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In my eyes, it was harassment. I was at the Houston Hobby airport and was selected for a trial pre-TSA line, where I didn’t have to stand in a long line. Maybe it was because I didn’t have any carry-ons or merely selected at random? I STILL had to stand in the RAPESCAN to be searched and then selected again for a friskdown, but didn’t have to remove my shoes. I was shocked to see them frisk an elderly lady in a wheelchair who had to be at least in her 80s. When I got to the line, all he did was a pat down of my shoulders! I thought that they weren’t supposed to be concerned with those 75 years and up?
You thought wrong! It's so easy to hide something in a wheelchair. The elderly are typically very unsuspecting and can easily be used to send something through security. Everyone gets searched who goes through security and only a handful don't go through security like airport employees because they've already gone through a huge screening process. Most employees don't have access to the planes. The flight crews usually go through security without trouble, but I have watched them get searched as well which seemed odd, but hey better safe than sorry.
I am disabled and I don't go through the Machine. I get wanded and patted down and it is no big deal.The one time I was really put out was after all that when I got pulled aside, by ticket number, and they searched my carry on. The problem I had was they did this just as the plane started loading. So by the time I got to load the plane was nearly full and it was much harder for me, then the usual pre-boarding for wheelchair patrons. Again, not harassment but it was a PITA, none the less.
[quote=markg91359;51399159]Perhaps, so. The question though that needs to be asked is why such a person doesn't get an automatic pass?
The reply is probably: Welllll.....there is always the possibility that an eighty year old man in a wheel chair might be smuggling a bomb on board a plane.
No one asks the question though how much of a risk this is. Its obviously a very slender risk.
This is the problem with TSA and its rules. I think it would be wise to focus more of the resources that exist on young men and women in their twenties particularly who are not of a white Caucasian background. Statistics would tell us that is where the most likely risk to airline security exists.
Its the refusal to adopt this kind of strategy that makes me think of TSA as a bunch of keystone cops.[/QUOTE
So you think that any American of black, Hispanic or Asian should be considered to be high risks? No matter your obvious narrow attitudes, we are ALL Americans!
Using the word "rapescan" to describe a machine gives the impression you're someone itching for a reason to find injustice and feel like a victim. Congrats, you succeeded
People who consider the scanners "Rape Scans" or patting someone down is harassment can choose not to fly!
Flying is not a right. If you don't like the precautions needed to make sure everyone on the flight is safe, do not buy a ticket. It is a choice.
I enjoy flying. The security stuff is a bit annoying but not a big deal. I have been selected for additional security checks a few times and did not see it as overly invasive or any threat to my rights.
'Flying' may not be a 'right', but traveling throughout the country *is*. Airlines are private transportation companies, the taxpayers should not be supporting government security services on their behalf. Security services should be solely the purview of the transportation company, and associated costs born entirely by the passengers paying for the service.
I think it would be wise to focus more of the resources that exist on young men and women in their twenties particularly who are not of a white Caucasian background. Statistics would tell us that is where the most likely risk to airline security exists.
What an arrogant and racist comment.
I am dark-skinned but not a Muslim. In fact, my people have been victims of Islamic terror. Are you saying that I am automatically more suspicious than white people because of my skin colour? Are you freakin serious right now?
Did you notice the races of the people who committed terror attacks in Vegas, in Austin and in New York? Yeah, all white.
From my perspective, there are two demographics who need to be profiled:
1. White people.
2. Muslims (who can be of any race, so impossible to identify by appearance unless they choose to exhibit it through their clothing choices)
I am dark-skinned but not a Muslim. In fact, my people have been victims of Islamic terror. Are you saying that I am automatically more suspicious than white people because of my skin colour? Are you freakin serious right now?
Did you notice the races of the people who committed terror attacks in Vegas, in Austin and in New York? Yeah, all white.
From my perspective, there are two demographics who need to be profiled:
1. White people.
2. Muslims (who can be of any race, so impossible to identify by appearance unless they choose to exhibit it through their clothing choices)
Sorry if the truth hurts.
This is what the men who hijacked the planes on 9/11 looked like.
If I were trying to prevent future such hijackings, I would profile. I would build profiles similar to these men. Race certainly wouldn't be the only factor, but yes it would be a factor. And it makes more sense than the kind of politically correct nonsense that goes on at every airport terminal in the USA 24/7.
Spending the same amount of time screening the 21 year old single man from abroad and a 75 year old woman who is in a wheelchair and lives in Middle Town, USA is poor use of resources and could only happen in the USA I am convinced.
I am tired of the argument that since anything could conceivably happen virtually any kind of pre-screening and security are justified.
If I were trying to prevent future such hijackings, I would profile. I would build profiles similar to these men. Race certainly wouldn't be the only factor, but yes it would be a factor. And it makes more sense than the kind of politically correct nonsense that goes on at every airport terminal in the USA 24/7.
Spending the same amount of time screening the 21 year old single man from abroad and a 75 year old woman who is in a wheelchair and lives in Middle Town, USA is poor use of resources and could only happen in the USA I am convinced.
1. Those men were all Arabs. There is a difference between screening "all non-Caucasian people" and "Arabs". (Excuse my political incorrectness). Or are you unable to distinguish between Arabic-looking folks and other brown folk?
2. TSA folks do not check passports or citizenship. How the hell are they to know if a 21 year old single man is American or not? How are they to know if the wheelchair lady is American or not? Only airline, immigration and customs agents check passports and ID, not TSA.
2. TSA folks do not check passports or citizenship. How the hell are they to know if a 21 year old single man is American or not? How are they to know if the wheelchair lady is American or not? Only airline, immigration and customs agents check passports and ID, not TSA.
This isn't correct.
There is always a TSA agent who checks IDs and compares it to name on boarding pass right at the entrance to the security line. Customs/Immigration handles incoming international passengers, TSA handles access to the secure areas of the airport which always involves showing an ID and a boarding pass.
Went from Las Vegas to Houston last month. Coming back from Houston was easy and very professional. Getting out of Las Vegas was just short of having a colonoscopy.
Im sorry they treated you like that...... I have read the TSA treats most people very badly.... They just do it to see how much people will let them get away with.....
Have they EVER stopped someone at a TSA checkpoint with something amiss? (I dont think they have (Not that I have heard))
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