Actually, I think it's an accurate statistic. During a typical day of processing somewhere between 8,000 to 10,000 people at my terminal alone, perhaps three to five people will actually have something to complain about the way they were screened. A great majority of these complaints deal mostly with why they were selected for additional screening (the SSSS on their boarding passes). Of these three to five people, perhaps one or two of them will ask for a complaint form and maybe one of them will fill it out. They either fill it out at the checkpoint or at their own convenience and then mail it in. However, this is not to say that we average one complaint a day. Actually, it's more like one or two in a two-week period.

Does this mean that everybody is satisfied with airport screening? Not at all. What it does mean is that people tend to voice their frustrations and then leave it at that. Very few go to the next step of actually doing something about it either because they're in a hurry, they're skeptical that anything will be done or they change their minds for whatever reason. Just to be fair, there are a number who accept the explanations given to them for whatever it is they are complaining about. And I've had some passengers compliment me on my professionalism, courtesy and understanding; they made it clear to me that they were complaining about the system itself and not me personally. I completely understand that, and we seem to always part on good terms after I've explained how to fill out the complaint form and where to mail it.

As for the pat-down itself, it is rare that we get a complaint about that. The vast majority of the complaints deal with the selectee process and the shoe policy. (Although I get a feeling that the lighter ban policy will soon be the number one complaint.)

The same also holds true for compliments. We do receive more compliments than we do complaints; however, a lot of them are verbal, and very few people submit written compliments. Even so, of those who submit something in writing, the compliments consistently outnumber the complaints. There are also a number of compliments we receive indirectly because they are submitted to the airport manager or the particular airline the passenger flew that day.

I'm not trying to paint a rosey picture here. I'm just sharing that at San Antonio at least, the great majority of the people who travel out of there are generally pleased with our security screening. We do have our fair share of people who are not happy either about a specific incident or with the general principle behind security screening.