LGA and TSA AA Terminal
 

I have been flying out of LGA for a while now and find the TSA Security Agents in the AA Terminal are ruder than in ORD, MKE or LAX. Here are my observations:
- Bins- They will wait till all the bins have been used up before moving it back from the secure area to the begining of the X-Ray Line
- Shoes - They make everyone remove their shoes. This is not so in LAX or ORD (ORD for sure, LAX wasnt the case 3 months ago)
- Attitudes - They are the worst TSA employees I have come across. I have respect for these guys and the work they do for us, but unfortunately the LGA guys/gals are just plain rude.
- Lines - These are way too long, one or the other line is down for some reason or the other.

What are your observations? Is your experience similar?

Last time I flew out of LGA was an EA Connie to Miami.. No, that's not right, I DID fly CO to Europe a few times, I just find CO a bit... forgettable.;) So, I have no experience with LGA TSAgents at all, but I will be willing to bet they will get a good run for the money by their colleagues at MIA.

MIA is the worst but at least they don't make you take your shoes off.

I also fly a lot out of LGA and actually don't have any particular observations toward the TSA. The only observation I have is that the security check area is way too small and seems to make the line look longer and crowded.

Oh..the only time I got throughly checked was at LGA. :p Maybe that means something.

cavity search? :0

I'm in and out of LGA all the time. TSA is the usual, however, most admire my laptop bag made out of a Soyuz parachute. http://www.everquestdesign.com/
Usually it stops the body cavity search. :)

-tracy

Agreed...MIA is worst when it comes to attitude.

Understand though, taking your shoes off is in YOUR best interest. For whatever reason, each machine seems to vary in sensitivity - just because your shoes didn't beep at DFW, they may at ATL. You only get one shot to go through the machine; if you go through the machine and you beep, you cannot go through it again (gone are the days when you just keep walking through again and again).

Once you beep, your pulled aside and you can add another 10 minutes to your wait. Therefore, it is to your best interest to take shoes off, coat off, change out of pockets; everything you can do to assure that you do not beep when going through the machine.

Keeping my shoes on are in my best interest honestly. Those floors are disgusting. I don't walk around at home in my sox so I don't know why the expect me to where hundreds of people have walked through. I wear very little soled tennis shoes. So there is nothing to set off the machine in the first place. I would rather go to the side and let them do their deal than walk through barefooted.

While I am not a fan of walking through barefooted, you being pulled to the side is not just an inconvenience for you, but that is what slows the line down.

I always carry a pair of slippers or airline socks that I've gotten on my international travels and pop them on and put my shoes through the x-ray machine to speed things up.

MY best interests? I don't think so.

By the way, you are incorrect. The "one shot" rule is gone. You actually have another "shot" at clearing the machine. After the second, however, you must go through the secondary.

The one shot rule is just not true -- though, I suppose some overly aggressive TSA agents may operate that way. Just last week, I inadvertently left my cell phone in my pocket and went through the metal detector. I must have had a "...?" look on my face, and immediately produced the cell phone from my pocket. All I had to do was put the phone in the round bowl and run myself through again.

LGA is the only place where I have traveled that requires ALL shoes to be removed, including tennis shoes. I told the TSA that I knew there was nothing in my sneakers to warrant their removal, and I would take my chances going through the metal detector. No sound, no lights, no nothing from the detector, but the guy still pulled me aside for additional inspection, which I suppose was to teach me the lesson to do as I am told.

Something tells me that I am just too stubborn. And, hopefully, someday we will all realize just how invasive this all is, and, worse, it does little to nothing to insure any safety.

Stevekoe

Yes. To my best knowledge, US airports are the ones require removal of shoes.

I'm sure I'm going to jinx myself by this post, but LGA is my home airport, and my pet peeve about TSA screening is the forced removal of shoes under threat of full cavity probing. However, LGA is one of the few airports where I'm rarely, if ever, asked to remove my shoes. I mostly travel in very small, thinly soled tennis shoes, so that my have something to do with it. However, I can't remember the last time I was asked to remove them, and I most certainly never volunteer to do so.

I completely agree with umguy. I don't protest the shoe search to be difficult, only out of complete disgust to the idea of walking barefoot or in socks across the same floor where I've witnessed some of the most disgusting bare feet step only moments before me. But back to the original point, I have to say the surliest TSA folks I've encountered have actually been T3 in PHX, though not anytime recently.

Ive told TSA people at various airports that my shoes are okay and gotten various responses from okay to it doesnt matter take them off. I havent noticed any worse attitude on shoes at LGA and dont typically take my shoes off. Ive actually run into some great TSA people at JFK and I dont think LGA is much different than anywhere. Someone from TSA really pissed me off by a power trip kind of comment but I cant remember where it was to be honest. Might have been LGA but also could have been DFW.