Practical Travel Safety Issues - Anybody Have a Blank Complaint Form?

Folks -- A suggestion to be prepared for the future: We've read about an increasing number of airports -- including my beloved home airport of IAD -- that no longer have the TSA complaint forms. There are also the stories of the occasional TSA supervisor who tells lies such as "They just ran out" or "We don't use them here", etc, in an effort to blow off the passenger.

In the interest of public service, does anyone have a blank official TSA complaint form they would be willing to scan and make available for the FT community at large?

A caveat -- If there's already one posted here on FT somewhere, I haven't found it. Given my rudimentary computer skills, that's highly possible.

As an alternative, while recovering from some intrusive dental work yesterday, I did some searching and could find the official TSA complaint form anywhere on the web (surprised???). The closest I could find was a bilingual complaint form the INS had back in 1999. The cool features about this complaint form are that it requires the name and signature of the supervisor to whom one is making the complaint and that it has a prepaid mailing label back to the INS. I've saved this form as a .pdf file and would be happy to email it to anyone who asks. Just PM me and be patient!

Also, while surfing, I found an entry in the Federal Register back in February which the TSA posted seeking public comment on their intent to create a complaint form and have it available at checkpoints.

I don't think anybody on this board would have a BLANK complaint form. :D Just kidding.

[QUOTE=FliesWay2Much]Folks -- A suggestion to be prepared for the future: We've read about an increasing number of airports -- including my beloved home airport of IAD -- that no longer have the TSA complaint forms. There are also the stories of the occasional TSA supervisor who tells lies such as "They just ran out" or "We don't use them here", etc, in an effort to blow off the passenger.

In the interest of public service, does anyone have a blank official TSA complaint form they would be willing to scan and make available for the FT community at large?

I would LOVE to have one!! I asked "Tabitha", the supervisor in Memphis (Delta terminal, whichever one that is) for one 4/13/05 & was told there was no such thing, all the while her partner "Jay", who also knew I wanted it & at least had the courtesy to ask if it was a "personnel or process problem", was rummaging thru a closet on the other side of the checkpoint area to find it. I believe Jay was honestly trying to find one, but Tabitha made me even angrier by her continued insistance that there was no such thing and then demanding my "information" so that my complaint could be "followed up on"-I told her that all the information necessary to follow-up on my complaint would be ON the complaint form!!

So, lacking the appropriate TSA-approved complaint form, I was forced to write a lengthy letter to Rep Mica & assorted others including the gen'l mgr of the Memphis airport ;)

This is the best I could come up with. I would definitely try the number first, as I wouldn't rely on someone checking the e-mail.

http://www.tsa.gov/public/interapp/editorial/editorial_1029.xml

If they have "updated" the procedure, they may not recognize the form any longer. I would hope not, but....

I got one from Pittsburgh TSA but did not submit it .. I may find it and be able to blank it out and scan it back in for you guys.

It looked like a poor photocopy of a very simple Word document.

Greetings!

I have a copy of a TSA Compliment/Complaint form in electronic format (Microsoft Excel).

If anyone would like a copy, please send me an email requesting it and I will email it to you as a file attachment in Excel format.

Best Regards,

SDF_Traveler

Greetings!

I have a copy of a TSA Compliment/Complaint form in electronic format (Microsoft Excel).

If anyone would like a copy, please send me an email requesting it and I will email it to you as a file attachment in Excel format.

Best Regards,

SDF_Traveler

I'd be willing to send you an email, if I had your email address. ;)

I'd be willing to send you an email, if I had your email address. ;)

Click on my name (SDF_Traveler) in the upper-right section of the message and select "send email to SDF_Traveler".

I apologize - for those not familiar with it, FT has an interface which allows you to send private email to another FT member. However, it is done at first without showing the email address to prevent spam email address harvesting and to prevent open disclosure of all member email addresses.

I'll click on your name and send you an email -- just reply to it so I have your email address and I'll send the file to you.

SDF_Traveler

I have one of their forms in blank. I asked for it the last time through SFO, ended up talking to "the man" from TSA (as the screeners referred to him). There was some sort of inspection by TSA that day. After our lengthy conversation, I didn't have time to fill it out, so I put it in my pocket. It is entitled "Complaint/Compliment Data Form." The TSA logo is on it and shows the effective date as of 5/17/04, Version 1.9.0, Rev. 04.

