Opuscula Surprise TSA gets it

 

In a headline from The Wire web presence we learn that The TSA Might Make You Turn Your Phone On to Prove It's Real.

Let's see, it's only been 25 - almost 26 - years since Pan Am 108 was blown apart over Lockerbie Scotland by a bomb placed in a portable radio carried by the temporary girlfriend of a Moslem terrorist.

Perhaps if someone had insisted that the radio be turned on the Pan Am flight would have made it to the States as planned.

So, nearly 26 years later the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is finally realizing that electronic gear can go BOOM!

To be fair, TSA has been making us remove computers of all types for special inspection, but cell phones and digi-cams, while scanned, are generally given only a cursory glance (else why the sudden interest in making passengers turn on a cell phone?).

The Wire's article suggests that confirming that a cell phone is operational will cause delays in the inspection process is almost funny.

The travelers I've seen are reluctant to turn their communication devices off at ANY time, even after being told to do so by the electronic flight attendants. In other words, there should be no delays - just open the phone to see the display.

Of course seeing the display really doesn't prove the communications device WORKS, but it probably will be enough to convince TSA.

If TSA really wants to check phones ask passengers to call a dummy number then listen for the response.

For me, however, there is one minor problem.

My cell phone service is restricted to the Several States. When I board a flight from the States I remove the battery and put it back in only on final approach to my return destination. My cell phone company charges dear for international calls on my plan, ergo the no battery option. No battery, no accidental phone activation = no charges for messages, etc.

Despite all its precautions, it still is easy to plant weapons on a plane.

Shortly after 9-11 (2001) I wrote an article pointing out the weak points in airline security. The article was reviewed by an airline security chief who said "it can't happen that way."

But it does and it has and I think the airline has a new security chief.

Unlike El Al - or perhaps the "old" El Al - most airlines "trust" vendors who board the aircraft when the aircrew is elsewhere. Although baggage handlers are airline employees, is anyone from security inside the baggage hold as luggage is loaded? How much are baggage handlers paid - enough to prevent temptation by a person with evil intent?

The problem in the U.S. is that when journalists managed to sneak weapons past TSA, the journalists were arrested for committing a crime, when in fact they proved the inadequacy of TSA screening. Instead of a reward they received punishment (but still got their story).

Israel used to blatantly profile passengers boarding planes to or from Israel. It worked. Most passengers, even Arabs, moved quickly through pre-boarding checks. Now Israel has "modernized" and, if there IS profiling today, it is covert; the emphasis seems to be on electronic detection of undesirable materials. I liked the old way better, but maybe profiling still is taught and implemented and I just failed to recognize it.

Asking passengers to turn on their cell phones should not be a problem; most cell phones are on anyway. But why stop at cell phones; have computers - notebooks, tablets, etc. - turned on a well. Just don't make anyone wait while the operating system's graphical user interface loads - THAT WOULD delay the line.

While TSA is busy checking cell phones - and I agree that this should be done - maybe it ought to consider checking all electronics, including portable radios, hearing aids, and all computing devices.

Or, although the Supremes declared it illegal, train TSA personnel to profile passengers in addition to the luggage and body screening.

And retrain some of those food sniffing puppies in the baggage claim area to detect explosives in shoes and underwear in the passenger (and crew) screening areas. (While it is unlikely a crew member would sabotage his/her own plane, a uniform and an ID badge is enough for anyone to access a plane at the jet way.)

NOT ERM-BC-COOP: To be fair

Despite Obungler’s “sequester,” Customs and TSA get high marks for the way my daughter, her husband, and the WGG* got through the lines at MIA.

On the way in, the daughter and the WGG came in via the US citizens’ line. The WGG being just a bit more than two years old rated a Special Services line for which there was no waiting.

The Son-In-Law, entering on a foreign passport, was facing a ½ hour or longer wait until a Customs’ agent took pity on him and waved him over to be first as the Customs agent opened a new line.

The trio was reunited almost before I got to the airport; they came out of the Customs area as I arrived to look for them!

Going back, the Daughter tried to get boarding passes at the American Airlines kiosks, none of which worked. Finally, an AA counter lady took pity on her and handled all the paperwork at the counter. It was, after all, her job, but in this day and age of disgruntled employees . . .

I am put in mind of Eastern Airlines just before it went belly up and faded into the sunset. At the time it, as AA is now, was the anchor airline at MIA (sharing honors with Pan Am and National). Anyway, Eastern’s ground and flight crews tossed customer welfare to the wind and treated flyers very shoddily. Even the director of PR was surly to customers . . . “hope they lose your luggage next time” he wrote in a letter to me.

