Are random ID checks while boarding the plane a new thing?

[CPT Tripss]

So why if your original screening was good and everything you can access had been screened would they need to do this?

Is it because the first screening was as useless as some of us think?

Or is it to employee more people and waste your tax dollars?

Yes.

 

[CPT Tripss]

I have been on flights that had us all taking out our IDs to hand over with boarding passes...not many though.
I have also been at the gate several times, in recent years, when they did random bag checks as people were in line to board. They set up some kind of table and pulled random people out of lines. There were usually state troopers with them (TSA) when they did this though.
Theatre? Perhaps....most likely really. But, it just doesn't bother me as much as it does others. I do wish I could fly with full sized bottles of shampoo and such in my carryon bag again. But, until that is no longer the case, I will fly with airlines that allow me one free checked bag.

It does bother me because the manpower invested in these "oh I feel safer" security theater exercises could be better spent on actual security efforts.

 

[DVC-Don]

Totally random the past few years. Two weeks ago flying out of Albany, NY they brought a bomb dog out and walked it up and down the line at boarding.

 

[gmeh1]

Even if it is random rather than some supervisor's whim, what purpose does checking ID at the boarding gate serve? The passengers have already passed through the government permission to fly checkpoint. The Airport Security Screeners looking at ID don't have any kind of data base to check against. It's a purposeless waste.

Perhaps they double check the person that checks the IDs. Sometimes things are missed, not everyone is perfect. You seem to have issues with the TSA, let them do their job and earn their pay. Two sets of eyes are always better than one.

 

[gmeh1]

So why if your original screening was good and everything you can access had been screened would they need to do this?

Is it because the first screening was as useless as some of us think?

Or is it to employee more people and waste your tax dollars?

you cannot be sure that everyone's original screening was good, that is an assumption. I don't think it is useless or a waste of tax dollars. I do think two sets of eyes are better than one.

 

[CPT Tripss]

Perhaps they double check the person that checks the IDs. Sometimes things are missed, not everyone is perfect. You seem to have issues with the TSA, let them do their job and earn their pay. Two sets of eyes are always better than one.

Since passengers have already been screened, security isn't improved one iota by an ID check. All ID checks do is protect the airline's revenue by preventing me from giving or selling my low price ticket to someone.

If I have a ticket in a fake name and an ID to match it, there is no way for the Airport Security Screener to know it.

 

[gmeh1]

Since passengers have already been screened, security isn't improved one iota by an ID check. All ID checks do is protect the airline's revenue by preventing me from giving or selling my low price ticket to someone.

If I have a ticket in a fake name and an ID to match it, there is no way for the Airport Security Screener to know it.

It stops someone from using a stolen ticket. Do you have date to prove that security is not improved? If you want to talk about "theatre", let's talk about the silly bag checks at the park. IMHO, that is a huge waste of time and it does absolutely NOTHING for security.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

you cannot be sure that everyone's original screening was good, that is an assumption. I don't think it is useless or a waste of tax dollars. I do think two sets of eyes are better than one.

And then they check one flight out of the 100 or so I have been on in the last year???

If I am a terrorist I am thinking the odds of this secondary screening being a risk are LOW and NON EXISTENT! Not to mention that the gate agents announce it.

SO... gee you managed to get your bomb past the first group of Thousands Standing Around.... now you see that there's another group. You have two options

1. Assume they are just as clueless
2. Don't even bother to get on the plane



And since the secondary screening is kind of "well if we want to " then... 1 is actually a good assumption.

It's as show to waste my tax dollars!

 

[I loveStitchnippyjon]

Three or four years ago it happened o DH when we were flying out of Syracuse. Pulled him out of line, checked ID and carryon bag. He wound up being the last person to board! I was freaking out because everyone else was strapped in and no DH! I wasn't going on vacation without him!
It was almost as bad as our 30th anniversary trip to St. Lucia. When we checked in at the airline desk I was informed that I was on the government "no-fly" list! Now THAT freaked me out! Airline person got on the computer, checked several sites, and then said "there! I removed your name!" It all seemed weird to me, and I worried when we returned to the U.S. that I wouldn't be let back into the country. I've flown many times since, and that has not happened since, thankfully!

