<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by LexPassenger:
TUS: "inconvenient"... "assinine"
I would add "counterproductive" and "pointless".
Most of what you do is to reassure idiots. Very little of it makes us any safer. It consumes multi-billions of dollars. It drives many of us away from flying, flying less or not at all.
It is an honest job in the sense that you show up for work. But of the millions of passengers harassed, the best that can be said is that it's not too bad.
There IS NO RELATIONSHIP between this crap and the THREAT. It is VAST OVERREACTION. Your anecdote about the elephants is VERY TELLING. Your entire operation is a grand effort to keep elephants from rampaging here in Lexington, Kentucky. Wow! What a success!
IT IS KILLING AIRLINES and dissuading many of us from flying.
If we devoted this proportion of resources to common colds, we would be broke in a week.
"Torture" is a loaded term, meant to inflame. I have never seen my wife as angry as she gets being harassed in "randomized secondary" security. For her, this is absolute, pure torture, whatever your expertise from the government indicates.
The facts are that your bosses are pursuing the work of Osama Bin Laden by strangling American airlines much more thoroughly and successfully than he ever imagined. And it is your deputy sheriffs who want to fondle my crotch and screeners who want to separate my wife from her carry-ons while harassing her "because they weren't busy" who are doing irreparable damage to American airlines.
Your bosses are fools, and I will give you credit for being an honest employee, but if you buy that crap you are a fool too.</font>
For the record, the airlines were bleeding out before the TSA was created. Furthermore, it is only the big six that are dying, more due to poor management than anything the TSA has done. Not all the airlines are dying. Jet-Blue being one whose revenues rose 63% in the first quarter of THIS year.
http://biz.yahoo.com/p/j/jblu.html
So no Mr. Chicken Little. The TSA is NOT killing the airlines, their business plan is. You FF guys might not be flying as often because of it, but that is your own fault, the leisure flyer is still out there and still flying, as are many "business" travellers. As an aside, the customer service that United Express shows at my airport borders on the criminal. I have seen shouting matches initiated by the airline employees result in police response. I guess poor customer service by the airlines is the fault of the TSA too.
If ANY of you guys think that going back to private screeners is going to change ANYTHING, then you are sadly mistaken. The TSA will STILL be there calling the shots. The ONLY thing that will change is the signature on my paycheck and the uniform I wear. My pay and benefits will be the same, my screening manager and up will be the same guys. No sir, you guys can complain all you want, the "empire" has been built, and politicians being what they are, their buddies come first.
Again, I challenge you to PROVE the TSA has not foiled a SINGLE terrorist act. You cannot, nor can I prove it has. A negative is impossible to prove. However, we CAN prove that the prior screening directives did nothing to prevent anything. Nor was there a requirement that the screeners be US citizens, or even have a working knowledge of the english language. Thats all the creation of the TSA did, strengthen the directives, and require citizenship and language skills in english.