exbayern

I see that you are lumping all people together into an antagonistic group.

Hm, that seems suddenly alarmingly familiar. For what it is worth, I have not called anyone names here I believe in five years, but have here been on the receiving end of demeaning name-calling by at least a few TSOs.

Oh, and yet again today a wonderful, polite, professional experience at MUC. The woman in front of me had 1/3 of a bottle of Apfelschorle which she apparently forgot was in her bag. The person manning the bins in front of the machine found it, and she told him to throw it away. He looked at it, said 'No, you paid for it, drink up now, we'll wait.' And we did.

Professionalism and a little kindness go a long way to reduce stress at the checkpoint.

Edited to add for chollie:

Re terminal noise, I listened for almost 2 hours at MUC. Other than the announcements in the gate (which are only heard in the immediate area), there were 3 announcements
1) would the person who left the black bag containing straw hats return to the Duty Free at gate Gxx
2) would the remaining passengers for flight 999 to xxx urgently come to the gate
3) passengers flying to the US are reminded that due to extra security measures they should be at the gate 60 minutes before departure

That last one was repeated 3x I believe over 90+ minutes. That was it. No shouting, no endless looping tape about liquids, no reminders to say something, not even a reminder about unguarded luggage or smoking.

Unlike when I fly from the US, I didn't need to change and freshen up after security.

halls120

No one shouts at me when I go through security at MEX, YVR, CPH, FRA, BRU, CDG, STR, and MRS. Why have they mastered the simple task of being polite, yet TSA cannot?

TheGolfWidow

These are traits that have been cultivated in the various agencies. Target employees don't naturally say ''Can I help you find something?" and Chik-Fil-A employees don't naturally say "It's my pleasure." It's part of their culture, they are trained to do it. Ditto, TSA's signature customer service.

FLLDL

The shouting and general unprofessional behavior is a huge part of why the TSA is so reviled. The contrast between the shouting, mall security type atmosphere at a US checkpoint vs security at say Tokyo Narita is stark.

chollie

+1000

What is particularly offensive is being shouted at for not knowing a rule that is not posted anywhere (so the 'evil terrorists' won't know what to expect).

Hint: If you have all kinds of special little interpretations/contradictions of the rules posted on the website (joke) or at the checkpoint or on the video monitors or the rules as practiced at most other airports, then it is completely unacceptable to be braying and barking at pax who don't know the 'secret' rules and are thus not prepared.

TSA's CYA excuse for inconsistency at the checkpoint has always been "we have to be inconsistent so the bad guys can't know what to expect and how to prepare."

Of course, this also means there's really no way for a pax to know what to expect and to prepare for it.

chollie

Thanks for the detailed post. Yes, this reflects my usual experience at airports outside the US - not just the civility and courtesy at the checkpoints, but the much lower noise level throughout the terminal as well as at the checkpoint.

mikeef

Give my kids lollipops at your own risk; they'd probably be following you home!

On the other hand, the shouting simply has to go. You'll definitely have more bag checks at first, but it needs to become a permanent part of the landscape. It would simply make the checkpoint a much calmer place for everyone.

Mike

SFOSpiff

Except that this creates an environment of "consistent inconsistency" which means that the bad guys may not even bother charging head-on into it, knowing that while the chances of getting caught are low, the risks are high (i.e. exposing the operation and possibly revealing accomplices, etc.).

Which means they're going to concentrate their efforts in areas where TSA isn't implementing multiple overlapping but poorly implemented methods. I can think of a variety of ways to beat security that TSA has no hope of stopping. And frankly, I'm not that bright. You have to assume the bad guys have thought of them too. And since planes aren't dropping out of the sky on a regular basis, maybe the threats just aren't as high as TSA says they are.

Superguy

Throw in ZRH, GVA, PRG, and ICN too.

