FYI - TSA is not playing around right now!

[mickeysaver]

My partner, Gabby, travels for a living. By that I mean that 3 or 4 weeks out of the month, she is at the airport traveling to sites all over the country. She is at the Atlanta airport today and has sent me texts along the way.

Her first ID check was at Bag Check. She failed at get through the security checkpoint because when she went to empty her pockets, she found that she had forgotten that she had a pocket knife clipped inside a pocket of her jeans. She used it this morning before she left the house and just tucked it into her pocket without even thinking. She left to go back to the car so that she didn't have to surrender it.

Upon her return to the security lines, she was patted down. She has also had a security/ID check inside the airport near E8 gate, near T5 gate, and an additional ID check at the Delta Crown Room/Sky Club near gate E11. All of which are not standard experiences at the airport for her. She hoofed it to the other end of the airport because she was told in the Sky Club that her gate was changed to a T gate. If your gate ever gets changed in Atlanta, it seems that they 90% of the time send you to the far end of the airport from wherever you already are. In the course of writing this, she arrived at the Sky Club near gate T7 and was told that the correct gate was back on the E concourse. Needless to say, Gabby is having a Coke Zero and taking a breather before hoofing it back down to the other gate.

Luckily for Gabby, she gave herself an additional hour to get through all of the airport security today. With the holiday travelers, we knew that today was going to offer a few more challenges than usual for her. She normally gives herself a couple of hours before her flights to get through it all and settle into the Sky Club for a beverage and little travel sanity. Today, sanity seems to be a bit harder to come by though.

Basic message....
Give yourself a little more time if you are flying over the next little while and be prepared for more security and ID checks because they are not playing around right now.

 

[Tozzie]

My partner, Gabby, travels for a living. By that I mean that 3 or 4 weeks out of the month, she is at the airport traveling to sites all over the country. She is at the Atlanta airport today and has sent me texts along the way.

Her first ID check was at Bag Check. She failed at get through the security checkpoint because when she went to empty her pockets, she found that she had forgotten that she had a pocket knife clipped inside a pocket of her jeans. She used it this morning before she left the house and just tucked it into her pocket without even thinking. She left to go back to the car so that she didn't have to surrender it.

Upon her return to the security lines, she was patted down. She has also had a security/ID check inside the airport near E8 gate, near T5 gate, and an additional ID check at the Delta Crown Room/Sky Club near gate E11. All of which are not standard experiences at the airport for her. She hoofed it to the other end of the airport because she was told in the Sky Club that her gate was changed to a T gate. If your gate ever gets changed in Atlanta, it seems that they 90% of the time send you to the far end of the airport from wherever you already are. In the course of writing this, she arrived at the Sky Club near gate T7 and was told that the correct gate was back on the E concourse. Needless to say, Gabby is having a Coke Zero and taking a breather before hoofing it back down to the other gate.

Luckily for Gabby, she gave herself an additional hour to get through all of the airport security today. With the holiday travelers, we knew that today was going to offer a few more challenges than usual for her. She normally gives herself a couple of hours before her flights to get through it all and settle into the Sky Club for a beverage and little travel sanity. Today, sanity seems to be a bit harder to come by though.

Basic message....
Give yourself a little more time if you are flying over the next little while and be prepared for more security and ID checks because they are not playing around right now.

I guess it depends on the airport or as stated on the TSA website that all things will be done randomly and differently from airport to airport. I only had 1 id check and that was at the securty lines at MCO. I had given my self some extra time and ended up having to wait 2 hours in the airport as my flight was slgihtly delayed. I would rather be waiting at the gate then worrying about missing my flight in an extra long security line.

 

[DebbieB]

Is she flying international? E gates in Atlanta are typically used for international flights, unless the plane came from another country and is using those gates.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

What a headache!
Please tell her I am wishing her safe travels.

It seems that we end up in the international terminal at DFW far more often than we ever used to, for domestic flights. Before now it wasn't really an issue, but in the future it certainly could be more problematic.

