Air Travel USA-style

[kiwithrottlejockey]

From the Los Angeles Times....

Friendlier skies: The bad old days of air travel may be over

By DAVID HORSEY | 11:28PM - Thursday, August 02, 2012



CONFESSION TIME: I used to have a surly, defiant attitude from the time I arrived at an airport until I headed for a taxi at my destination – not as boldly obstreperous as Alec Baldwin, but occasionally annoying.

I blame Osama bin Laden for this. Once upon a time, flying was fun, occasionally luxurious, even romantic. Then came September 11, 2001. After the attack on the Twin Towers, as we all know too well, flying changed. Airports become high security zones and airplanes became like schoolrooms with stern teachers — flight attendants — enforcing niggling little rules.

As I stood in interminable security lines after arriving two hours before a flight, I’d fume and think about the Bill of Rights — a document that apparently held no power inside an airport. Inspections that bordered on strip searches had to be met with submission and silence if one did not want to be taken into custody and barred from a flight.

Once aboard, seats felt ever more cramped, meals became nonexistent, simple electronic devices had to be shut off to satisfy what seemed like absurd fears that a jetliner could be brought down by a live iPod. I got so grumpy about it all that I would resist buckling my seat belt, turning off my phone or returning to my seat when things got bumpy.

Now, these silly little rebellions are in the past. I have joined the sheep.

I gave up the idea that flying is fun. It is simply a quick way to get from one place to another. I don’t expect to be fed for free. After all, nobody passes out beef stroganoff on city buses. I strategize for the security line — what I wear, what I pack, which line I choose — in order to run the gauntlet as smartly as I can. I no longer fuss about my civil rights; I think of passing through security as sneaking across a border. Low expectations and a Zen acceptance of things as they are have taken much of the aggravation and spiking blood pressure out of the flying experience for me.

The truth is, though we are never likely to return to the pre-9/11 way of air travel, a lot of things have gotten much better during the last decade. The check-in process is swifter; doing it online saves a ton of time. The security lines at most airports are shorter and the routine is, well, more routine. Once screened by the boys and girls in royal blue, the traveler enters a fairly pleasant place; at the best airports, the waiting area is like an upscale shopping mall. People browse the stores, buy coffee, sit in the pubs, have a meal, plug in their computers at new hubs with plenty of electrical sockets. At the other end of the trip, baggage seems to show up more quickly and predictably.

In a world of anger, frustration and complaint, it is worth acknowledging that something has gotten better than it was. The friendly skies may not have returned, but the dismal decade of air travel seems to be behind us. In this season of summer vacations, that is pretty good news.

Sure, there are still flight delays. There are still occasional outrages when an overzealous TSA screener paws a granny or a toddler. There is still the purgatory of sitting in a middle seat between a fat guy and an incessant talker. But, when the annoying stuff happens, I keep it in perspective. I now think of my great-grandparents who took months to travel from Ohio to Oregon in a covered wagon. Even on a delayed flight in a cramped seat with nothing but snack mix to chew on, I can cross from Los Angeles to New York in less time than it takes to watch two movies. That is travel at a speed my ancestors would have considered nothing less than a miracle.

And I still get free ginger ale.

www.latimes.com/news/politics/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-friendlier-skies-20120802,0,1415338.story

[Peter Lewis]

Aug 3, 2012 23:24:28 GMT 12 kiwithrottlejockey said:

Low expectations and a Zen acceptance of things as they are have taken much of the aggravation and spiking blood pressure out of the flying experience for me.

Precisely.

Think of it as a purgatory through which you must pass to get to where you want to go.

[kiwithrottlejockey]

I even had one of the nazis demand that I remove my wallet from my pocket at Auckland Airport a few weeks ago when I was catching a domestic flight to Wellington. I had pulled everything metalic out of my pockets and put it in one of the trays to go through the x-ray scanner (along with my carry-on bag) and I walked throught the security hoop without it going off. Then I got called back and told to remove my wallet and walk through again. When I questioned the reason why, I was told to do as I was told. So they obviously now consider banknotes and ATM/EFT-POS/Credit cards, as well as the various coffee cards, customer loyalty cards, etc, found in people's wallets to be something which is a security threat which must be x-rayed.

