TSA spreading diseases?
 

It's disgusting. They make us take out our laptops and into the same plastic tub that previous passengers have put their shoes in after walking on filthy sidewalks and public restroom floors. Who can say what horrible germs are now on our laptops and onto our hands when we pick our belongings back up. And is this why we get sick alot when flying in the US? The TSA should be made to put new disposable paper covers on each tub before each use, no different than a fast food restaurant is put on plastic food trays. The Tub Stacking Association should have thought of this already because stacking tubs is what they do best. Wonder how many times I have got fecal bacteria on my hands from the shoes of people who went through the TSA checkpoint first. Alot of the tubs at the airport look really dirty and probably never cleaned. Is anyone else disgusted by this?

Me, bigtime. I am always tempted to state I have a medical condition to avoid the shoe takeoff/walk in socks in pubilc (my medical condition is I can get bacteria on my socks from the gross floor and get sick) but I'm usually pulling a just in time operation at the airport so I haven't yet.

Worse than the laptop is the freedom baggie out in the bin. Gross. If I have time, I will just leave it in my bag and usually at most it results in them opening the bag, looking at it, and moving on....

I've tried that. They insist on a doctor's note.

Mike

Welcome to FlyerTalk! The TSA should be made to not play the Shoe Carnival. Better yet, the TSA should be destroyed and transformed into an unpleasant memory instead of a disgusting reality.

Many of us are disgusted by Kip Hawley the Idiot's sicko little shoe perversion. :mad:

ummm yeah TSA spreads disease through there poor sanitation and improper use of PPE (Personal Protection Equipment). I have commented on this several times and even sent emails to the blog to get a response and have gotten nothing but silence.

I have a trip in october where i will be hitting a fair number of airports and CP, so i will be doing another round of swabs to see if things have improved or gotten worse. I pretty much know the answer but want some proof to back it up that CP indeed are worse then a cheap Chinese buffet restaurant from a sanitation standpoint.

http://flyertalk.com/forum/showpost....2&postcount=20

Yeah, I am, and I work there!

But it hasn't killed me yet, and I doubt it will hurt you, either.

If the thought of germs really bothers you, I'd encourage you to wrap your stuff in plastic, wear booties and bring along a small bottle of hand sanitizer!

Have you thought of placing a newspaper in the tub first?:)

Sorry Spiff, but I'm a little unclear about how you feel.

In the future, please try to be more concise when stating your opinion on Der Shoemeister.

I'll do my best. ;)

Are you willing to bet your life on that statement? I sure as heck wont and I encounter the worst superbugs known to man everyday.

The booties i had cultured last year just the first page of results were enough to make my skin crawl. As for the hand sanitizer that will kill most things but not all, you need something similar to citrace or PDI Wipes. FYI you dont want to use this on your skin unless you want to cause chromosomal damage and/or Cancer; no joke it was listed on the label in the last 4 batches we got at work.

They do not.

I kept my kicks on for over a year while recovering from an ankle fracture. Radio silence about it.

Welcome to Flyertalk, quantas4me!

Well, I guess I am -- I work there, don't I?

And the worst thing I've caught while employed by the TSA is ... a common cold. I mean, can you imagine? The horror of it. Egads! :p

well thats probably because you wear gloves and keep your shoes on while the rest of us are exposed to some of the nastiest bugs in the world(MRSA, VRE, MDRO, and acinetobacter) from less then sanitary conditions.


Since you have thrown your lot in. say i come to the CP with OR style shoe covers that go up to the knee, along with a HEPA duckbill mask with face shield, and chemo gauntlet gloves that go to mid forarm, along with a gown, am i gonna get a secondary or just dirty looks.

You may think its funny but thats the gear that is used in hospitals when staff goes into a patients room that have tested positive for those bugs.

Hmmm. Quite a cavalier attitude from someone who was freaking out about an extra ppb of THM in drinking water.

Are you saying that bacteria are safer than THM?

Their's an idea. Would they let me leave my laptop in a clear plastic bag in there Tub and leave the bag in there Tub after the exray? And the Tub Stackers could dispose of the bag with there little blue smurf gloves on then I wouldn't have to get the disgusting toilet floor diseases on my laptop. Would that only make the Tub Stacking Apes yell "freeze!" and give me one of there famous pelvic exams? Probably without even changing there filthy smurf gloves.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3083/...e79b9c.jpg?v=0

You guys can scoff at the "germs" threat till it reaches out and touches YOU or YOUR LOVED ONES.

