Tag Archives for tsa.
The Transportation Security Administration has an almost ‘through the looking glass’ way of describing what they do and do not permit, going so far as to redefine physics to their liking.
Colorado updated its drivers licenses in February 2022, but the TSA hasn’t updated its drivers license readers to recognize the new design. As a result, people that have renewed their Colorado licenses over the past year keep getting flagged at airport security.
As if TSA screening isn’t enough of a mess in Denver, the preponderance of Colorado licenses makes things even worse, because the screener then has to identify the passenger without relying on the government ID.
Several women I’ve known have consistently been pulled aside for ‘extra screening’. Remember when Denver TSA colluded with each other so same-sex screeners could fondle passengers they thought were attractive?
9/11 hijackers used boxcutters. TSA was created to stop future 9/11s. They search wheelchair-bound grandmothers, steal from passengers, and light billions of dollars on fire each year – all while admitting in court that they see zero active threats to defend against.
But when passengers actually bring boxcutters to the checkpoint? Yeah, they got through and a Frontier Airlines flight had to divert after one was being used by an unruly passenger.
In 26 years of business travel I’ve seen and experienced a lot, from bird strikes to passengers self-upgrading and even one who brought their own alcohol on board and refused to stop drinking it even though they were in first class and the flight attendant was happy to bring them another. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like this: a passenger with a water bottle in their seat back pocket that was bubbling and had a tube sticking out of it.
On closer inspection, though, it wasn’t just water inside the bottle. There were fish.
Nikole Hannah-Jones, who was responsible for the controversial New York Times’ “1619 Project” which argues that the real founding of the United States happened when the first salve arrived in Virginia in 1619 and not in 1776, tweeted yesterday about inequality at the airport.
The oddness of complaining about inequality inside of the Martha’s Vineyard airport aside, what struck me about this is that I did not think Martha’s Vineyard airport even had a separate PreCheck line? When I visited Martha’s Vineyard last month I took the ferry in both directions and I didn’t visit the airport. Perhaps I need to update my priors?
Outside of a limited set of legitimate interests, government functions in publicly-owned airports are generally open to filming. Passengers can’t pass through TSA checkpoints without a ticket or other authorization, but prior to the checkpoint it’s generally not a problem as long as the activities don’t interfere with the function of the airport or screening activities.
To be sure I wouldn’t want to be filmed in my workplace either. At the same time without documentary evidence of bad actors, a passenger likely has little recourse against TSA or airline employees who treat them poorly.
The TSA can rifle through your luggage at will and will pull sex toys out of your bags in front of other passengers. You walk through machines that take naked images and screeners get to fondle you if they find you attractive.
TSA even had a program to follow ordinary passengers and mark down when they used the bathroom. But perhaps there’s nothing more intimate than having your pancake mix obsession revealed as the price of domestic travel.
TSA is promoting their prowess at seizing liquids at security checkpoints. Great catch! They’ve rounded up liquids and gels over 3 ounces and placed them in one spot together to be photographed.
But where is the hazmat team? If these items were dangerous you wouldn’t think they’d be kept near he security checkpoint and passengers, let alone held together. There would be dangerous materials protocols. Except even the TSA doesn’t believe these liquids are dangerous. They’re seizing liquids because the rules say to do so, not because it keeps anyone safe.
Now that U.S. mask requirements on planes have generally been lifted, some people are starting to realize that not all restrictions are permanent and that at a minimum we should be doing cost-benefit analysis … and that much of the security theater we engage in wouldn’t pass critical scrutiny.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
