Wise move.

I'd avoid NA if I could.

Every time something like this happens everyone on this boards talks about how he's going to change his travel plans or cancel trips. After a little while everyone forgets about the new hassles and gets back on the planes again. Yous will fly again. I don't think the airlines are shaking, the airlines know yous'll be back, in the meantime they can lay off a few more employees, but yous'll be back.

Yeah, we'll see indeed. Passengers and profits are at an all-time high now, aren't they? :rolleyes:

I haven't - since the lunacy started, I have been actively avoiding the US, going there only if I really have to (which is a shame, as I love the place once I get out of the airport) - and it has been close to seven years now.

Dave

In 2006 the TSA at LAX tore open one of my boxes and mixed dirty bicycle parts with my travel books and clean clothes. A box of Tim-Tams was squashed and wrung like a pair of wet sox...

Then they put some pamphlets in the box saying yadda...yadda. I did NOT find out until I was back in Canada and cleared customs there.

Since then I have refused to fly through any US airport/territory. I do not mind getting body searched or even strip searched. BUT to have some holigans do the inspection behind closed doors and then not give me any recourse to their damaging ways is quite unacceptable to me.

I exercise my freedom in choosing to fly usually by a more expensive route and not be bothered by poorly trained power-hungry hooligans working under the auspices of "safety and security". I travel a fair bit and enter the lower 48 only by road - and do tolerate the Border Control types asking me why I have Middle-Eastern (or ANY other) currency in my wallet, etc. I am patient and polite, BUT at least I "play" with them like they "play" with me. And that helps me tolerate some of their stupid (to me) questions.

Canada to Australia is now via Japan, or Hong Kong. No more Hawaii or SFO or LAX stops. Similarly, I only fly out of Canada into Europe and then onward - no more flights out of JFK or MSP. To save aggravation and self-respect I will pay extra and avoid US (and US Territory) airports that obviously have too many hooligans masquerading as TSA security types.

+1

I guess you missed all the posts from people who said that they actually have changed their travel patterns. That's "have changed," as in "it's already happened." These people aren't threatening to change their travel patterns... they have already done it.

When I fly on business to and within the US, I never check luggage. When the TSA first announced that they would start rifling through checked luggage out of the presence of the owner, I invested in a rollaboard carry-on and never looked back.

Nice if you can get away with it. Sadly my job requires me to take equipment that is required to be checked.

I now actively try to avoid travel to the US. Even if it means re-arranging meetings to Canada or skipping US conferences and going to European-hosted ones instead. Or not taking on projects within the US.

I know my travel dollars alone don't mean much, but I'm sure that if the money was added up from all the travelers who felt the same way and took similar actions, then it wouldn't be an insignificant amount.

Yes, I have avoided the USA for travel. In the past 4 years I have travelled quite a bit around the world (on my own dollar), but have only been to the USA once (and even then it was just a YVR-LAS-YYC flight. When I was in the USA in 2005, I passed through six airports and they were all a hassle, with the exception on one. I pity people who regularly have to fly for business through the USA.

As someone else has already said, I will spend my dollars (and time) in a place where I am welcomed and treated like a normal human being.
Why bother with long immigration lines, security hassles and ordinary airports when I can go elsewhere and enjoy the travel experience?

I find the major Asian airports a pleasure to pass through. Even Manila airport, with its multiple security checks and patdowns easy to pass through. In Europe, LHR and FCO were ordinary, but there were half a dozen other airports that are very easy to transit through (including immigration).

After this latest incident, I wonder what will happen next?

It is just easier to avoid the USA.

We have changed our travel plans
 

on a very fundamental level we have gone to using "Go To Meeting" instead of flying to as many meetings as possilbe. We still have to get out of the barn and travel now and then, but not as often as we used to do.

We also pre-ship meeting materials (usually Fed-Ex) to avoid having things ruined by the TSA so-called inspections.

I can see more "Go To Meeting" in our future plans. A lot more!

50 of my estimated 70 flights since 9/11 were short commuter hops, but required me to go through TSA security. Now with 1, whoops, 2 medium sized rescued spaniels, flying in a small twin is not an easy thing to plan, especially since my latest rescue pup seems to have motion sickness issues, and each dog would need to be crated. I haven't flown in over 2 years, and would probably miss the dogs far more than I could possibly miss traveling by commercial airlines.:p

What do you think makes U.S. T.S.A. agents less pleasant than their foreign counterparts. I know that it is a monotonous job and that some passengers are jerks, but the U.S. T.S.A. seems to have a large proportion of people with attitudes. When you have that many people with attitudes, it is usually management problem.

Unpleasant work rules.
Inconsistency in mission.
Abusive managers.
Throwing workers to the wolves when anything goes wrong.
Conflicting orders.
Knowing what they do violates the tenets of the US way of life.

TSA workers were hired en mass when the whole thing started and they were made many promises about professionalism, promotion opportunities and job security.

Promises not kept.

New hires came in knowing that it was a very unpopular job and one that they wouldn't brag about to friends.

Especially this weekend they are having to disappoint a lot of the flying public who can't possibly keep up with the New Rules.

Want that job? No way!

The game just isn't fun anymore for any of us.