It saves some time to have the basics filled out in advance especially when you go through airports that don't follow SOP re shoes, like SFO. If you want a blank form, PM me with your email address and I'll email a copy to you.

Pat

Greetings!

I have a copy of a TSA Compliment/Complaint form in electronic format (Microsoft Excel).

If anyone would like a copy, please send me an email requesting it and I will email it to you as a file attachment in Excel format.

Best Regards,

SDF_Traveler

Thanks! Next time I need one at the airport and I get one of the lame excuses from the TSA for one not being available, I can say "Wait, seems I have a spare. Your name, please?" :)

I have one of their forms in blank. I asked for it the last time through SFO, ended up talking to "the man" from TSA (as the screeners referred to him). There was some sort of inspection by TSA that day. After our lengthy conversation, I didn't have time to fill it out, so I put it in my pocket. It is entitled "Complaint/Compliment Data Form." The TSA logo is on it and shows the effective date as of 5/17/04, Version 1.9.0, Rev. 04.

It saves some time to have the basics filled out in advance especially when you go through airports that don't follow SOP re shoes, like SFO. If you want a blank form, PM me with your email address and I'll email a copy to you.

Pat

The one I have is Effective Date 7/26/04, Version 1.11.0.

It's an "original" (obtained from TSA electronically) in Microsoft Excel format with TSA logo and all. Likely the same form you have, probably some small difference in wording I would suspect.

As mentioned above, if anyone wants it, use the FT feature to email me and it's yours. Print it (TSA logo is even in colour :D ) and pass em' out at the checkpoints.

SDF_Traveler

Thanks! Next time I need one at the airport and I get one of the lame excuses from the TSA for one not being available, I can say "Wait, seems I have a spare. Your name, please?" :)

No worries, Tazi.

Feel free it provide it to other frequent travelers & co-workers you know who travel. I will typically pull one out after given a lame excuse "We don't have any", "No such thing exists", "We're out", etc.

It also has a compliment section on it. Believe it or not, but I have used that likewise. I always make a point to get it to someone higher up, a Screening Supervisor at minimum. I'll typically ask for the Screening Manager - if not available it goes to the Supervisor or I will mail it in.

Cheers!

SDF_Traveler

I just printed out the form. Thanks for this and the other info as well. :)

I have one of their forms in blank. I asked for it the last time through SFO, ended up talking to "the man" from TSA (as the screeners referred to him). There was some sort of inspection by TSA that day. After our lengthy conversation, I didn't have time to fill it out, so I put it in my pocket. It is entitled "Complaint/Compliment Data Form." The TSA logo is on it and shows the effective date as of 5/17/04, Version 1.9.0, Rev. 04.

It saves some time to have the basics filled out in advance especially when you go through airports that don't follow SOP re shoes, like SFO. If you want a blank form, PM me with your email address and I'll email a copy to you.

Pat

Just curious ... what did the "man" say about the shoe carnival?

Just curious ... what did the "man" say about the shoe carnival?

It was an exercise in futility.

He denied any knowledge of shoe carnival at SFO :rolleyes: and that if they were sending everyone to secondary who did not remove their shoes, they were wrong. I told him to just pay attention to the lanes and the fellow that was bellowing at the top of his lungs that they "suggest" you remove your shoes and watch what happens when people don't.

I also pointed out, much to the chagrin of the screener standing with us, that I was sent to secondary because I did not remove my shoes, yet the screener did nothing to clear my shoes by wand or swab. The screener turned a dozen shades of red. If I hadn't been talking to Mr. TSA, I would have completed secondary and been on my way without them touching the offending shoes. Mr. TSA's response was to the screener...uh you'd better get the ETD swab. My comment back was that I just proved the point about how little sense it makes.

I also told him that last month when I completed a complaint form and turned it in, the supervisor demanded my identification and she took it from me and wrote down my information in a small spiral notebook. He said that some supervisors are "a bit enthusiastic" and that should not have been done, but it had been addressed in training. :rolleyes:

He continued spouting the TSA party line about in these post 9/11 days....and then started talking about his wife who is also a frequent flyer, blah blah blah. I excused myself at this point and told him I had to catch my flight. I thanked him for the form and he said that the forms were now going to be processed at the office on Sansome Street and I should receive a response sooner than I had before. I told him I have never received a response to any complaint form I filed with TSA--either on line or the airport. He said they had quite a backlog to catch up. Since he did admit there was a backlog to the point where the downtown office hand to handle them all, obviously someone at TSA isn't admitting the actual numbers to the public.