Now you know why, whenever I fly to Christchurch or Queenstown from Wellington, I try to avoid jet services so I don't have to put up with that sort of BS.

Osama must be laughing wherever (and in whatever form) he is now!

[flyjoe180]

Aviation Security have a job to do. I wouldn't go so far as to call NZ Avsec employees 'nazis'. Which is more than could be said for some American aviation security staff. But yes, some of the measures are somewhat ridiculous; the wallet scenario seems unwarranted.

Like some other occupations in which an otherwise basically-trained employee is put into a position of responsibility to conduct a screening or policing role with which comes 'authority', some are unnecessarily over-zealous in their methods and unable to apply empathy. Others could really do with a course in how to communicate politely and be reminded of the need to ask someone before touching them. Most are good sorts in my experience, particularly when they are not at the screening posts.

[Dave Homewood]

You could have had a ceramic knife in your wallet which the metal detector didn't detect I guess. I don't mind being secure on an airline. There are plenty of nutters in society now, who knows what might happen if they are left unchecked.

[raymond]

Auckland is a bit different from the rest of the country AvSec wise. I always have to take my shoes off (steel caps) and belt off in AK where its not normally a problem elsewhere.

I would suggest that if there is a problem with Staff attitude/communication then pencilling a letter to AvSec management would see some response.

[kiwithrottlejockey]

I see they are starting to go totally stupid & "over-the-top" with security on trains in the USA now. Not quite as bad as with aviation, but they are gradually tending in that direction. Paranoia sure reigns supreme over there. Unfortunately, that sort of thing will eventually ooze down to ENZED.

Of course, if you look at things in a totally rational way, approximately 3,000 people died in the 9/11 attacks. Yet, TEN TIMES as many Americans die of gunshot wounds in their own country every year. Year after year after year. In other words, since 9/11, guns have been responsible for the deaths of 110 times as many Americans as the total death toll on 9/11. It's also interesting that the USA accounts for 5% of the world's population, yet between a third and half of all firearms in civilian hands worldwide are in American citizens' hands.

So what is the biggest danger to the health of American citizens in their own country? Terrorists? Or guns owned by Americans?

[phil82]

I've done a fair bit of international flying over the years, mostly good, but with the very worst experiences confined to just two airlines, United and Aeroflot. I had the misfortune to travel United LA to London once, and the Flight Crew were the oldest, rudest, almost invisible crowd you could imagine.Aeroflot were worse, if that were possible: rude, uncommunicative, terrible service and absolutely awful food. Possibly the best was a Czech Airline[CSA?] from St Petersburg to Prague.

Rudest airport staff? Americans, closely followed if not beaten hands down by the Brits.

[expatkiwi]

Living here in USA, you definitely see a difference between NZ and US crews, and it's not the accents either...

[madmac]

I read a trade mag, at work today, that quoted an individuals risk of dying in a aircraft due to a terrorist attack as being the same as the increase in cancer risk due to the radiation associated with the security checks.

[craig]

Your all moaning about a bit of inconvenience at the terminal. Get over it. I would much rather be called back to have my wallet scanned than have some loony get thru with fatal intentions. If the staff do their jobs they are criticised and if they don't then we are all at risk. Bad people will pick easy targets.

[corsair67]

Nov 4, 2012 20:39:45 GMT 12 craig said:

Your all moaning about a bit of inconvenience at the terminal. Get over it. I would much rather be called back to have my wallet scanned than have some loony get thru with fatal intentions. If the staff do their jobs they are criticised and if they don't then we are all at risk. Bad people will pick easy targets.

Craig, it's all about the necessity of it all.

In the 1960s the USAF could detect a golfball on a putting green from 80 000 feet with the cameras on a U2; so if technology was that good 50 years ago, why do the TSA need to feel your balls to check if you are a terrorist in 2012?

[craig]

And yet they (bombers) still got thru. Guess the technology of the terrorist has moved on from 50 years ago too. PS some people apparently pay big bucks to get their balls felt!!!!!!

