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Old Jul 15, 2009 | 12:45 pm
  #16  
 
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Originally Posted by FliesWay2Much
Remember, now, the TSA states that they don't search for drugs...
A few TSOs must have missed that moment during training...
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Old Jul 15, 2009 | 4:00 pm
  #17  
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Originally Posted by msimons
And what about those that have the new laptop friendly bags ?
I found a nice slip cover which offers a little padding and scratch protection while in my bag. Tag also said it is "TSA Friendly". Until I read somewhere that Friendly Bags don't go in a bin but alone on the belt and rollers. HUH? It's bad enough a bin can get knocked off onto the floor, but 1/8 inch of foam is not enough to protect a laptop being slammed by a rollaboard. Or bouncing on the rollers .

Laptop comes out of the TSA Unfriendly cover and uses a bin. The Evolution of TSA User Unfriendliness continues.
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Old Jul 15, 2009 | 4:04 pm
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Originally Posted by IslandBased
Maybe they should swab the TSA management, and test them for chemical residue.
Or test them for acetylcholine; nah, waste of time there won't be any.
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Old Jul 15, 2009 | 4:11 pm
  #19  
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Originally Posted by UALOneKPlus
Imagine this happening with every other passenger, or more, with everyone waiting until the x-ray could keep moving the luggages through the machine. The lines kept backing up and growing and growing...
Yeah, I think TSA need to get more help for passengers to get fastest the time. They have to get more open lanes in security checkpoint. IT is very extremely overcrowded. I am trying to flying out of PHX-DTW-JAX next month. So what about checkpoint doing will be reductions less than 10 minutes. TSA need to be stepped it up to do speedy the passengers through. It was lot of the congestions at checkpoint during peak-hours time.
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Old Jul 15, 2009 | 4:13 pm
  #20  
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Originally Posted by IslandBased
A few TSOs must have missed that moment during training...
Yes, could be taking irresponsibility for need take the laptop along with them. Don't left behind at security. Next time they have to pay attention what the passengers doing.
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Old Jul 15, 2009 | 4:52 pm
  #21  
 
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Angry reminds me of the bad old IRA days when flying to or from Belfast

[QUOTE=UALOneKPlus;12070014]Yesterday at PHX, the lines through security were huge. I found out that the TSA (maybe now called The Stupid Agency??) were testing every single laptop that travelers brought.

I QUOTE]checking laptops by switching themon,was normal during the IRA war!Get used to it or either win the war or stop flyng. It can get worse e.g I hope this doesn't give the TSA another bright idea! On two occasions security even opened up my Toshiba's case to examine its power supply and battery compartment and got very embarresed when they couldn't conceal all the wires when reclosing it. Them's were the days we are still trying to forget.

Last edited by tauhara; Jul 15, 2009 at 5:08 pm Reason: spelling
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Old Jul 15, 2009 | 5:02 pm
  #22  
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Originally Posted by UALOneKPlus
Swabbing / sniff test.

As the laptop goes through the x-ray, the screener viewing the x-ray images holds up his/her hand, holding up anything else from moving through. Another security screener is summoned, takes the laptop over to the swab station, swabs the laptop down on all sides, puts it into the sniffer machine and waits until it's done.

Imagine this happening with every other passenger, or more, with everyone waiting until the x-ray could keep moving the luggages through the machine. The lines kept backing up and growing and growing...
I wish the hell they'd have a voluntary lane for more than a baggie of liquids, do that and let us keep items (booze, etc.)???
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Old Jul 15, 2009 | 5:37 pm
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I am flying out of PHX T4 this coming Saturday afternoon and I will be taking my laptop. I will be anxious to see if there is a problem and my laptop gets swabbed and others' as well.

I will report back.
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Old Jul 15, 2009 | 5:55 pm
  #24  
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Originally Posted by UALOneKPlus
Wasn't this the goal of the 9/11 terrorists? It seems like a in a round-about way they have succeeded.
Absolutely. They have permanently disrupted commercial air travel and have helped ruin our economy.

I'm sure that, somewhere, there is a photograph of bin Laden standing in front of a banner that reads, "Mission Accomplished."
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Old Jul 15, 2009 | 6:46 pm
  #25  
 
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Originally Posted by goalie
could one of our resident tsa employees chime in here to say if this is a new sop or phx doing a "one-off" test or phx simply being stupid
Granted, I don't work at PHX, but...

It's not nationwide SOP. Dunno about any kind of pilot program or 'trial run' type of thing. Gut instinct tells me it's someone at PHX, as you put it, simply being stupid.
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Old Jul 15, 2009 | 7:09 pm
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I've never understood the laptop obsession in the first place. Yes, they use electricity and batteries, but I don't see why security agencies are so fascinated by them.

Last week at Ben Gurion Airport, they even have a special laptop scanning box, specifically so that the laptop is open when it passes through a CTX scanner. (My laptop didn't interest them, so I didn't get to watch this up close).

I see this deriving from several sources:

1. Pan Am 103. The radio that blew up that plane worked, a "sniffer" might not have caught it, and it was a much bigger chassis than a laptop. There were many other complicating factors about Lockerbie.

2. The movies

3. A holdover from an era when laptops were larger, had more moving parts, and were less common.
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Old Jul 15, 2009 | 7:46 pm
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Sounds to me like someone missed swabbing a Macbook or other solid state device and a superior is punishing the lot by making them swab ALL laptops.
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Old Jul 15, 2009 | 7:56 pm
  #28  
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Originally Posted by IslandBased
Maybe they should swab the TSA management, and test them for chemical residue.
I'd recommend that whomever does that swabbing wear two pairs of latex gloves. One pair wouldn't give enough protection.
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Old Jul 15, 2009 | 8:03 pm
  #29  
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Originally Posted by PhoenixRev
I am flying out of PHX T4 this coming Saturday afternoon and I will be taking my laptop. I will be anxious to see if there is a problem and my laptop gets swabbed and others' as well.

I will report back.
Please let me know if you have any problems with TSA in PHX. Are you flying out which airlines is WN or US? I knows checkpoint A or C will be very long lines for more than 10 minutes to get through at security. So please do recommend to get more extra time to come at airport earlier. Your bags will be cutoff the time requirement 45 minutes before departed the flight out of PHX.
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Old Jul 15, 2009 | 8:12 pm
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Originally Posted by UALOneKPlus
Wasn't this the goal of the 9/11 terrorists? It seems like a in a round-about way they have succeeded.

Our economy is in shambles, airlines are losing billions of dollars, people are afraid to travel due to the ridiculous security restrictions.

This great America that we know and love is sliding downhill so fast that we can't even catch a breath.
Originally Posted by coachrowsey
Very well said & it's very sad.
+1
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