The newly launched TSA blog that we were the first to tell you about last Wednesday has been a stellar success. At least, it has if you want to measure success by number of irate comments along the lines of "Why can't I take my liquids on board, you idiots?!"
The initial post, a welcome note from Kip Hawley was so overwhelmed that moderators disabled comments on it. While the TSA employees struggle to keep up with the crush, they've been cracking weak jokes and catching more heat than praise. An attempt to explain the liquids ban with streaming video was highly criticized because it wouldn't play on Mac and Linux computers. (The videos now seem to be working.)
So far, we're standing by our original take on the blog. While it's nice to see such a hated agency do *anything* to help its image, the publication won't be much more than a place to vent. Let's face it: You don't really think the TSA will change anything it does based on some anonymous comments, do you?
Kip Hawley, you may be our two-time villain of the year, but you have some serious cojones. Starting a blog? Really? All we can say is that it's a good thing you'll be moderating the comments.
The TSA chief says the new publication, called Evolution of Security, will provide "a forum for a lively, open discussion of TSA issues." Hawley won't be the lead blogger; a team of TSA employees will do most of the writing. Among them are a PR guru, a former air marshall, checkpoint screeners and a "behavior detection officer."
What can we look forward to as the blog evolves? Take it away, Kip:
One of my major goals of 2008 is to get TSA and passengers back on the same side, working together. We need your help to get the checkpoint to be a better environment for us to do our security job and for you to get through quickly and onto your flight. Seems like the way to get that going is for us to open up and hear your feedback.
As much as we hate to do it, this award goes out to Kip Hawley for the second year in a row. Had he unintentionally sent another email criticizing his customers, maybe Ben Baldanza would grab the prize. But for overseeing the TSA through 2007, Hawley takes it again.
Doesn't the agency have an incredibly difficult job? Sure it does. But the TSA can keep planes safe without meaningless (and randomly enforced) liquid bans, behavioral profiling (that doesn't work) and data mining. If Hawley wants to avoid the hat trick in '08, he could start by implementing smart, effective security that's proactive not reactive.
The TSA is continuing its quest to know everything about you. (And they've moved beyond just lurking on your Myspace and Facebook pages, trying to learn who you're crushing on.) As usual with news about the agency, this is one of those not-that-sexy-but-still-important travel stories.
The TSA, in what it says is an effort to help passengers, has proposed that flyers now provide their full name, birth date and gender when buying tickets. (Currently, you only have to give an initial and surname.) This data will go into the hopper with the PNR information the TSA already collects and will supposedly reduce false positives when comparing passengers to no-fly lists.
Understandably, airlines and travel agents are against this proposal, as it could make people less willing to leave home. Though travel providers will have to ask for your info, you wouldn't be forced to give it--at least in theory. Those who don't will be "more likely to experience delays, be subjected to additional screening (or) be denied transport," the TSA says.
As much as we'd like to believe it has our best interests at heart, turning over our personal information to the government won't necessarily keep bombs off planes. Maybe the TSA should worry less about data mining and more about, you know, improving its ineffective screening process.
And you thought the TSA was bad when it was swiping your snow globes. But at this rate, the agency might soon come to an airport bathroom near you to keep an eye on things. (Cue Senator Craig joke.)
According to the Washington Post, Kip Hawley and his bosses at the Department of Homeland Security are also adding to their secret files every time you take a trip. While this has been going on for years, it wasn't common knowledge that the DHS was tracking travelers so closely:
The DHS database generally includes "passenger name record" (PNR) information, as well as notes taken during secondary screenings of travelers. PNR data -- often provided to airlines and other companies when reservations are made -- routinely include names, addresses and credit-card information, as well as telephone and e-mail contact details, itineraries, hotel and rental car reservations, and even the type of bed requested in a hotel.
At least someone's making money off this. A pet peeve of ours--well, besides the fact that we had to go searching to begin with--is that we've never been able to find empty 3-ounce plastic bottles with which to appease the TSA gods. We're big fans of the Container Store, but after a trip to every one in New York City, plus at least a half dozen drug stores, we found that everyone makes 2-ounce containers, 4-ounce containers, and 6-ounce containers, but 3-ounce ones? Notsomuch.
If we're going to play the game, we at least want to bring as much mouthwash with us as we can without having to worry about a smackdown at Newark.
Finally, while on a routine trip to Bed Bath & Beyond to buy, of all things, a surge protector, we stumbled upon the guys pictured above. Sprayco, some company based in Detroit, has started to manufacture and distribute 3-ounce bottles. These necessary evils come in a variety of shapes. The labels read: "Ideal Size For Airport Carry-On," "Very Clear Dispensing Bottle," and "On The Go!," which might be the product name.
Oh yes, there's even a little airplane cartoon on 'em. And just in case you start to get questioned, "3 oz/89 ml" is embossed on the plastic. Available at least in the Harmon store sections of Bed, Bath & Beyond.
Via a tip on FlyerTalk, we know that Orlando International Airport already owns and is testing out a new, expensive shoe-scanning technology in its security lines. The machines cost $200,000 and are, according to Orlando's local FOX station, already slated for use at other airports including JFK. The scanners will save you the hassle of removing your shoes at the airport, but get this: you're gonna have to pay for the privilege.
For a background check and $100 a year (at MCO, at least), travelers can keep their shoes on and have the machines take a molecular peek at their footwear. It's unclear what other advantages the scheme provides--it's not equivalent to the registered traveler program--or if, once the technology is in use at several airports, one low fee will cover you at all of them. As FlyerTalk poster xyzzy puts it, "I won't pay a penny to be treated as everyone should be treated. This is blackmail pure and simple."
Kip Hawley is trying to do a very important job, and a tough one at that. "Trying" being the operative word there. The TSA chief attracted the contempt of many a frequent traveler this year, and no Travel Villain made an impact in 2006 like he did. The TSA's ban on carry-on gels & liquids (later morphed into the "3-1-1" zip-top baggie rule) invented ridiculosity-as-fine art. Mustard packets do not bring down 747s. And don't even get us started on Kip & crew's No Fly List.
The absolute worst of the rules have been "refined," but everyone who flies now lives with often boggling restrictions. Staunch opponents of baggage checking have been forced to check their luggage for the first time in years; countless skim chai lattes have met early deaths at the security line. Some of the best critiques of this year's circus appeared in the New York Times and, of course, FlyerTalk, where news of the infamous "Kip Hawley Is an Idiot" incident (and its companion website) first broke.
We have not purchased one of those teddy bears yet, but in spirit, we already own 1000.
0 Comments - Add Yours
by pbb
The absolute worst of the rules have been "refined," but everyone who flies now lives with often boggling restrictions. Staunch opponents of baggage checking have been forced to check their luggage for the first time in years; countless skim chai lattes have met early deaths at the security line. Some of the best critiques of this year's circus appeared in the New York Times and, of course, FlyerTalk, where news of the infamous "
