lyric1863

Here lies a lot of the problem. A passenger is treated like a mentally slow 2 year old because at one airport the laptop is out of the bag in its own tray, 2 hours later, the laptop is on top of the laptop bag. The same case with shoes - in the tray, out of the tray?...it varies from airport to airport. Is chapstick a gel? in the ziploc bag? out of it? It seems no matter what I do or what was right at one airport, is very different at the next. And I have not even tried a cupcake yet! Nor have I ever needed to opt out or get patted down. I am a normal customer of the airline just trying to board the plane with minimal hassle.

I am smart. I own my own company. I get along just fine in day to day life until I am at an airport apparently.

I don't appreciate as a paying customer of the airline being yelled at like a naughty child because I did not do something 'right'. I am trying. But airport to airport, TSA employee to TSA employee has a different view on very basic things.

The same basic rules, not the super secret element of surprise for the terrorist rules need to apply airport to airport.

FliesWay2Much

...Congress.

exbayern

And the TSA apparently promotes incorrect information.

A few weeks ago I was at one of the largest airports in the US, listening to blaring messages outside the terminal that liquids less than 3oz were permitted past the checkpoint.

This is false.

exbayern

I hate to be a broken record, but why does this not occur at other airports around the world? Take an airport like FRA, one of the largest hubs, with thousands of people travelling every day who do not speak German or English, who are first time or very infrequent travellers, who come from places with different rules, etc etc.

And yet the attitude tends to be very different towards those who make errors, or bring something not permitted. They are not shouted at, barked at, belittled, etc. Usually they are treated with respect, and given options (checking the item, drinking the item, purchasing a 1 litre bag, etc)

There is such a significant difference in the culture of TSA, and the lack of professionalism of the position, compared to security in other parts of the world.

RadioGirl

I agree with you completely.

Furthermore, I notice that airports OUTSIDE the USA manage quite well without the barking, the shouting, or even a screener telling each person what to do. I don't observe any level of confusion, even among apparently infrequent travellers.

What I observe in Australia, NZ, Japan, Singapore and numerous European airports is that people queue up and do what the people in front of them do. @:-) If they have a question they ask one of the security people, who answers politely and quietly to that one person. If the screener notices a "mistake" like liquids left in the bag or jacket not removed, they quietly correct the passenger and help them resolve the issue; they don't point them out as an example and yell instructions at the rest of the line. Yes, it means that they probably have to tell dozens of people the same thing rather than shouting it once , but they seem to understand that that's part of the job.

The other problem is that the TSA has made the process so complicated (compared to pre-9/11 or to other countries). Formerly it was: 1) metal out of pockets, 2) put bag on x-ray conveyor, 3) WTMD, 4) collect bag. Now there's the ID/BP check (and maybe a second one ) with unpredictable combinations of ID presented vs IDs accepted by this specific TDC. Then it's metal out of pockets, laptops out, shoes off, jackets off, belts off, liquids out. Then there's the WTMD vs NoS lottery and the NoS vs opt out decision, and then the opt-out-patdown explanation or the post-NoS patdown. Then the passenger has to collect shoes, jacket, belt and redress, and liquids and laptop and repack. Instead of removing some of these steps (seriously, the TDC could go without any decrease in 'security') and then, as lyric said, making the rest consistent, the TSA keeps adding 'layers' and rewarding inconsistency, and then complains that it's the passengers who don't know what they're doing.

chollie

You left out random 'Kindles/all electronics out' and shoes on/off the belt (that's really important at some checkpoints).

InkUnderNails

It is because Americans, and by that I mean U.S.A. citizens, are taught that they are superior to everyone else in the world. The less educated the person the more prevalent the belief. They often spend entire lives never interacting with people of other regions in the U.S. much less people from different countries. People in the south are taught to not like northerners. Northerners are taught that southerners are stupid. California is derided as the land of fruits and nuts. Coastal dwellers look down their noses at flyover dwellers. If one is foreign or unusual or does not speak English, they are viewed with suspicion.

I can say this as I am one, a U.S. citizen, that is. I travel all over the country and I run into these attitudes everywhere I go. No area is immune. None. I do not care where you live in the U.S. there is a significant portion of your cohabitants that are rude, misunderstanding, ignorant or generally unknowing about people in areas outside your particular region.

The only ones that seem to have learned otherwise are highly frequent travelers. There are good people working in the travel industry such as hoteliers and airline personnel. National sales and service people are also different.

Airport employees surprisingly are not, except those that work for the airlines. This includes the TSA. Restaurants, particularly those that do not cater to upper level customers, are also regional centered.

It is the way it is. As a southerner, I constantly find people that are surprised I wear shoes, that I have some intelligence, that I understand various cultures, that I speak in whole sentences and avoid regional slang, that I do not drive a pickup truck with a gun in the window (I have a pick up and a gun, just not in the window), and that I am not married to my cousin. My southern friends are surprised to learn that not all Yankees are arrogant, insufferable boors, although a few are. Most Californians are nice, decent folks. City dwellers are okay, but we do not understand how they can live so close together no matter how much they may like art, opera and ballet.

If we can not respect our own fellow citizens across regions, how suspicious must we be about foreigners, you know, the ones that have never even bothered to learn a simple language like English? Sheesh, how hard could it be, I did? Foreigners have weird customs, traditions and religions. They wear funny clothes. Some of them want to kill us. It is the reason we have the TSA, don't ya know?

Like most people all over the world, I love where I live. It is familiar and comfortable like a well-worn shirt. It is where my family and friends live. For many years, but not so much any more, it was the dream of folks to live here, the "Land of Liberty." We are not that so much anymore. We have sacrificed our liberty on the altar of safety and security and we are the worse for it. If anything, we have become more suspicious of "different" people.

