I average about twenty flights a year, about half are international. I get a TSA idiot every once in a while. Really hard to just bite your tongue but no point in arguing with them, it will not be productive. Pre Check and Mobile Passport make life easy.

Their Instagram is a good read...


https://www.instagram.com/tsa/?hl=en


Like everyone else has said, don’t be an inconsiderate idiot, plan your time accordingly and you will be fine...

Off by $5! Just did it a couple weeks ago and already have my ID number loaded in my travel profile for work and on Expedia for personal. I should have done it a long time ago.

I did it a while back. Super nice to walk past the super long TSA line at SeaTac last week and breeze right through at pre. Between that and my company having our own bag drop lane with delta, I felt like a VIP. 🤪🤪🤪

Yup. Some days it's shoes off, laptops out. Some days it's shoes on, but laptops still out. Or, some days it's "Casual Flyday" and you are just waived through without any of the shoe/laptop hassles.
It would seem that it's totally at the discretion of the supervising agent on duty that day. Of course, avoiding those hassles and the long lines of unwashed masses is an option...for a price. ;)

You might consider ponying up for Global Entry next time. It's $15 more, but is processed much quicker than PreCheck (got mine a while back and had my appointment scheduled ASAP). You get all of the PreCheck features, plus the added benefit of being able to bypass the Customs lines if/when coming back into the US from abroad. It also includes Sentri, which expedites things if/when coming back into the US from Mexico. ;)

What they are required to do is based on real-time threat warnings. If they do anything different, there are signs posted everywhere. It does not behoove them for you to be confused any more than it does you. Since they have to route all the folks through who showed up way too late, didn’t read the signs, follow the rules, or exhibit any common sense...without increasing waits...they do their best to keep it simple. If it is difficult or slow, blame the guy in front of you who had a glock or a cold steel katana in their carry on.

That's the difference between TSA Precheck and normal security. Likely you were in a non Precheck line, or got lucky and were upgraded to Precheck. Some airports don't have Precheck lines. It's really not that complicated, and Precheck is cheap considering the benefits.

Same here. And BTW it isn't just the US version of TSA. Last time I left Australia I couldn't take my shave cream because it didn't have a top on it. It had come all the way from the USA through the Emirates but take it home? No way.

Go figure.

+1

I fly almost non-stop, and truth be told, its the moronic public that creates every single issue....the slow-walkers, the entitled, the generally stupid, and there are alot of them. They can't get out of their own way---can't or simply won't plan ahead, and just like the left-lane police, they are the ones mucking it up for everyone else.

I take no issue in mowing down the tool-bags who literally stop on the moving sidewalks, who walk five abreast down every hallway, who have no idea that they cannot bring a big-gulp or a 32 ounce mocha latte through security--as if most of the folks I see with these can afford to consume that extra 2000 calories to begin with.....

I also have TSA Precheck, Global Entry and Clear--and that usually gets me ahead of some of the cattle-call.

I'm editing this with a pre-fix,
you personally on account of what you do have a strong counter-influence in how you look out and see a crowd,
you get to see a crowd of passion, you get to see a crowd of love, you see a crowd of humanity.

It is the regular walking through a system where guilty is a base assumption over innocence. Others see a crowd of stupid, a crowd of obstacles, a herd of dumb animals lining up like cattle.

Look at comments about the guy who may hold the line up from not having flown before and not inherently knowing what to do.

A little compassion would be patient. Instead there is an uncompassionate herd through the check point.

Standing legs spread with my hands up through a scanner in the same posture as a guilty criminal being searched for arrest can't be good for the human mind on a regular basis.

Each time you go through you give up being human temporarily.

Now some pick it back up on the other side, but the continual laying down of what we consider basic human rights and dignity to transform into animals at the airport has got to wear on some of those folks that do it regularly.


I know it is a necessity for some folks, and some may handle it better than others. Still, if you can avoid stepping in to such a situation you are better off.

It has been a gradual increase of one thing at time, so frequent fliers may not be aware of just how harsh things feel to someone who is not a frequent flier and is confronted with the "new ways" in all their glory.

Just get your license and buy a plane. No TSA and take what you want with you.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1531399914.jpg

The patdown through security etc is to me an acceptable way to get flying from A to B. It is indeed what makes it more secure. We make choices whether we fly or drive but when it comes to trans ocean I will take the plane over a ship any day and of course you cannot drive a car in water too well.

Why not just put your shaving cream in your suitcase and check it in? Just take minimal essential items in your carry on bag. I don't know if aerosol cans are restricted articles?

Well, next time you feel aggrieved about this process, thank a Muslim for ****ing up a perfectly suitable arrangement we had for decades.

I'm a pragmatist. Little **** like this doesn't really bother me. If you have a better solution, let's hear it.

Some people get bent out of shape over the smallest things, it's getting to be ridiculous.

