What's funny is that this morning at DCA, the screeners were so concerned about my shoes that they didn't even bother to look at my BP for SSSS after I passed through the metal detector. I got the full body secondary for not removing my shoes, but no bag search, which is what differentiates preselected "SSSS" from retaliatory or random secondary picked by the screener. If my boarding pass had been marked with SSSS, I would have been able to escape the bag search since no one except the initial non-TSA ID checker looked at my BP.

Simple?? My boarding pass was checked once coming through security at LHR. It was such a refreshing change from the BS we go through in the states. No one had to take their shoes off! Imagine that.

If only everone did the same. I wasn't even allowed to go through the metal detector when I refused to remove my tennis shoes Thursday at BWI ... nope, straight to secondary to be molested. I asked for a complaint form and was given a slip of paper with a number for "customer service"

At several airports, the non-TSA ID checker uses a highlighter to mark the SSSS on the boarding pass. Would be interesting to see if TSA screeners would ignore SSSS if highlighted because of extreme interest in shoes.

The world would be a better place if only all TSA screeners did things the same way you do. ^

Yeah, one would think that all TSA screeners would do this for the sake of co-workers' fatigue. Sending any and all shoes through the x-ray just makes for more junk that the x-ray screener has to analyze and weed out, thus increasing the chances that s/he might miss something important. It is well known in detection theory that clutter and "false alarms" reduce the probability of detection.

This is an excellent point, and why I point out that they missed a butcher's knife in a purse (not a giant rollaboard bag) at EWR, where they're obsessed with shoes.

The other thing that concerns me with this shoe stuff is how inconsistent it is across airports and even across terminals at the same airport. If they can't achieve even a tiny amount of consistency on this, I'm worried about what other policies (like looking for guns/bombs) are inconsistent and thus insecure. The shoe carnival is in-your-face: we can't miss it. But other policies being poorly implemented are more behind the scenes and so we don't really know what's going on with them.

[QUOTE= It is well known in detection theory that clutter and "false alarms" reduce the probability of detection.[/QUOTE] Good theory, wrong application.

My family and I (wife, 4-year old, infant in stroller) made it through security in FLL last week with no one checking our BPs. One of the TSA screeners saw us coming and pulled aside one of the dividers to let us into a lane. The screener didn't ask to see our BPs or IDs. Neither did the screener working the x-ray belt or the screener at the WTMD.

It was surreal.

Reminds me of a trip through EWR B last year.

#1: ID checker, checks BP & ID

#2: TSA Agent #1, checks BP & ID again. She states to keep BP out for two additional checks.

I ask her why I had to show my ID again, her response "She is hired by the airlines and we don't trust her". I respond, "Then why do I have to show my BP two more times - does the next person not trust you, and the last one not trust anyone?"

Needless to say:

#3: TSA Agent #2: Checks BP (at other side of WTMD)

#4: TSA Agent #3: Checks BP yet again

Total checks: Four

Bloody ridicilous. Job security, I suppose.

SDF_Traveler

I guess that explains why my BP (like those of all the other departing PAX) was checked FIVE times in a space of six linear meters, with all screeners in line of sight of each other, at OGG last week . . . .

I'm with you, Cholula. Safety doesn't require such inefficient redundancy.

And I, for one, am growing increasingly intolerant of the lack of common courtesy and civility shown by so many TSA personnel, even here in the Aloha State where they should know better. They bark orders instead of making polite requests, their vocabularies have lost the words "please" and "thank you," their facial expressions never betray even a hint of a smile, and they generally behave like prison guards dealing with dangerous convicts. To me, this is unacceptable behavior from anyone dealing with the public -- but is is especially intolerable from people who are paid by MY government ostensibly to promote MY safety.

Maybe I'm risking the dreaded SSSS tatoo, but I don't care. I am not just keeping my mouth shut anymore when I encounter these rude government functionaries who claim to be "just doing their jobs." When I don't hear a "please," I respond with "It's okay to say 'please' -- your job description doesn't require you to be rude."

I expect politeness and manners from all public servants. I encourage other FTers to do the same, and to speak up when warranted.

Aloha justin thyme and welcome to FlyerTalk!
And nice choice of handle IMO.

I went through the AA checkpoint in Las Vegas last week and was just floored by the inefficiency. First, there was an hour long wait just to get to the first person who checks your boarding pass and identification (I have long since given up on my "Oh, so the terrorists can make bombs but can't get fake ID's?" argument). Since that process takes so long, there is then a huge gap in the and only a few people waiting to get through the metal detectors at any time. Then, you have to hold your boarding pass in your hand as you pass through the metal detector to be inspected by another employee. Finally, not even five feet in front of the metal detector, sits an employee who checks the boarding pass yet again. There is no way that anyone could make it through the metal detector without being checked, so I can't imagine what that third person is doing there.

Wouldn't it be better if that third person at the desk served as a "rover," moving up and down the hour-long line and checking people's id's while they waited? He could put a special stamp on the BP. This would clear up the bottleneck at the first ID check, as well as the people standing around right after the metal detector.

Mike

LAS is absolutely ridicilous when it comes to the concourse D checkpoint. I always purchase a First Class ticket when flying to/from LAS to avoid this nightmare.

At LAS for concourse D, they have a First Class line which has always been short, but they will not accept FFers with Elite status in this line. Even though I am a Plat with NW which provides unlimited domestic upgrades (except Hawaii), I always purchase an FC seat to play it safe.

For others who have to deal with LAS, D concourse, I suggest you look into purchasing an F ticket or a Y-up type ticket to get an F seat (the discount F, if available, would probably be cheaper than a Y-up). From many cities, discounted, advance purchase F fares can be found. SDF-LAS was about $500~ when I purchased it last, while the cheapest economy was $300 return.

When going to the security checkpoint at LAS and being able to bypass the hundreds of people lined up, that extra $200-$300 is often worth it. On the other hand, if you happen to buy the F ticket and the lines are short, just think you have the paid, guaranteed F seat along with the extra mileage that goes with it.

SDF_Traveler

EWR Terminal "A" (aka "The Dumpster"), early this year, weekday afternoon.

Non-english speaking, grunting "Prospect Airport Services" plant life look at ticket, hands it back to me, grunts (LITERALLY GRUNTS!!) and I walk down the stasined carpeting into the dumpster.

As I hear the TSA cyborg yelling "ALL SHOES MUST GO THROUGH THE X-ray" another TSA scholar asks for my ticket and boarding pass. THis is within sight of the grunting freak at the top of the hallway.

TSA employee #2 whose sole duty seems to be shoving the things into the aperture of the x-ray machine says "Keep your boarding passes in your hands. THis person is less than five feet and in full view of TSA person #1.

On the other side of the WTMD, 8 feet from TSA person#1 and 5 feet from TSA person #3, TSA Nobel Laureate #3 demands my boarding pass having just watched two people check it.

I habd her the boarding pass as she cracks her gum in an open-mouthed, gape-jawed torture of that chewing gum that would make Mike Ditka's face hurt, I said "Just curious, I already shoed this to two other people, including another TSA employee. Why do I have to do this again?

Here's the socratic response, VERBATIM in its native hip-hop:

"I not deh. Day not me."

Glad to know that the TSA's employees at EWR are indeed equipped to speak the King's English to the taxpaying passengers whose hard-earned money employs them.

With sincere apologies to Bart and Eyecue, who are examples of actual thinking people at the TSA, ARE THERE NO STANDARDS AT ALL FOR WHO THEY HIRE?? How many more of these clods who exhibit less than an 8th grade education do we have to suffer??

--Paul