opt for the cheaper cinnamon. If you let it be known that the FDA inspection amounts to a high school dropout trying to read a manifest on a shipping container full of imported cinnamon, a lot more people will…

I would just let the airlines pick if they want TSA screening or not. Customers could buy flights with whatever security level they want. If you fly intrastate in Alaska there is no screening on commercial flights (it seems TSA must not be required on non-interstate flights). Technically it's still illegal to bring a gun but no one would know one way or the other. It really didn't bother me that there was no security…

>small regional airline in the South, where if you checked a gun, the pilot just gives it back to the passenger...

If the passenger is white. They would call the cops on anyone else. The state dept of terrorism would get involved if they were 1/1000 middle eastern.

Re: The TSA's New $45 Fee to Fly Without ID Is Illegal

#594

Post by thevillagechief »

GJim wrote: post #572
chias wrote: post #430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried to opt out in the UK last time I was there a few years ago. The agent looked at me, confused, and said "so... you don't want to get on the plane?". She told me the the UK didn't allow opt-outs. This was the only time I've gone through the machine since they were introduced.

> The agent looked at me, confused, and said "so... you don't want to get on the plane?" Brit here. That's simply the British way of "calling you out" on your bullshit. Had you given a legitimate reason not to be scanned (and I can't think of one offhand), then I assure you, they would have been quite nice and helpful; certainly so in comparison to American standards of airport security staff!

I've felt more uncomfortable with the UK Border Force than US CBP. It's been a few years since I've been to the UK, but there was usually more tension for Non-European foreigners at the Airport than non-Americans at the US airports.

Re: The TSA's New $45 Fee to Fly Without ID Is Illegal

#595

Post by alephnerd »

lazide wrote: post #480
chias wrote: post #430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried to opt out in the UK last time I was there a few years ago. The agent looked at me, confused, and said "so... you don't want to get on the plane?". She told me the the UK didn't allow opt-outs. This was the only time I've gone through the machine since they were introduced.

Airport security in India is particularly infuriating on this point. Everything gets scanned and fed through over and over again, and everyone gets wanded and patted down over and over again, with maximum ‘fuck you’ to any passenger that dares to question the sanity of restarting your entire screening - because you left your belt on. Meanwhile, I haven’t even had a western airports metal detector even fire on the sam…

Most western countries also haven't had multiple attempted [0][1][2] and committed [3][4] mass casualty terror attacks nor a direct conventional conflict that for all intents and purposes was a war [5] in the past 2 years.

And airport security in Israel makes Indian airport security feel like a breeze and I found Turkish airport security to be similar to India's (I remember landing in IST a couple years ago post-COVID and how the news monitors all blared about the 3-6 Turkish soldiers who died in Turkish controlled Syria the day previously).

All three are in very tenuous neighborhoods where the risks of mass casualty terror attacks remains a very real possibility and no on-duty officer wants to be the one who's name comes up in an inquiry into a terror attack should they happen.

Also, from what I remember you are either a Chinese national or someone who has travelled significantly to China. It's the equivalent of a Russian national or Russian-origin person traveling to Poland or Estonia post-2022. Anyone with that profile falls under stricter scrutiny in India due to reciprocal treatment of Indian-nationals and Indian-origin people from Arunachal [6][7] and Ladakh [8] as well as the multiple recent India-China standoffs.

[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Delhi_car_explosion

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Nowgam_explosion

[2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Bengaluru_cafe_bombing

[3] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Reasi_attack

[4] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Pahalgam_attack

[5] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_India%E2%80%93Pakistan_co...

[6] - https://indianexpress.com/article/world/who-is-prema-thongdo...

[7] - https://idsa.in/publisher/comments/china-ups-the-ante-in-aru...

[8] - https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/why-china-is-e...

Re: The TSA's New $45 Fee to Fly Without ID Is Illegal

#596

Post by BowBun »

paxys wrote: post #23

It's hilarious how transparent a money grab this entire thing is. "You need to show a Real ID for security, otherwise how do we know you won't hijack the plane?" "Well I don't have a Real ID." "Ok then, give us $45 and you can go through." So it was never about security at all then, was it? And don't get me started with all the paid express security lanes. Because of course only poor people can weaponize shoes and la…

TSA pre-check, Global Entry, and Clear _infuriate_ me. It is privatization of public transportation and a net negative for society. In New York, JFK has closed off half of the security entrances for priority lanes, meaning a majority of passengers are forced into 50% of the entrances. The airport was built with state+federal funds, and now tax-paying residents are second-class to those who can afford $100/year. It's not even the amount, it's the principle.

And before people start to argue that planes aren't public transportation - over 10 million _passenger_ flights a year. It is critical to the functioning of all aspects of society.

Re: The TSA's New $45 Fee to Fly Without ID Is Illegal

#598

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

I recently started going through The Mary Tyler Moore show and was struck by the timeliness of this quote from the very first episode:

Lou Grant: What religion are you?

Mary: Uh, Mr. Grant, I don't quite know how to say this, but you're not allowed to ask that when someone's applying for a job. It's against the law.

Grant: Wanna call a cop?

Re: The TSA's New $45 Fee to Fly Without ID Is Illegal

#599

Post by StillBored »

mastax wrote: post #441
StillBored wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The constitution doesn't provide a "common sense" loophole. Much of it is written in absolutist language because that was the actual intention. The amendment process is provided to open "common sense" loopholes if everyone agrees they are common sense, not for the courts to gradually erode the language until the federal goverment is doing things the founders explicitly fought the revolutionary war over. Put another w…

The passage of the alien and sedition acts without constitutional amendment disproves that idea.

At first glance that seems to be true, but when you look at the arguments at the time, who made them and how much of it was walked back, it just looks like the usual legislative panic, same as 911. It doesn't make the original intentions wrong, anymore than what happens when you release open source software and it takes on a life of its own under new maintainers. The failure to understand the long term reprocusion of basically ignoring the actual language of the original document puts one in a place where literally nothing matters except what you can ram through congress and get supreme court approval over during a time of panic or before the other side takes over again.

Thats not a constitutional democracy, thats just anarchy and rule by whoever can buy the most seats.

Re: The TSA's New $45 Fee to Fly Without ID Is Illegal

#600

Post by coredog64 »

tsimionescu wrote: post #417
noduerme wrote: post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, I would just give them a pass to carry a ceremonial knife, if they could prove they were Sikhs and not someone pretending to be. But I guess that's why we can't have nice things and why the same rules have to apply to everyone. I think most reasonable people understand that they can't preserve every aspect of their personal beliefs or pride in a situation involving the safety of millions of people flying da…

[flagged]

Not a hijacking, but also maybe a reason not to give all Sikhs a pass on airport security.

> The bombing of Air India Flight 182 is the worst terrorist attack in Canadian history and was the world's deadliest act of aviation terrorism until the September 11 attacks in 2001. It remains the deadliest aviation incident in the history of Air India, and the deadliest no-survivor hull loss of a single Boeing 747

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_India_Flight_182

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