| << Airport surprises | 2004 > July | Motivation >> |
Thursday, 29 July 2004
Fun with the TSA ::
It’s Monday morning at 6:30 am. I get in line to hand my suitcase to the TSA checked baggage screeners in Syracuse. One of them, a big young guy with a crewcut, is scowling at a young woman. She turns away toward the escalator.
“Miss! Miss!!!” He is angry, all but yelling.
She turns back towards him. She is angry too; I don’t know why. “What?!”
“You have to answer my questions!” He picks her suitcase up from the table, and thrusts it onto the ground in front of her.
She glares at him for a moment, and roughly shoves her suitcase back onto the table. “I’m going to miss my flight!” Almost panicking. She begins to turn toward the escalator again.
“If you don’t answer my questions, you’re not getting on that plane!”
She stops. “OK, what?!”
“Are there any sharp objects, like knives? Any flammable liquids, like lighter fluid, in here?”
“No!”
“OK!” The screener takes her bag.
Visibly upset, she all but runs toward the escalator.
The man in front of me has been watching this whole exchange intently. Before the screener can ask him the questions, he pulls himself up and says, “You guys are an unchecked authority.”
Another screener, a shorter guy, looks up from the bag he was examining and retorts, “You can take the Greyhound!”
“An unchecked authority, I said!”
“There’s the Greyhound station!!” (pointing)
“Unchecked authority!!”
(Do people always repeat themselves this much on Monday mornings?)
“Are you going to answer my questions or not?!”
Pause, apparently restraining himself. “OK.”
Big Guy asks the questions again.
“No.” One last time before he turns away: “And you guys are an unchecked authority!” And he’s off to the escalator.
“Hey! Come back here!”
“Arrest me.” Without slowing down, on the way to the escalator.
Big Guy is now running around the back of his security area so he can chase down the guy on the escalator. Apparently this passenger is a threat to security. Big Guy tries to use his walkie-talkie while running. They disappear on the escalator.
My turn. The remaining screeners are all busy rummaging through people’s clothes and operating their machines. I wait for a couple of minutes. No big rush, I’ve got 45 minutes, plenty of time (especially considering that my flight’s going to be cancelled, but no one knows that yet).
I’m angry at what I just observed. I stifle the urge to say anything about what I just witnessed, answer the questions, hand over my bag, and wander outside for a smoke.
I reflect. I am angry too. I think, no matter how provocative the passengers were, they don’t seem to have been guilty of anything beyond being afraid of missing their flight, and having been too flustered to have been cooperative with a couple of hotheads with badges. The TSA guys had had the power to defuse the situation. But they’d tossed gasoline on it. I consider writing a letter.
I return inside to see Big Guy, Little Guy, the two passengers, and a Syracuse policeman standing in a circle and having a little chat.
If I am going to write a letter, it would be nice to name names. So I approach the pow-wow and stop about 6 feet away, close enough to get glimpses at the TSA guys’ name badges. If I’d really had guts I’d have pulled out my digital camera. But I was angry and upset too.
The policeman, calm and courteous, comes over to me. “Can I help you?”
“I saw the whole thing.” Well, at least the last half. “And I’d like to get the names of those government employees.”
“What happened?” The policeman escorts me another 6 feet further away from the others.
“These guys were being totally unprofessional.” I’m close to stammering; I’m just giving him conclusions, not the blow-by-blow. “They were discourteous and unprofessional.” I ramble on for another 15 seconds. I’d gotten up at 4:30 am—which felt like 1:30 since I’d stayed on Pacific time during the short trip.
“Well, if you’d like to approach them courteously and ask for their names, go ahead.”
I remember seeing that Big Guy’s badge said Wolf (I think) and didn’t really feel like confronting him in person lest I get delayed myself (I still don’t know that I am going to be hanging around the Hancock International for another 4 hours). I thank the policeman, make my own trip up the escalator, and get into a long line to go through the security checkpoint.
