March 2, 2009 TSA & politeness - mutually exclusive?
MSNBC’s Harriet Baskas says the TSA is trying to wield a new weapon:
Don’t be surprised or alarmed if the next time you go through the security checkpoint at the airport you find TSA staff handing out smiles and warm greetings instead of barked orders, mean looks and stern commands. There may even be some TSA-approved hugging and high-fiving going on back there behind the X-ray machines.
It sounds farfetched, I know. Especially if you’re one of the many travelers who regularly ends up feeling demeaned and harassed at airport checkpoints and believes that the TSA only hires sticky-fingered miscreants who are missing the genes for courtesy and respect. - read the entire article here
Has anyone experienced one of these not-so-random, result-of-training acts of kindness?
Reader Comments (6)
I think I'd be more alarmed if Toronto passport & immigration actually smiled nicely at me!
I must say I've never had a problem with UK security, they were most apologetic when thoroughly searching my carry-on bag at Heathrow T5 departures in December.
I haven't travelled into the States since 1998, but I must confess (upon hearing too many unpleasant stories about attitudes at airports), it did rather put me off crossing the border. If I knew staff were going to 'lighten up' and be allowed to use some common sense, I'd be more tempted to visit.
I have a friend who will be using Seattle airport in May, I sent the article for her to read and comment on when she returns.
I don't expect the TSA to be buddy-buddy. I would just like to be treated with dignity and respect.
Having grown up in a developing country, I can compare the 2 hour border crossings to the security lines at an airport and still make the TSA look good. At least they haven't started asking for bribes yet. But they're inching ever closer to that level.
Well, international flights are different. Border crossings are always more stressful. That being said, while never my BFFs, TSA agents have always been professional and often friendly during my travels.
Is it a regional thing? Are they more gruff and nasty in the super-busy airports? Or on the East Coast of the US rather than my usual routes of Midwest, West, or Pacific Northwest?
Jpj, yes, it's regional. We Seattleites are polite. I go into and out of SeaTac at least four days a week, and I've never met a rude TSA there yet. SFO the same; LAX it counts on the terminal.
The East seems to get the rudest travelers, so I don't blame the TSAs for getting unruly right back at JFK. However, if you want to see the most inept TSA agents on the planet, go to Arizona's Sky Harbor airport outside Phoenix. There was a thread on FlyerTalk describing a clueless agent who stated a Passport Card was not sufficient identification to let a woman onto a plane. Terminal Four's TSA agents are the worst I've EVER seen. All my family now avoids, at any cost, flying on any airline using that terminal.
Trust me, the story is quite possible - in Phoenix you can: get empty coffee mugs taken away 'just because' they hold more than 3 ounces; be told you can't take a carry-on of fruit onto a plane (think something about the size of a Red Oxx Gator) when it was the only carry-on the person had; or even be told your liquids bag had 'too much in it' when it wasn't even full and the ziptop was closed - there were about 50 small samples of different face cleansers/moisturizers in it - and all of them were less than 2ml apiece.
Lest you scoff, all of these things have happened to members of my family. We'd like to avoid that airport altogether, but Mom and Dad bought a house there. Then again, maybe it's just Arizona insanity, and not Sky Harbor - I was actually told at Luke AFB that my passport was not sufficient identification to fulfill a secondary gate ID check (I had a temp paper license with a b/w photo, awaiting my renewal). Yes, someone in uniform, at the base's gate, actually TOLD me that my blue, valid passport was not sufficient identification to prove my citizenship and/or identity. Worse, I'm talking Staff Sarge here.
Puh-leese...
At the Albany airport a few days back, the guy checking IDs greeted me, smiled at me and addressed me by name when he wished me a good flight. I was a little taken aback. I like it though.
Maybe the employee had been transferred from the south where almost everyone is friendly. I had a friend (Tennessee native) who said when he first visited London he made the mistake of holding the door for someone. He finally made it through the door a few minutes later after dozens of other people availed themselves of his southern hospitality.