Bart

touche' ^

Bart

No, let's not have people walk around barefoot. As for the women burning their bras, however, hmmmmmm....yeah, let's encourage that...in the name of freedom of expression!!

coachrowsey

That is my honest take on 99% of them. Some one also said to complain to DC, well I've done that & guess what they dont even answer.
Guess without inspecting shoes you need less screeners.

whirledtraveler

Because the job obviously isn't about security. If it was, it would be done differently. Screening is public relations. Screeners should never forget that they are in that line of work and it is their job to make people feel safe despite the fact that they aren't.

Now, that said, acting like cops may make some people feel more secure, but there are other ways doing it... just looking serious and vigilant rather than pedantic might do the trick.

SDF_Traveler

TSAMGR -

The last several times I have asked for a comment form or a complaint form, I get the response "we don't have any". I suspect this is BS. The standard response is to contact the TSA via email or call the HQ.

I've done both and it doesn't get me anywhere; canned responses via email and when I call the center, a canned response but just verbal. I have also written my congresspeople and generally get from-letter responses.

The only office that has been helpful is one of my senator's; however, the individual I worked with there regarding the TSA and privacy concerns has even gotten frustrated with the conflicting responses the TSA would provide when she contacts them on my behalf.

While it's easy to bash the TSA in a form like this with the terms "shoe nazis", etc., I understand many of you are doing you're best to make a living & you're frustrated with many of the policies. On a positive note, lately I've been finding more good than bad within the TSA when dealing with front line employees -- at the same time, there are specific airports I try to avoid and specific ones I will go out of may way to use based on my personal experience with the hassle factor. I treat all TSA employees with common courtesy and respect and I request the same in return - if there is a problem, I speak up.

Recently I was seperated from my belongings during a secondary screening and I got yelled at by a screener because I would not allow them to start the secondary until I could see my belongings. When I come across "bad apples" such as this and/or a specific problem related to a local policy, I would like to get a complaint/comment form as you & others suggest.

Does the complaint/comment form have a specific # on it like many government forms do? Is there perhaps a TSA comment form somewhere on the web which can be printed, filled out, and then sent to the FSD at a specific airport? Or perhaps a list of FSD's and their addresses for correspondence from the public?

Thanks, TSAMGR, for your assistance!

SDF_Traveler

screenerx

Then your take on them is wrong. The most we usually do with shoes is run them through a x-ray if they alarm the HHMD or we ETD them.

I usually screen shoes when:

A) they alarm the WTMD and the person just refuses to remove them. I take them back, screen them and if they alarm then I have them removed. I then A) run them through the x-ray and return and do the HHMD screening or B) do the HHMD screening then run the shoes.

B) If the person working the WTMD enforces the shoe profile rule. Most at my airport enforce the rule on huge platform type shoes, at which point I don't do a lot of screening because most men don't wear platform shoes. If the shoe alarms the HHMD then I have them removed. If they don't then I ETD them.

Thats maybe 3 hours of my day and it's usually part of the hand wanding position or bag check position. Most the time I don't even have to do a thing with shoes because people have tennis shoes on and they don't alarm.

The other 4.5 hours is spent doing bag checks, x-ray, WTMD, entry, and exit. The other 1 hour is spent on breaks and lunch.

As much as everyone believes that cutting back on the shoe thing will cut back on the number of screeners you need, it's just not true. Until the WTMD are reset at every airport not to pick up the shoes, screeners will be needed. A large majority of the profile shoes contain steel shanks and alarm the WTMD's. So just because the shoe carnival goes alway doesn't mean we elimate the need for screeners.

You might use PHX or other airports like them as a example where it would help. Think again. If a large majority of passengers take off their shoes before coming through the WTMD at these airports then a large majority of the alarms at the checkpoint go down. As much you guys will hate to admit to it, the shoe carnival seems to be the answer to:

A) Lazy screeners not wanting to do as much screening as they used to. I would a few are like this since I work with a few.

B) If the number of the screeners at said airport can't meet the demands of the number of alarms coming through the checkpoint.


I'm not saying I agree with the policy here but you have to fight two battles to truly win here. The airports such as PHX and stuff are clearly in the wrong.

If you want to see a reducation in work staff then the ending of the shoe carnival in itself is not the answer. You need to have the WTMD reset also.

TSAMGR

Still generalizing.

Weither there was shoe inspection or not, there would be the same amount of screeners required.

TSAMGR

Opinion

whirledtraveler

If the job really was about security, don't you think your agency would act differently? Lighters? Lithium-Ion batteries?

TSAMGR

No, Lighters and Batteries are actually under FAA regulations.

TSAMGR

Send me a PM with an email address and I will send you the form.

law dawg

Lots of opinion put out as fact. Gospel it ain't.

cawhite

Did the shoe policy change again after Saturday's "incident" at LAX? Sorry if it has and I've missed something but haven't found anything here - I've been wireless for 5 days until last night as I was traveling sans pc.

Flying out of IND yesterday early afternoon the TSA "strongly suggested" (his words) that I remove my shoes or possibly be subject to a secondary (like everyone else, I've heard that one lots of other airports before, so I wasn't surprised although it hasn't been SOP in IND for quite a while). Went through wearing my running shoes, setting off no beeps etc, and was immediately herded into the secondary by the same TSA employee "because you wouldn't remove your shoes." No secondary on my bags, just my person. The female TSA who did the wanding said it was because of what had happened at LAX on Saturday. I hadn't had a chance to see the morning's paper yet so I hadn't heard anything about it yet, and she tells me that there was an explosion using a flashlight & a security breach at LAX -- of course not bothering to tell me it was a corroded battery in the flashlight but instead making sound as if it were an intentional act.

studentff

That's been the SOP (or at least OP) I've observed at IND on essentially every trip this year. Shoes on -> secondary screening of body (not bags), with TSA looking at all shoes and "suggesting" pax remove them.

It's very possible though that enforcement of this policy varies from day to day or shift to shift, as that is the case at other airports.

That link is so weak it's funny. If they're going to make up new feel-good policies, they should at least use the Russian airliner bombing rather than 2 non-incidents at LAX. (one an idiot who walked up the down escalator into the sterile area and should be jailed/fined for the loss he caused, and the second a freak incident with a Japanese KAL pax's flashlight. )

I still have some fear that once the government wakes up after the holiday weekend, some official who never travels and is still living in the 1950s with a wind-up watch and no cell phone will suggest banning all batteries on commercial flights.

GradGirl

I think screeners hurt the credibility of the whole organization when they make up these bald-faced lies. There has been no announcement of any changes in screening procedures as a result of these two minor incidents. I have become inured to many kinds of mistreatment by the TSA, but being lied to still pisses me off.

It seems SOP is "if someone complains about any aspect of screening, blame it on the most recent security news story you remember." Comments from TSA people?