gsoltso

I will defer to your experience in the other airports, and I will explain a bit more what I mean by organized chaos. First, the TSOs should not be yelling in a checkpoint (I know, I know, they do at some locations, but they shouldn't - it is counterproductive and only escalates any unease a passenger may be feeling), there are some cases where a TSO may raise their voice to be able to communicate with a group of people when relaying information (due to background noise levels) - but that is a far stretch from yelling at people. When I worked at LAX, in the International terminal, it was like watching a sociology video on varying cultures and languages trying to shoehorn into a 4000 square foot area and work together... It is not impossible, and in many cases it is fairly easy, but to me, it could only be described as organized chaos. I have seen people explaining the same thing (such as please send your items through the xray) to people from different countries, speaking different languages and getting just as many different responses. You do have a point that the rules here are completely different than many of the other countries out there, and it is a more involved process - and that adds to the chances for confusion, and increased levels of chaos. Scary may be the wrong term to use when describing the average checkpoint, you actually used better terminology with words like industrial, boxy and the like. I am not scared entering a checkpoint much of anywhere that I am likely to visit, but I work for TSA, so that is a moot point. Confusion is an easy state to arrive at in many American airports, there is a ton of signage, not all of it is complimentary, and then there are times where the people (and TSOs) around the passenger are giving some instructions that are different than the signage. Add in the people that have an inherent fear of flying, crowds, noise, and a whole host of other fears, and it can really ramp up the confusion - and that is where I get daunting from. I think that the aesthetic changes can help alleviate some of that apprehension for some folks, it also can help the mood of lines during peak passenger flow. The whisper radios are actually a really good idea, as it makes communication throughout the checkpoint at a lower more personal level - without any of the yelling traditionally associated with secondary screenings.

As for the differences in process, that is another discussion, and I personally disagree with some of them, but that is a policy point, and I have 0 input on those decisions - even though I wish I could change some of them.

halls120

You really should visit CPH, CDG, AMS, BRU, MUC, or FRA. There you will see efficient, effective, and as unobtrusive security as is rationally possible. No barking TSOs, no extended waits, no stupid and ineffective rules.

IOW, the exact opposite of TSA in this country.

gsoltso

I will again defer to other folks that have been there at this point. I have been beating the yelling thing to death since I have been with TSA, it is simply not productive and it amps up people that are already on edge. We as TSOs should be polite, courteous and professional and it actually enhances the entire process (and actually, SOP says we are to all be professional, courteous and polite - with no exceptions). I have been through FRA, but not since 1992, so I am certain that many things have changed since then. There are many small changes that can be employed by the TSOs that will make the experience less chaotic for the passengers, and in many cases will make the entire experience almost completely neutral. I operate under the "be nice, helpful and honest" process with the passengers, and it has worked quite well for me for the last 8 years - I simply try to treat the passengers as I would like to be treated if I were flying (plus I grew up here in NC, and my momma would tan me good if I didn't treat people the way I am supposed to). I would love to see some of the changes that yield better process and experiences for the passengers, but again, I am far and away from the policy process.

All that being said, I hope to fly into FRA again within the next 5 years to visit my old stomping grounds down around Kaiserslautern/Ramstein region. I was stationed in a little town called Miesau for 4 years and truly enjoyed myself.

Schmurrr

I read somewhere that the interior design color palette selected for nursing homes is typically one that is believed to calm the residents, and that this is particularly the case when there are residents with dementia.

I wonder why this principle is not applied in prisons. Or maybe it is, and I'm just thinking of prisons I've seen on TV.

WillCAD

Dang, I read the OP's article just now, and it says that the prototype "mood c/p" was installed at BWI, my home airport. Looking at the pics, it appears to be the c/p for Pier B... which I don't think I've been through since about 2007 or 2008, as I usually go for the larger c/p at Pier A, even if my gate is on Pier B.

Next time I fly BWI I'll have to give it a try and see if it soothes me any.

Boggie Dog

I've told this story before and it was after the TSA Checkpoint Evolution failed exercise.

At LAS the x ray operator at the D gates checkpoint was loudly berating individuals for how they packed their bags. This went on the whole time I was in earshot. Loud, condescending, abusive, and argumentative yet not one TSA supervisor around to monitor employee performance. I sought out said supervisor and got push back over asking a two stripper if he was a supervisor. So instead of acting on what I was telling them they wanted to argue over terminology. The way TSA checkpoints are set up and the lack of supervisors actually supervising demonstrates to me that TSA has no concept of how to manage people. I'll give you a hint though, management by walking around, will enlighten one to what is really going on in a work place. You have to do it often enough that your being there is normal.

chollie

The drawback to the whisper radios is that they are only useful for TSO-to-TSO communications. Unfortunately, the vast majority of bellowing and barking at the checkpoint is TSO-to-pax 'communication'.

