I live in Illinois.

I don't see that ever happening. States issue CCW's, but the sterile area of a terminal and commerical aircraft belong to the Feds.

The UK has this regulation in place as well. I fondly recall the argument at LGW staff search between an armed officer with a submachine gun who was being told by the screener that his liquids were not in the correct sized bag and he would need to get a new one before she could allow him respond to the emergency at gate 21.

bolding mine: and there lies the rub . yes someone like you or a ffdo needs to be treated, shall we say "differently" and rightly so but what, as i'm sure you have read, pi$$es most of us off is the double (and imho) non-sensical double standard of taking anyone with a sida badge and/or airline id as being deemed secure. if the person is working that's one thing but if they are using their airline, tsa or other airport approved i/d to access the security line when not working, we all know what kind of "screening" occurs ....and then of course there's the bottle of water purchased airside by say a working crew member and one purchased by me at the same airside store with both of us wanting to bring the unopened bottle thru the checkpoint...but that's another discussion for another day...

Seriously? Would you want to have to get to the airport 2 hours before your shift starts? When flight crew are travelling for pleasure, they wait in line like everyone else. I would quit my job if I had to be there 2 hours early, un-paid. That makes no sense, Ron.

Really? I have a bridge to sell you . . .

FA’s get paid while they are flying as I understand it. Not while on the ground. So no matter how early or late they are in getting there they don’t get paid until in the air. A “professional” understands that the time spent preparing for work is just as important as the work itself.

People commute to work all the time. For many a 2 hour commute would be nice. I drive 20 minutes to get to work then have a 20 minute bus ride to the airport. All unpaid. It’s a part of doing business. If I want to work I have to do it.

Crews can have as little as an 8 hour rest period. Note that this does not mean 8 hours sleep. With waiting for the van driver, traffic, checking in/out of the hotel, etc. the actual sleep time can easily be 6 hours or less. Sorry, but I would rather not be on a plane where the crew has had 4 hours or less of sleep the night before just because you don't think it's “fair” that they can cut in line.

The difference here is that you want them to be responsible for 8 hours, I want them to be responsible all the time. During that 8 hours of “crew rest” there is absolutely no guarantee that they are going to “rest”. They could be dancing the night away, driving from one state to another, or shopping. The fact is that there is nothing in the law that requires crews to “rest” during their crew rest. So you take your chances no matter what.

The chances of them being more or less rested because they have a mandatory “crew rest” period is minimal. Its about personal responsibility (again), and we all know how often people place that at the forefront of their day. The term “CYA” has been around a lot longer than the term “TSA”.

Most do, but there are some that use their employment position to game the system and avoid the responsibilities that all other passengers have.

What on Earth are you talking about?

Hmm where have I heard and seen this before.......Ummm yeah other TSA employees like yourself. #Fail


If everyone/everything isnt checked screened every time they enter airside(no hemming, hawing or excuses), if not its not sterile and never will be! If you believe otherwise your either blind or insane.

Agreed - EVERYONE needs to be screened, as long as you have a McDonalds/Burger King/airline employee able to enter the sterile area without being screened, the area is no longer sterile. And this goes for the screeners too.

At Australian airports, we routinely see screeners being screened before commencing work, again, the principle is that EVERYONE entering the sterile area is screened. What is so hard about this? But then, we don't have the shoe circus and the pointless ID checks either, so screening is a breeze.

Dave

Where's the confusion?

TSAers coming in unscreened is not "gaming" the system, they are simply abiding by it.

Crew members game the system all the time. They come dressed in their uniform, and will usually change (or at least remove their uniform sweaters) in the airplane, once they're about to close the door. All to sidestep the liquid and shoe lunacy. Seen it a lot.

Pffffffft (sprays all over screen).

I've been issued SIDA badges for maybe 8 or 9 airports. I don't work in aviation.

A few years back I had a badge for a medium/large airport in Texas that's not a hub for anyone but has a strong GA and FBO presence. The airport had multiple badge colors for access to the sterile area and AOA:

Green: Leaseholder in the AOA (like an FBO or A&P). Unescorted AOA access only.
Red: All access. Unescorted access to terminal and AOA.
Yellow: Terminal leaseholder (e.g. Arby's employee). Unescorted access to terminal only.

I had been issued a green badge tied to my FBO. Well a few years later I started using another FBO and was working on a aircraft refurbishment project in the rental hanger area. One day, as I was about to grab an AA flight somewhere, I stopped in the little badge office in the terminal, explained that I was spending an awful lot of time going between places in the AOA and asked advice. The lady working pulls out a form, helps me fill it out, and BANG I've got a red badge.

So I went from maybe getting the use the crew line now and then (depending on the disposition of the TSA agent checking IDs) to being treated like a ticket agent or ramp worker. During slow periods we would sometimes take an airside crew car, head over to a well known heavy maintenance facility next to the terminal to see them rip 747s apart and then maybe stop by the ramp area to see friends....all without even getting a glance from anyone. I even started taking smoke breaks now and then with a ramp worker friend of mine under the terminal.

The fact of the matter is that I was issued an awful lot of access for a not very good reason - I was lazy. This was not comforting security.

And to be fair the airport did get awfully tight about badges a year or so later. They even stopped letting green badges go through crew lanes. I did keep my red badge.