Rude TSA personnel; uneven liquids policies

Begin forwarded message:

From: Esmé Vos <[email protected]>
Date: October 16, 2006 12:43:38 AM EDT
To: [email protected]
Subject: Rude TSA personnel; uneven liquids policies

For IP if you wish.

I posted this on my blog today (http://www.rosecantine.com/archives/ 
193/) about the uneven TSA liquids policies in SF, Boston and Houston:

In addition to yelling and screaming at the top of their lungs like  
their colleagues in other airports, Logan TSA people try to project  
the image that they are really doing something to ensure you  
security. And this is how they do it:
I checked in a little plastic bag with liquids. The bag went through  
the scanner and immediately, an alert TSA employee, no doubt keeping  
us safe from those nasty people told me that the little plastic bag  
was too big. Never mind that the same plastic bag went through San  
Francisco Airport's security without any problems. So to make us feel  
that they are doing a spectacular job, they decided to confiscate a  
nearly empty bottle of contact lens solution. But they let the  
plastic bag through anyway.

When I said, "But this bag and all of its contents went through San  
Francisco with no problem," the TSA guy retorted, "Yeah, but San  
Francisco is San Francisco."

Yes, folks, don't you feel so much safer now that airport security  
people in a single country can't agree on standard procedures and  
even criticize their own colleagues in another city? By the way, the  
same little plastic bag filled with eye drops, lip gloss, hand creme  
and hair gel just sailed right through Houston's airport, right in  
Bush country.

I love the Tyler Brule column in the Financial Times this weekend in  
which he rips TSA apart for the degrading manner in which they treat  
passengers.

"Having just witnessed a humiliating attack on a defenceless elderly  
gentleman at La Guardia airport, it's time to create an enforceable  
charter of human rights for passengers and a tough set of standards  
that airports, airlines and affiliated businesses must abide by."

. . .

"As the gentleman tried to collect his things and bundle them in his  
arms the security guard moved in closer. 'Sir, this is a federal  
inspection area and you must move on. You must do so in the fastest  
manner possible sir!' The man gently nodded but dropped a shoe in his  
haste and the barrage of passive-aggressive security-speak started  
over again. I motioned to go and help the man but he pulled himself  
together and then shuffled away to find a place to put on his shoes."

"I immediately told the security man that terrorising people was not  
part of his job description. 'Sir, you're in a federal inspection  
area . . . "' he began. '. . . and as a result you're a  
representative of the federal government and you're not putting on  
the best face for Washington by abusing a man in his 80s,' I  
retaliated."

"Unfortunately, this scene isn't limited to just the airports of the  
Port Authority but plays itself out all over North America, pockets  
of Europe, Australia and beyond. Passengers recognise the need for  
stricter security measures but with them have come a culture of  
belligerent behaviour that's going unchecked by the security  
companies who win contracts, the airports that award them and the  
governments that are supposed to police the system."


(Brule column is at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/ 
658a3126-5b21-11db-8f80-0000779e2340.html)

Sincerely,
Esme Vos
Founder
Muniwireless.com