Sound Off: Airport security gone wrong?

By eTN Staff writer

eTN readers weigh on airport security.

I see a two edged sword here. We unlike many countries go and come freely and have done so for a long time. Remember when the main complaint was the lost luggage. Unfortunately we have an enemy that cares not about age, race, physical conditional, or otherwise. They want to kill and mutilate masses of people. The problem is many Americans think if we just leave them alone or ignore they will go away. Not to be. I have talked to and befriended Israeli’s, people form Turkey, Pakistan, etc. We are failing our own people in the name of political correctness and in doing so these people who we depend on to help us arrive safely from and to our destinations come down hard on anyone and aren’t allowed to profile. Why do you think they pick out a 80 year old grandmother, etc to search? If we keep going as we are with letting political correctness rule the day all that has come before since the colonies broke from the rule of England to the building of this country [USA] as we know it now will slip away from us. Many people who work in law enforcement protecting our citizens say that those who complain the most about our laws and the people enforcing them and how they do it will ultimately be the first to step up and shout when something happens to them and they think it was the law enforcements fault. Think about that. --Bud

Your posting on airport security is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black. You complained about the security procedure going into Canada. I hope you now feel some empathy for all other nationalities who experience this sort of reception - and far worse sometimes - each and every time they arrive at US borders, whether they have the correct (and expensive) visa or not! And now your country wants a full set of 10 fingerprints plus mug shots! Ask what it does with all this duplicated info? Give me Canada any day where I've always been welcomed on arrival, not treated like a potential jihadist. --Rob

I share commiserations with Nelson and the unfortunate lady, who found themselves at the receiving end of thieves in a supposedly 'secure and sterile area' and a grasping 'security officials' at Philadelphia International Airport.

My frequent travels in Africa and elsewhere have taught me, that there are a number of mini-Hitlers out there, often visibly out of control and clearly lacking tight supervision to reign in their excesses based on apparent personality disorders. How often have I seen the staff manning check points to smirk, grimace and grin after the passengers they searched including the supposedly private contents of handbags and briefcases and how some of them comment in real low life fashion about what they are inflicting on the passengers they should serve?

In Switzerland, I overheard some disgusting examples of airport security staff talking about 'den Fetten haben wir aber so richtig zerlegt' which translates into 'that fat one we have thoroughly taken apart', followed by an experience elsewhere in the German speaking world, one the lady from Philadelphia is not going to believe: 'der geilen Mutter hab ich erst die Titten begrabscht und dann in 'Schritt' (I improved the actual word used) gefasst', which translates to: "I first grabbed that hot mother's breasts and then moved my hand between her legs."

Against principle I kept my mouth shut to avoid being treated as a 'hostile' with their to be expected vengeance and I incidentally have given up on making comments too when holes in socks appear in front of me at security check points where shoes have to be taken off, or the occasional cloud of foul smell, again when shoes are removed for checking, or even when the line moves by the fraction of an inch instead of a decent speed. (By the way, we all pay for that nonsense with the various charges levied on the ticket price) Giving up on the principle of speaking out against such malfeasance is only proof of a system gone rotten and out of control, as the hoodlums do not take kindly in any way of being reprimanded and react with nasty intent.

I am sure airport authorities will now scream about this being the exception from the rule and to give them the details - the first I do not believe any longer as the experiences are too many already and the latter will not break my silence, lest I intend to become a 'marked' person when traveling through those airports.

The retribution of airport security to any comment, no matter how well meant or how justified, is generally swift and ill tempered and may lead to missing a flight or worse, particularly unpleasant I am told in countries where it is still covert standard to slap people around a little or a lot.

What makes me really upset is the inconsistencies of applying what should be global rules (suiting the paying passengers by the way and not the airline, their staff or overzealous security officials).

I check into my flight, First or Business as available, in Entebbe and fly off somewhere, but when reaching a European transit point they often question my carried baggage and try to enforce checking in my carry on I brought in the cabin with me from Africa. I should stress that it is not an oversized piece and fits very well into the overhead compartment above my seat. I travel upfront to be in and out faster and to avoid having to check one of my two bags, which - when checked - often are tampered with, in Africa and Europe and elsewhere. Shrink wrapping helps a little with checked baggage, locked of course with key and combination lock, but it is not always available and costs a small fortune when traveling a lot.

So I carry what I need, trolley with my change of clothes and my laptop bag cum files, and while never having a problem in Entebbe, when reaching some better not named European transit airport, proudly full of itself in their adverts, inevitably that will become an issue. Express or fast track processing for F and C passengers often also don't function and what is then left is to join the cattle train of slow lines towards immigration and security. I have therefore become quite selective which airlines I travel with, as ground handling has become a very important issue for me in regard of transit efficiency, courtesies, check point staffing and functioning fast tracks. I can commend Emirates here, with ever more non-stop flights on offer between Dubai and the rest of the world they are making travel a little easier when transiting in DXB. They do offer a good package of in-flight services and ground handling to relieve the stress today's traveling is inflicting on passengers, both on board and on the ground.

Yet, our trials and tribulations will not end here, and come the next serious aviation terror incident and all reason will be out of the window again under the pretext of 'protecting' us for our own good.

Any more Hitlers and perverts out there who want to have a go at us innocent air travelers? Apply to your nearest airport security company! Maybe they need profiling, not us travelers? --Wolfgang H. Thome from Kampala, Uganda

just read your article on your trip through Canada. I had a similar problem, but not as extensive as yours. The airlines cancelled a flight of mine on a return from Miami. They were able to get me on, at the last minute, on another flight, another airline. While going through security, they saw the change, and that triggered questions. After checking through all my luggage, asking me an assortment of questions, putting me through the “air blowing machine” and searching my person, they finally let me go. I almost missed that flight also.

