RedSnapper

I got escorted out of PIT by the police again a couple of weeks ago. Nothing has changed, though they didn't waste as much time trying to talk me into the voluntary screening process, since they recognized me from last time. The TSA held me there until they closed the international arrivals checkpoint, then at that point they turned me over to the police, who walked me out. The wait was only about 1/2 hour this time, since the flight from CDG was nearly half empty.

I did notice signs trying to explain why those leaving the airport were subject to TSA screening. Nowhere was it noted that the real reason was because they simply didn't bother to release passengers landslide. They've been aware of the problem for at least a year now, a problem that could have been fixed by adding a shuttle bus. I was told there was no plan to change anything.

I counted between 6-8 blue shirts at and around the arrivals checkpoint at various times, screening people who were going to just walk out the door. Meanwhile, the primary checkpoint screening those entering the airport was backed up to the parking garage, worse than I'd ever seen. Your taxpayer dollars at work...

jtodd

^

Good for you! This is TSA and airport stupidity at it's finest/worst, whatever your preference may be.

Often1

This is purely architectural. I very much doubt that either PIT or MEM, with failing intl. service are going to spend on building a "chute" which would dump exiting intl. pax directly landside.

Caradoc

Of course. Why waste the one-time cost of putting in an exit for passengers not connecting to they can escape the blue-gloved gropes when they can continue to waste money on a daily basis by going through the motions of having a cluster of unskilled workers standing around texting each other for the majority of each shift?

thomwithanh

So you're saying that if I opt-out and head right for the exit, I won't have SSSS printed on my boarding pass the next time I fly?

mahohmei

Flying domestically, I have taken "airside buses" at both PHL and DCA to let me change terminals without having to deal with the TSA. I'm too young to remember: did airside buses even exist before 9/11? Or did passengers simply exit and re-clear security at the terminal with their connecting flight?

At airports where inbound international passengers have to deal with the TSA, could the airports simply operate buses? It would be quite simple: a shuttle operating between a gate at the "non-sterile" international arrivals area and the nearest terminal entrance curbside. No re-checking, no TSA.

This would be great amenity for airports, just like PHL's "avoid the TSA" airside bus to get to and from terminal F. As the international arrivals area and terminal curbside entrance are both "non-sterile", this shuttle bus would be completely outside the TSA's jurisdiction, and they wouldn't be able to do too much to stop it.

Flahusky

MCO AFAIK hasn't used TSA to harass TATL pax in almost a year.
You deplane, pass threw customs, queue for the tram to the main terminal then walk out.

FliesWay2Much

...and, combined with the reality that most Americans are ambivalent enough to care so little about their Constitutional protections that they are willing to allow themselves to be groped, fondled, irradiated, and treated like a criminal/terrorist by the TSA just to leave the airport and pick up their cars!

Global_Hi_Flyer

So it's perfectly OK to waste (taxpayer) money on TSA screening of folks that don't need it as opposed to spending a the cost of those same screeners on physical improvements to the facility.

Jobs program indeed.

cottonmather0

This is the part I just don't understand. How the local governments that control the airport just don't give a you know what about the situation and let it happen. If I lived in one of those cities, that kind of ambivalence would be a number one issue for me: speaking at city council meetings, running for office, harassing elected officials via the internet. It just seems really really wrong that they would unnecessarily subject their constituents to this nonsense.

FliesWay2Much

I think there's a couple of reasons:

1. This really doesn't cost airport authorities a dime to have the TSA harass willing people.

2. More clerks = more local jobs.

3. Even if everyone of us complained and even staged a sit-in, we aren't enough of a voting block to make a difference. So, they don't have to listen to us because we don't matter.

jtodd

Kind of like the Constitution in their eyes.

WillCAD

Local official responses will universally be something along the lines of, "Airport security is handled by the TSA, a federal agency, over which we have no control or input. Please direct all of your questions and concerns to the TSA at tsa.gov."

TSA's response will naturally be, "Out of an abundance of caution, TSA screens every passenger with dignity and sensitivity. If you see something, say something! 9/11!"

mahohmei

When TLH got its NoS, the local media ran your typical praise-and-worship articles about it, and not a word criticizing it. I'm wondering when a local government or airport authority gets the stones to do any of the following:

- Post signs in the airport pointing out that you have a right to opt out.

- Monitor the TS"O"s like hawks. Cameras on all TS"O"s, and stream the recordings off-site where the TSA can't destroy it. Have cops on the ready at the airport to defuse barkers, stop "delays with intent to miss", remind the TDCs that NEXUS is acceptable, and arrest TS"O"s the instant they perform an assault or theft. The cops would also do very regular undercover stings: attractive woman through security, iPad in a plastic bin, or a checked bag with a laptop in it.

RedSnapper

Per your observation, I've just removed MCO from the list. ATL has already been removed due to the new international terminal with an exit to the outside. This leaves the list of offenders at: CLE, CLT, CVG, MEM, PIT.