I used to love to fly and I used to do it with relative frequency, but I stopped when the scanners came out. The government has no right to inspect my naked body to prevent me from committing a crime. It's a perversion of due process and it is a presumption of guilt. The courts, in the ways that lawyers often twist things to mean the opposite of what they say, have basically ruled that you have no rights from the moment you step foot in an airport until the moment you leave the airport at your destination. Along the way, TSA agents may steal your belongings, they may call over coworkers to ogle your naked body, or the airline may have someone punch you in the face when they decide to give your seat to someone else. The way people get treated by airlines and the TSA is unconstitutional, immoral, and unethical, but it's for our safety--which is always the excuse given when violating our civil rights.

Imagine if you had to remove your shoes, have your bags inspected, strip naked (which is essentially what a body scanner does), and then be molested to do any other activity? No one would stand for these things if introduced all at once. But because they were done gradually, and for our safety, people blindly accept exactly the kind of warrantless searches and seizures our constitution is supposed to protect against.

The saddest part is that all of the violations airline passengers endure are largely just expensive and ineffective security theater. They do almost nothing to really improve safety other than reassuring those that don't think too hard about their loss of dignity and fooling casual criminals into thinking they will probably get caught--all the while punishing millions of otherwise innocent passengers along the way. There are security methods that are less expensive, less intrusive, preserve dignity and civil rights, and far more effective--but we don't do them, why? I have to conclude that "airline safety" was just an excuse for an unconstitutional power grab rather than an effort to really protect us.

Policy was to let them take over the plane.

There were armed hi-jacking attempts after 9/11, passengers and crew used whatever they had to physically overwhelm and beat down the hi-jackers.

The way to go is by private jet. I was waiting in the cell phone lot at SDF during the Kentucky Derby. The airport is so packed with planes they park on the taxiways, and there was a row of nice Gulfstreams, Falcon Jets, etc across the fence in front of me. The main race had finished about 30 minutes prior. As I was sitting there, a limo drove through a security gate with a wave and looped around to a waiting G5. I timed it- less than 8 minutes later the plane was taxiing for takeoff. I watched this happen 2 or 3 more times as I sat there. Im definitely getting a Netjets card if I win the lottery.

The problem is not the airline personnel or TSA it is the occasional ignorant passenger who acts like an idiot on or around an aircraft.

WTF are you suggesting? It's better to let a hijacker on the plane so the passengers have to stop him?

It is harder to get into my building at work (even worse in many I visit) than through airport security.

You guys who complain about TSA seeing your junk in the body scanners. They fielded the backscatter x-ray machines in 2012 and started getting rid of them the same year...finishing in 2013. Most full body scanners used now (millimeter-wave scanner), create a generic outline, with suspicious areas highlighted. If it detects nothing suspicious, the word "OK" appears on the display with no image at all. They do not have the capability to store any images (all images are deleted automatically after you pass through).

Amen. Also Precheck, Global Entry, and Clear, all worth every penny.

Sorry, but your ignorance of the rules is not an excuse. The internet, signage, billboards at the airport, the TSA agent repeating the same instructions over and over again, there is no excuse for not knowing what to do. It's like driving without bothering to learn the rules of the road. Flying is not something that you are entitled to, and if you are too lazy to learn the rules then it might not be a pleasant experience.

Ogle your naked body. LOL and wow. Guess you don't attend concerts, courthouses, or major sporting events either? Based on your posts, I think I'm glad you've chosen to avoid flying.

Courthouses and concerts use metal detectors, not body scanners with a monitor. Do you recall that when these scanners were introduced several TSA agents at one airport were found to have a "signal" to call others over to the monitor when someone attractive they wanted to see naked was in the scanner. At another airport, the TSA agents were found to be saving and trading images of naked passengers. But I guess that's okay, because it allegedly keeps us safe.

That is so 2012. Those scanners were in use less than a year.

I don't think you understand. The flight home was roughly 24 hours flying time....excluding connection....and I intended to shave and shower.

I do only take essentials in my carry on. But what's essential for a two hour flight and going half way across the world are two entirely different things- I brought a change of clothes too.

BTW small amounts of aerosol have always been allowed in carryons.

And maybe for a short time in 1982 :)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1531413979.jpg

The reason I hate to fly commercial is because of the pilots.

Not all the A Students are going to the airlines, folks.

Paul, your take on this.
.
I had the occasion to speak with B-52 pilots while in the AF...one told me about how stringent were the procedures, etc. Of course, I knew that.
Told me something about circuit breakers that were pulled in commercial airliners.
If the system was redundant, they'd fly anyway.
The military, not so.
.
This, as I recall, anyway.

I would be very surprised if that were true. I know a lot of airline pilots that are aging out and none of them has related anything remotely like that - redundancy means the system is on the critical safety path. I'm not flying with ANY popped circuit breaker! Nor are they. They get to the accident first, btw.

My comment was more related to the devolution of pilots in the airliner food chain and how it has impacted great people coming in the door.

