America set to relax 9-11 airport security
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: thelandofnod
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I cant see any reason why terms of endearment need to be expressed at the gate. Seems the US want two sets of regs those for US citizens and another set for everyone else. And then of course when someone cries foul you hurl abuse at them. However, who pays for security...i believe the user should. In this case a charge should apply to non pax wishing to enter the secrity zone, and the commercial benefactors should pay a percentage of additional revenue earned towards providing enhanced security. Can't have it every way folks!
Join Date: Jul 2002
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Well thought-out, I'm certain...
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From a TSA press release dated June 28, 2002
WASHINGTON DC-Under Secretary of Transportation for Security John W. Magaw announced today that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is hiring approximately 320 federal security screeners for Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) Pittsburgh...
From Pittsburgh-Live
April 15, 2003, A federal security spokesman acknowledged Tuesday that a screening manager at Pittsburgh International Airport had violated federal regulations by allowing a passenger to handle a loaded handgun at an airline ticket counter. ...the weapon involved was a .22-caliber handgun, which was loaded. He said the passenger was allowed to handle the weapon -- to remove the bullets -- at an airline ticket counter.
In May 2003, a schizophrenic man from Texas sneaked through the [Pittsburgh] airport's luggage system, stole an airline van and climbed aboard a parked jet. He wasn't discovered until the next morning.
An undercover federal employee walked unnoticed in February 2003 through the [Pittsburgh Airport] security checkpoint during a test ordered by TSA officials in Washington, D.C. Screeners involved were suspended for three days, according to screeners union members.
An Oakland man in December 2002 duped a security employee who was checking tickets at the Pittsburgh checkpoint by flashing a state constable's badge that was not his. Michael Kobold was caught moments later at a gate by a U.S. Customs inspector and arrested. Kobold, a German national, was indicted by a federal grand jury, and faces five years in prison and/or deportation. The security employee involved is not a federal screener. He works for Huntleigh USA, which US Airways hired to check tickets.
From the May 3, 2003, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
...The TSA plans to eliminate 230 of the 570 screener jobs at the airport by Sept. 30, the end of the federal fiscal year. The Pittsburgh job cuts are among 6,000 nationwide that will be made by the TSA by then....
TSA Union Press Release
July 14, 2003 The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is holding firm to its plan to eliminate 230 security screeners at Pittsburgh International Airport, despite objections by airport and union leaders who say the cuts will create long lines and delay passengers. The TSA is slashing the number of screeners at the airport by 40 percent even though the number of originating passengers who pass through security checkpoints has dropped by just 3 percent in the past year. That means little more than half the screeners will be left to ensure nearly the same number of passengers and luggage cleared to travel from Pittsburgh International. "They have to readjust it," said Peter Winch, a coordinator with the American Federation of Government Employees, the national union representing screeners at Pittsburgh International. "If they lay off 230 screeners, they will not be able to do the job. It just can't physically be done."
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The Pittsburgh screeners have a very active union life. I honestly don't know whether TSA has set these guys up for a fall because of union/mgmt problems, or not. What's more, I don't have independent data on the workload or level of competence among screeners at Pittsburgh. I do, however, remain very curious and more than a little concerned about this whole thing. Is this change a good idea in general, and should it start at Pittsburgh in particular?
Dave
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From a TSA press release dated June 28, 2002
WASHINGTON DC-Under Secretary of Transportation for Security John W. Magaw announced today that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is hiring approximately 320 federal security screeners for Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) Pittsburgh...
From Pittsburgh-Live
April 15, 2003, A federal security spokesman acknowledged Tuesday that a screening manager at Pittsburgh International Airport had violated federal regulations by allowing a passenger to handle a loaded handgun at an airline ticket counter. ...the weapon involved was a .22-caliber handgun, which was loaded. He said the passenger was allowed to handle the weapon -- to remove the bullets -- at an airline ticket counter.
In May 2003, a schizophrenic man from Texas sneaked through the [Pittsburgh] airport's luggage system, stole an airline van and climbed aboard a parked jet. He wasn't discovered until the next morning.
An undercover federal employee walked unnoticed in February 2003 through the [Pittsburgh Airport] security checkpoint during a test ordered by TSA officials in Washington, D.C. Screeners involved were suspended for three days, according to screeners union members.
