chollie

Not just TSOs with sticky fingers; this will make smaller electronics much more accessible to dishonest pax.

Chrisinhouston

The press release at the TSA site also states in the last paragraph:

The stronger security measures do not apply to passengers enrolled in TSA Pre✓® who are using TSA Pre✓® lanes.

TBD

er ... were we not already doing his for non-pre-check?

TWA884

The thread title has been edited to clarify its content.

TWA884
Travel Safety/Security co-moderator

chollie

I've never had to take out a Kindle or my P&S cameras before.

T8191

Curious. In 15+ years travel[l]ing to the USA, I've never had TSA steal/break/ruin anything. Nor in any other country either. You must have had a difficult life.

catocony

So, what about electric razors?

chollie

I've never had to remove small electronics like my Kindle or my P&S cameras before.

There was a recent incident where a TSO kept blocking the woman she was groping from seeing her purse. Her fellow TSO took that opportunity to steal several hundred dollars from the woman's purse. He was caught on the spot and fired.

It happens, and for those of us who are simultaneously facing longer and longer waits for our gropes while out of sight of our bags and being forced to expose more valuables, it is concerning.

Silver Fox

Spot on. Storm in a tea cup. Head down, carry on.

MSY-MSP

This move by the TSA is a move that I see as a precursor to significant limitations on the ability to bring electronics with you on an airplane. They are going to use the nationwide rollout to “show” they are doing something about the very low threat (but an actual threat) of a bomb in an electronic device. Then they are going to show that this policy creates significant lines at the checkpoint. From there they are going to say that to manage the lines and allow for the function of the checkpoints that passengers will be limited to 1 electronic device larger than a mobile phone. It is a logical process to follow where they are going with this. Once they get to the 1 electronic device, they will go after the next item on the list that they want to restrict because there is some microscopic risk associated with it.

They wanted to do this earlier with the ban from Europe, but got a lot of pushback from the EU, and caved temporarily. This is there way of getting the ban that they wanted through door #2 . It is just taking them longer than they wanted. Though it will appear more “organic” once in place.

The bigger issue that is going to pop up is the requirements that passengers be interviewed prior to flying. Domestically, I am not sure how this will end up working. I presume that precheck passengers will be exempted from the interview process, but the rest of the folks, I have no idea.

petaluma1

Whoa there! Where did this come from?

FWIW, the local news interviewed people at the airport today about the electronics issue and 2 out of 3 said it didn't make flying any safer; the third said something to the effect of "well, if it makes people feel safe, it's o.k." First time ever that it wasn't all sheep bleating.

kochleffel

I was instructed to remove all electronic devices at airports in Iceland and the Faroe Islands last month. Also at EWR which was not one of the 10 airports on the list of pilot sites in the U.S. There was no requirement to place each device in a separate bin nor was I made to remove chargers and cables.

MSY-MSP

Its buried in the story about the increased security for flights into the US. Specifically, that by the Fall airlines must have a plan in place to interview passengers prior to boarding. No real details are given in the stories. However, TSA has been wanting to do interviews of passengers for a long time. They have tried it in the past, with SPOT and other programs. However, they have never made a formal push for interviews, the progress that they are taking by matching domestically what they are asking for from the overseas airports is a clear indication that interviews are coming to the domestic airports. The other indications that are there are the moving towards automatic gate systems to grant access to the screening lanes, and other systems to "free" up screeners. We know they aren't, in this administration, going to reduce the number of staff. They are going to move these folks to some other role, and that is likely going to be interviewing passengers at the checkpoint. I have no idea what the "interview" will look like, but i cannot imagine it being very detailed or useful.

whitearrow

You've been saying that since the ME restrictions were rolled out. What you haven't focused on at all is the huge economic disaster this would be for the airlines (and hotels, and tourism locations) with both business and leisure travelers. Want to bring a laptop (no matter how light and thin?) You can't bring the projector you need to show your presentation. Want to bring an iPad on vacation to watch movies on the plane? Can't bring a Kindle e-reader to read on the beach. Want to bring an external battery? Too bad, you can't bring the thing you want to plug it in to.

It's completely ridiculous, impractical, and will destroy the airlines -- all for a threat that hasn't been proved to exist at all, much less on domestic flights between Orlando and Minneapolis or Los Angeles and Maui or wherever.

wco81

In the electronics ban thread there was discussion about a new generation of scanners which are being certified by TSA and other agencies in other countries.

We can only hope these new scanners are deployed quickly and widely.