Go back and read my post carefully. I said:

The people at the TSA who forced the airlines to participate in this disgraceful, un-American process should be shot. Or sent to a country that "randomly" checks up on its comrades, er citizens

I don't suppose screeners are now in charge of making policy now??? I am referring to Loy and Mineta and their ilk. Our nation executes those who commit treason - Loy and Mineta are guilty of nothing less than that. However, I would be happy to ship them off to North Korea instead where they and the other filthy communists should get along famously.

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"Give me Liberty or give me Death." - Patrick Henry

Despite inaccurate posts by alleged TSA employees (or ex-employees), Norm Mineta vastly expanded the number of gate-groped individuals following September 11. In more than 25 years of frequent flying, I had never been "randomly selected" by anyone for a frisking prior to boarding. Post-September 11, it happened many times.

The FAA (and now TSA) directed the airlines to designate the SSSS selectees. Post-September 11, the number increased exponentially.

Additionally, the screeners selected passengers for the gate grope if there were not enough SSSS selectees.

"Barking to FF's (in the elite flyer's security line) that they must remove their laptops, asking each FF with a bag (as they approach their turn) if there is a laptop in there is insulting. It's just busy work."

Whats also insulting is having those same FF'
s keeping their laptops in their bags, then yelling at a TSA screener when he/she has to check it. And their excuse? "You didn't tell me that!"

Or the FF that walks up and says i know what Im doing and then walks thru setting off the walkthru because he/she forgot their cellphone or keys in their pocket. Then getting upset because they don't get a second chance or because, again, "YOU DIDN"T TELL ME THAT!".

Oh and if you want to give me some lame example of how people only do that unless their FF"s. Had a FF that everyone at my checkpoint hates having to screen, ring. He pretty much accused me of picking on him when he rang. So we get to the wanding area.

When I screen his shoes, they ring and I ask him to take them off. He throws them into the ground nearly hitting me in the bounce ( I had to move back from the guy not to be hit). He then goes on to ***** me out about how his shoe never set that machine off.

At this point my attitude went from just listening to the guy to losing it because he started to insult and about that time I noticed the cell phone on his belt.

So I told the guy to look at his waistline. He does and finally notices his phone. I pretty much told the guy off when he tried to apologize to me to and was lucky not to get a complaint form about it because my choose words werent exaclty the best.

You may be a FF CarmelGreg and might remember everything you might have to do, but not ever FF does and we get a lot of rings because they leave change in their pockets because they just bought coffee or they leave palm pilots they just got in jacket pockets and so on.

Loose lips sink ships. Guess you HAVEN'T heard that one. In the name of safety, please don't talk to you "friends". O.K....


I was actually attempting to mimicking you (as you do to others) from an earlier post here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...ML/000307.html

Where you say:

Thats the problem with the TSA's Goon mentality. I'm not just a passenger I'm also the customer, I guarantee it!! The TSA needs to understand, like the IRS needed to. We are the Customer.

Bong hits? Where?

screenerx:
We are customers. Without us (the customer) the TSA does not exist. That is the bottom line. It appears from the TSA posters at FT and the TSA folks I've witnessed the TSA folks think they're doing us the "Passenger" a freakin favor. Everything in the name of safety. Throw out common sense in the name of safety. We are not only passengers we're customers.

The TSA security is a smoke and mirror show. A joke. Unworthy of the powers bestowed.

Hey!! I resemble that remark....


Sludge

I have absolutely no problem with the resolution of alarms. It's the secondary harassment with no alarm that I am completely opposed to.

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"Give me Liberty or give me Death." - Patrick Henry

Spiff,

That isn't the point of the post. CarmelGreg said he found it insulting to have TSA agents announcing or yelling for people to take laptops out in the FF line.

I brought the second part of that argument to light. Not all FF's remember to do so.

As not all FF's remember to take their cell phones and such out of their pockets.

Now if screeners weren't verbally abused by some of these guys when they ring because of it we might just keep our mouths shut. But as FF's seem to love to do it to us when they screw up, we found reminding you seems to work.

CarmelGreg,

I understand that. But I also understand that its our job to process you folks in a timely matter. Now when you guys come up and don't take laptops out or don't empty your pockets, you as the customer delay other customers.

The best way we have found to do this is, to make annoucments, to all lanes, about what to do. Just because you know, doesn't mean you all know.

BTW, Just because your the customer doesn't mean I have to put with verbal insults that are unwarrented against me or phyiscal assaults against me.

[This message has been edited by screenerx (edited Nov 18, 2003).]

With all due respect, the law provides:

If the verbal insults you receive constitute activity prohibited above, then you are correct. But let's be honest here - mere verbal insults don't constitute interference, assault, threats or intimidation.

You are correct about the physical assault. You don't have to put up with that.

I felt pretty ****ing intimidated when a big weightlifter started telling me to go **** myself when I stopped him after he beeped. He didn't fly that night.

Why not post the Canadian statute for us to read?

We didn't stop him, the airline refused him for the night and rebooked him for the next morning. As for the statutes, I don't believe we have any special authority regarding abusive but non-threatening passengers. The airlines seem to be pretty good about handling those types informally. The RCMP could probably charge the abusive party with "breach of the peace" if they were so inclined.

[This message has been edited by CATSA Screener (edited Nov 18, 2003).]

There is a new book, [i]Passenger Behavior[/] (Bor, ed.) that discusses some of the issues pertaining to post-September 11 security. The book referred to the reasons why security is so hard on passengers:

• It reminds us of the risk of terrorism
• It's intrusive, even embarassing
• Passengers are kept on the defensive--one is guilty until proven innocent.

Furthermore, it's so unpredictable. Will my watch set off the alarm at this concourse? Is this a "shoes on" or "shoes off" checkpoint? Will I be pulled aside in front of everyone? The psychological burden can be overhwelming for passengers.

I know that I dread security screening--perhaps more than I should. The current strategies are expensive, time consuming, and not necessarily effective.

As far as "barking orders" goes, it's horrible. But that problem predated 9/11. I wish that the TSA would recognize what I learned when I worked at JFK: you will never get a message across to a line of people by yelling. You have to actually walk down the line and talk to small groups of people.

The ID mess is ridiculous. But that may change one day. If the TSA can get rid of the security questions, they can get rid of excess ID inspections.

And I agree with all of you--increasing the number of selectees is misguided. All of the September 11 terrorists were selectees. The old system worked. They carried no forbidden articles on board, so our screening was up to par for the standards in place at that time.

As I've said again and again, if you're looking for colon cancer, you don't pick ten people at random out of the waiting room and give them colonoscopies.

Although I find myself making this mistake, I try not to get upset with the screeners themselves. They're just doing their jobs. It's a tough job market, and I'm sure that most would rather have different jobs. I'm mad and frustrated with the local security directors and Federal regulators--they seem to operate in complete isolation, with no oversight nor accountability.

Screener, why waste your time with these people. If they don't comply they don't fly. That's all. You are not there to take abuse from these idiots. You follow the policies and procedures, if they don't like it there is always greyhound.