Sorry, pal, but the thread, if you care to look at the title, is worded to read that TSA has changed its policy regarding MREs. This is completely untrue. That's my point.

As for screeners who fail to follow policy correctly at other airports, that's beyond my control. I can only influence what happens on my shift and at my airport. I come to this website to inform passengers what the correct policy is so that if they find themselves in a similar situation, then they can at least challenge the judgment call at the scene, hopefully get a supervisor to intervene and make the correct policy decision. I truly believe in passengers' rights and informing people when their rights have been violated. Of course, this relies on supervisors being competent professionals who are not afraid of doing what is right as opposed to covering up what may eventually turn out to be an embarrassment. Unfortunately, there are supervisors out there who will defend a screener, even when they know the screener is wrong, because they don't have the testicle fortitude to admit when a mistake has been made.

As I've posted frequently, leadership in TSA leaves a lot to be desired. But I often wonder if TSA happens to have flaws in leadership or if this is a reflection of our society today. Yesterday, I had a problem with a floor supervisor at a store where I purchased a product and expected a service to be performed. I was disappointed. I spoke with the store manager and explained my concerns. The biggest problem, I explained, was the poor communications skills his floor supervisor had. While I was greatly upset at the lack of service, I was even more upset at that supervisor's poor communications skills which led me to believe that another customer would receive the same poor service down the road. So I couched my concern in terms that this is not just a one-time occurrence; it may be something that will become a trend and result in customer disatisfaction, leading to loss of future business which could all be prevented with the proper oversight. (Should have seen the manager's reaction; he was glad I wasn't yelling and appreciated my comments; offered me all sorts of discounts which I turned down: my focus was on fixing a problem that was well within his scope and capabilities.)

The point behind this digression is that the policy is sound. Yes, it can be improved in certain areas and there's the whole risk-management versus risk-avoidance thing, but the policy itself IS a good policy. The problem is with the leadership that either doesn't monitor how the policy is being carried out OR who does NOT know the correct policy. But this isn't something limited to just TSA. Not making an excuse...just an observation.