Another nightmare at PHX
Mar 30, 2011, 11:30 pm
#76
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Programs: AA Gold AAdvantage Elite, Rapids Reward
Posts: 38,321
Thanks for bringing it down to the basics, What does TSA have to do with feeling up a cancer ridden, 89 year old woman? I hate to think of it, but what satisfaction does it bring to a screener? How much brain does one need to have to figure out, that this cancer ridden great-grandmother being 89 years old with the desire to return home to a earthquake damaged country, is of no threat to anyone????
Why can't they figure out that I, a 70 year old retired pilot with a cane, a 1k with UA for many years, is no threat? Why are the singling us out all of the time????? What's their problem???
Why can't they figure out that I, a 70 year old retired pilot with a cane, a 1k with UA for many years, is no threat? Why are the singling us out all of the time????? What's their problem???
You have to tell TSA to kept her privacy and not put her into the bodyscanners. You have keep aware of your grandmother is doing and she's still in wheelchair and she need assistance with another TSA officer to put in the secondary screening areas and not go through bodyscanners. You are responsible for your great-grandmother's life. You are risks from TSA behaviors at entire T2 today. You have to keep avoided T2 checkpoint. Just go through terminal 4 at checkpoint A and there is no bodyscanners. If you are flying out at entire T4 for next time. Because T2 is not real specific time at all.
Mar 31, 2011, 3:27 am
#77
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 5,051
I'm speculating, but I think some of those TSO's have a chip on their shoulder, and they take revenge on the world which they think has crapped on them. Trouble is, that type of person never picks on someone who can defend him/herself. The are pussies, so they try to make people miserable who've not got a great shake from life.
Mar 31, 2011, 7:05 am
#78
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 3,728
But at this particular moment in time, I cannot help but think that anyone working for the TSA deserves to be crapped on...
Mar 31, 2011, 1:43 pm
#80
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 2,726
It's not often that someone's career path is profiled in a major market newspaper; please keep us abreast of your interactions with Ms. Callahan.
Moving up in a down economy
For the ambitious, entry-level jobs are far from a dead end
By Katie Johnston Chase
Globe Staff / September 12, 2010
When Heather Callahan started working for the Transportation Security Administration screening passengers at Logan International Airport in 2002, she looked at the airport’s deputy federal security director and thought: “I wonder why I can’t have his job?’’
Six years later, she did.
Moving up in a down economy
For the ambitious, entry-level jobs are far from a dead end
By Katie Johnston Chase
Globe Staff / September 12, 2010
When Heather Callahan started working for the Transportation Security Administration screening passengers at Logan International Airport in 2002, she looked at the airport’s deputy federal security director and thought: “I wonder why I can’t have his job?’’
Six years later, she did.
Mar 31, 2011, 2:18 pm
#81
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Northern California, in the redwoods, on the ocean.
Posts: 437
Thanks for bringing it down to the basics, What does TSA have to do with feeling up a cancer ridden, 89 year old woman? I hate to think of it, but what satisfaction does it bring to a screener? How much brain does one need to have to figure out, that this cancer ridden great-grandmother being 89 years old with the desire to return home to a earthquake damaged country, is of no threat to anyone????
Why can't they figure out that I, a 70 year old retired pilot with a cane, a 1k with UA for many years, is no threat? Why are the singling us out all of the time????? What's their problem???
Why can't they figure out that I, a 70 year old retired pilot with a cane, a 1k with UA for many years, is no threat? Why are the singling us out all of the time????? What's their problem???
Look for the rot at the top.
Mar 31, 2011, 2:22 pm
#82
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Northern California, in the redwoods, on the ocean.
Posts: 437
Dunkirk.
It makes one weep.
Mar 31, 2011, 2:45 pm
#83
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Wherever liberty is threatened
Programs: TSA Disparager Silver
Posts: 314
Ok ok ok, enough.
I read the first post, and most of the rest of the thread. And I thought about all the other horror stories that I've read here. And I see two trends.
The first trend is their tendency to pick women who are traveling alone, small of build if possible.
The second trend is that EVERY F***ING TIME they ensure that they are out of contact and out of sight with the belongings on the X-Ray belt.
For crying out loud, why does that second trend exist? Is it that hard to allow them to pick up the tray and carry it into the grape room? Is it that hard to set aside their tray on the conveyor when sentencing these women to molestation?
Or do they need all those passengers walking by the unattended items as cover for TSOs filching from the bins?
What possible reason is there for not securing the belongings of these victims / travelers / potential terrorists?
I read the first post, and most of the rest of the thread. And I thought about all the other horror stories that I've read here. And I see two trends.
The first trend is their tendency to pick women who are traveling alone, small of build if possible.
The second trend is that EVERY F***ING TIME they ensure that they are out of contact and out of sight with the belongings on the X-Ray belt.
For crying out loud, why does that second trend exist? Is it that hard to allow them to pick up the tray and carry it into the grape room? Is it that hard to set aside their tray on the conveyor when sentencing these women to molestation?
Or do they need all those passengers walking by the unattended items as cover for TSOs filching from the bins?
What possible reason is there for not securing the belongings of these victims / travelers / potential terrorists?
