Originally Posted by Bart
Absolutely! This is what I've posted from the very beginning of this thread. Just let me clarify a small detail: this applies to people whose disability directly affects their ability to either remove their shoes or consequences of removing their shoes. For instance, a person with a prosthetic leg is not to remove the shoes but a person with a prosthetic arm may. Moreover, a person with diabetes should not remove shoes even if physically able. Elderly people should not be told to remove their shoes.
The primary secondary screening method of footwear for people with disabilities is an ETD sampling. However, a screening supervisor may determine that an x-ray examination may be in order. This would be in those instances when the supervisor determines that it's necessary to resolve any security concerns, but this is an exception rather than the rule.
i can confirm that this is what happened to me at sfo (sept, 1) and las (sept 4).
background on me is that i had ankle surgery 4 years ago and as a result i now need custom orthotics and orthopedic shoes (walking shoes on steriods and as a result i can never again where dress shoes so i have black, brown, and white ones but i digress). in addition, i cannot walk/stand at all on my left foot without the support (i even have plastic ones for showers) so removing my shoes won't work at an airport would mean i'd have to crawl and with that being said, here is what happened.
sfo
informed the x-ray loader that i have a medical condition and gave the reason. called a supervisor over and explained the situation to her. i was asked what kind of orthotics they were and told her hard plastic and neoprene (wet suit material). pass thru the wtmd with no alarm and was give the full seconday as if you alarm (pat down and wand) including a swab of my shoes and hands.
las
informed the x-ray loader that i have a medical condition and gave the reason. told to "tell it to the person at the metal detector". did just that and told to wait for a supervisor and it became the old game of telephone becasue by the time it got to her, it was "he won't remove his shoes". she was having one of those days cuz she yelled, i yelled but when she realized it is can't vs won't, that was it-i went thru, no alarm so just a shoe swab.
i also want to add that the supervisor at sfo was good in the fact that she asked the right quesions (i.e. what kind of orthotics) but needs to have remedial customer service training as you never ever roll your eyes while facing and talking to a "client as that is what she did when i explained my situation as if to imply, "oh, joy, now i have to deal with this"
now, the supervisor at the ua gates in las is simply outstanding. as i said, she came over yelling "sir, you have to remove your shoes" and i yelled back with the info from the tsa website along with it's "i can't not i won't" and wtih that she said you're right and apologized. it didn't end there-after my screening, i called her over so i could apologize for yelling at at her and with that she put her arm around me and said "hey, it was my bad, your bad-but we got it figured out and i'll make sure that my crew is aware as it looks like they forgot about what was said in our team meeting the other day about shoe exceptions". i told her that right/wrong- agree/disagree, the rules are there and they have to be followed and she agreed with me. we also spoke briefly about the bring/can't bring rules and this woman was as open and honest with me as i was with her and it was truly a pelasure to deal with someone who can use their customer service training the way it's supposed to be used and take what could have been an ugly situation and make it work so the customer is happy and the risk is mitigated.
so those are my 2 experiences and hope all that made sense
both were simple as neither (even at las) took no longer than 10 mintues for me to go thru
well done tsa/sfo-ua dn tsa/las-ua ^
(n.b. please forgive any typos but it's mondfay evening-just got back from las and shall we say, just a bit tired
)