MY HUSBAND JUST DIED OF MRSA RECENTLY. The doctors tried everything, even 30 days of IV Highpower antibiotics but could not kill it. It killed him. It is REAL and it is a REAL THREAT. And, you can pick it up anywhere you get such intimate contact and transfer of contagion and germs, like you do in their shoe circus.

wow...very sorry to read that last post.

I spent 125 days in the hospital in 2006 which ended in the amputation of my leg for a Staf infection. It's the infection every body knows as the "Infection you get in the hospital" only I did not get it in the hospital I got it out side the hospital. Medical research has found more and more Staf. infections on the street. People are sick with it and sometimes don't even know it. They get it from locker rooms, public restrooms, door handles, etc.

So don't be fooled it's every where and you need to protect yourself (no one else will). Using the gel sanitizer will only kill some of the germs. You need to wash your hands with warm soapy water frequently to wash the bad guys off.

The idea of putting a newspaper in the bin is a good one. Take a pair of flip flops to put on when you take your shoes off. Wipe of the outside of your computer with the sanitizer and wash your hands as soon as possible.

Just a few ideas I got from my personal contact with the bad guys.
jachot

Have you had much success passing through the WTMD in flip flops? I can't imagine ..

My Condolences to you on the loss of your husband. I know no amount of words came ever ever make up for the loss of a loved one.

OOTPYLTH - So has the smug PESG come off your face yet after that post, because it should have? Its Ainitfunnys loss highlights why sanitation at the CP should be a higher priority unless TSA wants to pay for CP acquired infections. I have good reasons to be concerned for my own health and how unclean CP could effect it. Do you have any idea what a 14-30+ day ICU admission, procedures, labs and medications costs?

Furthermore are you one of those TSA types that goes to meet troops coming back from the sandbox???? well then you might want to rethink that based on some of the research that is coming out from USAMRIID is suggesting that we have brought another strain of superbug back from there that cant be treated with any antibiotics or immunotherapies currently around / experimental or in development. I bet that made the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

Now that my blood is boiling, i need a drink to lower my BP and so i dont really say whats on my mind.

Yes in Australia and NZ, no (I tried) in USA.

Damn, I don't even know where to start. I haven't been to Aussie in a while, so perhaps things are different over there. Here, people put their shoes on the conveyor belt itself. I'm not sure how the germs migrate from the conveyor belt into the bin.

I would think that someone who is going to sit in a seat that has been sat in by a few thousand people and is not regularly sanitized would be less worried about what might in the bin that gets on his laptop. This is of course ignoring the fact that you've chosen to be stuck in a dry pressurized tin can that recirculates air that has been breathed by say 50-300+ passengers for up to the better part of a day at a time.

Do you honestly think they sanitize or even clean the handles of the overhead bins, the seats, arm rests, seat back pocket, doors to the lav, etc? I know modern airline cleaning crews are efficient, but you're in denial if you think they do anything but make the cabin presentable.

In terms of your worry about fecal matter, EVERYTHING in every bathroom you've ever been in is covered with fecal bacteria. There's even a mythbusters about it. In fact, you can probably find traces of it all over your house. It's everywhere. Run, hide, or just be an adult and deal with it. Do you think that the people around you all wash their hands before leaving the bathroom? They all touch many of the same surfaces you do. Moral of the story is there's germs all over your laptop, laptop case, ticket, passport, wallet, clothes, etc. Whether you use a bin or not really doesn't change this. If this is a real issue for you, I'd suggest looking up a 12 step program.

Of course, even in the press gone crazy sensationalize everything United States you don't hear of mass cries of people dying from infections caused by going through security. It's a non-issue.

Worried about stuff on your hands? Wash your hands. Worried about germs, don't touch your mucous membranes with your hands. Pretty easy. Everything is covered in germs. You can't change it. If you're a healthy person, chances are it won't be an issue for you.

Great suggestion though. Now we'll have to wait even longer and pay more to watch as people start lining their bins. Of course, most people will think that it's silly and elect not to do it. This of course begs the question of why you feel that the government has to provide this for you. Given that you have the phobia, why don't you provide the lining?

