letter to the editor in Raleigh paper:

http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/...-9067627c.html
Time for a better measure of RDU lines?

Regarding your July 24 article "Navigating RDU":
I believe the wait times shown for Raleigh-Durham International Airport in the government data are flawed.

I have, on two occasions, been selected as a "timer." As I arrive at the security line I'm handed a slip of paper that has been time-stamped. It says "TSA is measuring the time to get through security, in an effort to speed up your trip. Please hand this notice to the TSA officer after you exit security."

As a frequent traveler, I often leave on Saturday afternoon and return on Saturday mornings (slow air travel times) rather than Friday night. When I was handed the notice, I immediately thought it was "cheating" to do the measurements on a Saturday afternoon rather than a typical weekday, but I dismissed the thought, knowing that they may do measurements every day.

Also, I know that there are two security checkpoints at Terminal A, and since the first one is usually crowded (and was on this Saturday) I went to the farther one. When I was halfway through the line, the TSA officer took the notice back from me and time-stamped it. I didn't say anything about it at that time. (I have dates and times to back up all my claims).

For the next few weeks, I took notice of the timing system. I never saw it being used at rush hour.

About a month later, again on a Saturday, I was handed a slip, again time-stamped. I was in the line for about 10 minutes and the TSA officer walked over and took it back from me. I said "I'm not through security yet." She didn't say anything and then stamped it again. I said, "Hey, that's not accurate. I'm still in line here." She said, "Sir, do you want to fly today? Then please mind your own business." I made a few more complaints and she walked through security to the airport side.

While going through security, I asked a few officers who the lady was. They said she was the supervisor. When I got through (timed as 12 minutes and 15 seconds after the time-stamp) I approached her and said I thought she was "gaming the system" and that doing measurements on a Saturday afternoon and at the shorter of the two Terminal A lines was simply cheating. Further, that taking the time slip away from me before I even entered the security area was simply wrong. I asked that she correct the time to show the additional 12 minutes it took me to get through.

At that point, a police officer approached and told me, "Pal, you don't tell her how to do her job. And if you say one more word, you are not flying today, and I'll put you under arrest." I walked away.

Dare I say that this story suggests fascist behavior on the part of the TSA (not to mention the police officer who decided to get involved)? Oh, wait, that upsets some people. And let's not forget the usual accusations that the story is untrue. We're sure to get a few of those.

Bruce

Although the writer does not say if he filed complaints, I hope he did so with everyone from the TSA, (yes, even directly to Chertoff himself), the FSD, to the airport manager, to the chief of police, and to his congresspeople and hope he has spoken to the local television station(s).

How many examples of fraud, waste, mismanagement, not following SOP will it take until someone acts?

OP: Had there recently been a story in the local paper touting the efficiency of the TSA at RDU that prompted this letter?

Obviously there had been an article - I didn't read the first sentence correctly - I don't care to register to find it. OP, could you possibly post a link for us? Thanks.

It sounds as though the OP was holding the "timing slip" where any/everyone could see it. How about trying this. If selected again for "timing", follow your normal path. But, keep the slip concealed until you clear the security CP. Then offer the slip to the last person at the CP. @:-)

I agree with the other posts regarding the complaints. Take that info to anyone and everyone at the airport and TSA. Be sure to copy the airline(s) as well.

You are a customer, not a criminal. You were making fair observations about a process for which you paid (say Security Fee). The LEO and TSA supervisor were way out of line.

the full text of the article appears in the original post, I just included a hyper link to the story so that folks who wanted to register for that site would know I had not made it up.

Not to be a nag, but could you cut and paste relevant portions of the original article about "Navigating RDU". I'm really interested in reading it to see what prompted the gentleman's letter. The first time I clicked on the link, I went right to the letter, but now it doesn't take me anyplace but to the register page - and I really don't want to register.

Thank you.

well, it only took until 220pm to get my blood boiling today. I know the OP is not the victim here, but I hope the person in the article filed a complaint against this thug - he needs to be sent packing to the same Kmart security detail as the TSA supervisor.

As far as hiding the slip, I still think they can just discard the slip if they dont like the timing and get another passenger to carry it so they can doctor the time.

Please post more information on this article - I want to contact the paper and find out how they plan to investigate not only the timing fraud, but the behavior of the police at the checkpoint.

The methodology of collecting data like this is just another example of the TSA's mediocrity and incompetence. Obviously, nobody with any operations research or management engineering background ever had anything to do with this. Any data they collect, altered or not, would be meaningless unless you collected it after you determined a controlled scientific sample size of passengers and flight crews. But, this would involve the TSA's desire to improve itself, which we all know is completely foreign to their culture.

It's funny, though. I would have thought that the TSA would have lied in the other direction -- making the lines appear to go more slowly -- in order to justify an increased budget and more screeners at the airport level. The only reason I could think of to skew the results in the faster direction would be if you planned to lie to the airport management about how fast the lines were going.

Combined with the unprofessional harassment from the TSA manager and cop, this whole incident is just plain pathetic.

FYI, I copied my Congressman, who just happens to sit on the House Homeland Security Committee.

OK, I registered and read the referenced article. It's basically a fluff piece extolling the virture of the new & improved RDU, except for:

"The security checkpoint can become a "choke point" for air travelers, according to a July 14 article in USA Today. Using government data, the newspaper ranked 100 of the country's busiest airports to see how they ranked in time travelers spend going through security.

RDU ranked 37th, with an average wait of 5.4 minutes and 14.5 percent of waits taking more than 10 minutes.

Hamlin pointed out that Transportation Safety Administration employees, not the airport, run the security checkpoints. "We work with TSA any way we can ... to alleviate lines at the airport," she said. This cooperation includes providing TSA with weekly reports on how many travelers are passing though RDU at certain times of day so that TSA can have more employees working during peak times. Over the past two to three years, the airport has also opened more lanes at each checkpoint, with five in Terminal A, four in Terminal C and three in Terminal A Extension."

So, it's clear to me the TSA lied to get the numbers down because of the local's desire to look better in the USA Today survey. I'm sure this paper is about as intellectual as the TSA management gets

That is worth a letter to the TSA, carboned to the FSD for the airport, the airport administrator, and some congresspeople The fact that she was gaming the system alone to fake the #s is bad enough and worth the complaint, but that she then bullied the pax by threatening not to let him fly?!

That is a real rent-a-cop attitude I'd love to know what chargers that guy could come up with... "disrupting the screening process" or "disturbing the peace" or something equally silly, I bet

Interfering with screening is a federal offense. Another trial, almost certainly another conviction. Congress, do something!

Making false statements to the government can constitute a felony. I hope the Inspector General of DHS learns of this.

FWIW line waits approaching 20 minutes are a bad thing. Washington has to be notified at 20.

"Figures lie and liars figure." goes the old saying. I find it disappointing the data that is shown here. Averge time is meaningless with out the end data (low and high), and number of samples. More than 10 minutes? How much more? 14.5% of what? (of 24 hrs = almost 3.5 hrs! - guess which ones!?!)

Duh! These numbers don't really tell anyone anything useful.

Not jumping you, FW2M. Just screaming at my screen.