Moving on.

The trio was told by the AA clerk to go to a specific security check point. On the way, I asked a TSA person how far we had to hike to reach the checkpoint. “It’s closed,” she said, and told us to go to the end of the section she was working.

There – again because of the WGG – a TSA person ushered the trio to the head of a line and they went through the checks fairly quickly.

Even sans the special treatment, lines were not all that long and they were moving smoothly.

It may have been a fluke – I understand MIA had exceedingly long and slow moving lines before the WGG’s arrival and after her departure.

I also heard news reports that people coming into Miami’s cruise ship port were substantially delayed because there were only 3 Customs agents to handle all the ship’s passengers. Eventually four more agents arrived; the question is, who scheduled the Customs personnel. Was the understaffing a local (Miami) decision, a decision by DHS, or did it roll down from Obungler?

* WGG = World’s Greatest Grand-daughter

Not ERM-BC-COOP: Wouldn’t it be nice …

At the airport

My kids came to visit for Pesach. They live in Israel so it’s more than just “over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house we’ll go.” More like 18 hours in transit – and that’s on a good day. Sometimes it is much longer.

Since they are traveling with the World’s Greatest Grand-daughter, hereafter WGG, and since the WGG is just a bit over two years old, hanging around airports can be trying for all concerned.

Now that Obungler is, in his infinite lack of wisdom, trying to force Republicans into signing on for even GREATER deficits by implementing a “sequester,” lines at government functions (mostly Terrible Service & Aggravation, a/k/a TSA, and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, both brought to us compliments of the Department of Homeland (in)Security) are supposed to be getting longer and longer.

To be fair, when the kids got to incoming Passport Control the Customs folks (a) had a line set aside for people with special needs – including parents with small children and (b) had a sharp Customs guy who – seeing my daughter and the WGG going through the US passport line while son-in-law cooled his heels in the non-US line – opened up a new line and signaled to Son-In-Law to be first in the new line. Customs folks CAN (and often are) king and considerate. I have my own “Bravo! Customs” stories.

Having stayed their stay, they headed back home.

Get boarding passes online.

Check luggage - and passports

Wait in line for a US government (TSA) passport check

Wait in line for an electronic strip search

And, finally, the always (for me anyway) l_o_n_g walk to the gate in hopes that the departing flight will do so on time.

Some in-laws discovered that departures can be delayed. We had offered, indeed strongly encouraged them to take, snack food “just in case.” The delay on the ground amounted to several hours and these people, grandparents, parents, and two very young, whiny children (OK, the parents were whiny, too) had nothing on which to snack. We, of course, were chastised for letting them go off sans snacks.

I don’t know what other airports do to keep travelers, and those of us charged with getting them from and to the airport expeditiously, to let people know about wait times.

In the “old” MIA – back when there was only one Customs for incoming passengers – there was a huge sign showing what flights were being cleared by Customs. No clue how long it was taking to clear, but those on the waiting side at least knew that passengers on So-N-So’s plane were being processed.

The new, spiffy MIA, with two Customs operations lacks this nicety.

Worse, the airports Web site gives no clue as to outgoing or incoming wait times.

As with most airports, it DOES list arrivals and departures.

Checking how many other international flights are arriving within 15 minutes before or after the flight for which you are waiting can give you a hint at wait times.

At MIA, a lot of flights are from Latin America and many are in smaller (compared to 747s) aircraft – maybe the plane has 100-150 passengers vs. a 747’s 400. I generally ignore these and look for trans-Atlantic flights in Big Boeing and Airbus monsters.

Outbound is about the same. Check outgoing trans-ocean flights to Europe or South America – MIA bills itself as the gateway airport to Latin America.

Life could be a lot simpler if, Obungler notwithstanding, MIA would post on its Web site transit times for incoming and outgoing passengers. How long from the time the first person deplanes until they realize the airline misplaced their luggage, and in the other direction, how long from the time the outgoing passenger queues up in the passport control line to be followed by the indignity-by-TSA line.

We used to be told to get to the airport 90 minutes or a bit more for international flights, and that was BEFORE print-at-home boarding passes (which seem useless unless all the traveler has is carry-on).

AS IT HAPPENS US Customs (and Border Patrol) has a wait times Web site - http://apps.cbp.gov/awt/ , BUT while MIA is listed on the airport options, it offers no information.

There is a commercial Web site, http://www.iFly.com , that lists “historical” wait times. How recent the history – since Obungler’s “sequester” fiasco?

For all that, this time the travelers WILL have “in case the flight is delayed” snacks for both adults and the WGG.