Of course the flying public notices TSA more during busy travel seasons including the holidays, spring break, and summer vacation time.  Last year during the holiday travel season of course interest in TSA and disgust of their practices escalated to one of the highest points thanks to the naked scanners and enhanced pat-downs.

Of course this died down almost instantaneously after the new year, but now that it’s summer travel season the buzz seems to be a lot quieter than previous years and policies haven’t changed much since the holidays.

Legislators have made news about TSA, but the flying public makes news much less frequently.  Last week there was that horrible story about the elderly lady who was manhandled, but those stories are a little too few and far between considering the volume of passengers and the lack of change in TSA policies.

So do we just not care?  As the proverbial frog in boiling water have we adjusted to this temperature for the time being and it will take more changes to get us riled up again?

Even the Flyertalk forum on travel safety and security is relatively quiet.

Well I figured my number would finally come up and it did last week at IND.

The lady forgot to do the inside the beltline inspection, but remembered before she sent me on her way.  I also helps that i have thunder thighs so she “met resistance” while she was still a few inches from reaching the goodies.

There are a couple film makers who are using Kickstarter.com to raise funds for a movie about TSA.

They are trying to raise $8,500 by May 13th.

Short Synopsis:Jack is a TSA agent. He doesn’t know which he hates more; his job or his personal life. But when the TSA institutes a new policy that turns passengers into zombies (as another option to full body scan or grope), Jack knows things have to change.

After he gets fired for taking a stand, Jack finds a mysterious prototype TSA security wand that turns his life upside down.  Armed with the wand and a new determination, he sets out to make a difference.

I am backing this project (but other than the publicity I get from contributing to Kickstarter I have no other ties to this).  If you would also like to help please contribute.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bittnerandlohr/tsa-the-movie

Since the holidays ended and the average American won’t fly again for several months most of the public outrage against TSA has died, but there are still some of us who will still work to end the current system.

The location is Schuylkill Expressway N/O Hartranft (Lat: 39.91347, Long: -75.19207). It is in rotation for 8 weeks on an 48′ x 14′ electronic billboard. The total cost was $4,750.80.

http://wewontflybb.chipin.com/we-wont-fly-billboard-campaign-ii is the link to contribute.

Another blogger makes many good points about airline security.  There just isn’t enough actual threat to warrant the spending we do on TSA.

In terms of my life being brought to a sudden, firey end in an aircraft, the cause is far more likely to be mechanical failure on the airplane or human error in the cockpit or in the airline traffic control room than it is to be a terrorist act. The airline security measures put in place shortly after 9/11 reduced the risk of dying in a terrorist attack well below the non-terrorist risks we accept every time we step on an airplane. There is absolutely no rational reason for the current level of panic-driven insanity, which as far as I can tell, having made many international trips in the past year alone, is not found in any other country, including the world’s number one potential terrorist target, Israel. The only reason I can think of for the panic in the United States is a fundamental failure to appreciate the risks.

The truth is that crap can happen whenever it wants to.  TSA is wasting money going after the potential for needles in hay stacks.  The constant Orange threat level is definitely the boy who cried wolf.

I have  flown on a commercial flight without any security and I survived.  It was Sansa down in Costa Rica.  From San Jose they wanded me and flipped through my bag, but from Golfito you just showed up and hopped on the ~15 seat Cessna.  All they cared about was weight for weight/balance.

I don’t claim to be an expert on security, but Bruce Schneier is and he is against the security theatre our current TSA is. He says pretty much the same thing that I think, but he has more knowledge on the whole subject

Here is a recent interview from Popular Mechanics

Q: So what kind of attack will this prevent, that otherwise might be successful?
A: There are two kinds of hijackers. There’s the lone nutcase, like someone who will bring a gun onto a plane because, dammit, they’re going to take the whole plane down with them. Any pre-9-11 airport security would catch a person like that.

The second kind is the well-planned, well-financed Al Qaeda-like plot. And nothing can be done to stop someone like that.

