more on Rude TSA personnel; uneven liquids policies

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: mary hodder <mary () hodder org>
Date: October 16, 2006 8:51:07 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] Rude TSA personnel; uneven liquids policies

1.  An interesting thing: my friend Phil, who isn't the brightest  
person ever, told me was that as a TSA screener at LAX, they had
recently asked him and everyone else to sign a loyalty oath that also  
promised to treat all passengers with dignity.

He said he'd refused on the grounds that every single they they do  
screening people is undignified treatment toward the passengers.
As he says he told the bosses, "We go through all their dirty  
underwear and feel them up, harass them and grill them on every  
little bottle of shampoo, and it's totally demeaning.  I can't pledge  
to treat them in a dignified manner and keep doing the screenings."

I was really surprised to hear this, but it made me happy that he got  
it.

2.  On another note, in Gatwick two weeks ago, I took a photo of one  
of the signs posted about every 5 feet warning people not
to assault the personnel either verbally or physically.  This was  
while waiting to check in, in a line of over 1000.  Then we went
to security, which was more than double.  It took an hour and 15 to  
check in, and 2 hours to get through security.  I gather it's routine
by the locals to get to Gatwick hours ahead if you fly Easyjet (which  
I won't ever do again).

An employee came rushing over and demanded I delete the photo  I'd  
taken of him.  I said I'd never seen him before because he was sitting
behind all the standing customers and I was just taking a picture of  
the sign.  He wanted to see it, and it was the sign, and made me  
delete it.
But I actually had about 20 of the signs in different areas, so it  
wasn't a loss.  But they are clearly very paranoid.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/maryhodder/271237097/

My co-passenger remarked, "If you have to hang signs like that  
everywhere, you have a real customer relations problem, and this is  
all going to break really soon.  There is way too much tension in here."

One of the signs I took said you could fly with liquids bought in the  
airport, to Europe and Asia, but was prohibited from flying from the US.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/maryhodder/271237096/

3.  The weekend before Gatwick I flew from Amsterdam to London on  
Easyjet.  Everyone got on the plane with bottles of juice and  
liquids, soda, etc.  Clearly Amsterdam is super relaxed in many ways.

You should note that Easyjet charges for everything, including $3 for  
an 8 oz bottle of water.  So everyone wants to bring liquids onto the  
plane due to limited and bad selections, and expensive prices.

We were flying to Amsterdam, but the airport security people still  
tagged a passenger's backpack before boarding the plane.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/maryhodder/271237094/



On Oct 16, 2006, at 4:34 AM, David Farber wrote:

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Esmé Vos <isolde100 () gmail com>
> Date: October 16, 2006 12:43:38 AM EDT
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: Rude TSA personnel; uneven liquids policies
>
> For IP if you wish.
>
> I posted this on my blog today (http://www.rosecantine.com/archives/ 
> 193/) about the uneven TSA liquids policies in SF, Boston and Houston:
>
> In addition to yelling and screaming at the top of their lungs like  
> their colleagues in other airports, Logan TSA people try to project  
> the image that they are really doing something to ensure you  
> security. And this is how they do it:
> I checked in a little plastic bag with liquids. The bag went  
> through the scanner and immediately, an alert TSA employee, no  
> doubt keeping us safe from those nasty people told me that the  
> little plastic bag was too big. Never mind that the same plastic  
> bag went through San Francisco Airport's security without any  
> problems. So to make us feel that they are doing a spectacular job,  
> they decided to confiscate a nearly empty bottle of contact lens  
> solution. But they let the plastic bag through anyway.
>
> When I said, "But this bag and all of its contents went through San  
> Francisco with no problem," the TSA guy retorted, "Yeah, but San  
> Francisco is San Francisco."
>
> Yes, folks, don't you feel so much safer now that airport security  
> people in a single country can't agree on standard procedures and  
> even criticize their own colleagues in another city? By the way,  
> the same little plastic bag filled with eye drops, lip gloss, hand  
> creme and hair gel just sailed right through Houston's airport,  
> right in Bush country.
>
> I love the Tyler Brule column in the Financial Times this weekend  
> in which he rips TSA apart for the degrading manner in which they  
> treat passengers.
>
> "Having just witnessed a humiliating attack on a defenceless  
> elderly gentleman at La Guardia airport, it's time to create an  
> enforceable charter of human rights for passengers and a tough set  
> of standards that airports, airlines and affiliated businesses must  
> abide by."
>
> . . .
>
> "As the gentleman tried to collect his things and bundle them in  
> his arms the security guard moved in closer. 'Sir, this is a  
> federal inspection area and you must move on. You must do so in the  
> fastest manner possible sir!' The man gently nodded but dropped a  
> shoe in his haste and the barrage of passive-aggressive security- 
> speak started over again. I motioned to go and help the man but he  
> pulled himself together and then shuffled away to find a place to  
> put on his shoes."
>
> "I immediately told the security man that terrorising people was  
> not part of his job description. 'Sir, you're in a federal  
> inspection area . . . "' he began. '. . . and as a result you're a  
> representative of the federal government and you're not putting on  
> the best face for Washington by abusing a man in his 80s,' I  
> retaliated."
>
> "Unfortunately, this scene isn't limited to just the airports of  
> the Port Authority but plays itself out all over North America,  
> pockets of Europe, Australia and beyond. Passengers recognise the  
> need for stricter security measures but with them have come a  
> culture of belligerent behaviour that's going unchecked by the  
> security companies who win contracts, the airports that award them  
> and the governments that are supposed to police the system."
>
>
> (Brule column is at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/ 
> 658a3126-5b21-11db-8f80-0000779e2340.html)
>
> Sincerely,
> Esme Vos
> Founder
> Muniwireless.com
>
>
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Mary Hodder
CEO:  Dabble
Blogs:  Dabble.com/blog
Napsterization.org/stories



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