That topic is very lively among my commercial pilot friends, all of them senior Captains with big carriers.

I was of the understanding that "redundant" meant a back up system
What did/do I know? :confused:
.
:)

So they violate there own protocols every single time with you, interesting.
This also is troubling to me.

Too bad, totally irrelevant, but really too bad for you.

Shame the powers that be decided to go this way, rather than setting it up like the Israelis do so it might actually have a chance to be effective.

I have a TWIC transportation worker's identification card (TWIC).
It's a federal id issued through Dept of homeland security. At the time it was mandatory to have one in order to work in or near the ports.
In 5 years no one ever asked to see it. So I let it expire and didn't renew.
Now I'm hearing it does the same as that TSA pre-check thingy ..?

All commercial aircraft have a MEL, Minimum Equipment List. It defines the stuff that has to be working correctly for the airplane to dispatch with passengers. I can assure you that there are no critical aircraft systems left off of that list. Stuff that can be INOP are items like a passenger seatback display, coffee maker, seatbelt or armrest in an unoccupied seat, you get the idea. It's very stringent, not something they take lightly as it is part of the FAA/EASA certification basis.

Funny, I read an industry article about 30 minutes ago about the current and looming pilot shortage. The biggest issue they noted was the devaluation of airline pilot as a career from the standpoint of society. Today it's a position of limited prestige that requires expensive schooling often at the student's expense, years of toiling at a regional airline for little pay, and then years of working your way up at a major airline before it really pays off. The military is still a pipeline but they are also facing a shortage of pilots, and international carriers are throwing big money at American pilots to entice them overseas.

Any aircraft system critical to flight will have redundancies built in. Some are triple or quadruple redundant. Then they may have a backup system that also has redundancies. Then all of them are tested to failure and beyond to insure that they actually offer the safety and reliability required. One of many reasons that airplanes are so expensive.

My buddy who was an American pilot flew for uncle back in the 70's. F-111. Truth, he wasn't an A student...graduated from a teacher's college where he was also ROTC. But then, since grade school..."I wanna be a jet pilot." Remember our road trips...supurb eyesight...he could read a freeway exit sign long before I could. About 5'8", an athletic body...swim team, track, ran the 100 yard dash in 10 flat..after football knee surgery 60's style. So yeah, kind of born to be a pilot...just what the Air Force liked physically and mentally.

He offered us a "comped" flight to visit he & his wife..I gave him my standard response...no desire to be cooped up in an aluminum tube for hours with hundreds of strangers. I have no fear of flying, have done it several times. But found the whole process to be a royal pain in the donkey...and that was before 9-11-01.

When I took my first commercial flight (late 60's) I showered, shaved, dressed nicely.
Nowadays, passengers look (and stink) like they rolled out of bed and onto the plane.
Phooey!!!

i RARELY fly for work. i will this winter some.

but for the most part, if i am getting on a plane it is to get to somewhere fun. having said that, i love it all.

the airport, the lines..it all adds to the anticipation of good things coming. some TSA agent wants to grab my junk..whatever. safety first i suppose. btw, my junk has never been grabbed. i have had my bags searched, that swab done looking for powder residue..it's all good. afterwards, i will be somewhere hopefully seeing something for the first time..in wonder.

i never sleep on the plane. no matter how long the flight. i am up, wearing headphones, watching movies. i will go and do situps and pushups in that bigger area..no DVT's for me. i love it.

sucks SEAHAWK offering a peek behind the pilot curtain..we dont have the A-team..great :D

You still do, for a little bit:cool:

When I was nearing my end of obligated service as a Navy pilot and working through career options, I considered the airline route.

What ended any thought of me flying high were two long flights in a P-3 Orion where I got some significant left seat time.

F me running I was as bored as a Housewife from Omaha in about ten minutes.

Later, after I decided to stay with Uncle, as the Chief Test Pilot at the Sikorsky helo factory, we were delivering Blackhawks to the Army in Germany...four at a time in the back of C-5's and we had to accompany them and then fly the acceptance flights in Germany.

I got to ride in the amazing flight deck, complete with bunk rooms, etc., on four translants.

If boredom was music, those flights were Cher.

One of my cousins who was a Navy pilot flies for United. He was a helicopter pilot and I’m sure that the job bores the nuts off of him but he has six kids including one w cancer, so he definitely needs the paycheck. He supplements it w some private contractor work over in the ME flying spy planes which is slightly more interesting but incredibly boring on the ground, they absolutely never leave the fortified base under any circumstances.

I’ve always heard that going from fighter jets to being a commercial pilot is like going from being an F1 driver to driving a Greyhound bus. :cool:

This.

Exactly what my buddy said he did: Bus driving for American airlines. I call him Lucky. His scheduled plane on 9-11-01 was a 737 from Boston to L.A. Was getting into his uniform when the hotel room phone rang. Pure luck of the draw...