Mar 31, 2011, 3:37 pm
#85
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: An NPR mind living in a Fox News world
Posts: 14,165
Here are a couple of things I picked up from the article:
"frisking passengers" -- at least they are honest...
Coming in at 0130 leaving a young son at home -- her prioities are sure in the right place.
She volunteered to be a SPOTNik -- that got her a promotion in the field.
The big deal was that she landed a HQ job in the SPOTNik program. Civil service grades inside the Beltway are generally inflated compared to the real world. It's a common thing to get an assignment to DC just to get a promotion or two -- not because you're good, but because everyone else is a GS-13 - GS-15. My guess is that she arrived as a GS-12 or 13 and left as a GS-14 or GS-15.
So, she got her GS-15 by basically having a pulse and being above room temperature at TSA HQ.
almost every one of the 24 security managers — who oversee the terminals and make between $56,000 and $110,000 a year — started off as an officer looking through bags and frisking passengers — a $32,000-a-year job that doesn’t require a college degree or security background.
It didn’t take long before Callahan moved from searching passengers and screening bags in a TSA-issued uniform — sometimes volunteering to come in at 1:30 a.m. to start up the equipment — to wearing a suit and overseeing an entire terminal as a screening manager. After a stint with Logan’s behavior detection pilot program and a transfer to Arlington, Va., to execute the program nationwide, Callahan moved back to Boston in 2008 to become the number two TSA employee at Logan, making almost $100,000 more a year than when she started six years before.
She volunteered to be a SPOTNik -- that got her a promotion in the field.
The big deal was that she landed a HQ job in the SPOTNik program. Civil service grades inside the Beltway are generally inflated compared to the real world. It's a common thing to get an assignment to DC just to get a promotion or two -- not because you're good, but because everyone else is a GS-13 - GS-15. My guess is that she arrived as a GS-12 or 13 and left as a GS-14 or GS-15.
So, she got her GS-15 by basically having a pulse and being above room temperature at TSA HQ.
Mar 31, 2011, 6:46 pm
#87
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: NYC
Programs: DL PM, TSA Disparager Gold
Posts: 1,431
Though it doesn't do you any good, I too flew through PHX yesterday. I could not believe the chaos and long lines at the checkpoints. Fortunately, I was only connecting and had a very civil, yet absurd self-opt-out and medical liquids exemption in SEA.
My few minutes of watching screening at PHX confirms your description of everyone getting the NOS, long lines, and lots of yelling.
My few minutes of watching screening at PHX confirms your description of everyone getting the NOS, long lines, and lots of yelling.
Mar 31, 2011, 8:28 pm
#88
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Programs: AA Gold AAdvantage Elite, Rapids Reward
Posts: 38,321
Lets it go already!!! NO one who went through backscatters machines. This is not real specific time at all. You have to get file complaints against TSA at Sky Harbor and they will be prohibited all backscatters machines out of checkpoints. Those passengers who had it right go through the metal detector is more conveniently and not try to put the passengers into the bodyscanners.Eliminated all bodyscanners now!!!
Mar 31, 2011, 10:51 pm
#89
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Japan
Posts: 5,577
Mrs EX is home now and we are re-connected. I have told her many times to go the "opt out" route, but when she is without me, as every Japanese does, she follows instructions by ( so called ) authority. And she says, if she says "opt out" people behind her might get inconvenienced.
Fact is that every time she goes through the scanning machine she gets an additional pat down, although she wears a work-out/gym type suit and has absolutely nothing, not even a wedding ring on her.
I have promised her that from now on she will never ever fly alone from the U.S. anywhere, it's just that disgusting. At this point she does not want to go back, but we have no choice. We have one more flight back tomorrow and I cannot be with her. Let's cross our fingers.
Fact is that every time she goes through the scanning machine she gets an additional pat down, although she wears a work-out/gym type suit and has absolutely nothing, not even a wedding ring on her.
I have promised her that from now on she will never ever fly alone from the U.S. anywhere, it's just that disgusting. At this point she does not want to go back, but we have no choice. We have one more flight back tomorrow and I cannot be with her. Let's cross our fingers.
Apr 1, 2011, 4:15 am
#90
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: CMH
Programs: Delta Gold Medallion, United
Posts: 433
Mrs EX is home now and we are re-connected. I have told her many times to go the "opt out" route, but when she is without me, as every Japanese does, she follows instructions by ( so called ) authority. And she says, if she says "opt out" people behind her might get inconvenienced.
Fact is that every time she goes through the scanning machine she gets an additional pat down, although she wears a work-out/gym type suit and has absolutely nothing, not even a wedding ring on her.
I have promised her that from now on she will never ever fly alone from the U.S. anywhere, it's just that disgusting. At this point she does not want to go back, but we have no choice. We have one more flight back tomorrow and I cannot be with her. Let's cross our fingers.
Fact is that every time she goes through the scanning machine she gets an additional pat down, although she wears a work-out/gym type suit and has absolutely nothing, not even a wedding ring on her.
I have promised her that from now on she will never ever fly alone from the U.S. anywhere, it's just that disgusting. At this point she does not want to go back, but we have no choice. We have one more flight back tomorrow and I cannot be with her. Let's cross our fingers.