At what cost?

Take a look at this blog post looking at the economic costs of making publicly-funded airport security effective. An excerpt:

If a 95% failure rate results in some people waiting longer than 20 minutes, then how would an 85% or 75% failure rate affect wait times? In other words, what is the marginal impact in wait times as a result of improving failure rates?

Read more: http://securitydebrief.com/2015/07/21/after-tsa-airport-failures-security-versus-the-economy/#ixzz3gppqwWHE

Of course, this is something that the market can answer if security were left up to those with vested interests: airlines, airport owners*, and passengers.

*Unfortunately, airports tend to be "owned" by municipalities, so this can not be a true market, but - as history has shown - is a vast improvement over federal management of security.

ZOMG Delta!

This blog post by a (non-white) man about his recent experience with Delta, TSA, and the Niagara Transit cops is upsetting - on many levels. It is also a great illustration of how things will not change with regard to the TSA and security theater until there is a serious change in mindset in this country. How depressing!

In short, Arijit was wearing a sarcastic anti-security theater t-shirt when trying to fly Delta. He had no problems at the TSA checkpoint, but Delta decided to harass and eventually kick Arijit and his wife off the plane. Meanwhile, the TSA had re-cleared him (and even apologized for the incident), but the Niagara cops took over for Delta in the harassment. He was able to fly Delta the next day without any problems, although Delta didn't even give him and his wife a hotel or transportation voucher.

The Delta supervisor, Delta pilot, and the passengers on Delta (who were being blamed for complaining about being "uncomfortable" flying with Arijit) have every right to be bigots. But, if Delta were serious about not being bigoted and treating its paying customers like, well, paying customers, they should immediately reprimand the supervisor and pilot (I'm thinking unpaid suspension at the very least, but firing them would be more appropriate). They have the unions to contend with, but who cares? Instead, Delta has taken the standard TSA line: denial, denial, denial, with official policy repeated over and over again (as if policy makes counter actions impossible).

For example,

Delta spokesperson Betsy Talton told MailOnline that the airline does not discriminate against any of its passengers.

I've always maintained on this site that the airlines are, at best, complicit in the TSA and all the related abuses. They will have to stand up beside us if change is to happen. And, it would help to have fellow passengers and local cops wake up, as well.

Former airline advisor thinks airline bailouts are needed

Gizmodo's coverage of the problems with the TSA is great. They are feeding off of an article written by a former Delta advisor, Ben Brandt. Here are some of the good points Brandt makes:

...feds should be less concerned with what gels your aunt puts in her carry-on, and more concerned about lax screening for terrorist sympathizers among the airlines' own work force... it's cost $56 billion since 9/11... [bombs have been] detonated before going through security...and shipped..."The scientific community is divided as to whether behavioral detection of terrorists is viable,"...most aviation-focused attacks are likely to originate outside the U.S.

But, Brandt's solution is, well, dumb: "Brandt proposes that the government subsidize airlines for better employee background checks or explosives detection tech."

If the government would get out of the air-travel business, then airlines would have every incentive in the world to institute "better employee background checks" as well as "explosives detection tech." It's called the profit motive. Right now, when an airline makes money, they keep the riches. But if someone crashes one of their planes, they get bailed out by the feds. On top of that, the feds have taken pretty much all of the responsibility and cost for screening for threats.

But this is unsustainable. The price tag for fed-run security and taxpayer-subsidized airlines keeps going up and service keeps going down. It will be better for us all if the umbilical cord is cut now. Otherwise, we'll be dragging a dead industry around, allowing it to slowly kill the transportation industry as has been happening with railroads for decades.

Power, humiliation, and fear

These are the things that the TSA and the national security (police) state thrive on. This testamonial by a passenger who recently encountered all three makes it clear. The crew is operating on fear - a terrorist around every corner - and a possibly a bit of a power trip. The passenger, Vance Gilbert, was then humiliated by being singled out for no good reason. No doubt the cops and TSA agents enjoyed their power trip, too. At least the police officer involved eventually showed some common sense and realized the book Mr. Gilbert was reading did not make him a terrorist. But, shouldn't there have been some common sense much earlier? Reading a book never makes one a terrorist. Period!

