So how about my world? I DO pack an extra pair of socks for EACH security point I think i need to pass through, with a separate baggie to collect said socks after being worn through the germfest of an airport screening area's floor. Am I allowed to be concerned? I am - even with said socks ... btw, these are special non-skid socks b/c those floors make walking barefoot/socked feet dangerous at times due with the level of waxing sometimes applied. Those areas are a lawsuit waiting to happen for so many reasons (which I'm sure will be extinguished and paid off with no disclosure to the american public, but that is another story)!

I also have an issue here ... yes, there are people with hygiene issues but if I don't share said issues and bad habits, why should I have to be exposed to them via the stupidity of the screening process in its current form? This whole thing is so inane and wasteful.

I don't disagree with you as far as the screening process is concerned. You're absolutely right: there is a better way. Unfortunately, I don't see TSA seeking a better way. It's easier to stick with the status quo and just have everybody remove their shoes as opposed to leaving it up to the individual judgment of each screener whether a shoe fits a certain profile or not. Not a good answer, but I think it's a realistic one.

And I also agree that it will take something like a lawsuit, and probably as you pointed out the result of someone slipping on a floor, before TSA modifies this policy. That's the ugly part about the bureaucratic inertia that takes place once an agency is satisfied with its policies no matter how ridiculous it may be.

Fair enough?

Fair? No - realistic to the idiocy that's been created by this administration, yes, I'll agree with you there.

I don't think it's something you can conveniently blame on this administration. I think it's the nature of the government bureaucratic beast no matter who has the political majority. (By the way, it was this administration that was dragged with feet kicking into creating the TSA based on how Congress voted; just as this administration is being challenged by Congress to allow collective bargaining rights for TSOs. So I don't think you can define this as a simple matter of partisan politics.)

I do wonder whether or not there are any documented cases where people have picked up an illness from the floor of an airport (without going down on all-fours and licking the tiles)?

It seems these days in general people have a massively out of place fear of germs. It's not uncommon for me to see people wanting to fill their cars at petrol stations driving away because there are no gloves for them to wear. I'd never seen this until the last few years.

I like to keep things clean but I also strongly believe that exposure to a bit of dirt makes your immune system stronger. Recent medical research seems to point to overly sterile environments as a cause for a number of ailments affecting children in particular.

As kids often say, "a little dirt don't hurt."

I agree that there's an awful lot of misplaced germophobia in general and in these posts in particular. I never gave it much thought until I began working as a screener. A couple new habits I've developed are to never touch my face until after I've washed my hands; to always wash my hands or use the hand sanitizer; to always wear gloves when screening people or their property; and to be conscientious of bio-hazards. I see these as precautions not necessarily a fear of germs.

Here's what I see at my job:

Passengers who come through the WTMD with their boarding passes clenched in their mouths. Then they hand it to me. While that's disgusting enough, they then place it back in their mouths after I hand it back to them!

Passengers with minor cuts or are otherwise bleeding who refuse medical attention. They may have used their own handkerchief to stop the bleeding or maybe even used some of our paper towels, but I don't know where they've discarded these items.

Passengers who place a foot on a chair to tie on a shoe in the screening area (or in any area for that matter). It should be pretty obvious that someone is going to sit in that chair, but it doesn't seem to matter to the people who do this.

And I've already covered the loose, uncovered toothbrushes inside of toiletry bags (with soap bars, colognes, shaving creams, etc.); cosmetics bags with the interior linings discolored or powdery; food wrapped in napkins placed inside of carry-on bags; etc.

The point to all this is that dirty bins are the least, or should be the least, of all worries. While theoretically possible to catch a disease or the transfer of bacteria from a dirty bin, washing hands is a simple and effective means of prevention. Putting the blame on TSA or suggesting that TSA provide booties is a lazy denial of individual responsibility. (Are there any guarantees that the table you dine at in a restaurant is truly clean? Where do you place your silverware once you begin to eat? I submit that you are more likely to catch a disease as the result of eating at a restaurant than handling a bin at the airport.)

On dirty bins in particular, how much effort would it be for the person throwing the bins back to the head of the queue to look inside and if they're dirty put them aside for cleaning?

If you look at post #22, you'll see that we do that; well, as much as practical. Passengers usually stack the bins at the end of the conveyor while we return them to the front. So it's a matter of happening to notice a dirty bin or having it brought to our attention.

As for the situation at LAX, I addressed that, too. I think that it's covered under contract. I don't know any details because we don't use contracted bins; although we were told a couple years ago that we would eventually go to contracted bins.

Restaurants are periodically inspected by the Health Department - and if they don't pass, they are shut down. Are TSA areas ever inspected by a Health Department?

For the feet thing - I would be more concerned with a foot fungus than general germs. I wash my hands before I eat, but that's about it. I never even heard of using gloves at the gas station - just wash your hands afterwards. I don't place my purse on the floor. If there is no hook, I just leave it on my shoulder.

I do recall one time (early on in the shoe circus - this was August 2005) my husband and I were flying from Orlando to London. We had heard about the shoe circus, and worn socks (didn't think of bringing an extra pair). Lo and behold - the carpet was freshly washed! How do we know? It was still soaking wet. Now we had lovely wet socks to wear on our transatlantic flight. No other socks available. Couldn't wear those shoes without socks without getting blisters (not good for the start of a vacation). It was disgusting - and there was no warning that the carpet was still wet, either. No sign, no mention.

Perhaps not deathly illness, but a cold is a respiratory illness.

Fair enough. I was thinking more along the lines of illnesses which primarily affect the lungs.

Excellent question. That's an airport question rather than TSA one because TSA leases property from the city airport. My challenge still stands; however, because even if a kitchen passes a health inspection, the question is whether or not that table you're sitting at is really clean when all a bus boy did was collect the dirty dishes from the previous customer and wipe down the table. Would you still place your fork directly on the table?

Just to digress, we went to dinner with another couple not too long ago, and the wife of our guest asked me if she minded that she hung her purse off the back of my chair since hers didn't have a place to hang it from. I joked that I was secure enough in my manliness to allow a woman to hang her purse from the back of my chair. She said that had nothing to do with it: she believed in a superstition that if you place your purse on the floor, then your family will lose its fortune. And she was dead serious!

The primary reason I object to mandatory removal of a blazer or jacket is that it must then be crumpled into a filthy bin. That's not consistent with the way I treat my clothing.

On top of that, of course, is the risk-avoidance nature of requiring people to undress at checkpoints.

But Idiot Hawley and ...-Clown Chertoff don't care about passengers. Gotta push people around just because they can. What an expensive, terrible joke. :(

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Germs? Bah.