I agree with you on the Ziplock Baggie and small containers but the bigger question is, how can the airlines and security justify all the lost baggage since you are not suppose to fly without your baggage being on the same flight as you. This has happened several time to me and I am sure millions of other passengers and the answer is usually, it will be arriving on the next flight. How is that possible with all the security? --Marilyn Lewis from Pleasanton, California

What do you expect when they hire at minimum wage or a little more? Having traveled the world over the last 20 years, I am amazed, and appalled, at the quality of so-called security personnel at our airports. Most of them are rude, uncaring, probably got D's in school and are basically people who canot find jobs in the free market workplace. I would not have any of them at my place of business.

Be careful of your belongings and do not allow any valuables away from your sight.

When I travel, I never allow them any reason to 'check' me out for any reason. One smart ass agent commented how nice my watch was and hinted as to where I got it from. None of his business! When 20 airports allowed fake packages to go through doe snot say musch about TSA or the quality of their personnel. --Suraj Zutshi from Reno, Nevada

A lot has been said about airport security bur my observation on this issue is simple and straight forward. What I witnessed on my way to the All Africa Games in Algeria through Rome and Germany was pathetic to say the list. If you are a black man you are bound to be treated as if you are an intruder in those countries and the questions and searching of your luggage is through yet we are not a security threat in their countries and very few cases of hijacking are done by black people . On the other hand the scanning machines on the entries are not that efficient. They must be updated in their systems. --Salatiel Zangure from Zimbabwe

The problem with TSA agents, as well as with immigration officers, is the poor category of the human element their composed of. Immigration officers are recruited among little educated, low social classes and often immigrants themselves. TSA employed thousands of persons in a very short period of time, many of them from the unemployed lists and many former low pay employees of airport security companies that TSA put out of business. The human value, education, salaries and social status of most employees of the USA Immigration Office and the TSA is much lower than these of most travelers, the people they have power over. This reality has as consequence the misuse of their almost unlimited power over their subjects, the travelers. In the case of the immigration officers, they even have the power to overrule highly experienced consular officers and deny entry to a traveler with a visa obtained after a closed and long investigation.

Considering above, there is very little probabilities to stop the abuse of these officers over USA and foreign travelers entering and in the USA. The TSA is here to stay because bureaucracy never commits suicide and until Americans stop believing that the whole world wants to live in God´s country, the USA and wants to be American, immigration officers will be ruling over the "aliens." --Ramon Alvarez

First time I comment your news, because:
- One: your article was very interesting, but my first reaction was: "What?
First time he travels on the American continent?"
- Second: you say now you are American yourself, I mean "from the United States".

So my comments:

- No immigration officer acts as an "expert". He acts as a human being first. With some training, I guess (I hope).

Now, maybe this human being went to the States, got all the problems you had and decided you would be a good target for revenge. If you look Black, Muslim, nothing to do: the one who put him in trouble at JFK or Seattle was a real good white Christian citizen.

Myself (so you know), I am white and Belgian (you may know Brussels, capital of the EU). Coming to the States, I am always treated as the last person the Americans would like to see on their territory. ALWAYS! Now, I would be a Belgian immigration officer, coming back at my work from the States after such an experience, my first desire would be to annoy ALL American citizens because of what THEY did to me. And this is human.

Human, not professional, I confess.

I was one of the very first on the route proving trips from Airbus/Lufthansa A340 to the States. The immigration officer at the entrance in Washington asked me: "What is the purpose of your visit?" Just that, as the area was dedicated to the people coming fron this special A380 trip, was a sign. You can be stupidly professional or stupidly human.

In your case, he was probably both. But remember. Who started first to annoy every airline passenger in the world? NOT THE REST of the world. Now, you wonder why others do exactly the same. Find a Mexican passport.

Very sincerely and congratulations for you good work. --Patrick Anspach from Brussels, Belgium

I travel at least twice a week and have to endure the TSA fondling me each time. I have recently had a total knee replacement, (metal knee joint) which sets off the alarm each and every time. I dutifully let them know prior to each stroll through the alarm, then I am ushered into their "holding booth" while waiting sometimes over 5 minutes, for a female assistant. Then begins the explanation and the wand and pat down. Invariably they smack my knee, which is still very sensitive, with their wand! The pat down is not much more comfortable. One TSA rep smacked it, not once, but twice, within a few weeks of my surgery, causing tears to come to my eyes. I told her she should have someone examine her when she has an injury and perhaps she could be more gentle. The response was quite negative. So, I made a note of her name on her badge, went directly to the comment cards and filed a complaint against her. I no longer see her at that airport. I like to think she was fired.

I have traveled internationally since this knee and I must say the international experience is much less invasive and just as effective at finding my metal knee than the obnoxious and lengthy US version!

I have also lost a video camera and charging unit (which were stored in two separate locations in my bag. When I got the claim form from TSA I realized that filing a claim would be a waste of time. Their rules state they do not cover losses of electronic equipment! To me, that sounds like an approval for employees to steal electronics as there will be no repercussions! Fortunately, our home owners insurance covered the loss of equipment, but the memories on that tape will not ever be recovered.

Can't we figure out a way to have the terrorists be the ones to endure these humiliations rather than the innocents? --Hope

Printable Version | published Nov 28, 2007

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