Comments on TSA from an infrequent flyer
 

This was relayed to me by a friend who took a trip over the weekend from EWR to DEN and back; this friend has only flown one other time since 9/11:

At EWR, putting carryons on belt was yelled at by a woman whom I will not describe other than to say that she was not a WASP (friend didn't know if she was TSA or not) for having too many carryon items; she had two bags and a pocketbook, which she had stuffed into one of the bags. Friend got flustered because of woman's insistence that one bag had to be checked. Suddenly, however, apparently it was time to change shifts, as yelling woman just walked away from her post and friend's bags went through with no problem.

Friend did take off her flats because she was told to do so as the shoes had metal in them. How the screener knew that was beyond my friend. Friend alarms the WTMD and goes to secondary, where she is wanded only and asked to open belt buckle. Interesting that they totally missed her underwire bra - and she is a very well-endowed woman. She was psychologically prepared to be patted down but no alarm on bra - one of her co-workers had warned her that due to her sized she'd be patted down.

Return trip through DEN, not only is she told to remove shoes but also to remove her belt - again missed the underwire bra; no secondary.

I asked her if she felt safer because of all the hassle she went through. She, a life-long Republican who touts the party line, gave me a resounding NO! I again will not use the words that she used to describe those who were manning checkpoints as this thread would be locked before it got started and I'd be banned for life. My friend normally takes a positive view of almost any of life's events, to the point where I often feel she makes too many allowances, and she has on occasion caused me to reflect on how I react to others, but she had not one good word to say about the TSA. For her not to be able to find anything positive to say, was extremely telling.

Sounds like she encountered the ticket reader. Airlines use private contractors as ticket readers who are posted at the entrance into the checkpoint. They enforce the airline policy of 1 + 1 (one carry-on plus one personal item).

Screeners can become "experts" at which type of shoes may alarm because they see so many different types of shoes on a daily basis. However, per SOP, the screeners are supposed to recommend NOT instruct, order or direct passengers to remove their shoes only if the shoes meet the screening criteria. Not knowing exactly what you mean by "flats," it appears as if the shoes did not meet the screening criteria. However, if the passenger alarms on the first pass, then the screener may suggest removing the shoes if the WTMD indicates that the shoes caused the alarm. There's a light indicator panel on the screener side of the WTMD that lights up in the general location of the alarm. Not always perfect since what may appear to be a shoe alarm may in fact be a pack of cigarettes packed inside one of the socks at the ankle.

As for the underwire bra, it all depends on the style of the bra. Not all so-called underwire bras are made of metal that would alarm a metal detector. Size of the breasts have nothing to do with it; style of the bra does. I'm curious, however, if your friend received an upper torso pat-down as part of the hand-wand procedure. After the hand-wanding is completed, the screener is supposed to pat down the abdomen, sides of the torso and back of the body (shoulders to waist).

I'm curious what her party affiliation has to do with anything. It appears you assume that because she's a Republican that she would support TSA and airport security screening. In the political debate that created TSA, it was the Democrats who argued in favor of federal screeners and Republicans who argued in favor of private contractor screeners. :rolleyes:

I love you Bart! You explain a thousand times the same stuff to people that we who work at airports understand so perfectly. I have about ten different pair of work shoes and half contain medal and half do not. I bought Cole haan nike sole shoes and they were perfect, no medal, bought a second pair and they have huge medal shanks. I know which ones I have to take off now when going into the secured area. It was a democrat that issisted that lighters be banned also. I like to tell that to flyers who complain about republicans also. Unless you put that wand right against the body the underwire in a bra should not beep. Unless you have a industrial strength wire holding up your boobs. A belt buckle is a much larger peice of metal. The hand wand better pick up that. Fly safe.

Come on Bart! you know she was going though EWR and that location has it's own "double secret" policies on shoes! :)

No reason they would follow the actual screening criteria you listed above. ;)

Bart, I do need to add that I am impressed by your knowledge of bras. ;)

Mike

Um, no offense, but I thought it was majority wins. Aren't their more republicans that democrats in the House and Senate? And IIRC, the president, who signed the bill is slightly right of center. Not sure how the minority party is responsible for TSA. If the republicans truly believed it to be not a good thing, they could have easily voted it down.
Sorry, you can't blame the minority in this case, even if it was their idea. You had the votes and veto power to stop it.

This really isn't a partisan issue. Some of the most idiotic aspects of airport security came from the Gore Commission. This was the origin of the brilliant, "three questions" about one's baggage.

I'm a Democrat all the way (I'm going to a fundraiser this evening,) but my won party has been responsible for a lot the madness.

Above all, I think it's quite significant that these problems occurred at Newark's "Liberty" airport, a wellspring of moronic security procedures and surly staff.

The insecurity insanity infections do not discriminate on the basis of political party -- at least not in our duopoly. There are politicians and then there are statesmen -- and the latter category are basically dead, dying or marginalized.

Nope, never touched her.

Being a screener, you certainly should know about "flats" - they are shoes with a very low heel and a thin sole - no where near 1", no metal shank.

As for her being a Republican, I added that because she swallows W's pronouncements hook, line and sinker and should, by extension, support airport screening. For her, who gives everybody the benefit of the doubt, to use the verbiage she used to describe the process and the personnel was a monumental indictment of screening and the TSA.

Agreed (well, not with the I'm a Democrat part :)). There's plenty of blame to go around in both camps.

Glad to see I'm not the only one that's picked up on that irony. :)

The flats DO have medal shanks 90% of the time, that is the support for the shoe. Shoes with a spiked heel and skinny sole always have medal. Payless or gucci, they usually have a steel shank, that is what supports the heel, nails also. Who cares, just take them off, I do because I never know. Pilots come into the airport after buying new shoes and ask to xray them before wearing so they know if there is a shank, very few don't have them. If you don't mind being wanded then keep them on, you aren't required to take them off, just increases your chances for secondary screening.

Let's straighten out the political issues:

The Republicans wanted to keep private contractors, but the Democrats insisted that the screeners be federal employees in order to support the whole package.

Congress does not pass bills on a simple party-line vote. You must have support from the minority side or your bill will not pass, except in the impossible event that every committee is controlled by Republicans and every single Republican votes along party lines in the committees and on the floor. That does not happen.

The combination of the two paragraphs above is the reason why the TSA screeners are federal employees.

While I am pretty sure that GWB and his minions would prefer that the airport screeners be private contractors, that is just a minor issue in the grand scheme of things. What is more important is to keep the people paranoid, and that is something where GWB has done quite well. :mad:

The lighter ban was not created by the Democratic Party. It was the idea of the staffers of two Senators who happened to be Democrats. Normally something as idiotic as an airport lighter ban would be removed before passage, but Congress was in a big hurry to get the Intelligence Bill passed for our "safety". :rolleyes:

LOL! Don't let my wife read this!

Correct. The lighter ban was a line item attached to the overall Intelligence Bill. TSA took it a step further by banning ALL lighters. Now, TSA has sort of backpeddled by making exceptions for empty lighters in checked baggage. I call it the "don't-ask-don't-tell" approach.

Some of you will figure out what I mean.

Not an airline policy; federal rule.

Enacted by the FAA on about October 8, 2001 and announced by Norm Mineta upon the reopening of DCA.

Airlines enforce lots of federal rules demanded by the FAA and TSA. That doesn't make them "airline policy."