Security generally does not reveal the specifics of the measures they have
in place... even if some measures visible & audible on some days seem to
make no sense to the rest of us.

It just doesn't make sense for Ross to be here answering specific questions
and for us to actually expect answers.

There are issues that can be addressed without compromising security. Ross volunteered to come here and offer what assistance he can. That is limited in many ways, but there are always areas he can address without risking security or violating TSA regs. Indeed, in some ways he has been one of the most helpful TSA people who have posted here. It really doesn't help much when every time a pax complains, a "sympathetic" TSO assures you that you must be lying or mistaken, because s/he allegedly doesn't do 'that' at his/her airport and has never even seen or witnessed a TSO doing 'that'.

Ross has also acted as an unofficial ombudsman on a couple of occasions when he tried to help someone figure out why s/he was having trouble getting Pre status recognized.

Ross addressed the issue of being required to say your name to the TDC and specifically asked to be told if it happened again: airport, date/time/checkpoint.

I share everyone's frustrations with TSA, but even if Ross has only answered one question on this forum honestly, that's one more than Blogger Bob has ever answered truthfully on his vile blog.

No need for that any more since the radiation machines have been removed. Of course, many still wish to avoid the MMW scanners as well, and PreCheck is still the best chance of that, even though there is never a guarantee of anything with TSA.

Not surprising. Being an official mouthpiece of the agency, it's impossible for him to say anything that's not officially sanctioned, and there is precious little real information that the agency officially sanctions other than, "Out of an abundance of caution" and "the actions of this one employee in no way reflect the dedication," etc.

I wonder is Ross and Bob have offices across the hall from each other?

I'll suspend judgment on Ross for now because although he's very very limited in what he can assist people with, I haven't seen him outright lie.

Bob, OTOH...

And don't even get me started on his 'blog', the sole purpose of which is to defend TSA at all times and to give a publicly-funded TSA-sanctioned forum for disgruntled anti-pax TSOs to post incorrect and insulting comments.

The MMW still emits radiation.

If he wasn't going to answer any questions, what was the point of even starting the thread? "Hi, I'm your TSA ombudsman, but I can't help you!"

So do flashlights, refrigerator magnets, and electric toothbrushes, but I'm not afraid of them, either.

There are other reasons to dislike MMW and opt out of the scans if you so choose. You shouldn't base your decision on misinformation and baseless fears, nor whould you spread those fears without any science to back them up other than the blanket statements we've seen here ad nauseum about "we just don't know!" and "there's never been a study done!". RadioGirl has posted the science behind the safety of MMW scanning multiple times over the last few years; she knows it extremely well, since that's her chosen field, and I'm satisfied that MMW poses no health risk even with repeated scans.

The point was the same as most things TSA does - to establish that they are "doing something" about the problems TSA has with the traveling public, even if that "something" happens to be completely useless, wasteful, or more harmful than helpful.

This particular episode allows TSA to say that they made a good-faith attempt to start a meaningful dialogue with some of the primary stakeholders in aviation security - frequent fliers - and if challenged they will undoubtedly say that the effort was met with hostility, complaints, bashing, and rhetoric, and blame its failure on US rather than on their own bankruptcy of real information and lackluster participation in the process.

Last couple of times, I have passed the metal detector machine (in the TSA precheck lane), and the alarm had gone off.

I thought it meant I required secondary screening, but it was really for ETD screening - ie my hands were swabbed and the swab was put in the ETC machine.

I do not remember getting this done in the past when I went to the regular lanes, but I presumed such screening is done there as well.

Is the chance of such screening for a TSA precheck passenger similar or lower than a nonTSA precheck passenger?

The metal detector has two beeps - the normal one indicating the presence of (too much) metal, and a long beep, which is a "random" alarm that indicates you have been selected for additional screening.

In the past, additional screening in PreCheck meant you would get a hand swab. Now, the procedure has changed somewhat. TSA has installed MMW scanners in PreCheck lanes in many airports - the most recent TSA documentation says that there are 68 airports with MMW scanners installed in the PreCheck lanes.

If you are "randomly" selected for additional screening at an airport with MMW scanners installed in PreCheck, you will be steered to the scanner. In airports without MMW scanners installed in PreCheck, you will get the hand swab.


It depends. The frequency of "random" selections can be controlled by TSA, so there may be times when there are very few "random" selections for additional screening, or there may be times when nearly everyone is "randomly" selected, and everything in between.

As a result, it's getting much more difficult to have a feel for how long security screening is going to take in PreCheck lines. My rule of thumb is that anytime there's a newsworthy terrorist/security incident (such as the one at MSY two days ago), it's prudent to assume there will be a higher frequency of "random" alarms for a week or so afterward, so there will be a better chance of getting selected for additional screening.

If you're fortunate enough to be entering an airport without MMW scanners in the PreCheck lanes, it shouldn't slow you down too much. If you're entering an airport with MMW scanners in PreCheck, plan for additional time. Going through the scanner is significantly slower than a hand swab, and if you end up needing manual resolution (i.e. a post-scanner grope), or if you decide to opt out of the scanner, it will take much longer IME.

The last 2 times I went through the TSA pre-check lane, and got the long beep - and just the hand swab - within the last month- at LAX T2 (departing on an Air Canada flight), and at ATL (international terminal - terminal F? - also departing on an AC flight). I would have have thought that MMW scanners would be present at those those particular terminals of those 2 airports?

I don't know. As I said, the most recent TSA documentation says 68 airports have MMW in PreCheck. They don't provide a list of which airports those are, and I don't think there is a current list publicly available.

I do know that there are some heavily-used airports that don't have MMW scanners in PreCheck - LGA, for example. As to why, unclear. TSA does not share their reasons or roll-out schedule with the traveling public.

The hand swab station in the PreCheck line here in SAT, at least in Terminal B, is actually before the ID check. When it's open they seem to swab about every third person. There may be some randomizer I've missed but you haven't passed any detector at that point. I "won" the whole lotto a couple of months ago where I got the hand swab and then the beep for a bag search.

I hope that the TSA realizes that swabbing every third (or even every third or fourth) passenger's hand isn't random.

Mike

The sudden departure of Ross left me wondering if he angered TSA.

Could have been something else.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rossfeinstein

Since he took a similar job at American immediately, I'll assume that it was his choice, not theirs.

Mike

My money would be on him getting a push. He's been in government for a long time. Why leave that for the private sector?