My opinion of the TSA security at Tampa International Airport since the new changes

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Well today my family and I got home from Clearwater Beach and I wanted to post my experience of going through the TSA screening at Tampa International Airport since the new changes. Anyway we got into the security line around 11:30 AM and waited only 5 minutes until it was our turn to go through. Well as I expected my carryon bag was searched at and etc because of my two WDW pin bags and my pin lanyard. Anyway it took them a few minutes to go through all the pages and testing the bags, so I just stood there until they said I was ok to leave with them.

Also on another topic the road construction going to Tampa International Airport is virtually finished because we had no problems driving there.

 

[bavaria]

Well today my family and I got home from Clearwater Beach and I wanted to post my experience of going through the TSA screening at Tampa International Airport since the new changes. Anyway we got into the security line around 11:30 AM and waited only 5 minutes until it was our turn to go through.

TPA is in the United States, therefore the TSA directives implemented earlier this week would not apply.

(Paging Tozzie to come with the bold and the underline keys to clarify, please!)

 

[goofy4tink]

I'm thrilled to hear the construction in that area is done!!! It has been a huge pain when we go to Tampa to visit my ds.

 

[ConnieB]

TPA is in the United States, therefore the TSA directives implemented earlier this week would not apply.

(Paging Tozzie to come with the bold and the underline keys to clarify, please!)

Well, then someone better tell the TSA that Los Angeles is IN the United States as well. We flew into LAX from Phoenix this week and while Phoenix was pretty normal as far as security (if there was extra scrutiny of my carry on it was pretty quick, the bag was ready for me before I got my shoes on, lol).....but the return trip this morning was brutal. It took us more than an hour to get through the security line....I swear the guy was memorizing my driver's license (DH joked for me to not worry about him stalking me since the address is old, lol)....and the same carry on that I brought with me, lighter because the presents were passed out took so long that I not only had my shoes on, but had helped my kid with her shoes, put our jackets on, and stood there long enough that the kid asked if we could go to the plane yet.

So, my guess is that some airports are taking it more serious than others. LAX gets a lot of international traffic obviously, but we were leaving LA to go to Phoenix.....and our plane was going on to Texas not leaving the country.

As we stood waiting I was looking around to see if they were doing a lot of pull-people-aside for extra screening, or the pat downs that the news is talking about, but all I saw was a lot of unsmiling people standing and waiting....so personally, the only extra screening I saw was of the contents of the carry ons.

 

[bavaria]

ACTIONS REQUIRED: If you conduct scheduled and/or public charter flight operations under a Full Program under 49 CFR 1544.101(a) departing from any foreign location to the United States (including its territories and possessions), you must immediately implement all measures in this SD for each such flight.

Security directive (now expired) 1544-09-06 was not in place for US domestic flights, or flights departing from the US.

Delays at US airports for US departures were due to delays in inbound aircraft from international destinations, holiday traffic, and/or an attempt to better perform existing security measures for US domestic departures.

Again, there was/is no change currently to TSA regulations governing passengers on US domestic flights and/or international flights departing from the US.

I can understand why readers here do get confused and ask things like 'can I still take shoes in my carry on' for domestic flights, when there is so much misinformation here. And I also understand the frustration of those posters who did make a valiant effort over the holidays to explain and to reassure. Sadly, their voices are not being heard.

Expect that there well may be changes to US domestic and departing flights in the near future, as this episode has finally exposed to the general American public the fact that airport security in the US is far more lax than in international airports.

But as of this moment, nothing has changed for US domestic and US departing travellers. From the TSA site:

Q: Do passengers need to do anything differently to prepare for checkpoint security procedures? Has anything changed in terms of what passengers can bring in their carry-on or checked bags?
A: At this time, security checkpoint requirements for passengers departing U.S. airports remain the same. Passengers do not need to do anything differently, but they may notice additional security measures at the airport.

http://www.tsa.gov/press/happenings/dec25_guidance.shtm

 

[BCV23]

Well today my family and I got home from Clearwater Beach and I wanted to post my experience of going through the TSA screening at Tampa International Airport since the new changes. Anyway we got into the security line around 11:30 AM and waited only 5 minutes until it was our turn to go through. Well as I expected my carryon bag was searched at and etc because of my two WDW pin bags and my pin lanyard. Anyway it took them a few minutes to go through all the pages and testing the bags, so I just stood there until they said I was ok to leave with them.