[kiwithrottlejockey]

from the Los Angeles Times....

TSA's 95% failure rate shows airport security is a charade

By DAVID HORSEY | 5:00AM PDT - Tuesday, June 09, 2015



A COUPLE of years ago my wife — who may be the least likely person on the planet to commit an act of terrorism — was randomly pulled aside at airport security for a thorough screening. Seeing that the process was going to take awhile, I took a seat on a nearby bench where a TSA officer was taking a break.

I told the officer why I was waiting. He smirked and told me he had been in the military and knew a little bit about security. Then he waved his arm at the ranks of screening apparatus and long lines of haggard airline passengers and said something like: “This is all a joke. I can think of a hundred ways to sneak a weapon through all of this.”

Something tells me that young man is not still employed by the TSA. Either he would have tired of the empty exercise and found more fulfilling employment or his supervisors would have punished him for his honesty. However things have turned out for him, his analysis has proved to be disturbingly accurate.

A report leaked out of the Transportation Security Administration reveals that a team of investigators from the Department of Homeland Security managed to sneak weapons and fake bombs past airport screeners in 95% of their attempts to beat the system. That means what many of us suspected all along has now been confirmed. All those expensive body and baggage scanning machines, all that intrusive rummaging through luggage, all those intimate pat-downs of little kids and grannies, all those nail clippers confiscated, all those bottles of liquids seized, all those shoes and belts taken off, all those laptops pulled out and all those thousands of frustrating hours wasted in line have been mostly for show.

Millions of American citizens have been unwittingly turned into non-speaking extras in an epic theater production staged by our government in airports across the country. The goal has been to trick a few would-be airplane bombers into thinking they will get caught and to create an illusion of safety for innocent air travelers. That charade has been exposed.

Now what happens? The current Senate confirmation hearings of U.S. Coast Guard Vice Admiral Peter V. Neffenger, President Obama's nominee to take over as TSA administrator, should become a forum for debate about how to radically alter the way TSA operates. In a perfect world, such a debate would lead to wider examination of the country’s vast, fear-driven, money-sucking national security system that metastasized after 9/11 into a bureaucratic colossus, but that is likely too much to hope for.

There have got to be smarter ways to provide real security at airports. Treating the 99.99% of travelers who just want to get from here to there like criminal suspects has always been offensive. Now we know it is also woefully ineffective.

www.latimes.com/opinion/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-tsa-airport-security-charade-20150608-story.html

[isc]

In 1977 I flew ANZ DC-10 NZ to London via Singapore, Abu Dhabi, there the whole plane load had a pat down search by the army(all armed to the teeth), no one complaned, in fact I think in those days they thought it a bit of a novelty. While we were there a couple of other aircraft came in and got the same treatment. Coming home via USA, no problem, just walk straight through. isc

[shorty]

By tolerating all these "security" measures it means that we have let the terrorists win

[haughtney1]

Its all theatre, its a show designed to inspire the confidence of the travelling public, nothing more nothing less. Sure some will say that a vital security function is being performed, but it will never stop a determined resourceful individual of doing harm should they decide too.
In the UK and the US, if you look at the access points for service vehicles and personnel you often find vehicle barriers that can stop a 40 tonne truck doing a 100 kph, then move your gaze 20 metres to the left or the right....and spot the razor wire topped chain link fence...that might stop a nissan sunny...
Another gem is when as an operating pilot I get all my possessions scanned for explosives to which I always politely enquire about the 125T of JetA1, and 350T of aircraft I have at my disposal...why the need to carry such items? (the usual answer is that I might want to pass it to a passenger onboard...to which I reply, well if they have those items..Im pretty sure its not going to turn out ok for me. A last gem is the issue of sharp objects, recently I had my (perfectly legal in about 100 countries) multi-tool confiscated at security in the US, when I enquired if it could go in the hold with the rest of the cargo the TSA minion told me "don't worry, we'll pass it onto the Captain and you'll get it back at the end of the flight" I didn't have the heart to tell him....my multi tool arrived at the aircraft about 2 minutes after me.