In fact, I have rarely, if ever, heard a TSO shouting or barking at another TSO (unless it was shouting about a pax).

RadioGirl

And I will bear in mind that you haven't been to international airports and will try to explain further.
This is problem #1. Most TSA employees feel that they need to treat passengers like idiots. The whole "Lissen up, people!" routine that we read about here is a case in point. They do not need to "communicate with a group of people" and they do not need to "relay information." One time at LAX, the TSA guy shouted at me - the lone passenger at the time - from 30 feet away before I even got close to the checkpoint: "Remove your laptops from your bag, remove your liquids, put your bags in the x-ray machine and walk through the metal detector." Yes, I'm sure they get some passengers who don't know the drill, but they don't need to treat all passengers like imbeciles.

I have NEVER been in an airport outside the US where the security people told me what to do before I asked. At non-US airports, they (a) put up a sign or video monitor - often suspended from the ceiling and always large enough to read from the line - telling you to remove your laptop, liquids, etc as required at that point and (b) politely answer, using their indoor voice, to individual passengers who ask "do I need to take this out/can I leave this in?". Putting up 8 1/2 by 11" laser printed notices in 10 point font at waist level on the side of the baggage x-ray machine and then bellowing at people is not a rational alternative.
Oh for pity's sake! I've been to LAX when it's been crowded and seen the disaster that is the checkpoint there. But SYD international terminal has people from different countries, speaking different languages, in a confined space and sometimes with big crowds. So does AMS, DXB, CPH, ZRH, and most other big international airports - indeed often more passengers and more diverse languages. Yet (I'm going to say it again) checkpoints in those airports are not chaotic.

This is problem #2; if TSA believes all passengers are idiots, they clearly believe that foreigners are more idiotic than average. If people don't speak English, shouting doesn't help. If someone is clearly a "foreigner" it doesn't mean that they've never been to an airport before and need to have the x-ray machine explained to them. If people are from different countries, it doesn't follow that there will be chaos. Every airport in the world except those in the US proves this. Somehow in DXB and AUH (where I don't speak their language), all us foreign stupid passengers managed to watch what the passengers in front of us were doing (duh, putting their bags on the x-ray belt and then walking through the WTMD) and do the same thing.

Let me ask you - when the Koreans and Brazilians and Japanese and Saudi tourists leave LAX and go into the city, do you think the taxi drivers shout at them "put your luggage in the trunk; get into the back seat, I WILL TAKE YOU TO YOUR HOTEL"? Do you imagine that hotel desk clerks shout at them as they come through the door "COME OVER TO THIS DESK AND TELL ME YOUR NAME AND I WILL GIVE YOU A KEY TO YOUR ROOM"? If international tourists, despite having "different cultures and different languages" can manage the rest of their visit to the US, why do they NEED to be told how to transit an airport checkpoint if they haven't asked any questions?
I don't believe I said the rules were "completely different" in the rest of the world. The rest of the world uses x-ray machines for carry-on baggage, something your colleagues feel they need to explain over and over again. The rest of the world uses (for the most part) WTMD and yet only in America have security people shouted at me - when I was starting to walk through the WTMD - that I needed to WALK THROUGH THE WTMD!!!!. I have been patted down in airports around the world, but only in the US were the security people rude about it. Airport security staff around the world talk to passengers and to each other but only in America is there this insane shouting. To the extent that the NoS and the resulting patdowns slow things down and create complications, yes, that's (almost) unique to the US but is still no justification for chaos. Take one passenger at a time, deal with them efficiently, talk to them at a normal volume and let them get to their plane. It's not rocket surgery.

This is problem #3. To be honest, I think your management and too many of your colleagues aim for "scary". It's part of the "respect my authoritah", "I've got a uniform and gold badge", "DY...T" attitude. "Guarding the front lines in the war on terrorism." "We can make your life miserable if you don't follow our orders." It's part of your organizational culture.