. I told him I have never received a response to any complaint form I filed with TSA--either on line or the airport.

Has anyone received a response, is there suppose to be a response, or would it be easier for me to throw it in the garbage?

Has anyone received a response, is there suppose to be a response, or would it be easier for me to throw it in the garbage?
I have received initial replies to my email complaints but never to my written complaints. The promised follow-ups from the FSD have never arrived.

Has anyone received a response, is there suppose to be a response, or would it be easier for me to throw it in the garbage?

Believe it or not, I have received many responses from the TSA to my many missives. The highest response rate is on letters mailed directly to the Office of Civil Rights or just to the main address of the TSA headquarters. I have also usually gotten responses to emails (which responses are just boilerplate - looks like someone skimmed my email and no more).

I really think that the TSA is willing to write you a letter back if you take the time to write them. Now, it's very rare that they'll actually change policy as a result of such an interaction, but remember the breast exam thing! Actually, during the breast exam fiasco I got an honest-to-goodness phone call from a female TSA lawyer (in response to yet another angry letter I'd sent). I told her that male screeners at BOS kept trying to touch my breasts and that it made me feel like I was being abused. She offered an escort through the BOS security checkpoint on my next trip, but I told her I'd never set foot in BOS again.

Another approach which will get you a response if your Congressperson takes up your issue is to bring the problem to said Congressperson's attention. My congressperson seems to want to run for governor in my state, so his office was most obliging in helping me forward my complaints to the TSA. After almost a year of "TSA is currently experiencing a large volume of Congressional inquiries" letters, I got an actual response. It's too bad that the actual response was of the "sorry you're upset, but we plan to keep up our unsafe practices all the same" variety.

In conclusion, you should definitely file complaints and you should definitely demand a response. If you don't get a response, file, file again!


Oh, and I forgot to mention that you'll get a better response from a higher-up person the more literate, reasonable, and rational you sound. Make the case on broad principles: not that the particular person you talked to had a bad attitude, but that hassling non-suspects is wasting valuable resources.

Has anyone received a response, is there suppose to be a response, or would it be easier for me to throw it in the garbage?

Not a complaint form, but I have received an actual reponse to a letter send directly to the IND FSD. Unfortunately the content of the letter blindly defended the actions of the screener who sent me to a retaliatory secondary (TSA's "white wash of silence" as opposed to the police's "blue wall of silence"), but it was clearly not a form letter.

Thanks to SDF_Traveler for the form. The funniest thing is that the bottom of the form says the contents are SSI and should not be distributed. Not sure if TSA meant to say that their form was SSI or the contents of passenger complaints were SSI, but either way it's comical.

Thanks to SDF_Traveler for the form. The funniest thing is that the bottom of the form says the contents are SSI and should not be distributed. Not sure if TSA meant to say that their form was SSI or the contents of passenger complaints were SSI, but either way it's comical.

I noticed that also and laughed about it!

I haven't tried to look yet, (a little lazy) but is there a set response time?

If you received a response, what has been the turn-around-time?

Do they give you a reference number for follow-up, if I want to call them and find out where its at?

Thanks to SDF_Traveler for the form. The funniest thing is that the bottom of the form says the contents are SSI and should not be distributed. Not sure if TSA meant to say that their form was SSI or the contents of passenger complaints were SSI, but either way it's comical.

My understanding is the SSI notice applies to the form after it has been completed, meaning the passenger complaints or compliments are protected.

To BUMP the thread up for those who may not have seen this --

I have a Blank TSA Complaint / (Compliment) Data Form in Excel format if anyone is interested.

Print the form and bring it with you; use it the next time a screener will not give you a complaint form or uses the well known cliche "We don't have any" or lame variation.

Second: I have a list of Federal Security Directors (FSD's) from late '04 with contact information including email, mailing address and phone.

If you have any specific complaints and need to contact a FSD, this document has the contact information. I strongly believe FSD's should be transparant & accessable as Civil Servants paid by our tax dollars along with our federal deficit.

Both are Excel documents. If you do not have Excel, I can transfer these to PDF files which are readable by Adobe Acrobat.

Email me with the FlyerTalk email feature if interested:

(1) Click on my name as it appears on the upper left side of this message;

(2) Use option "Send an email to SDF_Traveler";

(3) Complete the email & I will email you the files as attachments.

With Regards,

SDF_Traveler