TSA: Transportation Security Administration?

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That’s ok, I have almost always walked through security with a knife (half serrated and half straight edge blade approx. 3 inches in length) through security, at Pittsburgh, Dallas/Fort Worth, Detroit, and several other smaller airports. Why, because I forget about it just about every time, never needed to get rid of before 9/11 and now I just don’t think about it because I carry it everywhere. That bad thing is that it always goes through the x-ray machine, the TSA personnel have never noticed it. The only time I ever got pulled over for extra screening was when I was wearing pants with a button fly and it triggered the metal detector. I was skeptical that could have triggered it, but they (the TSA) said they had received a warning of something happening and had raised the sensitivity on the metal detector. So there you go TSA way to stop real weapons.

On my way home I found my pocket knife in my pocket. Rats. Hate to loose it. Tossed it into the xray bin with my shoes. Wait! It was in my pocket when went thru the check leaving home! I grabbed it back and stuffed it back into my pocket and then looked around furtively. Now “armed” I walked thru the scanner without being stopped and managed to keep my knife twice.

BTW, have you noticed that some passengers, like first class, get expedited treatment in shorter lines at the TSA check? WTF is that about? TSA is a taxpayer funded government agency. Why are they giving special privileges to private citizens who happen to be richer? Isn’t OUR government supposed to be egalitarian?

Scissors are not prohibited on flights as long as they’re not above a certain size. At one time they were, but as time has progressed, the TSA has continually re-evaluated what items are on the “not allowed” list and modified it accordingly. Upon the airlines installing locking reinforced cockpit doors, an “attack” by a small pair of scissors, no matter how sharp, really doesn’t present a security issue.

On the other hand, a small amount of liquid can bring down an entire plane (Google Ramzi Yousef, convicted in the 1993 WTC bombings). Yousef tried a test run on a Philippine Airlines flight in 1994, but used too little liquid, and only killed the person whose seatback the bomb was placed in. The bomb was assembled in the lavatory from everyday items which can easily be gotten through ANY security, hence the prohibition on large amounts of liquid in carry-on items.

The funny thing is the TSA had been aware of this possibility from its inception, but didn’t do anything about it until a potential plot involving it and a BA flight were uncovered.

To Sam, Not to worry about your taxes funding special treatment for First Class or frequent flyer passengers. The airlines fund the TSA resources required for those expedited lines.

Jim,
To say that the ‘airlines fund’ anything only looks at the first half of the issue. The airlines don’t do anything altruistic. They pass the charges on to us. So, no doubt the passenger is paying for it; hopefully only the passenger getting the benefit, and it’s not being spread among all the passengers on the plane, since they don’t all benefit from it..

Chris,
You could just drop those ‘dangerous’ items into an envelope at the hotel and mail them home, so that at least they’re not wasted, or taken home and used by the TSA droid. (Perks of the job, dontchaknow) Heck, maybe UPS or FedEx should institute another service just to ship baggage. Either of them have a better on-time and proper location delivery record than any of the airlines.

All the krap that the flying public is put through is just for show. It does almost diddly to actually increase our safety. El-Al doesn’t play those games with all passengers, and they don’t have the problems that we do. They look at ‘the other end’ of the equation. We could/should take lessons from them. It’s kinda hard to tell a winner how to play.. But instead, we play games with the entire flying public to the point where the ‘fix’ is worse than the problem.. Geez-o-Pete!

you noticed that some passengers, like first class, get expedited treatment in shorter lines at the TSA check? WTF is that about? TSA is a taxpayer funded government agency. Why are they giving special privileges to private citizens who happen to be richer? Isn’t OUR government supposed to be egalitarian?