Not hardly. It's all over the map stateside. "TSO's discretion."

thegeneral - Australia and NZ do not have a shoe nonsense (although I admit it is an easy way to tell a visit American) ;)

General - Fecal coliform is a concern but no where near as high on the list as the superbugs are, plus FC is killable with simple alchoal, where as MRSA, VRE, and others require much more.

As for how its transmitted thats easy simple contact can spread germs from one surface to another so if shoes have it, and placed on the belt, its not to far off for it in the future to be passed onto the surfaces of the bin.

are you sure its a non-issue? because its probably like most things dealing with TSA with obsfication of the facts and sweeping it under the rug things never come to light unless someone really digs.

Why can't the Tub Stackers do that while you are already waiting your turn in the line? No extra waiting.

Because their the ones making us put our laptops into there filthy bins. Duh.

Without agreeing that this is a phobia, I think I covered this in a previous post about bringing and using a disposable plastic bag of my own.

This doesn't apply because the TSA has no control over the methods that airlines employ to clean their planes. As this is yet another anti-TSA rant, only issues that can be contributed to that agency (no matter how far fetched) will be considered.
It is quite comical to be distressed over the possibility of a laptop getting germs from a bin, and then walking through the airport, using the public restroom, eating questionable food served by an employee of questionable hygenic habits, and then boarding a plane filled with people from all over the world with questionable medical conditions and sitting in foam seats filled with whatever fell off/out of the person before you while breathing the aroma of the other passengers as they pass gas for two hours...but I wonder if my laptop is contaminated? :rolleyes:

THEY CAN'T DO THAT! IF YOU SAY YOU HAVE A MEDICAL CONDITION, YOU HAVE A MEDICAL CONDITION. EVEN IF YOU DO PRODUCE A NOTE, THE CHANCES ARE EXCELLENT THAT IT WON'T BE ACCEPTED - SOMEONE WILL SAY IT COULD BE A FAKE.

Sorry for yelling about this - well, no, I'm not sorry - but you need to stand your ground on this issue.

AINITFUNNY, I posted before I read of your loss. I'm sorry for you.

I, too, know what MRSA can do as a relative of mine was hospitalized for quite a while with it; it is not pleasant.

My local airport has surgery booties that you can wear through the checkpoint. You can keep some in your bag and wear those at any airport. Newspaper in the bin is an excellent idea. I take clorox wipes and scrub everything on my seat, arm rest, tray table and the headrest when I board the plane. That freaks me out more than the checkpoint. Last trip, someone asked for a wipe and next thing I know I get my packet back with one wipe left. I had everyone around me cleaning. They turn those planes so quick and never wipe anything down. Back to the checkpoint, at least put some socks on when you walk there. Bare feet at any checkpoint is a no-no. Pitch them after or wash in bleach. Common sense goes a long way.

Tell them you have open, oozing wounds on your feet.....

Hotel shower caps make great disposible checkpoint booties. :)

The TSA also has no control over the methods that the airports use to clean the CPs. At my airport they have a cleaning service, which does just the basic cleaning (floors, trash removal...that's about it). The CP's are disgusting. When I start my shift, I will use a anti-bacterial wipe and clean the things that I use. The phone, handheld radios, the keyboard on the computer, the mouse, the desk, stapler, arm rests on the chairs...anything that I may touch with my bare hands. (I have a bad habit of always putting my fingers in my mouth). I wash my hands 80 times a day, and don't touch anything without gloves on. And honestly, though we are not required to do so, the screeners at my CP will clean the bins with alcohol if we have the time to do it. But, not every CP has the luxury of "down time".

Yeah, it is a disgusting place. I have seen many restaurant workers leave the bathroom without washing their hands, and then you see them working without gloves on. You have to take care of yourself, there are people out there who are not concerned with their own hygiene...and they could care even less about yours! Come to the airport prepared to protect yourself from the disgusting conditions, don't expect anyone to do it for you.

Actually, up until recently, I wore work shoes with shanks, so I had to take mine off, too, to be screened at the start of my shift. Even doing so four days a week (which probably is more often than most people fly) I somehow managed to avoid catching a deadly foot fungus!

And there's nothing that says YOU can't wear gloves, too! :)

I expect to find harmful bacteria in a high-traffic public building, and I take sensible precautions to avoid illness.

Finding out the water supply is contaminated came as a bit of a surprise, and until we were notified, I had no reason to believe I had anything to worry about from this quarter.

