Letter to reporters
 

Subj: Business Flyers are Getting Angrier
Date: 12/31/2001 11:57:10 AM Eastern Standard Time
From:
To: [email protected], bhansen@usatoday, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
CC: [email protected]



I am sure that none of you respond well to bulk mail and group mailings. I am sending this in the hope that at least one of you will take an interest.

It is high time that the Press adopts a responsible attitude and does not foster the all is well mentality of the FAA and Congress.

Everything that has been done (and written about) during the past few months as been done with one goal in mind...get grandma and grandpa NONFLYERS back in the air for the Holidays. Well, the Holidays are over and many of us have to get back to work.

Like many of the posters on FlyerTalk, I feel like I live on an airplane. I fly over 100,000 miles a year and have been doing so for over 15 years. The last several months have been Hell.

If what has allegedly been done really improved my safety, I would not be complaining. You know and I know and most professional flyers know that it has been window dressing.

The people that you have been interviewing have all said "wow it's great" "I'm safe" "I would stand in line for 6 hours if it means I will get to Kansas safely"

Well, the truth is, we are no safer today (or less safe) than we were on 9-11. But, we are being hassled, groped, felt-up, made to partially undress (women are buying bras with no underwire) in front of leering "security people" who are under paid. Many do not speak English and have not graduated from even High School. I was told (yes this is hearsay) that one particularly perverted screener delighted in playing with lacy bras and panties that were in carry-ons.

Our National Guardsmen are standing like wooden Indians with no ammo and really nothing to do. These proud kids are there because they are ordered to be there. They have jobs and families. Look at what they are loosing in the "sham" of security.

We are forced to stand in countless lines for countless hours and subjected to countless searches. I am losing time -- money- and patience!

Mr. and Mrs. Reporter, why don't you buy a fully refundable ticket to anywhere and watch what happens during the "random" searches at the gate. Why surprise of surprises, it is Mr. three-piece suit and Ms. Caucasian business lady (frequent flyers know not to be first in line for First Class any more) or Granny or Granddad....WHY? Because the airlines know that they won't complain and to be PC the FAA says they cant do truly random searches and call people over the loud speakers to be searched or God Forbid...they CAN'T PROFILE.

Where are the professionals who know how to ask questions, search, look in someone's eye and make him crawl even if he has done nothing? Where is real security that works?

Here are just a few of the many posts on FT the last few days.

I think it is time to stop taking the point of the infrequent flyers who really believe that all of this nonsense works. With everything "at a heightened level of security" we have shoe bombs, guns in Memphis, bullets in Ft Lauderdale and God knows what else.

None of us wants a repeat of 9-11. None of us wants someone with a bomb in his shoe to send us to heaven or hell. But, we all know that the system is very broken and not on the way to be fixed. We also know that it is still safer to fly than drive to the airport or to wherever because we refuse to waste 2 hours each way on a 2 hour flight.

You and I both know that now with allowing the current screeners with a years experience to stay instead of, at least, a high school graduation, will do nothing but keep all of our problems magnifying.


Thanks for listening and Happy New Year,

FYI: (There are many more posts from the past 3 months...please go look)

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http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/005929.html

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http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/005917.html

]http://www.flyerta[/URL] lk.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/005901.html


[This message has been edited by mikey1003 (edited 12-31-2001).]

[This message has been edited by mikey1003 (edited 12-31-2001).]

I hope the person who initiated this thread will edit the list of web page addresses so they appear on separate lines. That will avoid the current situation where the page is forced to be wider than a standard monitor.

I can't email the poster direct, because his/her email address is not included in his/her profile.

Thanks for letting me know what was wrong. I couldnt figure it out.

Wow, great letter. Though we will never agree completely on everything, I think you did a great job going down the middle of the road. We need to stop the foolishness and divert our national resources elsewhere.

I will be sending a letter to these same people right now. Along with a few other comments. Hope others agree.

[This message has been edited by NoStressHere (edited 12-31-2001).]

What headline/story line do you want these folks to carry to their editors?
"Security not improved!"
"Measures taken are a waste of time!
"Government not telling the truth!"
"Airport security is a sham!"
"Not safe to fly yet!"

