Went through the checkpoint at IAD on Monday at 0700. No line - screeners where very pleasant, professional and polite. To tell the truth, over the last several month, my TSA experiances have all been positive.

I'd like to list my positive experiences with TSA here also:
1. ...
...
...

Never mind

I suspect that many, many TSA experiences are "positive" or perhaps not blatantly terrible. But then again, pretty much every experience is acceptable right up to the point it isn't.

I always have good experiences. I shut up, take my shoes off, know whats in my bag, walk through, get my bags put my shoes on and go to the gate. No problem.

Have I been wanded, yes it was my turn for random. Went into the secondary screening area raised my arms, sat down, raised my legs, got my stuff and off to the gate. No problem, change of pace.

I give the screeners the respect any human deserves. If I get a screener with a bad attitude I don't lessen myself as do some of the whiners here. I thank them and off I go. Is it really worth arguing with someone doing their job and having a bad day? No. Do you feel better yelling at a worker? If you do then you have self esteem problems and need to look at yourself.

Wake up and realize how childish you look to other passengers around you.

So tell us, major pain, is there no limit to the abuse that you will endure from a "screener having a bad day." How about one who crosses the line to truly abusive? Is that just a change of pace for you, too?

Bruce

The answer is in his own post
"You can starve me and you can beat me and you can kill me. Just don't bore me".
(and if you MUST quote Clint Eastwood, how about Clint saying to the TSA Guy, Go ahead punk, make my day!) ^

Of course, it would be terribly boring if all we had to do was routinely pass bags through X-Ray and walk through a WTMD on the way to the gate.

How utterly boring would that be!!!

Thanks dcpremex for actually posting something positive about us.

Like any job, the TSA has its share of idiots. It embarrasses the hell out of those of us who know what we are doing. Sometimes you get stuck with an idiot; sometimes you get the good screener.

I wish pleasant travel experiences for all of you because I know how stressful travel can be. I don't expect everybody to appreciate or agree with what we're doing, but it's nice when somebody takes the time to pay us a compliment.

Yes, there are good TSA experiences. I have on every time I fly out of MHT. But, I had good experiences at MHT pre-TSA, at a MUCH lower cost.

The TSA is not giving the taxpayers anything as far as a return on investment. As far as wasteful government goes, the TSA is in the top 5 wasteful agencies.

I have to say (as I mentioned in a previous thread) that I have never had a bad TSA experience. Everywhere I have flown through I have found the screeners to be professional and courteous and in some places they even had a great sense of humour!

I believe that while it may not be perfect, the TSA is a great improvement on its predecessors such as Argenbright.

Hi SarahWest,

I wonder how often you have been SSSS'ed for selectee screening? In my experience, I can usually maintain a good attitude with the regular screening process, other than fearing for my fragile laptop going through the machine with no padding. However, the wanding and pat-down routine that goes with SSSS usually ruin my mood because it feels like an assault to be touched on my breasts and have my underwear felt by a stranger in uniform.

Quite a few times and on each occasion it has been conducted professionally and with courtesy. I don't have a problem with it at all. They are simply doing their job. Getting a bad attitude about it won't help make matters any better so it's best not even to go there.

If you have an SSSS experience that is clearly more about the screener's sexual pleasure/power fantasies than your traveling security, though, your view might change. I was never anti-security until I was flying somewhere with a woman colleague a few months after 9/11 and I sailed through the checkpoint while she was, for lack of a better term, felt up at some length in full view of everyone. She's smooth and pretty, I'm lumpy and hairy, and she got the hands down her shirt.

This happens to enough women that it's scandalous, and the bad TSA apples are counting on you to just bite your lip and run for your flight. "Getting a bad attitude" is just what's needed.

Thank you very much for that story, BearX220. I have been reporting my experiences similar to the one you recounted above on this board and hearing a lot of unsupportive "it must be your fault" or "why do you have such a bad attitude?" in response. Thank you for making the point that I'm not the only woman victimized at the airport. Just last week a male screener tried to conduct a wand search on me, while there were women on duty. He proceeded to wand one or two attractive teenage girls after I refused his unwelcome come-on!

Women should never be put in the position of being vulnerable to these TSA bad apples in the first place. I'm old enough to fend for myself, but these girls, who looked to be about sixteen, were not streetwise enough to fight back against this manipulation. Touching passengers should be absolutely forbidden. This would not compromise security at all, because huge gaping security holes elsewhere will be the first to be breached. All this attention to women's breasts is plainly prurient.

I saw something quite similar in March 2003 in Ft. Lauderdale. A group of TSA thugs "selected" the prettiest young girls about to board a 30-seat RJ to Orlando and gave them the full treatment. The fact that these girls were nearly naked to begin with didn't stop the TSA at all. Lots of inappropriate postures and touching, in full view of the entire gate area. I was appalled -- and posted the story here on FT contemporaneously. If I didn't have to be in Orlando that night, I might have called the police!

Bruce

Touching passengers should be absolutely forbidden. This would not compromise security at all, because huge gaping security holes elsewhere will be the first to be breached. All this attention to women's breasts is plainly prurient.[/QUOTE]




Gradgirl there are 2 ways you can solve this. There is a x-ray machine in place i think it is at one of the airports in FL where you walk thru and it scans for items. It is set up like the the one in the Arnold movie where it like your naked. The other is if you beep ask for a private then you can take your shirt/pants off and do a visible search. I have had women/men come thru the checkpoint and had weapons hidden in their bras and pants. You can not do a search without touching the body. The SOP states that in those area that are senitive you will use the back of your hand. Most of the women on my checkpoint hate it as much as you do, I hate having to search that area on a man, but you have to do it. You just do it as quickly and respectly as you can and move on to the next person