MCO to replace TSA?

[CPT Tripss]

http://touch.orlandosentinel.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-76612934/

Don't stop at the headline . . .

 

[sam_gordon]

http://touch.orlandosentinel.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-76612934/

Don't stop at the headline . . .

OK.

FWIW, when I flew out of MCO last month, security took ~20 minutes (if that).

 

[OKW Lover]

Interesting story. Sort of. Maybe if there was some actual news it would be better.

I've never had a problem at MCO security. Most of the time I'm through the line in 15 minutes.

 

[CPT Tripss]

He suggested Orlando International adopt a program being promoted by TSA where bomb-sniffing dogs and agency experts at detecting suspicious behavior are used to check out large groups of people.

If they pass inspection, they can skip taking off their shoes and dumping their belongings in a tray and going through pat downs or scanning machines. Up to 250 people at a time can be checked, Henderson said.

Was "news" to me!

ETA- "He" is the JetBlue MCO manager.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Interesting story.

I tend to fly out of MCO on Sunday evenings. My last flight in May 2013 took me 45 minutes to get through security.
The lines were horrible. Probably because it was a Sunday.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

This is interesting!

It doesn't mean the rules will change, only that they are trying to get the lines to move faster.

Not the most important issue...........but costs?

AKK

 

[lylone]

The last time we left MCO was on a Saturday and it was nuts. We got on DME 3 hours before our flight and with stopping at other resorts and then security, we got to the gate when they just started boarding. Every person was being put through the X-ray scanners and a lot were also being patted down. I don't understand how they don't see everything when you go through the X-Ray machines. I seem to get stopped everytime after going through one. Once to pat my bare legs, once to check my empty pockets and then another time got my straight hair patted down. Yep, I am definitely trying to smuggle something on in my hair, bare legs and empty pockets.

 

[aubriee]

Every person was being put through the X-ray scanners and a lot were also being patted down. I don't understand how they don't see everything when you go through the X-Ray machines. I seem to get stopped everytime after going through one. Once to pat my bare legs, once to check my empty pockets and then another time got my straight hair patted down. Yep, I am definitely trying to smuggle something on in my hair, bare legs and empty pockets.

I thought I was the only one who had suspicious bare legs. After going though the scanner, I've been pulled aside not once, but twice to have my bare legs rubbed down. When I was pulled aside I just assumed the TSA agent would be patting down my covered areas. Nope! Their hands didn't go anywhere near my breasts, waist, hips, or groin area. The only part of me that they touched was from my bare ankles, up my bare legs, to the bottom edge of my shorts, then they told me I could go. Not wanting to deal with TSA anymore than I have to, I always make sure I have nothing metal on me and never wear loose fitting clothing (usually tank top and shorts), yet twice I get called out to have my bare legs patted down?

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

There are reasons Fly Clear chose MCO as their first airport when they reopened


But this won't fix the problem. MCO handled line set up. So until they look in a mirror instead of at others... expect amazingly badly managed lines to continue (I once asked an MCO manager if he had considered calling Disney to learn how to do a line set up LOL!)

 

[MaleficentRN]

"Some people wait an hour and a half for a roller coaster and not 15 minutes to make sure their flight is safe," said Jerry Henderson, who runs the Transportation Security Administration in Orlando.

This man has obviously never heard of a Fast Pass.

 

[wiigirl]

This man has obviously never heard of a Fast Pass.

 

[CPT Tripss]

There are reasons Fly Clear chose MCO as their first airport when they reopened


But this won't fix the problem. MCO handled line set up. So until they look in a mirror instead of at others... expect amazingly badly managed lines to continue (I once asked an MCO manager if he had considered calling Disney to learn how to do a line set up LOL!)

This man has obviously never heard of a Fast Pass.

Isn't Clear a Fast Pass?

 

[CPT Tripss]

The last time we left MCO was on a Saturday and it was nuts. We got on DME 3 hours before our flight and with stopping at other resorts and then security, we got to the gate when they just started boarding. Every person was being put through the X-ray scanners and a lot were also being patted down. I don't understand how they don't see everything when you go through the X-Ray machines. I seem to get stopped everytime after going through one. Once to pat my bare legs, once to check my empty pockets and then another time got my straight hair patted down. Yep, I am definitely trying to smuggle something on in my hair, bare legs and empty pockets.

