TSA "Drill" at AUS this AM
 

The TSA is on the ball this morning. As if slow checkpoints weren't enough (lines hundreds of yards long), at one point they completely obstructed the terminal, prohibiting movement between the checkpoint and about a third of the gates beyond it, holding a "drill" to block traffic as if there was a suspicious object found.

No REAL report of a suspicious object. Just a drill. And the minions we're visibly enjoying holding up their hands and shouting "STOP!" at oncoming passengers.

When asked how long they'd be prohibited, no answer was given... and people were starting to get visibly upset as many had flights leaving relatively soon.

Then, out of nowhere, the drill was over. Just like that.

Thank god for the TSA pretending to keep us safe!

Ah -- the much-maligned BRAVO exercise! Did they all start a mumble/chant like a 60s seance? Usually, a senior clerk will thank everyone in line for participating.

Man, I wish I could encounter a Bravo game and get to participate in my own special way...or refuse thereto.

Again, what most of the traveling public doesn't seem to realize is that these _______ [preempted moderation] only succeed at acting this way and inconveniencing people because the travelers themselves let TSA get away with it. If everyone ignored their "stop signs" and just walked right on through, they wouldn't do it anymore. Same logic as Opt-out Day and the scanners - if we didn't let them do it, they couldn't do it.

The blue shirts at AUS never cease to amaze me. :rolleyes:

I've witnessed these "shows" in ONT and PHX.:rolleyes:

I got one at HOU. I kept walking. A woman on the moving sidewalk, turned off for the drill, screeched at me that "THEY SAID TO STOP!" I said to her that if they want me to stop then they will have to physically do so. No drill for me. I did not feel like playing.

AUS is on my personal DNF list.

I wonder how TSA expects to communicate the message to hearing-impaired or non-English speaking pax? Or do they assume that folks in these categories will blindly emulate the actions of everyone else around them?

Depending on the situation, my first instinct if everyone freezes and starts gawking is to move for cover, not to freeze and gawk, especially if I can't hear clearly, have headset/earphones on, terminal tape loops and CNN are blaring, I'm jet-lagged and tuning everything out....

I would love to see the crowd respond to the shouted "STOP" with "in the name of love...before you break my heart. Think it over..."

Because we know it's just theatre, after all.

Hmmm... my friend sends me files of her opera performances for me to critique. I wonder what would happen if I shouted "BRAVO BRAVO BRAVO" after a perfectly sung aria.

From my experience lately at Austin's west checkpoint, it typically has a line with hundreds of people in it during the early morning hours. It queues all the way to the Southwest check-in and back past the AA and UA desks. If you don't show up two hours before your flight (or have elite privileges) you're probably going to miss your flight.

So with that in mind, imagine waiting to go through one of the 3 lines (two with NoS) and then rushing to your flight, only to miss it because the TSA is playing a "what-if" game.

"Stand there where you are, before you go too far, before you make a fool out of lo-ove..."

Mike

I have brought this up several times.

So far no really answer at all.

Some has said they will punish you.

No one from my family really want to travel here anymore.

They were people spending money here. They go to other countries.

I wasn't in the mood to push it this morning, having overslept and missed my early flight, then stood up to a TSA clerk to the point of obtaining an APD case number and badge information for the TSA clerk and APD officer (the APD officer was professional, but clearly worked *for* the TSA and not the other way around).

It is rather odd that given a pretend explosive device that TSA would stop people in the open and not direct them to cover. I would like to see it again, if only to ask clearly and plainly "is there a bomb? Should I take cover?"

Sure glad I wasn't there today. Don't have much patience.