TSA Misses Passenger's Gun

[groovatron]

Ever ask yourself WHY security is lax?

Could it be BECAUSE we don't have the actual airlines in charge of security?

Could it be BECAUSE we allow the government, which has no actual vested interest in any airline, to be in charge of security.

Think for a few minutes about the logic/illogic of this. Who better than the airline to insure its own safety? If one of its own planes blows up it is out a HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS or more, just for the cost of the airplane, and literally hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees, lawsuit settlements, etc from the surviving family members of passengers. So an airline, in charge of its own security, has a real interest in keeping its passengers and airline safe from terrorists.

But instead we turn it over to minimum wage workers in fancy uniforms who are on the federal payroll and who, if they screw up and allow something to pass, might-just maybe-get a reprimand but will likely never get fired and will live out on their generous government paid pensions and healthcare. They have NO VESTED INTEREST in keeping the airlines safe. I had a cousin who was a TSA worker for awhile before getting a better job at Home Depot. He said security is a joke. Makes me feel a lot better!

Let the free market take care of itself. Let the airlines manage their own security. Personally I'd rather fly an airline that has the guts to "profile" its passengers than under our current system where its not politically correct to question a bearded middleastern looking man in his 20's with a turban on his head.

An airline screws up and their plane blows up then I'm willing to bet that very few people will book flights with that airline in the future UNTIL they tighten security. But if the TSA is in charge and an airliner blows up do you ever hear of anyone getting fired at the checkpoint level.

Seriously, let the free market decide, get the federal government out of the business of confiscating tweezers from passengers and allow the airlines to look out for themselves. I'd feel MUCH safer when I fly.

You said it......let's hear it for bureaucracy

 

[evansvillethompsongunner]

I think it's more disconcerting to realize how insecure our ports are: lots of ships with lots of cargo, and less than 1% of it, as of just a couple years ago, was scanned and visually-inspected. So, to hell with feigning 'security' on public-private vehicles accessible to anyone who has the money to purchase a ticket - it's far more bothersome to me that you could smuggle three elephants' worth of goods per hour into our country.

 

[ar15junkie]

Ever ask yourself WHY security is lax?

Could it be BECAUSE we don't have the actual airlines in charge of security?

Could it be BECAUSE we allow the government, which has no actual vested interest in any airline, to be in charge of security.

Think for a few minutes about the logic/illogic of this. Who better than the airline to insure its own safety? If one of its own planes blows up it is out a HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS or more, just for the cost of the airplane, and literally hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees, lawsuit settlements, etc from the surviving family members of passengers. So an airline, in charge of its own security, has a real interest in keeping its passengers and airline safe from terrorists.

But instead we turn it over to minimum wage workers in fancy uniforms who are on the federal payroll and who, if they screw up and allow something to pass, might-just maybe-get a reprimand but will likely never get fired and will live out on their generous government paid pensions and healthcare. They have NO VESTED INTEREST in keeping the airlines safe. I had a cousin who was a TSA worker for awhile before getting a better job at Home Depot. He said security is a joke. Makes me feel a lot better!

Let the free market take care of itself. Let the airlines manage their own security. Personally I'd rather fly an airline that has the guts to "profile" its passengers than under our current system where its not politically correct to question a bearded middleastern looking man in his 20's with a turban on his head.

An airline screws up and their plane blows up then I'm willing to bet that very few people will book flights with that airline in the future UNTIL they tighten security. But if the TSA is in charge and an airliner blows up do you ever hear of anyone getting fired at the checkpoint level.

Seriously, let the free market decide, get the federal government out of the business of confiscating tweezers from passengers and allow the airlines to look out for themselves. I'd feel MUCH safer when I fly.

As someone who travels for work on occasion I totally agree with your post. One point you didn't mention was that in addition to being accountable the airlines would run security more efficiently. So that we wouldn't have 200 people standing in a line worked by 2 tsa people. I for one would travel most often with a company who had enough people working the security post.

 

[trnsplntfrmohio]

once again this is why I say privatize airport security.

 

[dross]

Ever ask yourself WHY security is lax?

