Evolution of travel complaints: TSA just the latest target

by Mike Barish on

This week saw the vitriol of travelers (and travel writers) directed at the TSA. The new TSA regulations that were imposed in light of the terrorist attempt on a Northwest Airlines flight led many to unleash the proverbial hounds and attack both the TSA and Department of Homeland Security with great fervor. It became quite fashionable (and deservedly so) to use blogs and Twitter to mock the TSA’s plans for keeping us safe.

However, this hysteria is not new in the travel community. Travelers have a long history of finding a target for their angst and attacking it like cat on a Roomba. The TSA is just the latest object of travelers’ derision. There were others before it and there will be others after it.

Let’s take a look back at travel complaints through history.God – The Garden of Eden was the original all-inclusive resort. Despite the absence of a “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service” policy, the Almighty actually had pretty stringent rules. While there was a veritable buffet for Adam and Eve, apples were off limits. The first guests to violate this policy were removed from the property and led management to blacklist all human visitors. Is that species profiling? Sure seems like it.

Christianity vs. Islam – Europeans have always enjoyed traveling. However, their motives for getting out and about during the Crusades were pretty shady.

India – Christopher Columbus never forgave India for not being in the Americas. Annual parades have yet to appease him.

Lack of produce – Scurvy was no joke back in the day. Now it’s a pretty good joke anytime someone offers you an orange.

Babies – They cry. They kick the back of your seat. They have little comprehension of the expletives that you’re shouting at their mothers.

People who recline their seats – I am one of these people. I make no apologies to anyone.

Airline food – Did you hear that airline food is gross? Yeah, so did every comedian in the 1990s.

Travelers vs. Tourists – The travelers vs. tourists debate is an epic one pitting blowhards against windbags. It has, however, kept the soapbox industry in business.

Cruises – When you’re the cause of a Twitter hashtag getting hijacked, you’ve officially made it as a preeminent target for travel complaints.

TSA – They’ve been accused of racial profiling, enforcing their policies arbitrarily and reacting to incidents with asinine updates to their rules. This latest episode is practically old hat for them. A hat that must be removed during the screening process, of course.

So, what’s my point here? At the end of the day, travelers will always find something about which to complain. Sometimes it will be justified while other times it will simply be a matter of opinion. People will always enjoy pointing fingers, making judgments and mounting their high horses.

But I think we can all agree that people who wear socks with sandals are just plain wrong.

Photo by Flickr user Aardvark of Fnord.

Feds are tired of making you wait in security line

by Tom Johansmeyer on

The government doesn’t want to make you miserable! Seriously. The Department of Homeland Security wants faster airport screening just as much as you do. That’s why it supports a program for screening approved, low-risk travelers coming to the United States to most international airports. The new approach has been tested for more than a year at seven airports, and screening time dropped from 10 minutes to only three.

To participate in this program, you need to be either a U.S. citizen or permanent resident — and more than 14 years old. There’s a $100 fee (which is probably worth it), and you have to submit to a background check. If you’re accepted, the customs process when you get back to the United States won’t be so bad. If all goes well, the program will eventually be open to foreigners who come from countries that have a sufficiently solid screening process.

Now, DHS, is there anything you can do to speed up all those logjams at domestic security checkpoints!

Europeans complain about U.S. travel fees

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Extra fees charged by airlines, the “new normal,” are so popular that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has gotten into the game. And, bitching about these fees is equally popular, prompting the European Parliament to sound off like its members are Ryanair passengers with full bladders and no coin for the slot.

At issue is a planned $10 charge for Europeans coming to the United States. The European Parliament calls the charge unfair, saying it amounts to a new visa restriction. Enrst Strasser, a lawmaker from Austria, says that the requirements for entry under the Obama administration are even harder than they were under the previous (U.S.) government and that for us is a contradiction that we in the European Parliament cannot accept,” Austrian lawmaker Ernst Strasser told Napolitano during a special hearing with her. “We really have to insist on our European values, that European data protection laws and European civil liberties also have to be taken account of.”

Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security Secretary, calls the fee reasonable, since the United States doesn’t have an agency for travel and tourism, “unlike many of your countries,” she said of the European states. The $10 fee would be used to “fund and help tourists and travelers who wish to come to the United States.” Since budgets are constrained at both federal and local levels, Napolitano feels this is a reasonable move.

The money has to come from somewhere, and if Washington has to choose between taxing Americans and taxing everyone else, who do you think wins? Napolitano may not be an elected official, but her boss sure is. There’s a pretty clear need for travel-related revenue in D.C., and the government needs to invest in promoting visits from overseas. When people cross a border to come here, that’s a net inflow of money into the United States.

Despite European objections, the numbers suggest that this isn’t a bad idea. Foreign spending in the United States has fallen for the past year, with drops becoming particularly severe last spring and continuing without reprieve. From August 2008 to August 2009, spending by visitors from other countries fell 21 percent, marking the fourth consecutive month of declines worse than 20 percent.

When it’s time to pass the hat, nobody wants to reach into his pocket.

More power for the government to search your laptop at the border

by Scott Carmichael on

For years, border protection agents have been permitted to inspect and/or seize your laptop, smartphone or other data storage device.

Under new legislation introduced today, those rules grant even more power, while trying to give the appearance of increased privacy for the owner of the data.

Previously, it didn’t really matter what you had on your computer – anything was allowed to be inspected. This obviously meant that legal documents, medical records and even classified business documents could be inspected, without you being allowed to do anything about it.

With these new rules, border agents can search all the “business documents” they want, but need to contact their own counsel when they encounter legal or other sensitive files.

One other new addition to the rules is that agents are now allowed to inspect the contents of your computer when you arrive and when you leave the country.

What this means to the common traveler? Well, unless you are carrying child porn or anything else illegal, you have nothing to worry about.
If you are carrying business documents that under no circumstances can be leaked, don’t keep them on your laptop – encrypt them and send them by email or any other secure online service.

The rules for inspecting business documents state that the inspector can view the files, but that he needs to keep them a secret, you be the judge of whether you can trust them enough with your information.

If you are an attorney with documents you can’t permit getting out in the open, be prepared for a battle, especially if you are stopped at the border and are suspected of being a criminal or terrorist.

Encrypting your files is one way to keep them away from prying eyes, just don’t expect to walk away with your laptop without showing the inspector the contents of the encrypted file. If you refuse to cooperate, they’ll just keep your laptop and send it off to specialists who may be able to break whatever encryption you are using.

The Department of Homeland Security has released three documents outlining the new rules, and they are a really interesting read (if you like reading boring legalese that is).

CBP Border Search of Electronic Devices Containing Information (PDF, 10 pages)
ICE Border Searches of Electronic Media (PDF, 10 pages)
Privacy Impact Assessment: Border Searches of Electronic Information (PDF, 51 pages)

Homeland Security color coded advisory system to be scrapped?

by Scott Carmichael on

One of the more insane ways the government is protecting us may soon come to an end.

After 9/11, the previous administration decided that scary colors and a constant “threat level” warning at the airport would help keep people aware of the danger of terrorists.

Of course, the system is pretty useless, and after 6 years, it may come to an end. A committee is meeting next week to decide whether they’ll modify or abolish it.

I’ve never been a fan of the scare tactics, and I think it was pretty obvious to everyone that we’d never reach “blue” or “green”. Which essentially means everyone should always be scared and prepared for the worst. The nation has already learned that fear doesn’t work too well, so the best course of action is to simply be observant and keep our eyes open for anything out of the ordinary. We don’t need snazzy colors and verbal airport warnings to be reminded of that.

So, fingers crossed that common sense prevails, and that we may finally see these stupid signs disappear, along with the scary announcements at the airport.