I agree with you in the main...the only real improvement for security will come from the measures that won't be implemented. The major improvement we've all talked about already is the new found aggressiveness in the crew and pax. Maybe one of the reporters will undertake an indepth story about what real and possible measures can be taken.

Mikey, great job, I totally agree with you. It seems that common sense does not prevail when it comes to security.

Why tell a person drinking from a bottle of water to pour out the water but keep the plastic bottle because they are afraid of the contents, when the security person just saw you taking a drink from it? That's what happened to my fiancée in FLL recently.

When you tell the moron with the handheld wand that the metal rivets on your jeans are setting off the detector, and they don't understand what you are talking about, because they don't have a high enough IQ to understand what a rivet is, and you have to ask for a supervisor (which takes more time), please help me. That happened at LAX.

When a male security person goes through a woman's purse and holds up a round birth control pill holder and jokes about it to the other male security people is beyond belief. That happened to an attractive young lady at LGA in front of me on line. She was extremely upset over the way they treated her.

This isn't security, it's a side show at the circus that doesn't protect anyone.

------------------

Wow - good points. As many managers have always told me, don't complain unless you have a suggestion or response, which is what you are getting at.

"Not safe to fly" headline. Please,please do not use this one. Life has its dangers, from walking to bike riding to driving to breathing. Heck, smoking takes kills 1,000 per day and, well... Add in starvation, car accidents, accidental shootings, disease, etc. etc. Just the way it is.

"Measures taken are a waste of time" might be closer to reality. Most of the measures mean very little. Just window dressing and a hassle.

"Security Not Improved" - actually I think it is a bit improved. I believe some people are profiling (official or not). Random checks help. Cockpit doors REALLY help. But most important, the best line of defense is the crew and passengers.

"Airport Security A Sham" - maybe, but I sure would not the powers to be to then react to that and make it worse to the point we shut down the airline business, and the rest of the economy at the same time.

I think we are as safe as we are going to be. If we took all that money we are spending on double and triple staffing of checkpoints, manning them with National Guard, etc. and put it into less people, but trained like in Customs to spot potential problems and do random checks, we could be a bit safer. I counted 12 people working a checkpoint the other day, and this is a single line, single machine station. That does not count the people roaming the terminal, or those doing the gate bag checks.

FYI:
So far heard back from [email protected]

Hello:

Thanks for your message. I'll pass this around and take it under
consideration.

Best,
R


Soooooo....keep up pressure. BTW, bhansens email returned undeliverable

I would love to see one of the majors run a story on this... unfortunately I'm sure they will be overrun with Letters to the Editor from Mr. Middle American Infrequent Flyer and Ms. Doesn't Ever Fly But Has An Opinion About It Anyhow who disagree with our dilemna.

I agree that flying has become an occassionally humiliating experience and that the new measures do little or nothing.

I am one of those who had the bad experience of having my dirty lingerie pulled out and fondled in the middle of a small town airport. I have also had a security screener pull condoms out of my toiletry case and feel them. I've had one pull out my personal art journal and flip through the pages of it.

Does this make me feel safe? Not particularly. Have I seen inconsistency in the airports during the 60+ flights I've taken since 9/11? You betcha.

The only thing we can count on with security since 9/11 is that it will be frustrating and completely inconsistent.

Hmm, it looks (in your original post)
like you left off the ".com"
after "usatoday"... that would certainly do it.

Hope this helps.

Sure would...thanks...missed it

This reminds me of the "good old days" when all you had to worry about was games Customs Agents play....I remember 30 years ago it was common for Customs Agents to "accidently" drop Diaphram compacts just to see the returning Honeymooners turn beet red when the little rubber cap went rolling through the airport.

At least they did it for practical jokes not perversion (I am one of those who had the bad experience of having my dirty lingerie pulled out and fondled in the middle of a small town airport) like the Argenbrite Idiots of today.....soon to be federal Agents.. WOW what a relief http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mad.gif

Good for you, Mikey. This would make a great article for a thorough reporter.

anybody have an e-mail address for Chris Woodyard at USAToday? he's the one who wrote this interesting article about ariline advertising how quickly you can get thru security now:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/biztra...31-shorter.htm

unless of course you've gotten the dreaded "S", or you look like you might be a fun search to some "argen-Goof"...

It looks like his address is in the original posting above. [email protected]