gsoltso

I agree with you 100%. The passenger is the one that loses additional time, as a TSO, we are there for a shift, so it doesnt have any impact on me, and there is simply no excuse for unprofessional behavior. They come through with items that alarm the WTMD - cell phones, keys $4.38 in various coins, new shoes with a metal shank, knee braces with metal parts, and so on.

Again, I understand your frustration, but in all fairness, TSOs see frequent travelers do the exact same thing that infrequent travelers do every day.

Precheck passengers come through with stuff that alarms the WTMD all day, asking if you have things is a normal part of the process. Asking about liquids is normal as well, because Precheck (and standard passengers) come through with liquids and gels larger than the approved size every day.

I make no excuses for any unprofessional behavior, it is simply unacceptable.
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Loren Pechtel

But does asking repeatedly change their answer??

chollie

This.

Make direct eye contact, and ask me once. That is enough.

KDS

Or, let the machine do its "job" and "find" the "bad, bad, bad" stuff in the pockets. After all, I've had my bare arm patted down when a MMW "alarmed" on my bare forearm. Isn't that why TSOs are there -- to "confirm" any "alarmed" areas? Believe me, more time is wasted by " barking" and "confronting" and "trying to intimidate" (always in English even in the international terminals) the poor, defenseless, "uninformed" passenger.

If the dumb machine "alarms" on my pocket, then handle it. If it doesn't, less time will be used than all the time that you "hold" me up for stupid pocket questions when they're empty.

chollie

Your post reminded me that at checkpoints outside the US, for some reason, no one is yelling repeatedly about emptying pockets and yet security functions much more smoothly than in the US.

Boggie Dog

It's probably because they are not "Security Experts"!

chollie

I think it's because outside the US, airport security trains their own people, instead of trying to 'train' pax to meet a constantly changing set of expectations.

gsoltso

I do not make a practice of asking more than once or twice (if it seems they may not have heard or understood me), however, the stages have yielded different answers.

TSO 1 - "Do you have anything in your pockets?"
Passenger - "no"
TSO 2 - DO you have anything in your pockets, Sir?"
Passenger - "no"
TSO 3 - "Sir, do you have something in your rear left pocket?"
Passenger - "Just my wallet"

So, technically, I would guess the answer to your question is actually yes - sometimes.

Loren Pechtel

But that's a different question. You made them think specifically of the pocket in question and thus more likely to think of what's in it.

chollie

Sometimes when they ask that same question for the fifth time, instead of once again going through the show of patting my non-existent pockets, I feel like grabbing myself like Michael Jackson - just to reassure the TSO that I've checked to make sure I didn't leave something concealed in my 'resistance' area.

Once again, for those of us who regularly transit non-US checkpoints, this is a question I don't recall ever being asked even once at an overseas checkpoint.

Staying to the thread topic: non-US airport staffing levels are lower than US staffing levels in part because the function of exhorting the pax one or more times to empty his/her pockets does not exist.

One less body, lots less noise pollution, but then again, we're probably much faster here in the US, right? Oh wait, we're not.

gsoltso

Understood, but by the time I am asking a specific question, we are past the point where additional screening is required - at this point, we have an alarm, and the alarm must be resolved. The point of asking folks the same questions multiple times through their transit, is to lessen the chance of them having additional screening - (and just to tie it back to the OP, this generates more time in the checkpoint, as well as additional screening procedures, which requires a person to do). We (TSOs) consistently ask the same questions because passengers continue to answer "No", while they have plenty of items in their pockets. I am not going to stop asking the questions, because sometimes, a passenger actually stops and says "yup, wallet" or "change" or "you mean my cell phone? But that is not metal". We consistently ask, because passengers from all walks of life, consistently do the same thing.