I beg to differ, the people involved should be fired, not reprimanded. While it may not have been a crime, I certainly hope the victims sue the TSA and the individuals involved for mental anguish and any other legal avenue that may be applicable. This is so unacceptable and absolutely intolerable.

Exactly. The joke, funny to some, not to others, wasn't the point. It is a security checkpoint where the TSA themselves have banned all jokes and humor as it relates to security.

Bart, can you provide us with one case where a passenger made a similar level of joke at a checkpoint and the TSA laughed it off and sent the passenger on his way with a hearty "You got us!"? I'd really like to hear it.

I think they should be canned!!!

Let me try this next April 1st - I can be assured of their reaction of locking me up in seconds. I am sure folks would be saying that I had it coming especially after all those notices about no jokes at at security check point. The other statements that I can see are -

"After 9/11, we do not take any chances"

"Think about the children"

"This is for your security and the security of others..."

Bart;

I've read a lot of your posts since I joined FT, and have a lot of respect for your opinions and approach.

In this case, however, I'm surprised at your reaction and have to say I disagree 100%.

People in a position of authority have no right to intimidate a member of the public over whom they have a measure of real or perceived control in order to pull a practical joke for their own amusement.

Surprised and disappointed.

Actually, I think the TSOs involved will suffer consequences to a certain degree; not enough to satisfy the blood lust in this thread, but consequences nonetheless.

For the past year, TSA has been following the Performance Accountability and Standards System. It's a performance scale based on a series of points, and there are incentives programmed into the system designed to encourage STSOs, LTSOs and TSOs to map out and follow career development plans. For the younger folks, this is an excellent program. For old farts like me, it does nothing really, but it is nice to receive recognition for hard work.

At each end are the Role Model of Excellence for the "water walkers" and Fails to Achieve Standards for those who thrive in the mud. Achieves Standards and Exceeds Standards are for the rest of us humans who don't have god-like qualities or whose skirts get dirty.

Attaboys and Attagirls from passengers, of course, help supervisors plus up certain areas of performance. But an aw-sh*t or two can certainly have an adverse effect as well. It all boils down to bonuses and salary increases at the end of the year, and as competitive as this is, I'm certain that the negative publicity from this incident will end up hurting these TSOs in the wallet by disqualifying them for certain bonuses and salary incentives. It was a clear violation of written procedure; I can't imagine any supervisor being able to justify or rationalize this in defense of these officers. Add to that any other disciplinary actions, or failure to pass any of the multitude of exams we have to take, or any of the other factors such as absenteeism, and something like this incident can certainly have a significant bearing on their final PASS evaluation. This is especially true if an overzealous supervisor or manager wishes to use PASS as an intimidation tool, which is certainly not unheard of. If the FSD is a vindictive soul, then these guys are probably screwed because of the undue embarrassment to TSA. Who knows. Point is that this will probably not go unpunished in one way or another.

Like I said, this probably won't mean much to those who want to take these TSOs out to the jet way and hang them by the neck, but they'll end up "paying" for this in the long run.

Is it possible that this entire story is an April Fools joke? The incident happened April 1, 2006 and is only reported now?

Bart, seriously, you're missing the point. You're trying to explain something that is completely irrelevant to the point that people are making on three different pages now.

There is no PASS system for passengers who do something similar. It's off to the LEO, no questions asked, no points issued or subtracted. And the visit to the LEO usually earns you some nice metal bracelets, as pointed out in my post (and you completely ignored).

The TSA Pranksters Should Be Fired Immediately
 

This incident is totally unacceptable.

Joking about calling the police is well beyond the pale.

Further, these people committed the tort of assault on the poor woman, as they placed her in immediate apprehension of harm. They triggered an asthma attack.

In fact, the local US Attorney's office ought to see whether any federal laws were violated (they might want to take a look at 18 USC 241).

You'd need to watch the entire newscast for the context of this story. Was about April Fools jokes in general ? Was about the TSA ? Can't tell from that one segment.

This "prank" is unacceptable on many levels. I'm all for a good joke or prank and certainly have never been accused of having a poor sense of humor. However, this is a professional situation and it's been drilled into travelers that terrorism is an ever-present threat that the TSA is there to thwart. This type of prank certainly has repercussions (intended or not) and has no place in the screening line.

1) asthma attack: this one's obvious and has already been noted. not that an asthma attack isn't bad enough, but what if the stress caused a heart attack or stroke? not so funny anymore, huh?

2) diversion: TSA screening has enough trouble catching weapons/etc on the best of days with no diversions. throw a diversion or unusual situation into the mix and screening effectiveness almost certainly takes a hit. this prank clearly caused a spectacle and involved and distracted more than the usual number of TSA officers. what better time to sneak something through security?

TSAers pulling an April Fools Joke is redundant. Half the things they do every day are a joke.

This from a group of people who constantly are trying to convince us that the screening process is extremely serious and vital to national security.
:rolleyes:

Hogwash!!!!!!!!!!!! These inept halfwits mess with our lives on a daily basis. In this case it apparently triggered a medical condition condition in the victim, aka their so-called "customer".

Fire their butts and jail them! This sounds a great opportunity for the usually vague charge of "disorderly conduct". TSA needs to be shaped up or shipped where the sun doesn't shine.

So much for "federalize" in order to "professionalize".

Customers???????????? You actually choose to do business with these clowns?

What they did was stupid and inappropriate, but the description is not medically likely. She may have had a panic attack, but asthma is not typically triggered by fear. Fear triggers adrenaline release. Adrenaline is good for asthma. Again inappropriate because it could have triggered a heart attack, stroke, etc.

Bart,

I almost always agree with what you post here, but this is going too far. If you look at the post LessO2 refers to here, you said, just 1.5 years ago:

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen; if TSA can't accept a joke at the checkpoint, then what in the <you-know-where> is TSA doing joking with the passengers like that?