Could it be BECAUSE we don't have the actual airlines in charge of security?

Could it be BECAUSE we allow the government, which has no actual vested interest in any airline, to be in charge of security.

Think for a few minutes about the logic/illogic of this. Who better than the airline to insure its own safety? If one of its own planes blows up it is out a HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS or more, just for the cost of the airplane, and literally hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees, lawsuit settlements, etc from the surviving family members of passengers. So an airline, in charge of its own security, has a real interest in keeping its passengers and airline safe from terrorists.

But instead we turn it over to minimum wage workers in fancy uniforms who are on the federal payroll and who, if they screw up and allow something to pass, might-just maybe-get a reprimand but will likely never get fired and will live out on their generous government paid pensions and healthcare. They have NO VESTED INTEREST in keeping the airlines safe. I had a cousin who was a TSA worker for awhile before getting a better job at Home Depot. He said security is a joke. Makes me feel a lot better!

Let the free market take care of itself. Let the airlines manage their own security. Personally I'd rather fly an airline that has the guts to "profile" its passengers than under our current system where its not politically correct to question a bearded middleastern looking man in his 20's with a turban on his head.

An airline screws up and their plane blows up then I'm willing to bet that very few people will book flights with that airline in the future UNTIL they tighten security. But if the TSA is in charge and an airliner blows up do you ever hear of anyone getting fired at the checkpoint level.

Seriously, let the free market decide, get the federal government out of the business of confiscating tweezers from passengers and allow the airlines to look out for themselves. I'd feel MUCH safer when I fly.

Nope, the free market is out of fashion. The government steps in, meddles with it, then when if fails because of that meddling, the government says, "See, the free market can't work without our help. If only we had meddled with it more."

See the financial crisis for model number two. Barney Frank, chief meddler now has the enormous brass balls to shout his outrage from the rooftops for the crisis he helped to cause. I fear for us.

I wonder what kind of wonderful air travel innovations we have lost forever because they were never created under the heavy regulation we have.

As to security, I suspect that if left to the airlines it would be better, faster and one helluva lot more polite.

 

[TRWXXA]

But instead we turn it over to minimum wage workers in fancy uniforms who are on the federal payroll...

You only wish they earned minimum wage (since that's more than what they're worth). The starting salary for an entry-level TSA screener is $24K to $35K/year, depending onlocation. The starting salary for a TSA screener manager is $45K to $66K. And they've got a union, and a government pension, and health care, etc.

Worth every penny, don't you think? Especially considering the fact that they fail to detect 75% of the bombs and weapons that are sent through security to test its effectiveness, EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE TOLD WHEN THEY ARE GOING TO BE TESTED.

Only the government can award that kind of incompetence.

 

[Dr Falken]

I've only seen videos of TSA workers since I haven't flown in over 15 years, but they look alot like mass transit workers to me and that didn't inspire confidence.

 

[critter592]

The government cares about airline security because there is a lot of US mail that is transported on those planes. And we've done privatized security. They're the ones competing to undercut each other and have even less qualified people doing the security check before 9/11. I don't like TSA a lot but I will say they are better than what we had before 9/11. That's not a glowing endorsement that's just my observation having worked in the industry for over 10 years pre and post 9/11.

You should see the TSA website. Each week they find handguns in the double digits. THAT'S EACH WEEK! So yes, one got through and fortunately the person fessed up. He should have just walked back out to his car and kept his mouth shut. But law abiding people feel a need to confess. Hope the guy gets off light. He's not the problem with the system.

We've always said we need to be correct 100% of the time. THEY only need to be right once. 100% correct is not possible. That's why they try to layer the security so at some point things get caught. I have definite worry about many aspects of airport operations. But I'm not going posting it on the world wide web. I try to work within the system to get it corrected. No need to broadcast our vulnerabilities.

 

[public servant]

I was patted down by TSA once. With the rules and restrictions they have on how they must (or must not) search...it's no wonder they miss things. Not making excuses...just expressing what I saw first hand.

If you want them to do the job they are designed to do then don't tie their hands. If you don't want them to do it then do away with them.

 

[45Guy]

Count me in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!