Originally Posted by sbm12
My understanding is that the majority of checked bags are screened automatically by the computers. Some subset of those are seconded to humans that look at the images on the screens. And of those any that cannot be cleared are then manually screened. So it goes.
Oh, right. I forgot that every airport in the whole farkin' country has EDS machines and we're stuck with 100% ETD setup here in Huntsville. Lifting every single bag onto a table, swabbing them by hand, testing them manually, putting them back onto the belt... hoy. I personally would just
love to get even
one of those EDS machines here.
Originally Posted by Superguy
If anything, I think TSA or the FAA should have an oversight role, set the rules and conduct inspections to ensure that reasonable standards...
...At least for the next few years, move it over to a model like SFO and put the burden on the airlines.
The problem with that is that, by and large, the airlines and airports don't
want to do it. SFO isn't unique - there were, I think, five airports chosen to be testing grounds for private screening. One of them performed better than TSA, one of them performed considerably less than TSA, the other three performed about on average with TSA. Once the test was over, there was a general offer made for any airport in the country to go private if it wanted to. Off-hand, I want to say only one or two, maybe three, actually chose to go with private screening, and one of the test airports actually chose to switch to TSA screening.
Realistically, there's not
much of a difference. The TSOs, the LTSOs, and the STSOs are all private security screeners. You can argue all you want to that private companies are more concerned with customer satisfaction, but the fact remains that unless they are specifically beholden to the public-at-large to stay in business, then that's not generally true. They would not be getting paid money from the travelers, but from the airlines and the airport itself, and still have to do every exactly the way TSA has been.
And, sometimes, you can't even tell the difference -- we had a lady transfer from upstate New York (where they were a private security screening company) to Huntsville, and wherever she transferred from wore the TSA uniforms exactly as we do. Their only difference was a paperwork one. And the fact that she wore a US flag pin on the front pocket of her uniform, which she had to take off because it violated the dress code.