In your experience: TSA toning it down?
 

I have noticed over the past couple of months that the tone, behavior, and general attitudes of TSA airport screeners has come down a notch. At least in my limited sampling (SJC, SFO, YYZ, PDX, MCI), I have not recently encountered any barkers. I have seen screeners simply "correct" situations without secondary screenings (i.e. laptop left in bag, freedom baggie left in bag, larger liquid containers, etc.). In these instances, I have observed no lectures, no retaliatory screenings, and no condescending behavior in general.

Granted, the idiotic screening procedure is still in effect, but the 'tudes seem to be much better. Even the ID checks have been scaled back. Next week I will be flying to ORD and DTW, which have both been noted for some bad apples, so I might get another story.

Anyone else feel that the abrasiveness has been reduced a notch or two, or have I just been lucky?

The barking at SEA devnitely seems less. And a couple weeks ago, I completely forgot to pull a half-finished bottle of water. As I walked through the WMD, I heard 'bag check' (not yelled) and as my bag cleared the scanner, a TSO pulled the water bottle from the side pocket, asked if I wanted to take it back outside or give it up. That was it, no huge deal (for a change).

Just having the volume turned down has been an improvement.

I would think TSA would enjoy the quieter environment as well.

I think it's gone down a bit, and I think a good part of the reason is that the "Got feedback" program is apparently delivering feedback both to nationals and the local stations and making it a bit harder for individual TSOs to avoid criticism for power tripping. The metal badges that came with the smurf uniform, while kind of silly, also make it much harder to obscure and cover up identifying info on TSOs.

I think Propaganda Village also mentioned somewhere that a "no barking" order actually came down from Hawley.

As for the ID checking, I disagree. I still see obsessive and unnecessarily-long checks, needless use of the blacklight on IDs that have a hologram easily visible with the naked eye, etc. Not that ID checks should even be happening, as they add nothing to security, but an ID check should take less than 3 seconds.

I definitely noticed this my last visit to USA (six months ago). Of course, with a sample size of one visit, I couldn't be sure if it was some sort of anomoly, but everything seemed much more mellow on every dimension, so I don't think it was a fluke.

I will concur there has been a marked decrease in the amount of barking, at least in the airports I have frequented recently, most noticeable, to me anyway, T3 @ PHX since it is my home airport. The rest of their kabuki theater appears to be in full-swing, sadly, though.

TSA toning it down
 

I'd have to agree that the entire experience seems to be a little less trying.
In the past few months I've been thru DFW, ORD, MCI, and PHX. Don't hear the Barkers and as has been noted, if there's an issue it's dealt with quietly and in a non-threatening way. Guess both sides are finally reaching a peaceful truce.

Checking Boarding Pass and Barking Screener
 

I traveled recently through SDF. I noticed that they are no longer requiring you to "hold" your boarding pass while going though the machine. I asked about this while the TSA lady was checking my ID. She said, "No, that's no longer required since we no longer use contractors to check your ID". I said I didn't know that and said it made sense. Nice encounter!

Then I traveled through BNA and asked the TSA person checking my ID if I had to present the boarding pass when I went through the machine. She said, "Oh, yes you do...that's our way of checking me and is our backup." I mentioned my earlier experience in SDF and she started to get "on edge" about it and I moved on. Wow, how can I ever win by expecting there to be consistency?

Well, I went through the BNA screening and noticed one TSA gentleman with a large waistline literally yelling "pick up your tubs....I'm not here to pick up after you". He continued this tirade while I put on my shoes etc. I noticed two lady TSA people go up to him and say "I can hear you barking way over there. Everything is fine except for your continuous barking. Please be quiet". He told her, no and continued with his loud tirade. The second TSA lady then calmly walked away and, as she passed me, I said, "you ever wonder why the TSA has such a bad reputation?" She smiled, shook her head, and said "yes, I know!" Both ladies were nice in their approach to him but he was having none of it. This was middle of day and only about 10 people in 2 lines. What a jerk!

BTW, no screener seems interested in my liquid baggy anymore. I think as long as they see it in the tub they are happy.

I must disagree.

I do not feel it has gotten worse, but I do not feel it has gotten better, either.

To the OP: there has never been barkers at YYZ (and that's not TSA, either).

Yes, I know - I just added it in my list of recent airports. Screeners there have always been Canada-courteous.

Recently, I have been consciously trying to separate the screener from the screening. If I can emotionally detach myself from the absurdity of the process, I really do think something has changed. Of course, I have not been to EWR in several years... I do go through ATL a few times per year, and that will be my acid test. The ATL screeners have been habitually obnoxious.

As for the ID check, on my last three airports (SFO, SJC, PDX), there was no scrutiny employed - no blacklight, no loupe, and no inane chattering. I almost always use my passport.

Now that you mentioned it, I haven't seen any barkers for a while -- definitely an improvement.

I would also believe that a good part of the "no barking" is a result of the many, many complaints on Propaganda Village where it's out in public for all to see.

Thanks to all who pushed the issue.

I got SSSSed at SAN on Sunday, due to US Airways rerouting me at the last minute, and aside from a bit of a long wait for an officer it was...an almost tolerable experience. Not something I want to repeat, mind you, but the TSO conducting it was non-rude and professional. Not exactly "polite"...but I can accept professional as a good start.

The real test should have come after he wiped his nose on his gloved hands while rummaging through my bag...in retrospect, I should have stopped and asked him to change his gloves before he went any further, but it just didn't occur to me at the time.

Overall--inane rules and intrusive searches are still inane and intrusive, whether done with a smile or not, but at least it's not completely awful like it used to be (at some airports--I'll admit I've always had good experiences with TSA at PIT, my home airport.)

--Sam

but you should have not been SSSSelected in the first place and your should have had us air remove the SSSS. you were not SSSSelected for your original flight and it was the usair initiated (n.b. usair initiated) re-route that triggered your maSSSSage

I had a bad experience recently, but that's not indicative at all as it was one incident.

You must be kidding me! No it hasn't gotten better lately. If anything, they were mostly pleasant to deal with right up till the week they switched uniforms. I have had a number of unfortunate encounters with them since then. It's like they think they are LAPD and the public is Rodney King.