 

[bumbershoot]

So why if your original screening was good and everything you can access had been screened would they need to do this?

Is it because the first screening was as useless as some of us think?

Plenty of companies hire people to check up on things.




I'm sure plenty will scoff, but what if the screening is just to get a closer look at people? Another chance to stand next to and talk to people? I'm sure they don't have the training that I've heard the Israeli airport security people do, but it doesn't always take a highly skilled person to tell when something is off. Didn't take people years of training to see that the Boston guys weren't behaving properly in pictures taken just after the blast, and didn't that runner (or spectator...he looks in pictures like he was running but I'm probably wrong about that) see them BEFORE the blast and just know that there was something not right? He didn't have time to talk to anyone, but maybe a security guy before boarding WOULD, when dealing with someone so *off*.

I think a lot of it is silly*, but I also accept the fact that I'm not in training meetings with people, and I don't know everything *nor is it my business* to know everything they are doing.



*like when the LAX metal detector first sent DH to be wanded b/c his zipper set it off, and immediately after my little Goody-brand barrette set it off (it stopped beeping when I took off the barrette)... Or when DH's post-security-purchased bottle of water was taken at the last-minute Tokyo airport check (though of course that's not TSA) the day or so after the underwear bomber incident. He need that bottle of water!

 

[Luv2CtheMouse]

I haven't see this but I am not surprised. Honestly, all this really does is keep good honest people scared unnecessarily. How many real bombers has all of this extra screening stopped? (none) How many terrorists have been caught since TSA started getting all crazy? (none) And then....there have been people that have made it through security with weapons unnoticed. (you read the news, you know) It is a joke to make people think they are safe while picking on innocent people, frisking kids and grannies and controlling the American people one freedom at a time.

 

[CPT Tripss]

It stops someone from using a stolen ticket. Do you have date to prove that security is not improved? If you want to talk about "theatre", let's talk about the silly bag checks at the park. IMHO, that is a huge waste of time and it does absolutely NOTHING for security.

Again, revenue protection for the airline. And the airlines all have their own ID checks before giving boarding passes. The airlines stopped doing gate checks of ID years ago.

As much as I dislike the worthless Disney bag checks, they aren't a waste of my tax money.

 

[sam_gordon]

I haven't see this but I am not surprised. Honestly, all this really does is keep good honest people scared unnecessarily. How many real bombers has all of this extra screening stopped? (none) How many terrorists have been caught since TSA started getting all crazy? (none) And then....there have been people that have made it through security with weapons unnoticed. (you read the news, you know) It is a joke to make people think they are safe while picking on innocent people, frisking kids and grannies and controlling the American people one freedom at a time.

How many planes have been hijacked since the extra screening started (none)
How many planes have been intentionally crashed into building since the TSA came into existence? (none)

Do we really need to start this argument again? We get it. Some people think the TSA is worthless. Others accept the TSA. Agree to disagree.

You REALLY want to get rid of the TSA... write your congressman. Let us know how that turns out.

 

[CPT Tripss]

How many prosecutions have there been of "terrorists" picked up at airport checkpoints? All that contraband intercepted, yet no prosecutions of alleged members of alleged terrorist organizations.

The effective part of airport security is screening luggage and carry-ons and passengers for weapons, explosives and incendiaries. Looking for and confiscating larger quantities of shampoo, sunscreen, peanut butter, cupcakes etc., and examining driver licenses under black light only takes time and effort away from effective security measures. But if it makes you feel better

 

[gdrj]

We've never had that happen before until today. As we were boarding the plane TSA did random ID checks, with NO notice so we had to hold up the line as we dug through our stuff again. Had they at least mentioned it before lining up, everyone could have had their ID's out in case they were called out.

I'm married to a federal LEO and I think this is total BS. Have I been dodging bullets all these years or is this just a response to the Boston bombings? You already go through security. Does the TSA not trust its own agents?

Ask the Ft Hood victims if they should trust the Army Doctor who murdered soldiers

I don't feel one bit safer just because someone's ID matches their boarding pass. Are they over staffed with airport security screeners when they decide to do this or are they understaffing the check points while these unproductive exercises are happening?

What a waste of time.

