DO’s and DONT’s For Speeding Through Security Checkpoints

by Willy Volk on

Condé Nast Traveler aviation correspondent Barbara S. Peterson got hired as a Transportation Security Administration screener last fall. After working for the TSA for 2 months, she wrote an insider’s piece called “My Life as An Airport Screener.”

Her fascinating expose reveals, among other things, that despite a five-year, $20 billion overhaul, the TSA is overflowing with an overtaxed (but dedicated) workforce coping with equipment shortages, budget cuts, and countless unpleasant passengers. Who knew?

After reading the piece, I was left with the thought that maybe I’ve treated TSA screeners a little unfairly over the years. I felt guilty when I read Peterson’s comment: “I was left to conclude that the screeners have become the scapegoats for failures throughout the system.” How many of us have blamed them, hurled insults at them, mocked them? Plastic bags of what size? Why do I have to remove my shoes? Check out the complete article for what Peterson’s experience was like. It’s depressing, eye-opening, and amusing all at the same time.

The article is lengthy. If you haven’t got time right now to read it, you can do it later. In the meantime, check out Peterson’s list of DO’s and DONT’s for getting through security checkpoints faster:

  • DON’T tell a screener that you are about to miss your flight (it won’t win you any sympathy and could even arouse suspicion).
  • DON’T wear clothing with metallic objects such as buckles.
  • DON’T wear lots of jewelry or hairpins that can’t be easily removed.
  • DON’T say you “forgot” you have liquids in your bag.
  • DON’T try to jam everything into one bin in a misguided effort to be helpful-it’s much harder to screen.
  • DON’T accuse screeners of theft: Once you’re certain an item is missing, speak to a supervisor.
  • DON’T tell screeners “it only comes in this size” or “it’s almost empty” when asked to surrender containers of liquid larger than three ounces.
  • DON’T tell them how much you spent on the toiletries-it won’t make any difference if they’re the wrong size.
  • DON’T block traffic by repacking your belongings on the conveyor belt.
  • DO wear easily removable shoes.
  • DO keep your boarding pass in hand.
  • DO take the plastic bag holding liquids out of your carry-on before putting it through the X-ray machine.
  • DO lay your bag on its side (the upright position is much harder to “read” and may trigger a rescreening).
  • DO put items through the X-ray machine only when you are ready to walk through the metal detector. This minimizes the time you’re separated from your belongings.
  • DO make sure that you have all items before you leave the checkpoint.

[Via World Hum; Photo: Matt McGee]

TSA to Allow Ads at Security Checkpoints

by Dave Luna on

I get chills down my spine whenever I hear the Transportation Security Administration is planning something. Usually, they take things away from travelers like bottled water, shoe insoles, or — I don’t know — dignity. Thankfully, I think we’ll be OK this time.

The TSA has plans to launch a year-long partnership with various companies to add advertising to the security checkpoint area in airports. Companies that join the program will purchase checkpoint tables, bins, and trays for the TSA in exchange for ad space inside the bins.

I suppose this scheme will work out for the government agency and the vendors, but where does that leave the everyday jet-setter? I don’t really mind it since the adverts will be out of the way, but I’d rather the money go to hiring security screeners who are a little less surly.

On a somewhat related note: here’s one person’s humorous idea of how advertising would look aboard an airplane.

(via AdJab)

Fake Boarding Passes

by Iva Skoch on

The NY Times had a story about a grad student at Indiana University who created a web site with a fake Northwest Airlines boarding pass. Designed so that families could print out the fake pass get past the TSA check-points to see off or greet their loved ones, it got him in hot water: a cease and desist letter from TSA and an FBI raid of his home.

Obviously, the pass couldn’t be used to board a plane, but it sure points out the foolishness of this ID-plus-boarding-pass check at airports these days. I’ve noticed it’s common to have two different people do a check, in the same line, thirty feet apart.

Security experts note that the fake pass ploy is obvious and surely would have been thought of long ago by bad guys, so this is nothing surprising. In fact, one security consultant said he’d get rid of this useless checking altogether–and get rid of secret no-fly lists too–and spend the money on well-trained, plain-clothes agents milling around airports looking for suspicious activities. He said airport current checks are designed only to “catch the sloppy and the stupid.”

Shoe Sniffer

by Iva Skoch on

The TSA has just approved a new scanner by GE Security, which allows airline passengers to step into/onto a kiosk that not only scans their shoes (no shoe removal necessary!), but it also has an explosives trace detector built in.

This means it performs the equivalent of the “air puff” test, but it actually tests the passenger’s fingers for traces of explosives.

Unfortunately, it will only be used for those folks that have signed up for the poorly-implemented Registered Traveler Program, which charges passengers $100/year…and has thus far only been implemented in Orlando.

But, last time I was at Newark, TSA folks were simply waving us through the air-puff machine, even though it was showing the red, “stop” hand sign, just proving there’ll always be a human element thrown into these tests.

Can Holiday Pie Be Considered a Dangerous Liquid?

by Adrienne Wilson on

Before reading further keep in mind that no question is a dumb question. Now having stumbled on this piece originally found in the Consumerist where a man questions TSA as to if his pie is considered a dangerous liquid I think to myself, what a silly question to ask. But wait, no, no… It isn’t as silly as it seems. In these days where even a smile in its most contagious form comes across as a terrorist act, you really do have to ask before making any sudden moves or bringing your pie on board the plane. The writer of the piece featured had been standing by when he heard the question tossed out into the open. In his recount he notes TSA doesn’t consider pie a liquid, but now he ponders if cherry pie filling is considered a gel? Things that make you go hmm, right?

Well in the end our pie-carrying character gets to take his crusted filled sweet potato dessert with him with no fuss, although the TSA employee was looking to confiscate it for her own personal reasons.

via Boing Boing