Are TSA-style security procedures necessary, or are they just theater?

The TSA has a failure rate of 95% when it comes to breach testing. You decide if the tSA isn't worth it.

Easily theatre. All it takes is a terrorist to smuggle a pipe bomb up is @$$ and no safe mass-screening procedure could catch that.

Unknown. TSA security procedures are secret.

So far they've been 100% effective on the flights I've taken.

FINA wrote:

The TSA has a failure rate of 95% when it comes to breach testing. You decide if the tSA isn't worth it.

And that 5%? If there were no TSA, what then?

I don't like it either, but the logic is flawed. If you are such a critic, then why not, you know, come up with a better plan. Oh, that's right, you won't.

My criticism with TSA is the waste of time it has become. No improvement to the process. For example still too-short tables for people to get their stuff organized efficiently to send through the x-ray scanners causing bottlenecks. Manual review of documents by a few agents, causing bottlenecks. Manual review of bags being x-rayed, causing bottlenecks. Zero automation anywhere. Hundreds of millions of passengers are subject to the process every year and the only benefit these days really is serving as a deterrent. This is the classic case of, if your goal is to prevent 100% of anything, how truly costly it can be.

A better approach would be something like TSA Precheck combined with Global Entry. If you go through an interview and background check and are certified as a trusted traveler, you go to a kiosk, it scans your fingerprints or retina, you scan your ticket to prove you have a flight that day, and if you "pass", the turnstile opens and away you go, no luggage check required. Of course there could still be a TSA agent monitoring everything so that suspicious people could be checked and random checks could be performed as a deterrent.

For the non-certified travelers, they could certainly work to de-bottleneck the existing process.

oh man, I mistakenly put a dive knife in my carry on bag with my wetsuit from the day before packing quickly for a 6am flight from john wayne. you'd have thought it was the 4th of july when that bag went through. there were guys coming out of the woodwork. once they figured out I was just tired and hungover, making a mistake, they confiscated the knife and threatened to institute a $10,000 fine. fortunately, one of the tsa guys was a diver, and took mercy on me. the knife wasn't mine, and had to repay my buddy the $120 for it. small price compared to what it could have been.

This 1000x! And can I get an amen on cell phones in airplane mode. If having your phone NOT in airplane mode was a legit threat to the operation of a flight, they would never let you take them on board, let alone turn them on during the flight. We're talking about an agency that banned nail clippers at one point. So please spare us the theater of asking to turn off our electronic devices!

99% theater, 1% useful. Basically a federal jobs program for minimally educated people that want power.

If they had a big armour-lined box that could remotely detonate any type of explosive, then just pass everyone and their luggage through it one-by-one, that would be faster AND good theater.

You realize 2 of the Paris bombers didn't make it into the soccer stadium because of security checkpoints, don't you?

Notice at LAX the other day that the forks were silverware but the knives were plastic. Still a 9/11 hold over? Just came thru Dulles, had boarding pass checked by gate agent, then not 20 yards down a ramp another lady checked all the passengers again. That's when I knew I was truly safe for this flight.

pop_pop!_v2.1.1 wrote:

FINA wrote:

The TSA has a failure rate of 95% when it comes to breach testing. You decide if the tSA isn't worth it.

And that 5%? If there were no TSA, what then?

I don't like it either, but the logic is flawed. If you are such a critic, then why not, you know, come up with a better plan. Oh, that's right, you won't.

I do have a better plan. Eliminate TSA altogether. At least 100% of all thefts by TSA employees would be stopped. All molestation of children and elderly would end as well.

Has Ashley met your family? If the answer is no, she may be afraid she won't fit in or that they won't like her for some reason. Unless you can get her to open up and tell you exactly why she won't go, you will never be able to convince her.Because this has become such a sore point, you need to tell your girlfriend that her inflexibility has become a deal-breaker. But if you do, you may have to be prepared to follow through.Add your comments to the discussion

been a travelling wrote:

Notice at LAX the other day that the forks were silverware but the knives were plastic. Still a 9/11 hold over? Just came thru Dulles, had boarding pass checked by gate agent, then not 20 yards down a ramp another lady checked all the passengers again. That's when I knew I was truly safe for this flight.

The TSA is a jobs program. Totally unncessary

If there was a .01% chance an electronic device could interfere with a critical function, is it such a bad thing to ask for people to turn off their devices?

Why doesn't the TSA use dogs?

They work for kibble...

the blowing up of airplanes is just theater too.

I once heard an interesting scenario suggested. Have two planes for each scheduled flight. To get on the first one, you go through typical security. To get on the second, you only need a ticket.

Are you getting on the plane where everyone and their luggage has been screened, or the one with no checks?