exerda

I encounter this frequently at IAD. There are 1-2 more TSOs standing within 5-10 feet of the TDC stations, and they stop about 1 in 3 pax to ask to see their BP and ID.

Rarely, they do an ETD swab of one's hands (I've run into that only once, but the 2nd ID check probably 6-8 times this fall).

Honestly, is there ANY (valid) reason for an ID & BP check within a couple of paces of the original document check? On at least one occasion, this TSO had clearly seen two different TDCs look at my BP & ID already (they were conferring over whether or not NEXUS was acceptable), yet felt the need to take a look herself, too.

WindOfFreedom

Probably trying to justify her existence.

Combat Medic

Jobs program.

saulblum

When you start to view the TSA as a massive federal make-work program and not as an agency that provides security, a lot of procedures start to make sense.

RichardKenner

I've seen this at FLL when there are some TSO's "working the line" before TDC. Some have said they're BDO's.

iluv2fly

At LGA, they still make you show your BP to pass through the magnetometer after having been checked at the magic blue light TSA stand only 20 feet before itI guess a lot can change in those mere 20 feet.

tkey75

Kinda like Communist Russia of old. When mechanical cash registers finally landed there, they couldn't fire the original cashiers, though they needed new ones trained on registers, so they had the original person run an abacus to verify the cash register.

clrankin

For those folks, does one have the option of declining their request to view ID? TSA has said in the past that their screening procedures start at the TDC - just wondering if they've reversed their position.

On a recent flight out of DCA, I ran into one of the rent-a-cops asking to see my BP and ID. I politely declined, by suggesting that TSA's procedures only required me to show the documents to them - and the person simply walked away. Just wondering if there is yet another "random" change in things or "if it's just done differently" down in FLL.

WillCAD

They used to do that at BWI, as well, but they seemed to have stopped by late 2010. I almost understood the reasoning - the TDC was originally there merely to make sure that only ticketed passengers (or those with gate passes) could pass through security, and the TDC was originally placed farther from the WTMD than they are today, leaving enough roped queue area that, in a very crowded situation, people could have possibly slipped into the line past the TDC. Of course, the solution would have been simple - move the TDC closer to the WTMD. But BWI decided that they'd back up the TDC by having the WTMD operator check your BP as you entered the portal. It wasn't a terribly big hassle and actually did act as a "layer" to plug a potential hole in the previous layer, which was about 40-50' away.

Today, the TDCs are simply a lot closer to the WTMD, and the barriers between the landside and the checkpoint are a bit more robust, making it highly unlikely that anyone could slip into the line past the TDC, so the WTMD/AIT operators no longer want to see your BP.

MrColdShower

I'm pretty sure they do this because of what happened at IAD last February:

http://consumerist.com/2011/02/80-ye...ding-pass.html

Because of one screw-up almost a year ago, we are now subject to this nonsense.

tkey75

A year? The knee-jerker must have been asleep.

goalie

I encountered this nonsense a little over a year ago at SFO and I'm waiting for it to happen again as where I always check-in on-line but reprint my bp's when I get to the airport, I show the airport/kiosk printed BP to the TDC but always have the un-marked/un-scribbled OLCI BP ready to show to the second TSO just to see their reaction

MrColdShower

It actually started shortly after this incident, if memory serves.

RichardKenner

That was to check for SSSS since that's the way it was handled there. But I haven't seen this done in a while.

RadioGirl

It's been reported, on and off at numerous airports, since TSA started.

I experienced it at IAD in 2002; my brother said "they're making the process as ridiculous as they can so that if another attack does happen, they can ask 'well, do you want us to make it even worse?' " Right theory, but little did he know how much worse it could get.

I can't find the original post from years ago, but someone here described how he asked the second ID checker what was wrong with the first ID checker, less than 10 feet away. Her response was "I naw dem; dey naw me." Brilliant.