I am privileged to have a job where I meet nice folks from just about everywhere. I have learned that despite our differences, and they are legion, that in the end we all want to work at something we can do well, get paid close to what we are worth, be respected for the value we contribute and have time left over to play with the kids and spend times with our significant others, to use the modern term.

Our problem seems to be a uniquely American curse.

I am saddened that more do not have the opportunity to learn differently as I have. We are too vast geographically to interact with ourselves on a constant basis and we are isolated by two oceans from most of the people in the world. Even our two neighbors are beginning to distrust us.

I have gone on too long. But you asked. Europeans have a cultural interdependency that we have never nurtured with even Canada or Mexico. Asia, as vast as it is, has a remarkable history of shared values and customs. South America has a lot of shared heritage as well. It is similar with the African subcontinent, although less so with the northern Africa and the odd old former colony at the southern tip. The near and middle east is a mess, but it has always been a mess, and is curiously a shared mess and creates a strange and strained sort of unstable stability, at least for now. Australia and New Zealand seem to be their own little paradises that seem to get along with about everyone.

So the short answer is that the TSA is made up of fairly typical Americans, ignorant of everyone except themselves, their family, and the world within a one day drive. Maybe the best training program for the TSA, as expensive as it would be, would be to make them put on regular clothes, get on an airplane and fly somewhere where the people are not like they are. Stay a while. Get to know them, eat their food and observe and respect their customs. Learn to really understand their beliefs in the supernatural, however it may be expressed, if expressed at all.

I have got to end this with an answer. We really do not treat foreigners any different than we treat each other. We do not understand each other. We do not understand foreigners. We are equal opportunity irritants.

chollie

^^

Ink, your posts are always great, but you've really outdone yourself tonight. Absolutely terrific post, spot on.

jtodd

Spot on Ink!

fishferbrains

Wonderfully stated Ink.

I have had the pleasure and opportunity to reside abroad and lead teams in Asia, Europe and the US for the past 3 years.

America is a nation in early adolescence and as such is prone to youthful idealism, naďveté, and the desire to control world around them. It is subject to outbursts of violence and compassion.

Americans do "need to get out more" and engage the world on their terms and not their own. Only then will we develop a broader understanding. Only then will we gather respect.

exbayern

Thank you Ink for taking the time to write that carefully thought out reply.

Let me start by saying that I am well aware that every country, culture, region has its share of idiots, and small-minded people. I have travelled to almost every state in the US and spent significant amounts of time working and holidaying there. I have also spent time in countries all over the world. I do as well spend a lot of time on a small number of travel-related message boards, and most are English language (I haven't found any significant, interesting, diverse ones in any other language)

But it does seem that there is a unique mindset, especially amongst the infrequent travellers, or those who have not been outside the US in their lifetime (and many seem to have no desire to do so). Even here on FT I sense it at times. (How often for instance do we see FTers convinced that the TSA rules are applicable all around the world?)

fish, your comment about adolescence is also interesting.

Again, I appreciate the responses.

InkUnderNails

Thanks to each of you for reading an excessively long post.

Adolescence is a good description. An old building where I live is 100 years old. In New England, I see them that are 300 years old or more from time to time. That should give an indication to the rest of the world how historically "immature" we are over here. 300 years old in parts of Europe is a modern development. And compared to East Asia and the Ancient Near East, Europe is a relative newcomer.

BearX220

Ironically, though, screaming at passengers doesn't project control or authority. It bespeaks desperation and makes everything worse. In parenting, when you lose your shirt and start yelling at your kids, it means you're out of energy and ideas and are resorting to brutalism. It doesn't solve problems or improve your relationship with your children. TSA is in the same boat.

You are quite correct. I have never had a screener in Europe or Asia yell at me the way TSOs routinely yell at visitors from Europe or Asia.

In fact, to prove your point, I was passing through FRA earlier this month with my E-Z Scan briefcase, where the laptop stays in. I unzipped it to expose the laptop sleeve and it was headed through the scanner when the woman in charge stopped me gently and explained that Germany doesn't recognize the E-Z Scan bags -- but in an utterly friendly way, apologetic rather than corrective. She ended up asking me if she could show the bag to her colleagues as some hadn't seen one before. It was a perfectly civil exchange in a combination of English and my pidgin German, of the sort you never, ever see at US checkpoints. All arising from her baseline assumption that I was what I was -- a tired, rumpled businessman on my way to work -- and not an ignorant maniac with mayhem on my mind.

That "strategic inconsistency" is a cover story for an out-of-control corps of essentially amateur (compared to rest-of-world) screeners that resists training or sanctions. When you can't change something so visible, you claim it's part of your master plan (cf. Pee Wee Herman: "I meant to do that"). TSA is lumbered with non-professionals whom they can neither improve nor fire. Therefore, they meant to do that, and their lapses and abuses are policy... and any failure to comprehend or comply is your fault.

The same is true for certain classes of Britons, where security is much more effective and less abusive / ridiculous than in the US. I would gently disagree that Babbitry and local chauvinism / ignorance are a "uniquely American curse"; Britain has its ignorant yobs whose worldview is defined by vacations on Spanish beaches in search of Watney's Red Barrel (cf. Monty Python). But your point, indeed your whole post, is well taken.

Absolutely right. Especially when you consider the socioeconomic strata attracted to TSO work... for many, it's this or deliver Pizza Hut in an '88 Corolla. London or Paris might as well be Neptune or Pluto.

StanSimmons

This is so true.

When I was working with some folks in Zurich we decided, over beers, that the biggest difference between Americans and Europeans was that Americans thought that 200 years was a long time... and Europeans thought that 200 miles was a long distance.

doober

IOW, still in the "it's all about me" stage.

Great post, Ink. I enjoy reading everything you write.