Also on another topic the road construction going to Tampa International Airport is virtually finished because we had no problems driving there.

I'm glad things went so smoothly for you. Thanks for the report.

Happy planning for your next CR vacation.

TPA is in the United States, therefore the TSA directives implemented earlier this week would not apply.

(Paging Tozzie to come with the bold and the underline keys to clarify, please!)

I'm quite sure CRFan is aware that Tampa is in the US.

Well, then someone better tell the TSA that Los Angeles is IN the United States as well. We flew into LAX from Phoenix this week and while Phoenix was pretty normal as far as security (if there was extra scrutiny of my carry on it was pretty quick, the bag was ready for me before I got my shoes on, lol).....but the return trip this morning was brutal. It took us more than an hour to get through the security line....I swear the guy was memorizing my driver's license (DH joked for me to not worry about him stalking me since the address is old, lol)....and the same carry on that I brought with me, lighter because the presents were passed out took so long that I not only had my shoes on, but had helped my kid with her shoes, put our jackets on, and stood there long enough that the kid asked if we could go to the plane yet.

So, my guess is that some airports are taking it more serious than others. LAX gets a lot of international traffic obviously, but we were leaving LA to go to Phoenix.....and our plane was going on to Texas not leaving the country.

As we stood waiting I was looking around to see if they were doing a lot of pull-people-aside for extra screening, or the pat downs that the news is talking about, but all I saw was a lot of unsmiling people standing and waiting....so personally, the only extra screening I saw was of the contents of the carry ons.

Glad you made it through. I'm sure you are right that it will vary according to airport and probably even vary at the same airport.

Security directive (now expired) 1544-09-06 was not in place for US domestic flights, or flights departing from the US.

Delays at US airports for US departures were due to delays in inbound aircraft from international destinations, holiday traffic, and/or an attempt to better perform existing security measures for US domestic departures.

Again, there was/is no change currently to TSA regulations governing passengers on US domestic flights and/or international flights departing from the US.

I can understand why readers here do get confused and ask things like 'can I still take shoes in my carry on' for domestic flights, when there is so much misinformation here. And I also understand the frustration of those posters who did make a valiant effort over the holidays to explain and to reassure. Sadly, their voices are not being heard.

Expect that there well may be changes to US domestic and departing flights in the near future, as this episode has finally exposed to the general American public the fact that airport security in the US is far more lax than in international airports.

But as of this moment, nothing has changed for US domestic and US departing travellers. From the TSA site:



http://www.tsa.gov/press/happenings/dec25_guidance.shtm

CRFan and Connie didn't mention that directive. Rather they were probably addressing the last sentence of the TSA's warning that you quoted. Everyone is curious how much extra time to allow at security. CRFan and Connie helped us all.

I think most Americans are painfully aware that security failed in this case. However, the laxness was not at an American airport but rather at international ones. Lots of fault to be passed around in this case.

Here's the latest verbiage from ORD:

http://www.flychicago.com/News/pdf/SecurityPressRelease12-29-09.pdf

We will be allowing a bit of extra time this weekend.

Thanks again, CRFan and Connie.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

You're welcome BCV23.

 

[bavaria]

Lots of fault to be passed around in this case.

Absolutely! General consensus is that a number of US agencies failed, and that the US system is broken.

But rather than hijack the OPs thread, there is already an ongoing discussion about the higher security levels in existence at international airports.

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2358062

 

[BCV23]

Yes, this thread is about a US airport.

Maybe we should all contribute to it with our own experiences in the next few days or weeks as things shake out. O'Hare is supposed to get full body scanners either a) soon or b) within the next six months depending on which source one reads.

 

[agnes!]

We just came through BWI and MCO over Christmas, both were pretty fine, MCO was after Christmas, so everyone there was on edge a little bit.

Something I've noticed at BWI the last couple of times we've gone through is that now they will only have maybe 2 stations open at the screening area (before there would be maybe 4 or 5 open every time), it's almost like going to a Wal-Mart with all those empty cash-register stations and only two or three manned.

The only thing I noticed at MCO is that we got the slowest TSA agent reading through the driver's licenses I've ever seen. The line next to us was going along lickety-split while our line was m-o-v-i-n-g slllllloooooowwwwwwlllllly. TSA did open up an additional line when the line started to build.

agnes!