Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Travel&Dining > Travel Safety/Security > Checkpoints and Borders Policy Debate
Reload this Page >

TSA eyes 'Randomizers' to sort security lines

TSA eyes 'Randomizers' to sort security lines

Old Oct 26, 2013, 5:37 am
  #46  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BOS/ORH
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 18,323
Randomizer in action @ BOS

CDKing is offline  
Old Mar 23, 2014, 2:50 pm
  #47  
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Boca Raton, FL
Programs: DL MM, DL DM, Marriott PP
Posts: 561
Ok. I saw The Randomizer today at FLL. It is an iPad running the app. The app has blue screen and it actually says TSA Randomizer on it. The iPad is installed in between the Pre and regular lanes. The TSA clerk first asks how many people are traveling together and then touches the screen. The iPad the shows a big white arrow pointing to either lane. There were also like 5 other TSA clerks of different caliber standing around and telling people what to do.
MAMOHT is offline  
Old Mar 23, 2014, 6:59 pm
  #48  
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: PHX
Programs: AA Ex Platinum & 1MM, DL PLT, Marriott Gold, HH Diamond
Posts: 2,490
Originally Posted by MAMOHT
Ok. I saw The Randomizer today at FLL. It is an iPad running the app. The app has blue screen and it actually says TSA Randomizer on it. The iPad is installed in between the Pre and regular lanes. The TSA clerk first asks how many people are traveling together and then touches the screen. The iPad the shows a big white arrow pointing to either lane. There were also like 5 other TSA clerks of different caliber standing around and telling people what to do.
In ABQ if you tell the smurf manning the Randomizer you are traveling with someone you are automatically sent to the NoS (apparently the tewwowists only travel in groups ) Those traveling alone & sent thru Pre, from the Randomizer, then have to get past 3 smurfs doing hand swabs (I refer to them as 'waste, fraud, & abuse' or WFA for short). After getting thru the Pre WTMD, there is still about a 50% chance of being randomized for another hand swab-I've actually seen at least one guy getting swabbed by WFA & again after the WTMD
txrus is offline  
Old Mar 26, 2014, 9:06 am
  #49  
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Denver CO
Programs: HHonors Gold, National Emerald Club, no airline affinity status
Posts: 3,338
DEN uses the same system. I got the correct arrow and was directed to the pre check line.
HawaiiTrvlr is offline  
Old Mar 26, 2014, 10:55 am
  #50  
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 3,526
Originally Posted by txrus


In ABQ if you tell the smurf manning the Randomizer you are traveling with someone you are automatically sent to the NoS (apparently the tewwowists only travel in groups ) Those traveling alone & sent thru Pre, from the Randomizer, then have to get past 3 smurfs doing hand swabs (I refer to them as 'waste, fraud, & abuse' or WFA for short). After getting thru the Pre WTMD, there is still about a 50% chance of being randomized for another hand swab-I've actually seen at least one guy getting swabbed by WFA & again after the WTMD
What a freakin' waste - unless, of course, it has begun to dawn upon the TSA that their swabs alarm uselessly and they are actually trying to gather info on how often they do alarm. Tell me again, how many people carry explosives have been caught by the swabs? None, you say? That's what I thought.
petaluma1 is offline  
Old May 9, 2014, 2:47 am
  #51  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,103
TSA has publicly gone on record and indicated that their plan is as follows: as enrollment in DHS "trusted traveler" membership programs increases, the randomizer and other "managed inclusion" approaches are to correspondingly decline.

Not a surprise, but it's becoming quite clear that the "managed inclusion" is being sold to some as a TSA cost-saving move. TSA head-count reductions are facilitated by this, but that may mean even slower PreCheck lines.

Apparently fourteen hundred employees and some 20-25% of FAM field offices are slated to be eliminated.

