New ID checks at gate on domestic flights
Jan 23, 2013, 6:58 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: MKE
Programs: AA, Hilton, Hertz
Posts: 68
At Gate ID Check?
Forgot to post this. Last Friday leaving SLC for CVG TSA brought a little cart around and checked everyones ID's in the gate area before boarding. No real order to it if you didn't want to get checked you could have gotten around them I'm sure. It was just strange I've never seen it before. Has anyone else?
Jan 23, 2013, 7:00 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Bye Delta
Programs: AA EXP, HH Diamond, IHG Plat, Hyatt Plat, Marriott Plat, Nat'l Exec Elite, Avis Presidents Club
Posts: 16,273
Did they do it as pax were boarding the plane, or did they just randomly walk up to people sitting in the gate area? If the former, yes, this is a favorite final act in the security theater performance. If the latter, no, I can't say I've seen that before... though they used to do random liquid checks. Would ask you to take the lid off your coffee (purchased in the secure area) while they waved something over it presumably to detect what was in it. I always told them to get bent.
I've also seen a variation of this rather often at JFK... after the ID check, they find 6 or 7 TSOs to line the jetbridge and do nothing but stand there looking menacing as pax file past and board the plane.
I've also seen a variation of this rather often at JFK... after the ID check, they find 6 or 7 TSOs to line the jetbridge and do nothing but stand there looking menacing as pax file past and board the plane.
Jan 23, 2013, 7:20 pm
#7
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
Forgot to post this. Last Friday leaving SLC for CVG TSA brought a little cart around and checked everyones ID's in the gate area before boarding. No real order to it if you didn't want to get checked you could have gotten around them I'm sure. It was just strange I've never seen it before. Has anyone else?
It still happens as the TSA have plenty of time and money to waste, but this kind of thing is far less frequent now at US airports than it used to be. Nowadays, they are more busy getting "intelligence" "briefings" straight from Fox News or checking out strip searched bodies or groping passenger bodies in a way that would be prosecutable if done by a stranger on the street.
Jan 23, 2013, 9:29 pm
#10
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Planet Earth(most days)
Programs: Hilton Honors, SPG, Marriott
Posts: 1,544
Jan 23, 2013, 9:34 pm
#11
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: on the path to perdition
Programs: Delta, United
Posts: 4,785
USA
http://www.tsa.gov/traveler-information/acceptable-ids
We understand passengers occasionally arrive at the airport without an ID, due to lost items or inadvertently leaving them at home. Not having an ID, does not necessarily mean a passenger won't be allowed to fly. If passengers are willing to provide additional information, we have other means of substantiating someone's identity, like using publicly available databases.
http://www.tsa.gov/traveler-information/acceptable-ids
We understand passengers occasionally arrive at the airport without an ID, due to lost items or inadvertently leaving them at home. Not having an ID, does not necessarily mean a passenger won't be allowed to fly. If passengers are willing to provide additional information, we have other means of substantiating someone's identity, like using publicly available databases.
Jan 23, 2013, 9:47 pm
#13
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Bye Delta
Programs: AA EXP, HH Diamond, IHG Plat, Hyatt Plat, Marriott Plat, Nat'l Exec Elite, Avis Presidents Club
Posts: 16,273
One of my favorite TV scenes is from an episode of The Simpsons where the city creates a Bear Patrol because a single bear got into the city.
Homer: Not a bear in sight. The Bear Patrol must be working like a charm.
Lisa: That's specious reasoning, Dad.
Homer (misunderstanding the big word): Thank you, dear.
Lisa: By your logic I could claim that this rock keeps tigers away.
Homer: Oh, how does it work?
Lisa: It doesn't work.
Homer: Uh-huh.
Lisa: It's just a stupid rock.
Homer: Uh-huh.
Lisa: But I don't see any tigers around, do you?
Homer (after thinking for a minute): Lisa, I want to buy your rock.
Last edited by javabytes; Jan 23, 2013 at 10:44 pm
Jan 23, 2013, 10:33 pm
#14
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Planet Earth(most days)
Programs: Hilton Honors, SPG, Marriott
Posts: 1,544
USA
http://www.tsa.gov/traveler-information/acceptable-ids
We understand passengers occasionally arrive at the airport without an ID, due to lost items or inadvertently leaving them at home. Not having an ID, does not necessarily mean a passenger won't be allowed to fly. If passengers are willing to provide additional information, we have other means of substantiating someone's identity, like using publicly available databases.
http://www.tsa.gov/traveler-information/acceptable-ids
We understand passengers occasionally arrive at the airport without an ID, due to lost items or inadvertently leaving them at home. Not having an ID, does not necessarily mean a passenger won't be allowed to fly. If passengers are willing to provide additional information, we have other means of substantiating someone's identity, like using publicly available databases.
Jan 23, 2013, 10:37 pm
#15
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: SEA, ROA, DHN
Programs: DL DM (Now Gold...)
Posts: 176
At Gate ID Check?
Roll eyes as well, TSA, while well intentioned, does a very poor job of keeping us safe. And the ridiculous one size fits all approach is just the most visible example of this fact.