Originally Posted by
gsoltso
I am not arguing your points at all, they are all valid and part of the thought process. The only point I will make is that sometimes other factors come into play and create a situation where the Pre lane has to shut down. I elaborated on that a bit in my previous comment. Just like with Boggie, he has a point that the service level should be the same across the board - the point I make there is the same, some situations simply do not allow for that to happen at all times.
If it was a rarity, it still might get brought up on FT, but I don't think the inefficiency and, frankly, the unfathomable Kafkaesque arbitrariness, of airport security would be such a large part of the general dissatisfaction with modern air travel.
Closed lanes while staff is visibly apparently unoccupied is in fact emblematic of bureaucracies expressing their disdain for the public they are paid to serve. They know how it looks. Frankly, like Rhett Butler, they don't give a damn.
TSA is simply another form of DMV in this regard. And consequently, TSO's are afforded exactly the respect for their occupation that DMV clerks receive.
And that's the dynamic. Management sees the whole operation as an exercise in meeting statistical goals, rather than providing a security
service to passengers. Employees understand this and basically see passengers as impediments to achieving Management's goals.
And customers respond with barely disguised contempt for the employees for shouting, sneering, and bullying them.
Hell of a way to run a railroad.