Airlines have more customers, less profit, more fees, and worse service

An article titled "Sept 11 changed everything" summarizes the state of the airline industry 10 years later. It does not mention that airlines were "too big to fail." They were bailed out - one after another - and then the responsibility for making air travel safe was federalized (it had largely been the province of local airports - which rent space to airlines - with some regulations in place by the FAA).

Sure, people were a little scared to fly for maybe 6 months or a year after 9/11. But prices started to creep back up about 2 years later and, now, airlines have more passengers than they have ever had. Yet they are still struggling to survive. Could it be not only has Congress continued to reward waste in the airline industry over the last 10 years, but Congress and the rogue TSA has made flying such an incredible pain that people really don't want to pay very much to waste a day and be harassed? As the article points out:

It's no wonder that for shorter trips, Americans now avoid flying. New inter-city buses have popped up and Amtrak now carries 37 percent more riders than a decade ago. Buses and trains don't have the security checkpoints that make it necessary for air passengers to arrive at the airport about an hour before domestic flights and two hours in advance for trips out of the U.S.

The days of arriving minutes before a flight are a distant memory, and lines are inconsistent. While one Transportation Security Administration checkpoint took four minutes to clear, another involved a 27-minute wait.

I have only crocodile tears for the airline industry at this point. They are intentionally ignoring the loss the TSA has caused for their bottom lines, but I am hopeful that they can't ignore this forever.

The hassle of flying

Eventually, the airlines will feel the pain as more and more people just decide it's not worth it to fly (this time, as much, or ever). Here's one more person who's joining the club.

With friends like these...

"Tourism industry leaders" are calling for a more pleasant travel experience for visitors to the US, specifically a quicker entry process. So far so good. Their solution, though, could use a makeover: a Trusted Traveler program for tourists. I'm sure that people the world over are clamoring to hand over their past to US Customs for the privilege of giving their money to Americans.

Travel agents' association on new software upgrade

“ASTA is extremely pleased to learn of this new security measure that will enhance the overall travel experience. While ASTA has always been in strong support of adhering to a high standard of security, we have been cognizant of the need to balance that with a system that respects the privacy of travelers. This new technology strikes that note,” said Tony Gonchar, ASTA's CEO.

Travel agents are service-oriented, so, on the one hand, this shows that they understand how TSA policies have negatively impacted their customers. On the other hand, I think they're too kind to the TSA.

How you (can't) avoid the TSA

I'm not sure what to make of the last sentence:

Somehow, playing this cat-and-mouse game seems silly. Shouldn't we be welcoming the screening instead of running from it?

but the rest of this article has useful and accurate information, and I think it gives some good publicity to the cause.

Security theater defined

This is when millions of law-abiding travelers with legitimate boarding passes and proper identification cards are harassed and treated like criminals - but at least the TSA is "doing something" - while another otherwise law-abiding traveler gets through security twice with a fake boarding pass and a student ID. How was he caught: amazingly the airlines actually care if the people on their planes purchased their ticket, and both flights noticed the error (but only one in time to prevent him from boarding).

A plan of action

Here's an excellent speech from Michael Boldin of the Tenth Amendment Center:

Question…if the federal government passed a law, in direct violation of the first amendment, that required you to participate in a particular religious service every Friday night, would you sit quietly and obey? Or, would you refuse to submit?

And, if the state of California passed a law not only denouncing such unconstitutional acts, but making their enforcement a crime, would you cheer them on for protecting the people there from religious tyranny, or would you say that California was violating federal supremacy?

I’d say we’re pretty much all in agreement here that the TSA is out of control. Some of us (yours truly included) would argue that the TSA shouldn’t even exist at all. But the real Question we face is this – What do we do about it?

–Should we call on the TSA and demand that this federal agency limit its own power?

–Or, should we march on DC and demand that the federal politicians limit the power of a federal agency that THEY voted for, and that they fund to the tune of 8 billion dollars?

The entire speech is worth reading. I agree that his proposal has a good chance at being effective, and support the states' rights-based protest (and regularly blog about it's progress here). However, I think there is nothing wrong with having a multi-pronged approach. I think depending on the feds (be it Congress or the courts) is the least-effective (as pointed out by Boldin). But, I do think that not flying is a good approach. Boldin disagrees:

Weak dollar, weak economy, TSA harassment hit airline bottom lines

Let's keep it up, people!