 

[mickeysaver]

Luckily, she arrived safely in Tampa. The flight was just at an hour long. There was no pre-boarding hand search of her bag. There was no in flight tracking of the flight screen turned on. Overall, the worst of it was all within the Atlanta airport. Lots and lots of ID checks inside the airport.

She comes home on Wednesday night. We shall see if there are any changes in procedure then. The news says that changes will be implemented randomly at all domestic airports and on all domestic flights.

PS. Gabby says that she can't wait for Clear to come back.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I pity all of us on the flights with DS when they say we can't have anything in our laps for the last HOUR. That will suck. It will be nearly impossible for me to sit and do nothing for an hour. DS will be crawling out of his skin.

 

[yitbos96bb]

Ugh - Stupidest rule ever. Time to find sleazy class action attorneys and sue.... not a big litigation fan, but sometimes stupidity needs to be dealt with.

Ok I'm editing and adding to this for the few people who can't see to get the snark in this... I have no intention to see, it was said tounge in cheek. However, I do feel that there is a possibility it could happen when an incontinent person is refused bathroom usage.

 

[Carriemel]

Lawsuit happy society. If you don't like the way the new rules are, TAKE A BUS. Greyhound would be HAPPY to have you.

 

[onelilspark]

I pity all of us on the flights with DS when they say we can't have anything in our laps for the last HOUR. That will suck. It will be nearly impossible for me to sit and do nothing for an hour. DS will be crawling out of his skin.

I'm sorry, admittedly I haven't been paying as much attention to the news lately as normal because of the holidays...but WHAT?! We can't have anything in our laps for the last hour? Is that fact or speculative based on current events??

Soooo when I put my earplanes in, I can't keep the case on my lap? I can't read a book? I can't keep a pack of gum in my lap?? WHAT?!


...please elaborate....

 

[Tozzie]

I'm sorry, admittedly I haven't been paying as much attention to the news lately as normal because of the holidays...but WHAT?! We can't have anything in our laps for the last hour? Is that fact or speculative based on current events??

Soooo when I put my earplanes in, I can't keep the case on my lap? I can't read a book? I can't keep a pack of gum in my lap?? WHAT?!


...please elaborate....

The only thing I have seen is that on INTERNATIONAL flights comming into the USA you cannot access your carryon luggage or have anything in your lap or get up in the last hour of the flight. I was on a domestic flight yesterday and none of those rules applied. That isn't to say that they won't in the future.

The only problem with this rule is that if it were in place when the incident happened on Christmas day, the terrorist would/could have done what they did earlier in the flight.

 

[Tozzie]

Ugh - Stupidest rule ever. Time to find sleazy class action attorneys and sue.... not a big litigation fan, but sometimes stupidity needs to be dealt with.

You have got to be kidding me? A lawsuit would be thrown out before you could say the word lawsuit, while I think there are flaws with this rule and in time it will change right now this is the best they can do.

 

[Carriemel]

Tozzie said: "The only problem with this rule is that if it were in place when the incident happened on Christmas day, the terrorist would/could have done what they did earlier in the flight."



Probably not...they were still 20 minutes out from landing in Detroit. This guy wanted to take out not only the aircraft but whatever US soil was underneath the plane.

 

[monarchsfan16]

You have got to be kidding me? A lawsuit would be thrown out before you could say the word lawsuit, while I think there are flaws with this rule and in time it will change right now this is the best they can do.

This is not the best they can do. This is the TSA pretending to do something to reassure the public. Kind of like those bogus ID checks. Do you really think your identity will change in 20 feet? And what good is it matching ID's to BP's? OK, there's a match, but we still don't know if it's a person that should or should not be on the flight. How about matching the ID's to this mythical "watch list"? If a terrorist wants to do something they will do it, regardless of whether or not they have access to carryons in the last hour of their flight.

they were still 20 minutes out from landing in Detroit. This guy wanted to take out not only the aircraft but whatever US soil was underneath the plane.

A plane is over the US for MUCH longer than an hour before it reaches Detroit.

 

[Carriemel]

A plane is over the US for MUCH longer than an hour before it reaches Detroit.

Granted, but they're a LOT closer to the ground at 20 minutes out...

