Screening Still a Pain at Airports, Fliers Say

[alp227]

Source: NYT

Since last November, the Transportation Security Administration has adopted a policy to reduce pat-downs of children 12 and under, altered some body scanners to display a generic outline of a human figure and begun testing programs that offer expedited screening to pilots and select frequent fliers.

Still, some travelers are bothered by a screening process that has become increasingly time-consuming and intimate, and industry representatives say they are worried that these frustrations are contributing to a decline in air travel.

The Air Transport Association expects 2 percent fewer people will fly this Thanksgiving week compared with last year, while AAA projects a 4 percent increase in automobile travel.

As the T.S.A. observes its 10th anniversary, it also faces lawsuits over the legality of its passenger searches, growing scrutiny of the cost-effectiveness of its screening measures, questions about security lapses and complaints that some agents continue to make travelers feel humiliated or harassed.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/business/airport-screening-is-still-a-pain-fliers-complain.html?pagewanted=all

[liberal N proud]

1. Still? - It is getting worse!

Further restrictions and more intrusive searches, it is just getting more and more ridiculous.

[lbrtbell]

2. Occupy the airports, LOL - n/t

[snot]

3. I've boycotted flying since the scanners were introduced. Road trips are more fun anyway, and

flying isn't that much quicker when you have to get to the airport 2 hrs early to be scanned and then wait for your checked bag at the other end.

[midnight]

13. This is true..

[customerserviceguy]

4. Unfortunately, I'm stuck having to fly

It takes a week to get out to the West Coast, and another week to get back, I really don't want to spend most of my vacation on the road. So, I'm stuck with the gropedowns and the other intrusions.

The good news is, my dad is still with us, I really thought that last April was the last time I'd see him, having been diagnosed with kidney and liver cancer. It's worth it to see Dad one more time.

[Sirveri]

10. I did it in two days. But that was kinda nuts. No drugs either!

Left Virginia at 10AM, drove all night, ended up in Nevada-Utah border (Nevada side), I-80 route, at 8PM the next day. Slept until about 8AM then got to SF area by around 3PM.

[tpsbmam]

5. Duh!

'industry representatives say they are worried that these frustrations are contributing to a decline in air travel."

Ya fucking think?

:eyes:

[Gormy Cuss]

7. I'm shocked

that they've figured this out.

[juajen]

9. Maybe because the planes are crowded with three seats in a row,

and baggage is extra, and lousy food, etc. You name it, air travel sucks unless it's first class, and 99 percenters can't afford that. On my last trip I rode the train home. The price was about the same, and I enjoyed the lounge very much. RR bathroom facilities are lousy, but other than that, cordial service and fun.

[woo me with science]

6. Not just a pain. An outrage.

And a violation of our Constitutional rights.

[Psephos]

11. Well said. n/t

[PSPS]

8. "they are worried that these frustrations are contributing to a decline in air travel"

Still, some travelers are bothered by a screening process that has become increasingly time-consuming and intimate, and industry representatives say they are worried that these frustrations are contributing to a decline in air travel.

Gee, ya think? I used to fly all the time but, since this meaningless theater whose only real mission is to inculcate the police state in the populace, I never fly commercial airlines anymore.

[LibDemAlways]

12. If there was ever a more useless government agency than TSA I

am not aware of it. If Congress is serious about trimming waste, that would be a great place to start.

[alp227]

16. they'll have to convince Michael Chertoff to stop profitting off those porno scanners

http://www.allgov.com/Where_is_the_Money_Going/ViewNews/Body_Scanners_Create_Profits_for_Chertoff_and_Others_101123

[Manifestor_of_Light]

14. If I want to go overseas, I'll get on a bus to Mexico. Seriously.

[avaistheone1]

15. I think Jesse Ventura among others are doing the same thing.

I don't blame them at all.