Even if it is random rather than some supervisor's whim, what purpose does checking ID at the boarding gate serve? The passengers have already passed through the government permission to fly checkpoint. The Airport Security Screeners looking at ID don't have any kind of data base to check against. It's a purposeless waste.

I'm going to give TSA a pass here. I'm going to assume that I don't know all the security issues, the warnings that they have access to, or all the intel that they have access to. Could it be a waste, sure but I'd rather side on caution than having do a different type of security check like they did after 9/11 where they marked car tires in commuter lots in NJ to see who had not returned for their cars, this way they knew who was missing and dead. A little inconvenience is worth not driving past the Pentagon while it burns for a week. Don't mean to be rude or get into a political discussion just saying some actions may not be obvious to us but may have a purpose.

 

[CPT Tripss]

Ask the Ft Hood victims if they should trust the Army Doctor who murdered soldiers





I'm going to give TSA a pass here. I'm going to assume that I don't know all the security issues, the warnings that they have access to, or all the intel that they have access to. Could it be a waste, sure but I'd rather side on caution than having do a different type of security check like they did after 9/11 where they marked car tires in commuter lots in NJ to see who had not returned for their cars, this way they knew who was missing and dead. A little inconvenience is worth not driving past the Pentagon while it burns for a week. Don't mean to be rude or get into a political discussion just saying some actions may not be obvious to us but may have a purpose.

The 9 11 terrorists all had valid ID. Undoubtedly, their ID w the same when they got their boarding passes, went through security and handed their boarding pass to the gate agent.

The issue with ID checks isn't "inconvenience," it's effective and efficient security measures. On and before 9 11 airline pilots acquiesced to " hijackers." When commercial aviation resumed after 9 11, they did not. That, pax willing to take on the bad guys and secure cockpit doors, more than the check point theater, is what has made us safer.

 

[goofy4tink]

So why if your original screening was good and everything you can access had been screened would they need to do this?

Is it because the first screening was as useless as some of us think?

Or is it to employee more people and waste your tax dollars?

It does bother me because the manpower invested in these "oh I feel safer" security theater exercises could be better spent on actual security efforts.

I haven't see this but I am not surprised. Honestly, all this really does is keep good honest people scared unnecessarily. How many real bombers has all of this extra screening stopped? (none) How many terrorists have been caught since TSA started getting all crazy? (none) And then....there have been people that have made it through security with weapons unnoticed. (you read the news, you know) It is a joke to make people think they are safe while picking on innocent people, frisking kids and grannies and controlling the American people one freedom at a time.

I have no idea what they were looking for..but they were looking for something since they were going through bags, at the gate. Perhaps they got word that someone flying on my flight had received something 'dubious' from another person once they cleared security..don't know. But in all reality?? I don't much care. And I don't think the average person cares either.
It is what it is. Yes, I have to go through security that is probably not as useful as some would like to think. But I still don't much care. So what if I have to carry small, 3.4oz shampoo bottles...a minor thing. People seem to want to grab onto something and rail against 'the system'. I can't be bothered. I know how to get through security as quickly as possible. And if the 'bag police' want to come to the gate and do it again, oh well. I am not going to make much of an issue of it. Doesn't happen often.
And those tax dollars?? Oh, I can think of many other ways they are being frivolously spent out there. Not going to get in a snit because of the TSA or state police.

 

[OKW Lover]

Security (airport or otherwise) can be more easily circumvented if it is consistent. Introducing random changes in procedures makes it harder for the bad guys to figure out ways around safeguards.

In addition to the security you see there is much going on that you don't see. While your bag is being searched again at the gate, there is likely somebody nearby watching you carefully for signs that something might not be right. The extra check provides an opportunity for scrutiny.

 

[Mommytwotwins]

This also just happened to us on 4/16 and that was the day after the bombings and we left from PVD which is very close to Boston so I figured that was the reason. I had no problems with it at all,it's for your safety and if that takes a few extra minutes I am all for it!

 

[DonnaL]

We encountered the random ID check in January when flying from Newark to Orange County, CA.....we had to change planes in Phoenix and don't remember if it was the EWR/PHX leg or PHX/SNA leg, but, do remember it was immediately before boarding. We also had our 11 year old grandson with us, who is very tall for his age, and they asked him his name, his age, and who he was with.