 

[onelilspark]

The only thing I have seen is that on INTERNATIONAL flights comming into the USA you cannot access your carryon luggage or have anything in your lap or get up in the last hour of the flight. I was on a domestic flight yesterday and none of those rules applied. That isn't to say that they won't in the future.

The only problem with this rule is that if it were in place when the incident happened on Christmas day, the terrorist would/could have done what they did earlier in the flight.

Thanks. Still think it's dumb. The best defense against terrorism are the other passengers on a flight. Who's to say that these people won't have this stuff in their *gasp* POCKETS?!

 

[Flossbolna]

A plane is over the US for MUCH longer than an hour before it reaches Detroit.

Actually, coming from Europe I would guess that the plane would be over Canda until very shortly before landing in Detroit. The plenes from Europe tend to make a slight detour to the north before heading south into the US - has something to do with the shortes way around a globe being different from what it looks like on a map. But you are right about many other cities in the US!

 

[dburg30]

I think the term the airlines use it 'great circle' basically it's shorter to fly what would appear to be a longer 'arc' but in reality it is shorter. I would agree that to land in detroit it would be over canada more then the US.

The following is a link that shows the great circle path.

Great Circle map

 

[mickeysaver]

While all of this stuff that the TSA is attempting to do in the name of our safety, thus far, hasn't breached my "I won't fly if they are gonna make me do insert some sort of overly privacy violating/beyond stupid restriction rule here," I can say that what they are doing isn't as much as they could/should be doing IMO. Safety standards for flights, train, and bus travel in this country are a joke.

Why are those lists of people to watch out for not being checked out a bit further? Yes, there is a system for dealing with stuff, but it's still in need of a lot more tweaking. I wish that we could move beyond political correctness and use some of that long researched "profiling" data that our tax dollars paid for in the past. We pretty much know who on those lists should trigger a need for further scrutiny, but it's just not happening. I feel that there needs to be a globally accessible database of "bad guys" that just aren't allowed to fly and travel from country to country. It's not happening anytime soon of course and the "one world orderishness" of it sounds kind of creepy, but dangit, I am tired of good people being made to suffer because there is a minute subset of the population that is out to make the world a more miserable place.

Ok, sorry, had to vent a little. Sorry if my opinions hit anyone the wrong way, but I stand by them flawed though they may be in the eyes of some.

 

[rantnnravin]

While all of this stuff that the TSA is attempting to do in the name of our safety, thus far, hasn't breached my "I won't fly if they are gonna make me do insert some sort of overly privacy violating/beyond stupid restriction rule here," I can say that what they are doing isn't as much as they could/should be doing IMO. Safety standards for flights, train, and bus travel in this country are a joke.

Why are those lists of people to watch out for not being checked out a bit further? Yes, there is a system for dealing with stuff, but it's still in need of a lot more tweaking. I wish that we could move beyond political correctness and use some of that long researched "profiling" data that our tax dollars paid for in the past. We pretty much know who on those lists should trigger a need for further scrutiny, but it's just not happening. I feel that there needs to be a globally accessible database of "bad guys" that just aren't allowed to fly and travel from country to country. It's not happening anytime soon of course and the "one world orderishness" of it sounds kind of creepy, but dangit, I am tired of good people being made to suffer because there is a minute subset of the population that is out to make the world a more miserable place.

Ok, sorry, had to vent a little. Sorry if my opinions hit anyone the wrong way, but I stand by them flawed though they may be in the eyes of some.

I sooooo totally agree with you. There is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON my 9 year old blonde haired blue-eyed daugther should recevied the same scrutiny before a flight as "everyone else" simply because we are so gosh-darned afraid of "offending someone's sensibilities." There is a good reason El-Al is THE safest airline in the world and the U.S. had better start taking their cues from THEM instead of being RE-actionary based upon what tactics terrorists have tried in the past. Keep the loons off the planes and out of our country already. I really don't care who this offends.

 

[Heidijs]

Did you see the new xray machines they're going to start using? They see you naked? I hope I don't have aunt flo when we go. I'd hate to get a cavity search because of mother nature!