Tidings Of Comfort & Joy

[redbrunja]

 After the failed Northwest Airlines bombing, the TSA tightened up its regulations, requiring that all flights in the US and coming to the US had every passenger patted down prior to boarding and carry only one item onboard, which will be searched by hand prior to boarding. Additionally, during the last hour of the flight, passengers are not allowed to leave their seats, access their luggage, or use handheld electronics, and must sit with their hands in plain view.

What this tells me is that the TSA is fairly clueless on how to keep travelers safe.

I am all for bumping up safety when attacks or threats happen; but the epic delays and cancellations that occurred when these new restrictions came into effect leads me to infer that the TSA does not have the infrastructure to deal with threats, which is ridiculous when you realize they have had nine years since September 11th.

And as for keeping your hands in sight and not using electronics during the last hour – frankly, that is treating people like criminals. I have a very emotional reaction to this; all I can think about is that after paying for an expensive ticket, taking an abnormal amount of time to prove that you are a.) who you say you are and b.) safe to have on a plane, you are treated like a prisoner being transported from one jail to another.

Furthermore, all it seems to do is show that the TSA safety procedures do not work. Or the TSA doesn't have faith that they do, if they think that after going through three different screening processes, they still believe there is a reasonable probability that passengers are carrying hazardous materials.

Finally, I have a huge problem with how mum the TSA is being about why they tightened restrictions and even WHAT the tightened restrictions are. One of the callers on NPR today flew in from Charles de Galle and commented that if he hadn't been a journalist and had access to the wires, he wouldn't have know what was going on.

Comments

[the-sun-is-up.livejournal.com]

Additionally, during the last hour of the flight, passengers are not allowed to leave their seats, access their luggage, or use handheld electronics, and must sit with their hands in plain view.

Oh good Christ, that's completely ridiculous. I'm glad I won't have to fly anytime in the forseeable future.

[bluerising.livejournal.com]

These were only temporary measures, and they are lifted now. But yeah, I agree. It was still completely ridiculous. Not the appropriate response to the situation at all.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, I wonder if this was the actual plot of the terrorists -- not to kill a handful of people, but to annoy the fuck out of millions. I mean, making passengers throw out cups of coffee that they just bought at the airport and are actively drinking, or a pair of folding scissors from my first aid kit that I had forgotten were in there and were actually rather blunt with rounded tips, or the guy who was deemed a terrorist for spending too long in the bathroom, when he was actually just very sick after eating the airport food.

. . . what happens if someone needs to use the bathroom during the hands-where-we-can-see period? Do they just have to hold it in? What if they have bladder problems? Do the airlines want to just let 'em soak the seats?

[hungrytiger11.livejournal.com]

I had a friend who had to travel back (home) during this holiday, and the delays were so bad she was in line for over three hours, and when she got to the desk, the Delta airport worker literally told her he didn't believe her that she had been in line that long and refused to let her into the boarding area behind security. Justifible gets a little upset;there are some tears. She notices the first class line is empty, so goes to see if the worker there might be of some help. The man there tells her, "There's a bathroom right over there. I want you to go in there and take a look at your face. Then you're going to see why I won't help you."She had to leave without ever getting on a plane or any refunds. Eventually she did manage several days later to get a flight and had camera equipment stolen.

The sad thing was, this was before the most recent attack; Delta had chosen this holiday season to implement their new screening process. I think, because there is relatively little competition between airlines or even from other forms of transportation, they feel they there is no recourse costumers can take, and once you have a ticket and are in midst of a journey you are even more at mercy to any lack of customer service.

[sureasdawn.livejournal.com]

I tend to agree with my husband that all security is an illusion.

The TSA does not have and has never had the resources to adequately police the airline industry. It's going to come down to either all flying is halted indefinitely for being too unsafe or people are going to have to go on planes wearing airline-provided jumpsuits and no baggage at all. It's that absurd.

Guess what, you take one thing away, the people willing to harm others are going to find another way around it. I fully believe that there is no way to stop certain people until they demonstrate their intent to kill.

I really wish the TSA were transparent enough to actually give out some statistics on how effective they've been. All I see from them is hassling innocent people, thieving from the people they're supposed to be protecting and making themselves look like fools.

[meitah.livejournal.com]

These new regulations are incredibly stupid and completely unenforcible over the long run. I already feel bad for the flight attendants who have to try. This reeks of some little assistant to someone important thinking they'd get a pat on the back for being "thorough."

[squeakchan.livejournal.com]

Wow. Returning to Japan's gonna suck.

[qualapec.livejournal.com]

I find it entertaining how, every time something like this happens, control is heightened in a number of petty, useless ways, but nothing that can actually do any good is changed.

Although, I read on MSN today that the TSA was loosening some of the restrictions.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34601479/ns/travel-news

I cringe to think about what this will do for continued suspicion against non-white travelers.

[iapetusneume.livejournal.com]

I work in the luggage department of a department store, and you would be shocked just how much Australians are dumfounded by TSA regulations. I usually only mention the locks, but also reccomend that they check the website. Sometimes they get offended, despite the fact that I am doing everything I can to make sure they're informed when coming to the US.

And then they ask why the TSA has the rules they do, and after the end of these discussions I pretty much say: "Please don't kill the messenger."

So yes. The rest of the world is baffled by the TSA. Hell, us Americans are baffled by the TSA!

[ivy-chan.livejournal.com]

Fucking brilliant. I can see that the trip to Puerto Rico's going to be a bucket of fun. I'm glad they were temporary measures, but damn. And yes, seconding the unhappiness about the predjudice against non-white passengers. I've heard some horror stories.

[hazard-us.livejournal.com]

Each new regulation does nothing. Like someone said above, terrorists just get around whatever stupid rule is put in place. And let me say, as a chemist, a 3 oz limit wouldn't stop me from causing some serious damage, if not just general fun terror panic.

And who cares what the rules are if they don't enforce them consistently? On the way home before Christmas, I forgot about my scissors for my embroidery in my embroidery bag. Guess who got them through security? Yeah.