I hear more of the story from two men in line talking about the incident. The male passenger had continued to tell the TSA guys to arrest him. Apparently the girl is his girlfriend. Maybe he felt a need to stand up for her. I tell them what I saw.
One of the men, a frequent traveller, wonders where these guys (the TSA employees) come from. I tell him about how I had that question answered in Detroit—McDonald’s. (And, according to a comment on that post, retail).
Everyone in the left line is up against the railing, looking down into the ticketing area. The passenger is face down on the ground with his arm behind him. His wish of being arrested is coming true.
I board my plane. Around departure time, the pilot tells us that the navigation computer is faulting, and gives us the reassuring analogy is that it’s like Windows 95: sometimes you just have to reboot it and everything is fine. We wait for ten minutes. It faults after the first and second reboots. It seems fine after the third reboot. We taxi. I fall asleep. The pilot’s announcement wakes me up. We were second in line for takeoff, but the navigation computer has faulted again.
We return to the gate. I call US Airways and get rebooked on a United flight leaving in 35 minutes. I visit US Airways’ baggage claim. I have to fetch my bag from the ticket counter. I jump the line and manage to get the rep to retrieve my bag from somewhere behind the counter. I jump another line of people who don’t want to use the United E-ticket checkin machines, but the computer tells me to see an agent. I join the line. It’s 25 minutes before my flight; I’m not going to make it. Fortunately there’s another flight an hour and a quarter later, and I will still get to San Francisco 3 hours sooner than the best US Airways could have done. I’m not going to get to California in time to go to work today.
When I get to the security checkpoint again, I discover that the 18-point “SSSS” at the bottom of my boarding pass is a secret code for “Selected for Secondary Security Screening.” Oh shit, I’ve just tipped off would-be terrorists that if they obtain such a boarding pass, they can expect to be prodded with a metal-detector-wand and their bags searched by hand.
I noticed when I got to San Francisco that my checked bag’s tag had “SSSS” on it too.
Tip to the folks in Homeland Security: try to figure out a better way to encode that information on a boarding pass. I know, that’s a really tricky problem, the average TSA employee has to be able to decode it quickly and reliably!
| << Airport surprises | 2004 > July | Motivation >> |
5 comments
Interesting point of view. As a screener myself who has worked both the passenger checkpoint and baggage, I have witnessed both good screeners and bad screeners as well as reasonable passengers and unreasonable passengers. Having had a variety of occupations prior to becoming a screener, I understand the need for good customer service. A smile and courtesy go a long way to establish a good rapport with customers. Nine times out of ten a passenger cooperates fully and will understand the reasons for all the security procedures. That tenth passenger, however, may be unwilling to comply with security procedures designed to keep them and all the other passengers safe. Being late for a flight isn’t a free pass to bypass screening. Passengers who knowingly breech security cost you, me and other Americans billions. Entire terminals need to be cleared, planes dumped, and flights delayed while passengers and carry-on baggage is re-screened. Connecting flights are missed. EVERYONE is inconvenienced. Being late or “in a hurry” should draw more scrutiny from a security standpoint. Besides why should the T.S.A. treat late passengers differently than they do on-time passengers?
Of course there are rude screeners! However, insisting that procedures are followed isn’t being rude, it’s doing the job. Please note that it’s the AIRLINES not Homeland Security who are responsible for encoding tickets with the SSSS. They determine the factors, the variables and they mandate how the T.S.A. screens passengers. If you resent being coded an SSSS by an airline, ask them WHY. If they can’t explain adequately, fly a different airline!
Like any customer oriented position, screeners (like anybody) have good days and bad days. If they are consistently rude they will be counseled, written up, suspended and eventually lose their job. If their actions prove to be a risk to the flying public they will lose their job immediately.
– Steve, Monday, 9 August 2004, 01:13 PDT
Steve, thanks, I appreciate your comments.
Having had a variety of occupations prior to becoming a screener, I understand the need for good customer service. A smile and courtesy go a long way to establish a good rapport with customers.
I totally agree with what you said about a smile and courtesy. This is what I found remarkably lacking in the guys at checked baggage screening.
