eajusa

This is all too disturbing

justhere

In the sense that it illustrates just what a waste of money the TSA is?

teevee

yes, decentralized screening.

it would require more bodies but since not every gate boards every minute of the day, the crews could shift, just like GA's do. more equipment, more bodies, but far more efficient and practically impossible to miss a flight because of a security line.

GrayAnderson

I can see all sorts of problems with this. I had the joy of experiencing decentralized screening at MCI back in 2002 (where I had to go back through screening on about a 15-minute connection...not fun). That's one issue right there (forced re-screening on a tight connection; you'd almost have to legislate a minimum allowable connection time since you'd be pushing a bunch of people through the security buffer around the same time).

Back to the thread topic, though my opinions of the TSA generally run in the direction of being unprintable (e.g. I have my own thoughts on what the acronym stands for), in cases like this I think you've got a good case for the airlines to band together against them since (as noted above) everyone in the airport ought to have already been screened/authorized in some fashion (either at security with a boarding pass or with a job pass or something like that for those working there).

Come to think about it, if someone boards a plane without a ticket/boarding pass at some airports (to be clear, no ticket/pass not just getting on the wrong flight) I'd rather like to see the airline sue the TSA for failing to catch them at the checkpoint (since they're supposed to check everyone's pass).

justhere

This wouldn't be a TSA issue. The scenario you are describing is simply a loss of revenue for the airline. Someone is on the plane that didn't pay for a ticket.

Anyone that wants to get on a plane with the intent of doing harm is most likely not going to want to draw attention to themselves by getting caught sneaking on. They are going to have a ticket and a boarding pass, that way they KNOW they are going to get on with little to no scrutiny other than the standard TSA screening.

In other words, why would someone come up with a complex plan when a simple one will work much more easily?

teevee

SIN handles over 54 million pax per year. one would think that if missed connections were a big issue it would be publicized. since it is not, it obviously is not an issue.

SIN closes boarding at 10 minutes prior to departure. here in the crappy ol US they close sometimes 15-20 prior.

hands down, SIN is the best airport i've had the pleasure of traveling through

RadioGirl

SIN also doesn't have nude-o-scopes, which are slower than WTMD and frequently require a resolution patdown (ie, even slower).

SIN doesn't require that every passenger remove shoes or lightweight jackets/cardigans, etc. (Time to take off/ time to put back on.)

SIN doesn't make passengers who alert the WTMD wait and wait and wait before someone can do a patdown. (More time lost.)

In short, SIN has reasonable procedures at the checkpoint and therefore the throughput is high.

Schmurrr

My next vacation destination should be Singapore.