Originally Posted by
Mats
I missed a flight in Tucson, Arizona because of SPOT. I arrived 60 minutes in advance my flight with hand luggage only, and I had already checked in.
A man in <TSA> uniform felt the need to question every passenger with absurd questions and strange grammar. Many people missed their flights. The staff from United were in an uproar because they had to re-accommodate so many people. Passengers were crying in the queue, knowing that they'd miss their flights.
Tucson actually has customs and boarder patrol as well: an immigration officer stops and questions "select" passengers, by which I mean women who look Hispanic/Latina and who are carrying Mexican passports. (There are no international flights from the airport).
So you have to deal with the SPOTnik and, if you're unlucky or have the indecency to be brown-skinned, you get CBP too. (Yes, it's legal, due to proximity to the Mexican border.)
The actual TSA metal detector and x-ray was less than five minutes This featured a TSA man raising his voice that I didn't have a laptop. He didn't believe me. I guess I had time go buy one and come back.
I'm sure that SPOT saved millions of lives that day. I should probably arrange for a medal of honour for the SPOT officer who helped me and others miss their flights that day. He's a hero.
I still question the constitutional ability for the TSA screening to begin outside of "TSA custody." My understanding is that screening begins when one presents identification and a boarding card. But the SPOT questioning that delayed everyone took pace before entering the TSA's control. Has anyone ever challenged them on this?
(bolding mine)
This made me laugh - and frown.
I am so sick of belt monitors who get rude when they bark at me about taking out my non-existent laptop. I'm sick of effectively being called a liar because I don't have a laptop to take out. I'm sick of bullying TSOs who owe me an apology for calling me a liar.
If you are reading this and you are one of the TSOs who stand by and watch while your co-workers do this and you don't 'see something, say something', then you are equally deserving of my contempt, because by your silence, you are condoning and supporting his/her behavior.
They can, and have, questioned people in the landside areas and even in the parking lots. Authority? You have the right to refuse - and they have the right to retaliate by making you miss your flight or putting you on a watch list or calling the cops on you. If you have Pre, it will get suspended or revoked. That's all the 'authority' needed.