Nine times out of ten a passenger cooperates fully and will understand the reasons for all the security procedures. That tenth passenger, however, may be unwilling to comply with security procedures designed to keep them and all the other passengers safe. Being late for a flight isn’t a free pass to bypass screening. Passengers who knowingly breech security cost you, me and other Americans billions. Entire terminals need to be cleared, planes dumped, and flights delayed while passengers and carry-on baggage is re-screened. Connecting flights are missed. EVERYONE is inconvenienced. Being late or “in a hurry” should draw more scrutiny from a security standpoint. Besides why should the T.S.A. treat late passengers differently than they do on-time passengers?
This is all true in general, but not applicable to this specific situation.
The passengers weren’t trying to skip through the terminal checkpoint; this was at the checked baggage screening station next to the ticket counter. I didn’t see the beginning of the incident, but the only thing that explains the passengers’ attitude was that they had apparently had to wait for a screener to take their bags, or possibly they’d been yelled at for trying to leave their bags without answering the questions.
This was the first time I’d ever had to wait more than about 30 seconds as well; usually there’s someone right there to take my bag, usually with a smile. It was also the first time I’d ever been questioned about the contents of my checked bag. If I’d been in a hurry I might have tried to just leave my bag and bolt for the escalator, not knowing that procedures had changed in the three days since I last flew, or that things were different at Syracuse vs. SFO.
Of course there are rude screeners! However, insisting that procedures are followed isn’t being rude, it’s doing the job.
It’s all about attitude. As I wrote, as provocative as the passengers had been, the screeners did nothing to try to pacify the situation; they just made it worse.
Please note that it’s the AIRLINES not Homeland Security who are responsible for encoding tickets with the SSSS. They determine the factors, the variables and they mandate how the T.S.A. screens passengers. If you resent being coded an SSSS by an airline, ask them WHY. If they can’t explain adequately, fly a different airline!
I don’t mind a secondary search once in awhile; I wrote about it because it was an interesting exclamation point on top of the earlier events. I suspect it was due to one or both of these factors:
- my having been booked onto the flight very shortly before departure (after a cancellation on another airline)
- my being booked to travel on the same transcontinental route (on the same airline) 2 weeks later
– Doug, Monday, 9 August 2004, 01:45 PDT
Being a screener from the largest airport in the world now, Atlanta, we catch the blint of the passengers who just went through the pain of the ticket agents. I work in an area with ticket agents visable, and once the passenger isnt happy, it rolls to us.
Glad you pointed out that the AirLine’s pick the Special people and not us. But it all comes down to TSA is the bad guy.
The passengers at Atlanta this Thanksgiving week, I have to admit were 99.9% appreciated that they knew that from point A to B, the plane was safe. Yes we had our little erogant fights, but all in all from where I am located, all went great. 250k travelers in a day led to a very busy day to say the least.
I agree, no one should be rude ever. If a rude screener, at any level is encountered, it should be filed - PERIOD!
I hope I dont get the rude one at any airport myself when traveling. He/She might be having a bad day, but it will indeed get worse.
Thanks for the article.
– Craig, Wednesday, 24 November 2004, 13:13 PST
I find the screening process most annoying probably because it’s worthless. I have very little confidence that TSA could actually find anything on anyone other than a retard. I don’t blame the guys doing what their told. They can’t help it that what they’re doing is worthless. I blame the people who create the procedures.
I feel the full discomfort with no real protection. Rude or not what these guys are doing is no value added. Perhaps some of this effort could be spent on my luggage?
– Kyle, Wednesday, 9 February 2005, 14:59 PST
I agree with Kyle. Screening is not very effective. I sometimes collect cutlery from different airlines for souvenir. When I recently passed the security control in Madrid (MAD) they didn’t see the knifes in my handbad. Thank’s god that my knifes are only souvenirs!
– Didi, Saturday, 12 February 2005, 04:14 PST
This discussion has been closed. Thanks to those who participated.