ID checks at the gate

You are assuming the FAs and PAX would not fight back.

Impossible. The pilots would paste any hijackers to the ceiling and land so quickly your head would spin -- literally.

Bruce

Don't complain - shortly after 9/11, i took a red-eye from LAX to JFK. I had to show ID before security, at the other end of the WTMD, at the entrance to the jet bridge, and at the aircraft door. I finally had to ask the FA if someone thought I had transmogrified as I walked through the jetway...

I think if you show up at anyone's place of work and get snotty with them, you should expect them to get snotty back. Sounds like you two deserved each other that day!

There are surely more "once a year" flyers than "frequent flyers" such as the people here. If politicians are looking for votes, they have to pander to the "once a year" flyers (and the non-flyers, who are also a large part of the population).

But the airlines, airports and associated businesses need to heed the frequent flyers - while few in number, FFs represent the majority of revenue for the airlines. When the once-a-week and once-a-month flyers stop travelling, the airlines are going to fail. And politicians need to be aware of that, too.

Any front line employee that deals with the flying public that way in the private sector would not have a job very long.

I didn't get snotty. I held up my DL and allowed him to look at it. He then insisted that I take it out - again - so that he could give it an in-depth inspection. He had no means to do this in-depth inspection of course. No loupe. No blacklight. He just wanted to stare at it more. I was still trying to get my shoes back on and get my laptop into my bag. I literally ran from the checkpoint to the door so as to avoid missing the flight. I was sufficiently distracted and otherwise occupied that he did not receive my full attention nor did he deserve it.

When he chose to follow me onto the jetway afterward to berate me he crossed the line. That's what I have a problem with.

And that's when it's Joe Pesci time.

I think that's one of the things people don't quite grasp. Airline pilots do their best to make flights smoooooooooth....

If necessary, they could make those planes rock and roll. Bad Guys roaming around the cabin would get tossed around pretty good.

Knives were a secondary factor in 9/11, maybe even a tertiary factor. The real (genious) terrorism behind 9/11 was exploiting airline policy of unconditional cooperation with hijackers. Knives made it easy for them to quickly get compliance from crews and passengers, but they could have achieved the same effect with broken glass, strangling people with shoelaces or neckties, or just claiming to have a bomb.

I'm willing to accept a ban on boxcutters as long as we recognize it is a feel good measure in reaction to 9/11 and has no real security benefit. And large knives (say, blade of 4" or greater) have no more business on an aircraft than swords, guns, explosives, or incendiaries. But banning little 1.5" pen knives is silly, particularly since they easily make it through the metal detector without alarm.

You know that there are metal knives and forks onboard the plane for C and F dinner service, right?

Does anyone else still burst out laughing every time they pull out that little magnifying glass and examine your ID like it's a rare stamp?

Mike

They ought to do the same for the boarding pass, as the "thorough" ID check is worthless without an equally thorough check of the boarding pass. Oh... wait... BPs are not "secure" by any definition of the word. If the TSA really gave a rat's rear end about matching IDs to boarding passes, they would not let airlines issue home-printed (OLCI) boarding passes without verifiable one-time-use bar codes.

This is just another example of how TSA management is either concerned with theater/production values, or is far less qualified than I. Note that I do not claim that I could competently run the TSA.

I've been tempted to use fluorescent ink to mark my ID with some amusing/odd message (or to "spill" a few drops), but the little good judgement that I have has always gotten in the way of my plans.

That's a very good point. I agree with what you have to say because, since I travel as part of my job, quite often the airport is my place of work. Therefore; when TSA employees show up there and get snotty with me they should expect me to get snotty back.

I quite agree.

Fortunately, one seldom sees TSA employees in the airline clubs. Not seeing or having to interact with TSA employees in a section of the airport makes the price of admission well worth it.