This mentions some of that: http://www.businessweek.com/articles...ors_picks=true
GUWonder is offline  
Old May 9, 2014, 4:35 am
  #52  
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 3,526
I find this line from the linked article a bit difficult to swallow:

The TSA, which asked Congress for a $100 million cut in its 2015 budget, ...
petaluma1 is offline  
Old May 9, 2014, 7:37 am
  #53  
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 3,657
I don't think TSA requesting less money is implausible. Given the almost totally negative publicity TSA has been getting, and increased hostility to TSA starting to develop in Congress, TSA might've been facing a much larger budget cut. If TSA gets out ahead of the story and requests a small cut in its budget, and says "look, we're making cuts, we're being responsible", it might save TSA from even deeper cuts --- whether or not those deeper cuts would be appropriate.
jkhuggins is offline  
Old May 12, 2014, 12:42 am
  #54  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Northeast Kansas | Colorado Native
Programs: Amex Gold/Plat, UA *G, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott LT Gold, NEXUS, TSA Disparager Unobtanium
Posts: 21,558
Randomizer was in use at DTW North terminal last weekend. I skipped right to the front of the TDC for PreCheck, but pax randomized into PreCheck each got a hand swab. Took maybe 2 mins to go from TDC > grabbing bags off the X-ray belt.
FriendlySkies is offline  
Old May 12, 2014, 5:53 am
  #55  
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Baltimore, MD USA
Programs: Southwest Rapid Rewards. Tha... that's about it.
Posts: 4,330
Originally Posted by jkhuggins
I don't think TSA requesting less money is implausible. Given the almost totally negative publicity TSA has been getting, and increased hostility to TSA starting to develop in Congress, TSA might've been facing a much larger budget cut. If TSA gets out ahead of the story and requests a small cut in its budget, and says "look, we're making cuts, we're being responsible", it might save TSA from even deeper cuts --- whether or not those deeper cuts would be appropriate.
Could it be that TSA now has reached its target number of NoS units and is no longer spending the $1.4 billion or thereabouts that it pissed away over a three or four year period on procurement costs? That might account for an decrease in overall budget, if you're not splitting procurement costs out from operating budget.
WillCAD is offline  
Old May 12, 2014, 5:56 am
  #56  
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Boca Raton, FL
Programs: DL MM, DL DM, Marriott PP
Posts: 561
The new setup in Terminal 2 at FLL has 2 lines both going to Precheck. There is the randomizer installed in between of those lines and TSA clerk is randomizing people between the two lines. Last time I was there both lines were empty but he still hit the randomizer and sent me to one of the lines saying they are both the same anyway.
MAMOHT is offline  
Old May 12, 2014, 9:20 am
  #57  
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 959
Originally Posted by MAMOHT
The new setup in Terminal 2 at FLL has 2 lines both going to Precheck. There is the randomizer installed in between of those lines and TSA clerk is randomizing people between the two lines. Last time I was there both lines were empty but he still hit the randomizer and sent me to one of the lines saying they are both the same anyway.
Seriously?
They buy this fancy "randomizer" (because they can't keep themselves from "profiling") and it chooses which of the two lines to send the passengers through, which both have the same level of "security" theater?
TSA = What a JOKE!
DeafBlonde is offline  
Old May 12, 2014, 2:31 pm
  #58  
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Boca Raton, FL
Programs: DL MM, DL DM, Marriott PP
Posts: 561
Yes. They have 4 lanes there. Left to right: regular, first/priority, 2 TSA Pre. The randomizer was installed in between the 2 Pre lanes.
MAMOHT is offline  
Old May 15, 2014, 8:16 am
  #59  
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 3,657
Originally Posted by DeafBlonde
Seriously?
They buy this fancy "randomizer" (because they can't keep themselves from "profiling") and it chooses which of the two lines to send the passengers through, which both have the same level of "security" theater?
TSA = What a JOKE!
1) It's notoriously difficult for people to produce "randomness" without external aids such as a fair coin or die or some other device. People who think they're acting "randomly" usually act with some bias --- and in many cases are completely unaware of it.

2) I think the TSO may have been trying to make a subtler point --- frankly, the same point that many here make. Passengers who go through the PreCheck line are no more likely to cause a terrorist event aboard an aircraft than passengers who go through the "ordinary" line. In that sense, both lines provide the "same" level of security.
jkhuggins is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.