In contrast, security screeners in other countries typically generally reflect an attitude that most passengers are innocent, we've got to check them just to be sure, let's get them through here in the most efficient and painless way possible. There is almost an underlying sense of "I know this is all a bit ridiculous but we have to play along." They don't carry a chip on their shoulder about being "respected". They don't respond with sarcasm or rudeness if asked a question, or - as has been reported here frequently - answer your question by shouting to the whole line. They wouldn't tell you (as BD described in LAS) that you've packed your bags "wrong". In short, they act as if they are in a customer service role, not a guard at a prison.
This should be easily fixed. Someone from TSA HQ could pick a non-US airport AT RANDOM, go see what they do for signs, and do the same. Big signs with pictures, rather than lots of words, placed where everyone can see them. And if TSA staff are giving different advice, they need to be "retrained" (probably for a different career altogether).
And again, passengers in ZRH and CDG and MEL may be afraid of flying, there are crowds, yet oddly not so much noise, and no confusion. It's not daunting anywhere else. Why is it so in the USA?
Seriously, if TSA got rid of the "you will obey us" attitude and the shouting and the condescension and hired some people with maturity and good manners, no one would care whether the furniture is curvy or what color the walls are. On the other hand, if they continue the pattern of shouting and stealing and being rude and assuming foreigners are morons and telling people to do what they are already doing, all the pastel colors and soft rugs in the world aren't going to make the checkpoint less stressful.
As chollie said, this only helps for communication between TSA staff, not for yelling at passengers. And again, in airports around the world, I've had secondary screening due to a metal implant, and yelling is not "traditionally associated" with such screening there. Typically WTMD-guy says "female assist" at normal volume and if no one responds immediately, he asks one of the other staff - at normal conversational volume - if they've seen "Lisa or Judy" and someone shows up within a few seconds.
I appreciate that you can't change things, but still you seem to think that chaos, confusion and noise are inevitable at a checkpoint, and it's simply not true.

halls120

And amazingly, the people at those airports can read, and don't need some officious, belligerent clerk with an attitude to berate them as they approach the checkpoint.

Not only are they not chaotic, they are efficient and in the case of AF's operation at CDG, so quiet you almost wonder if the checkpoints are open.

This, of course, happens because the TSA workforce as a whole isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. Thier workforce is full of marginally educated individuals recruited from ads on a pizza take out box, so it's natural they don't have the intelligence to treat people decently.

Here, RadioGirl is dead on correct. Sadly, when you lower the hiring standards across the board, from screener to senior management, you get incompetence across the board, and for TSA, it's easier to intimidate than to promote quiet cooperation.

And this will never happen as long as we have a joke for a Secretary of Homeland Security and a chief of TSA who knows all to well that this isn't the right way to run an organization, but is poweless to change anything.

chollie

As usual, Radiogirl's post is completely accurate.

Airports around the world deal with a mix of cultures, languages, flying fears, flying experiences (or lack of) - without bellowing and hostility and attitude.

And, I might add, a generally consistent approach (unlike American 'make it up as you go', er, 'planned inconsistency').

I might also add, gsoltso, that your comments about LAX don't explain why I confront the same bellowing and hostility at small regional 6-gate airports that rarely, if ever, see 'furriners' (or even 'furrin' IDs like Sentri and NEXUS).

halls120, I don't entirely agree with you. I think in TSA/CBP matters, we've had bad joke SecHS and heads of TSA through both Republican and Democrat administrations. Kip Hawley wrote (well after his tenure, of course) that he could have and should have done more. This has nothing to do with which party is in charge or who the SecHS or head of TSA is - it has to do with leadership from Congress and the POTUS, both of which bend over to line their donors' pocketbooks and posture as 'tough' on security. I see absolutely no reason to anticipate that changing at any time in the future, regardless of which party is in charge.

halls120

Where did I say that the incompetence at the top of DHS had anything to do with the Secretary being a Democrat?

chollie

Do you think there's any reason to believe that any Secretary of DHS is going to be any 'better'? Or that any head of TSA is going to do anything differently? Under any administration?

The Sec DHS answers to the POTUS (and perhaps to Congress, if Congress decides to pass effective reform legislation or play budget hardball).

No POTUS or Congress, regardless of party, is going to change things at TSA. There's no will, there's too much money at play, it's a great whipping boy to trot out and spout about. Nappy and Pistole, like their predecessors (and likely successors) are doing exactly what their bosses want them to do.

Kippie didn't have the cojones to speak out while he was on the job; instead he took his paycheck, kept his mouth shut, and then wrote a book (for another paycheck) once he was safely out of harm's way, announcing what was wrong at the agency and blaming his incompetence on the bureaucrats - the same bureaucrats who answered to him.

Pistole appears to be following in Kippie's footsteps.

Boggie Dog

Why is Pistole powerless to change anything at TSA. I think its more an issue of lack of leadership and vision.

jkhuggins

Sometimes, though, "leadership and vision" leads to getting shut down. Look at what happened when TSA proposed allowing pocket knives back on airplanes ...

halls120

Where did I say that the current Secretary's party affiliation had anything to do with her competence - or lack thereof?

I agree, but that has nothing to do with Napolitano being a democrat.