TSA Random Gate Inspection - Where to File Complaint?
 

Today I witnessed the fall out from a random gate inspection test by TSA agents at IAD.

While, it is true that the Gate Agent (& a plane side worker) failed the inspection, even the TSA agent begrudgingly admitted that the GA's failure was not surprising due to the poor design and layout of the gate area.

Understandably, the TSA Agent has a job to do but, the TSA agent was unnecessarily aggressive in confronting the Gate Agent and seemed to take glee in having "caught" the GA unaware.

Furthermore, the TSA agent eager to dress down the GA, disrupted the boarding process. That disruption, caused the flight to depart late and me to miss my flight and delayed my travels over 4 hrs.

I would like to submit a statement of my observations and/or lodge a complaint detailing the TSA agent's unprofessional behavior and offer written support on behalf of the GA.

My review of the TSA website didn't reveal a clear contact point. Can anyone suggest where would be best to direct my comments?

TIA

TSA would probably recommend the "Talk to TSA" page. Opinions differ as to its efficacy.

I would also suggest directly contacting the FSD at Dulles ... but my web search skills are poor, and I have no way of determining contact information for him/her.

Out of curiosity, what type of test was being performed, and how did the GA fail? The only TSO gate activity I've ever seen is them picking off random passengers for more screening and bag checks.

You could also complain to the airline, saying that the TSA actions caused you to miss your connections or whatever.

I too would be interested in what type of inspection you are referring to where the TSA would hold up an entire plane over the gate agent.

The waving of magic strips over a particularly bad cup of coffee?

It was a sting operation where an grandmotherly type TSA shilling as a passenger wandered towards the gate's boarding door and eventually boarded the plane without a boarding pass.

Please note that the Gate D12 area is very poorly designed with unblocked access to the jet bridge door that is also obstructed from the GA's view by a wall & its placement behind & off to the side of the GA desk.

fwiw, this was a United Express flight operated by Atlantic SouthEast Airlines.

As with most IAD-LGA flights, this one was oversold, had confirmed & standby passengers waiting & the regular assortment of issues that totally occupy a lone GA.

From what I overheard, TSAGranny walked towards the door but when the GA first made eye contact with her, TSAGranny turned around & walked away. The GA then went back to boarding & trying to get the flight out.

With the GA's facing customers in front of her, TSAGranny walked across the large swath of floor space behind GA Desk/Wall & entered the jetbridge.

Then TSAGranny managed to waved a piece of paper by the person guarding access to the plane and boarded.

It was a youngish TSA Supervisor/Shrew who then couldn't wait to announce "gotcha" and proceeded to harangue the GA before boarding had ended.

Consequently, the flight left late & I who had taken the bump, was also forced to wait for the TSAShrew to stop her tantrum before the GA was able to continue with her duties and issue me a new boarding pass for another flight. The TSAShrew 's unprofessional display lasted long enough to cause me to miss my next flight.

What was really strange was the TSAShrew seemed to only rail on the GA, repeatedly demanding her credentials & Supervisor but I heard no mention of any issue with the employee who actually allowed TSAGranny to board the plane. :confused:

The whole scene was disgraceful and given the poor design of that gate area,I doubt any lone GA would be able to adequately guard that door while juggling all the duties of that job.

I think I would have been tempted to walk up to the TSA person and tell them to shut up in this situation, as they're interfering with aircraft operations.

What else can one do, other than to tell the person who's railing on about something wasteful and unimportant to stop?

Seeing as how TSA only admits people that are properly screened and cleared to the sterile area, there was obviously no threat to aviation if someone from the sterile area sneaked onto the plane. It's an airline operations/revenue problem at that point, nothing more. If some uber clever terrorist paid his way through an employee entrance without getting himself screened, he's not going to try to then sneak on board an aircraft in front of the GA & hundreds of people and then get booted & caught when an FA tries to figure out why he's sitting in a seat that another angry passenger is ticketed for. He wouldn't have done any of those stupid things to attract attention: he would have bought a ticket like anyone else. The TSA sting operation was pointless.

It's unbelievable that we're paying a team of people to screw around doing bulls#@+ like that.

Wow. Just when you thought it wasn't possible, a new low.

Actually, I find it pretty easy to believe at this point. First we pay them to grope granny; now we pay them to dress granny up and try to sneak her onto a plane.

Wow. Thanks for the heads-up on this latest bit of insanity.

If I ever witness a similar event, I will call the airport police and tell them that a crazy person wearing a TSA uniform is harrassing an airline employee.

Yes, and in addition, TSA granny can grope herself and self-clear into the sterile area. Perhaps this is the beginnings of a Trusted Granny program.

It seems that the TSA has quite a few duties involving protecting airline revenue:

- Checking IDs to BPs to make ticket resale difficult (impossible once the TSA gets its overpriced BP scanners).

- Trying to catch gate agents who let passengers board without BPs.

- Giving baggage handlers a free pass to steal from checked bags, since the airlines can now point the finger at the TSA.

Of course, with this "blessing" comes the drop in airline revenue from people who won't fly solely because of the TSA.

Apparently some genius at TSA HQ watched an episode of the old movie Airport on TBS the night before.

responses in this thread....
 

Should really have to do with answering the question asked.

This is the Practical Issues forum, where we want to make it easy for posters to get answers or advice without a lot of discussion.

thanks

squeakr

co Mod

? Most have been quite helpful. Again here is the contact information:
http://www.tsa.gov/contact/index.shtm

If I were the OP, call and speak to the FSD. You can find it out by calling the airport main number and asking for his or her office -- the FSD *will* answer your calls (I was shocked, I have been able to just call up mine on the two times that I needed to speak to her.) Just be civil and don't start ranting.

I would also add that in a situation like this, VIDEOTAPE. Pull out your iPhone and start recording the interaction. I would recommend doing it openly though so you don't get into trouble regarding any wiretapping laws, etc.

Last year I witnessed a United gate agent behaving extremely badly, screaming at a customer, and pulled out my phone and started obviously videotaping her. She all of a sudden became "Miss Congeniality" and quit the ridiculous behavior. It was sad, but very effective. The other customer saw what was happening and just kind of smiled, and when the issue was being resolved I put away the phone. I probably still have the video somewhere, but the threat was enough to encourage proper, more civil behavior.