It's sad that I enjoy travel so much more outside my own country than in it. Especially when my country is supposed to the be bastion of freedom and an example to the world.

cottonmather0

I've flown through ZRH a couple of times in the past year and both times it was like Bizarro TSA. Ditto in FRA and CDG. I mean, I was familiar with the stuff they were doing (like taking off shoes... only flights to America), but it was also unfamiliar. The security personnel were polite, soft-spoken, friendly. No barking and no tough-guy attitudes at all. Just polite civil servants doing a job without any of the chip-on-shoulder baggage that usually comes from TSA.

RadioGirl

And SYD, MEL, CBR, BNE, PER - aw, heck, every airport in Australia! - AKL, SIN, BKK, HKG, FCO, PMO, TLS, GRU, FOR ...

sbagdon

FRA, LHR, CDG, AMS, FCO, NRT, EZE...

The list grows.

kebosabi

The town crier can be easily be replaced with an audio video monitor saying the same thing and visually showing what to do on auto-repeat in multiple languages. I've seen better security procedures at Six Flags theme parks says a lot how inefficient TSA is.

I've said it before, replace redundant jobs with machines. Much better cost savings than hiring the town crier at every checkpoint across every nation.

Alas, this remarkably common sense approach will never happen because TSA is just a job creation program.

chollie

An electronic barker can be just as useless and grating as a human barker.

I used to fly out of SEA a lot. The recordings are LOUD and many of them are pointless - a LOUD introduction and welcome to SEA from the port director? Who needs that? LOUD recordings booming out at the gate area (which is sometimes a train ride after security) about LGA sizes - huh? I'm at the gate and I'm listening to 15-minute repeats blasts about the size of LGAs allowed through security? Plus recordings about non-smoking, reporting problems to 9-11, unattended bags, etc.

None of this is necessary or helpful at the checkpoint.

There are TSA signs at one SEA checkpoint that have been there since early last fall - promoting the new technology (NoS) that would allow outerwear to stay on. This is inaccurate, pointless, and encourages folks to ignore signs (and barkers and videos) because the content is meaningless and/or inaccurate.

ANY routine that varies widely from airport to airport should be posted at the checkpoint. NO pax should ever be shouted at for not knowing a procedure unique to one airport/FSD/screener. Any deviation from the 'base' requirements on the worthless webpage should be politely posted at intelligent places at the checkpoint.

There are reasons this issue isn't addressed.
1) it takes time and thought. TSA would have to make a concerted effort to place information where it would benefit the pax.

2) someone makes big money off all that worthless c**p at the checkpoint (and throughout the airport). Someone somewhere with good connections is charging the taxpayer outrageous sums for inaccurate signs, videos, monitors, airport-wide recordings. Any reduction or elimination (or, heaven forbid, actual work to produce a good product) would affect some venal supplier's bottom line (which, in turn, probably affects the 'bottom line' of his political enablers).

2) making changes in this area is seen as a passenger-benefit and TSA is not interested in benefiting the pax. Unfortunately, I believe the workforce would also benefit from a quieter workplace and it's hard to believe that all the barkers truly love barking and braying all shift - I would think at least a few of them would welcome the change.

N965VJ

The author of the OP's link admitted to only thinking about an hour on how to improve the TSA, and quite frankly, it shows. There's a lot more wrong than noisy checkpoints, whether or not to give kids candy, value proposition messages, etc.

I've posted my list of TSA solutions many times here. This article just barely touches on some of my ideas, and others that have spent some time thinking about this.

This was an interesting comment, though:

As a 30+ year security veteran and one who directed security at public venues in major cities where security and safety was as vital as in the airport, we never had a problem with incorporating customer service into security - it was a mandate. If you worked security with the public you better be a "good ambassador" of the institution or lose your job.

But that is the difference between the private sector and the public sector. When you lose dollars because your security personnel offends customers, you don't hesitate to lose your security.

Note that we never compromised security if push came to shove, but my people knew 99% of the people they were dealing with were not the bad guys, they were visitors. PLUS we also learned the bad guys don't like being talked to, asked questions, and be noticed, so you made it a point to treat them extra nice (until they leave or run).