A little common sense about airline security...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/08/10/bomb/

"Ultimately, protecting commercial aircraft from terrorism is not the job of airport security, it's a job for police departments, federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The apparent plot at Heathrow Airport was not unraveled by the keen eye of a concourse screener; it was unraveled through careful investigation behind the scenes. By the time any attacker makes it to the metal detector, chances are it's already too late. There are too many ways to outwit that final line of defense.

No matter, here we go initiating yet another absurd crackdown to the detriment of millions of innocent travelers. Just as confiscating corkscrews didn't make us safer after Sept. 11, so banning liquids isn't going to make us safer now. All the while, the true weapon of mass destruction is the imagination and resilience of those who wish to harm us -- a fact we continue to ignore at our own peril."

[MrCoffee]

1. KnFnR

[wakeme2008]

2. kick and NOM nt

[SammyWinstonJack]

3. K&R

[alarimer]

4. I really like Patrick Smith's take on all this

I think he provides a voice of reason from within the industry.

[Kutjara]

5. Sanity at last. KnR. n/t

[longship]

6. Crack down on terrorists, not the public.

Interdict terrorists, not cosmetics.

[Turn CO Blue]

7. This airline employee shouting "A-freakin-MEN!

Can we get a little common sense with our mega-doses of "security"!?! Our poor employees and customers were taken through absurd gyrations yesterday during the long lines and delays. Supposed security professionals following ridiculous orders to throw out people's Big Gulps and foot lotion. How utterly asinine and such a waste of energy.

I say bring Scotland Yard over here and put them over the teeming, stewing Dept of Homeland Security - they seem to have some common sense.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. This airline employee hollers "Ditto!"

I remember how a few months after 9/11, one of our pilots *ranted* about how his flight bag had been searched by security, and they confiscated his spoon. That's right. A spoon, which he had in his bag to eat his yogurt with. An airline pilot, in uniform, with a company ID badge, gets his freaking SPOON confiscated. That's how stupid all this is.

The one upside of all this might be that really stupid people won't be trying to stuff steamer trunks in the overhead bins any more.

[Patsy Stone]

9. Absolutely

I never understood the shoe thing, I never understood the tweezers thing. There was a woman on our flight back from the UK last year with knitting needles.

This is not about the people, and it's not about the band-aids they foist upon us. No, this is about a failure from the top, again. A failure to enact a comprehensive plan of cross-checking passengers and inspecting cargo.

Another stupid failure.

K&R. Great article.

[lvx35]

10. Good point! But regarding the behind the scenes folks...

...such as intelligence/police, I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving it up to them at all. Its a massively tall order to expect them to know every single person who might want to do something before they get to the airport, and its being asked of the WMDs-in-iraq = "slam dunk" crowd as well....But yes, the resilience of these people, and its social origins are where the real focus should be, I agree!

[ArmchairMeme]

11. How to kill an industry

Will there be a point at which people will decide to use a different transport because it just gets too intrusive and too costly and too time consuming and too boring to choose it.

When will some innovative person come up with a new alternative to this detrimental type of travel?

[JohMunich99]

12. I forget how much

But Amtrak's numbers have been going up ever since 9/11 and before that they were tanking. The train is so much better anyway. It may take longer, but you get to walk around, see the sights, and avoid long lines at the airport. Perhaps we should be monitoring those better, but trains can't be steered into buildings and if you blow up one train car, people in the other car can still be safe. I guess it's not as 'dramatic' if you will. Terrible to think about it, but true.

[unblock]

14. well, commuting into manhattan by amtrak/nj transit became intrusive, too

they had periodic stops between stations with police dogs sniffing and searching, etc. all very paranoid about someone blowing up a train in the tunnel.

i take the bus now....

[Stinky The Clown]

15. The myth that trains are slower

We all know about the high speed and ultra high speed trains in Japan and Europe. I had the distinct pleasure of taking the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto to Osaka and back to Tokyo. It is fast and incredibly smooth. Almost no sensation of its 240+ klick speed.

But here in the US, too, such trains are starting into service. Not nearly as fast as either the TGV or the Shinkansen, the Amtrak Accela is a damn fine ride. The train it replaced as the top line ride, the Metroliner, makes it from DC to NYC in 2 hours and 59 minutes (per Amtrak's older claims) Baltimore to NYC was 2:25.

Contrast that to a flight from DC (or Baltimore) to NYC. For me, that was a one hour ride to National Airport (I still can't bring myself to call it Reagan). An hour to wait to board. 35 minutes flight time, and the rest of the third hour to get to the taxi stand at LaGuardia. Depending on the time of day and traffic, it can be as much as another hour to midtown. So that makes the trip between 3-1/2 and 4 hours, door to door.

I can drive to the BWI Rail Station in 15 minutes. If I time it right, I wait no more than 10 minutes for the train. Let's call that a half hour. The trip from there to NYC is 2:50. A ten minute cab ride and I am where I need to be. At worst for the train and at best for the plane, the train is ten minutes faster. This says nothing of the train being more comfortable and interesting and FAR more stress-free. Its actually downright relaxing.

As we start to add increased baording time for the bullshit at the airports and the train may be faster for longer distances. Even with a slight time penalty, the train, for short and mid haul trips is my preference.

[newyawker99]

16. Hi JohMunich99!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[unblock]

13. so much of security involves being seen doing SOMETHING

politicians and others responsible for airline security know damn well they can't do much more than they were already doing prior to 9/11 to make airlines safer, certainly not from the passenger screening side of things.

but like typical bureaucrats, they felt their worst crime would be to get caught having done NOTHING. so they did SOMETHING, and made a point of making that SOMETHING highly visible. this doesn't make you safer, but it does make you feel like the people who should be doing SOMETHING are in fact, doing SOMETHING.