An Oakland man in December 2002 duped a security employee who was checking tickets at the Pittsburgh checkpoint by flashing a state constable's badge that was not his. Michael Kobold was caught moments later at a gate by a U.S. Customs inspector and arrested. Kobold, a German national, was indicted by a federal grand jury, and faces five years in prison and/or deportation. The security employee involved is not a federal screener. He works for Huntleigh USA, which US Airways hired to check tickets.
From the May 3, 2003, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
...The TSA plans to eliminate 230 of the 570 screener jobs at the airport by Sept. 30, the end of the federal fiscal year. The Pittsburgh job cuts are among 6,000 nationwide that will be made by the TSA by then....
TSA Union Press Release
July 14, 2003 The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is holding firm to its plan to eliminate 230 security screeners at Pittsburgh International Airport, despite objections by airport and union leaders who say the cuts will create long lines and delay passengers. The TSA is slashing the number of screeners at the airport by 40 percent even though the number of originating passengers who pass through security checkpoints has dropped by just 3 percent in the past year. That means little more than half the screeners will be left to ensure nearly the same number of passengers and luggage cleared to travel from Pittsburgh International. "They have to readjust it," said Peter Winch, a coordinator with the American Federation of Government Employees, the national union representing screeners at Pittsburgh International. "If they lay off 230 screeners, they will not be able to do the job. It just can't physically be done."
******
The Pittsburgh screeners have a very active union life. I honestly don't know whether TSA has set these guys up for a fall because of union/mgmt problems, or not. What's more, I don't have independent data on the workload or level of competence among screeners at Pittsburgh. I do, however, remain very curious and more than a little concerned about this whole thing. Is this change a good idea in general, and should it start at Pittsburgh in particular?
Dave
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: THE BIG SUNNY SANDPIT
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Why is it that the rest of the world is looking at extra security measures like passenger profiling at check-in and boarding cards with digitally encoded phoographs so that security can check that the passenger who checked-in is the same one who is trying to get to the gate, not to mention the US requirement biometric passports when every man and his dog can get to the gate 'over the pond'.
If security is 99% accurate then you only need 100 terrorists to attempt to get through security, under the guise of going shopping, and the one that gets through can give his weapon to the 1 team member who actually risked checking in.
In europe the idea goes something like this:-
1. All booked passenger names are fed through a computer database and any suspect names are picked up on.
2. Passports are checked carefully before any passenger is given a boarding card.
3. Only people with a valid boarding card get through security (ways are being experimented with to make sure that they are the same person who actually checked-in).
It may not be perfect and we know that fake passports are available for the right price but at least a potential terrorist has to make an effort.
If security is 99% accurate then you only need 100 terrorists to attempt to get through security, under the guise of going shopping, and the one that gets through can give his weapon to the 1 team member who actually risked checking in.
In europe the idea goes something like this:-
1. All booked passenger names are fed through a computer database and any suspect names are picked up on.
2. Passports are checked carefully before any passenger is given a boarding card.
3. Only people with a valid boarding card get through security (ways are being experimented with to make sure that they are the same person who actually checked-in).
It may not be perfect and we know that fake passports are available for the right price but at least a potential terrorist has to make an effort.
Join Date: Jan 2001
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How the US can even think of lowering security access is beyond me. I know of stations in US where you can still access 'airside areas' without passing throughn x-ray/metal detector. Not small stations either but very large international ones.
Come on US make an effort. It is the airlines that need to make money at an airport - concession stores are a benefit. Take away the security and its going to be de-ja-vous. So instead of the coffee shops out of business it will be 100,000-200,000 major airline employees
Come on US make an effort. It is the airlines that need to make money at an airport - concession stores are a benefit. Take away the security and its going to be de-ja-vous. So instead of the coffee shops out of business it will be 100,000-200,000 major airline employees
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How the US can even think of lowering security access is beyond me.
Join Date: Jan 2001
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When the line of 100 suddenly becomes 500 because of friends and relatives joining you at the gate - tempers raised, people getting anxiuos about missing flights - standards will drop as they try to process people quicker.