The scanners seem to false alert on all kinds of things and so a lot of people wind up getting the hands on treatment. I've run into the bare skin feel thing on occasion. Once I asked the Airport Security Screener to stop each time they hit bare skin. The guy went back to the very beginning of his protocol each time he restarted. Turns out, as explained by the supervisor who finally did the feeling without touching bare skin, that the first guy was trained to "the checklist" and apparently could only remember it in order from step one. Seems like this might be an issue wider than just PHL.

 

[NotUrsula]

The scanners seem to false alert on all kinds of things and so a lot of people wind up getting the hands on treatment. I've run into the bare skin feel thing on occasion. Once I asked the Airport Security Screener to stop each time they hit bare skin. The guy went back to the very beginning of his protocol each time he restarted. Turns out, as explained by the supervisor who finally did the feeling without touching bare skin, that the first guy was trained to "the checklist" and apparently could only remember it in order from step one. Seems like this might be an issue wider than just PHL.

You mean an issue like the first TSO being as thick as two planks?

I'm all for getting brighter people into those jobs, but I don't think that switching over to a private contractor who will pay them less is going to be the solution to making them smarter.

I remember the old days of privately-contracted security very well -- they were often just as clueless and just as slow -- and not because they were trying to be thorough, either.

 

[CPT Tripss]

I am trying not making judgements about Airport Security Screeners. Now, I only report statements and actions. I leave you to your own conclusion.

 

[quikah]

the article mentions they are going looking at SFO for ideas, and I can see why, I don't think I have ever had more than a 10 minute wait at SFO, but I don't see how that will help them. The problem with MCO is they funnel everyone through 2 checkpoints. It is just not efficient, they need to spread it out, but I am not sure they would be able to with the layout of the airport.

 

[CPT Tripss]

the article mentions they are going looking at SFO for ideas, and I can see why, I don't think I have ever had more than a 10 minute wait at SFO, but I don't see how that will help them. The problem with MCO is they funnel everyone through 2 checkpoints. It is just not efficient, they need to spread it out, but I am not sure they would be able to with the layout of the airport.

Even with only two major checkpoint areas, they have lots of lanes. They need to look at their operation to determine what chokes the throughput and then adjust the process.

 

[NotUrsula]

That one is simple: MCO merges the lines after the ID check. Absolutely boneheaded, and the sequester is only making it worse. (I suspect that is why MCO is going for this option right now -- they are probably arguing that if the money was simply being paid to a contractor, then the contractor could keep the staffing levels up because they are not wedded to line-item values. True enough, but they also are going to want to make a profit, so it is almost surely true that a sequester would make them cut staff back in the same way if not more severely.) In practice, it is just like what happens when you close a lane on a highway; a bottleneck will develop where the lines merge ... UNLESS you have a patrolman standing there directing traffic.

My home airport does it the correct way, as does Chicago Midway: merge the lines BEFORE the ID check, or have a single line guided by ropes, then have the persons doing the ID check direct the travelers to the proper belt. A single line at ID check usually functions well if you set it up so that the ID inspectors are sitting on both sides of the line. If you put 4 people there, they can check large parties simultaneously and easily move them along. My airport has three checkers at each security area, one to handle families with children and/or disabled or elderly travelers, and two sitting about 8 feet apart who handle the rest of the line, while directing travelers in turn to the 6 scanner lines behind their podiums. It doesn't take up much space: the bin stacks are located only about 8 feet behind them, and that works because they can control the flow of people just before they approach the bin stacks.

The Black Diamond line, if there is one, should have a separate person doing ID checks, and no one should be in that line with more than one bag. In reality, if you are wearing business attire you normally can get away with getting into the BD line with two bags; because the clothing tells them that you are probably a business traveler, and therefore more likely to know what you are doing.

At both of these airports, there is an extra, out-of-the-way scanner belt that is normally used for airport employees, but there are ropes/posts set up to lead to it that allow it to be used as a temporary overflow express line for BD travelers when the lines get long. That takes the load off the main bank of scanners, and helps move the lines along more quickly.

The system WOULD work at MCO, and in fact, I can remember a time when the lines there were set up similarly. It is only in the past 5 years or so that the current bottleneck has developed at the A line.

 

[CPT Tripss]

Aaarrggh! ID checks . . . . . .

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Atlanta does one line that splits at ID check and then filters into the screeners. Now granted we have more screeners then MCO, but we also have a lot more flyers and even when the line goes on forever with the temporary "queue lines" it's shorter then MCO's seems to be based on my timing...