Ziplock Security
Published on 2 Jan 2007 at 6:27 pm.
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Filed under Politics, Airlines, Etcetera, etcetera.
Thanks to Anna Quindlen for her column in Newsweek about the current state of airport security. I travel frequently and the experience is like a fraternity hazing. One word of complaint and you can wind up holding your arms up, feet apart, until you miss your flight.
What we have is kabuki theater, not security. Only people with very little insight would believe these measures actually increase our safety. Security you can see offer very little protection. Any frequent flyer can tell you 20 ways a terrorist could evade the observable system. I could go into detail but I’m not interested in winding up in at Gitmo.
As Quindlen explains:
The whole cockeyed system has become a symbol of the shortcomings of government programs and responses. It’s expensive, arbitrary and infuriating; it turns low-wage line workers into petty despots. And instead of making Americans feel safer, its sheer silliness illuminates how impotent we are in the face of terrorism.
Suffice it to say that every scientist I’ve asked says the 3 oz. bottle/quart-size plastic bag requirement is pure nonsense. Why not be honest and acknowledge that you can make a set of fake fingernails (or a 3 oz. bottle) out of plastique? But instead of figuring out what the real risks are, and addressing them in some efficient order, this government in its infinite wisdom has decreed what kind of deodorant I use.
And, as Quindlen notes, this nonsense is expensive. But she failed to describe the full cost, which includes the extra hours spent checking in at airports, and time waiting for checked bags. This faux security adds up to a huge tax on travelers, from the airport security fees added to every ticket to the extortionate price for a “secure” bottle of water to bring on a plane.
There is also a significant amount of pilferage from unlocked luggage. I’ve lost power cords and other computer equipment, and the airlines frankly admit that theft is up. How can we keep terrorists from putting things ON our planes if we can’t stop TSA and airport employees from taking things OUT of our bags? Maybe they only search people on their way to work!
Two weeks ago, I left my lumbar cushion on a plane arriving from Mexico. Because I had already entered customs, they would not let me return to the plane although I realized immediatly that I had done it. Airport personnel assured me that the plane would be searched and cleaned, because it was coming in from Mexico. That made sense, because Mexican airport security is even more of a joke. Effective security procedures would require that flight to be checked carefully for items left onboard before it took off.
But despite my immediate request to the airline—made in the airport that is that airline’s hub—I never got my pillow back. The airline swears it was never turned in. Either the plane was not checked, the item (left in a seat) was somehow overlooked, or it was taken by airline personnel.
Sigh. Just another tax on travelers.
Shame on this Administration for imposing these needless and wasted costs on travelers under the sham of national security.
Buff