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/25855378/detail.html

Charlotte Douglas International Airport Director Jerry Orr said he’s wanted a private firm to do security screenings since 2001, when the TSA was created. He named a couple of reasons for that: First, a private firm would be more economical.

Yes it would be more economical, but the problem is they are still required to follow the same rules as TSA as far as identification and such.  Kansas City International (MCI) has a private screening company, but they are just as bad.  Pay is typically lower and since they aren’t federal employees they don’t have the attractive benefits TSA agents do.  People often insult the intelligence of TSOs, but FirstLine employees are often much sloppier looking.  MCI is still so fixated on liquids that they miss the proverbial forest for the trees.  I’m not saying they are rude though.  I’d say the screeners at MCI are as polite as the average KC resident.

If CLT opts of of TSA they will still be required to make everyone take their shoes off, but liquids, gels, and aerosols will still be restricted to 100mL or smaller containers in a quart sized baggie.  They will still follow the whole ID = security farce.  These policies need to change starting with TSA.  If that doesn’t happen, then welcome the new boss, same as the old boss.

How many of you have been to SFO and had no clue those were not actual TSA employees?  I rest my case.

TSA Enhanced Screening Procedures Explained

http://www.examiner.com/essex-county-conservative-in-newark/airport-security-debate-heats-up-nj

Best quote from the article:

We have open borders and we have no idea who’s coming in and out of our country. Yet when American citizens try to travel, the TSA is actually groping people’s genitals, buttocks and breasts, including children.

It’s about time legislators stood up to this.  When the Nude O Scopes were initially introduced there was some back lash from Utah’s Representative Jason Chaffetz, but they were never successful in penetrating the federal machine.  If the state of NJ with its major Continental hub in Newark can make a stand against these machines their may be some hope in other states.  I doubt it though.

The article also talks about pilots can take down the plane even without any weapons.

why would a pilot be subject to such a scan? Any pilot can destroy his aircraft in any of a hundred ways by virtue of his access to the controls, to say nothing of the axe that every airliner carries in the cockpit. (History records one instance of a copilot who deliberately ditched his plane, an EgyptAir flight, into the Atlantic Ocean, despite the strenuous efforts of his captain, who probably never realized until far too late that his own copilot was committing murder-suicide.) Thus a pilot, though trusted to fly the aircraft and to cut his way out of the cockpit with an axe if necessary, is not trusted to refrain from carrying explosives or small weapons hidden on his person or in his flight bag.

I am glad there is all this groundswell against TSA and I like talking about it, but I also can’t wait until I have time to blog about more important travel issues again.

I was asked to post a link to an ACLU Survey about abuse during passenger screening.

If anyone out there has an experience they’d like to share with the ACLU please follow this link.

Travelers have expressed concern about:

•  Being forced to go through the AIT machines also known as full-body scanners or “naked scanner” machines

•  Unnecessary groping of passengers’ breast or genital areas

•  Humiliating experiences including for disabled or transgendered passengers

•  Lack of privacy during pat-downs

•  Lack of respect for religious requirements.

The ACLU is collecting individuals’ stories in order to determine the scope of this problem and evaluate future action. If you have had such an experience, please help us by filling out the following questionnaire. The information you provide in this questionnaire will be kept confidential unless we contact you and obtain your permission to share it with others. Please provide detailed responses where necessary. Your input is very important! Thank you!

Also, if anyone has any stories they would like me to share please e-mail them to me.

This week I was flying out of Pensacola for the first time.  I always take my waterbottle out and place it in a bin to avoid issues on the other side of the xray (20 seconds to take it out saves the few times I have to wait 5 minutes for a bag check).  There was a TSO manning the entry to the xray arranging everyone’s stuff.  He took out my water bottle, pointed to it, and said Gate 7.  At first it took me a second to understand since I was mentally prepared for a “liquids are banned” or something like that.

Instead he was telling me where the one very hidden water fountain is in the airport.  I might not have found it otherwise and I would have just used a sink which works just as well with my filtering bottle.