Won’t work in the U.S. You CAN use footies, baggies, etc., though.

So, how many of these infections actually have been traced back to an airport checkpoint?

I’m not saying it couldn’t happen … I just don’t think the risk is substantially higher than than in a hospital, restaurant, theatre, or other public place with a similarly high traffic level. Including … planes!

Sometimes, not even that … last time I flew, the seat pocket in front of me was stuffed with used Kleenex from a previous passengers. EWWWWWWW!

Excellent advice, worth repeating!

I wear gloves at all times at the checkpoint. I change them often, certainly every time I have to touch a person or go into a bag. I use sanitizer or spray my hands with alcohol between gloves changes. I make an effort not to touch my face, hair, clothing, etc. (not just mucous membranes) with my gloved hands. I very rarely get sick ...

Perzackly!

That’s because the tail is wagging the dog. These people REALLY don’t hate the TSA because they’re worried about germs; they’re only ranting about germs because it provides a convenient vehicle to bash the TSA.

More good advice. You also could seal your carryon luggage inside plastic bags … dispose of the bags upon leaving the checkpoint or (better idea yet!) after disembarking from the plane. Although, if you’re staying in a hotel room … hmmm, those aren’t the most sanitary places, either. OK, never mind!

In comparison to all the hand-wringing about germs that I see on this forum, the number of passengers who appear concerned enough to even wear disposable booties is quite small … I’d estimate less than half of 1 percent.

In closing, my condolences to AINTITFUNNY on her loss.

If your afraid of Germs then flying is probably not the best thing to do..While I agree their is a chance of something being spread at the CP I would be much much more worried about the spread of it on an aircraft.
Cheers
Howie
ps. Sorry to the poster who lost their loved one because of MRSA..

To someone who mentioned cleaning a aircraft would take to long. thats kinda wrong because if they lysol or even citrace (my preference because it smells like oranges) and let it sit for about 5 minutes the contact disinfection would be significant would use about 1/4 a can per widebody plane. Then deep disinfection say at the end/start of the day would probably need a can per plane, if there not going to physically wipe down each seat, armrest, and tray table.

That's really annoying, since they insisted on a doctor's note from me (at ORD). I looked on the TSA's website and couldn't find anything about clearing security with my shoes on and not having a note. Is there anything there? Thanks.

Mike

According to the Mayo website, one of the leading causes of this being so dangerous is: "Antibiotic resistance
Although the survival tactics of bacteria contribute to antibiotic resistance, humans bear most of the responsibility for the problem. Leading causes of antibiotic resistance include: Unnecessary antibiotic use. Like other superbugs, MRSA is the result of decades of excessive and unnecessary antibiotic use. For years, antibiotics have been prescribed for colds, flu and other viral infections that don't respond to these drugs, as well as for simple bacterial infections that normally clear on their own. "

So, basically, being a germaphobe can lead to the opposite result from that which is desired. That is precisely why so many children are so sick these days - parents that are way too cautious. Some caution is warranted, but many people go way too far.

The Mayo also states that contact sports are a big risk factor for this superbug. I don't see anybody limiting that! Why? Because we want to do that. It is much easier to have a third party to blame for something. I am very sorry for the death of anyone, but the fact of the matter is that this post is in regards to TSA security cleanliness issues and there is no proof that this was the cause of the husband's contact with the bug.

I agree with the poster that suggests if you are concerned - don't fly. In fact, stay home and have everything delivered to you and put through a sanitizer before admitting into your home. That is the only way to be sure in this day and age. And it has the added benefit that you are taking responsibility for your own life and not blaming others.

Sorry to be so harsh, but when we cannot control something, we try to malign it. The fact of the matter is that we will never be able to avoid all germs nor make all people practice satisfactory (to each of us) cleanliness, so the only option is to get used to it and protect ourselves as best as we can.

Personally, if I notice someone on the plane that shows ANY symptom of sickness like a cold, I take Nyquil that and the next night as a preventative.

OK, this might get me banned, but I would much rather wrap screeners in plastic, put booties on screeners, and dunk screeners head first into a vat of hand sanitizer.

No doctors note is required. If you have a medical condition, state that fact, and the TSO is *supposed* to respect it. The TSO at ORD was wrong.

Why? Whatever works for ya, I guess. Odd fetish...