CrewPass2 being phased in

Pilots and flight attendants are going to get a second chance to be treated better than the masses at airports. Particularly disturbing is this quote:

Details of the proposed system have yet to be worked out, but TSA officials say they plan to hook into airline employee databases and confirm the identities of pilots and flight attendants using biometric measures such as retina scans and fingerprint matching.

Lovely that the airlines are going to hand over their employee databases to the feds so cavalierly (I'm sure they already do, but maybe only some limited info? Or at least it's not so blatant?) Detailed passenger data is next, I suppose, not that our treatment will improve.

This type of collaboration is why I have taken out my anger over TSA abuses on the travel industry.

Let me add this: Of course it makes sense for pilots and flight attendants to be under less scrutiny than passengers. However, it does not follow that suspicionless searches (which are, by the way, quite invasive) should be the norm for passengers.

Religious? Boycott flying

The airlines clearly don't value your patronage.

Why fly?

With service like this, why  give the airlines hundreds or thousands of your hard-earned cash? It will only get worse, and you are giving up your rights at the same time. Keep your dignity and boycott flying!

Boycotting the TSA

I received this in my inbox today from Wyatt Investment Research. I can't find a copy online, so I'll just paste the text here. (The author, Kevin McElroy, previously shared his letter to Sen Patrick Leahy with me.)

Back Home From Canada

 

Fellow Resource Prospector,

I’m back in Vermont after spending four days in Toronto for a mining conference.

I know I’ve been a bit heavy-handed with the conference information, so today I thought I’d make a left turn into a more personal subject - something I feel very strongly about.

I did encounter some really exciting opportunities at the conference, and I’ll be following up on those opportunities in the following weeks. Click here if you want to read some of the past week’s articles on the mining conference.

So, I spent most of yesterday driving from Toronto, back to Vermont. It’s about an 8-hour drive, including a few quick coffee stops. It’s a somewhat scenic drive that follows the north border of New York and Canada, crossing into Canada and the following the north side of Lake Ontario.

The question is, why drive?

That’s a question my co-workers and friends have asked me, and I’ve given the answer a lot of thought.

I could have flown. My co-worker Tyler Laundon flew out on Sunday morning at 6 am and got into Toronto a little before noon. He also got home before I did, on Wednesday night, as opposed to Thursday afternoon.

But I stopped flying last year, when my pregnant wife and I found out that the United States government would ask us to either go through a backscatter scanner or submit to a pat-down.

Get scanned, then get the pat-down!

Alaskan State Representative, Sharon Cissna, had a mastectomy, so her body scan at Sea-Tac showed an "abnormality." This meant she would have to be manually checked - of course, this custodial search would focus at and around her breast. So she did what any sane person would do: she refused, left the airport, and took a ferry back to Alaska.

Hey, airlines, is this really how you want your passengers to be treated? Even if they opt to not fly as a result?

How to avoid the TSA and still get there fast

It just costs a bunch more. But if you're traveling with a large group, it may not be as unaffordable as you think.

Traveler survey

This survey from last month is rather interesting. It was a very long survey, so I'm definitely cherry-picking here, but I have been a proponent of the idea that this will not change unless it hits the airlines where it hurts: their wallets. So, let's look at the questions that involved whether people are cutting down on air travel and why.

First: Yes, Americans are cutting down on air travel, whether for business or pleasure, but not yet in large numbers. This can be seen in that more people are cutting down on travel (28-31%) than are increasing air travel (17-26%), but most people are holding steady (42-54%). (These graphics are from the Powerpoint download provided by the US Travel Association.)

US Air: pretending I'm a satisfied customer

I recently received these two letters from US Air. So, they've now responded to my third and fourth letters, but, as you can see, they have ignored my request for further accommodations for my trip.

In the meantime, my roundabout trip to avoid the scanners was extremely inconvenient. My husband says the millimeter wave scanners were indeed in use at BWI, but he, himself, avoided a scan or custody search.