My experience flying from Las Vegas: TSA is ????
 

My experience with the TSA.

The last time I flew in the US was in 2002, just a year after 9/11.
Though i was only 12 at the time, I fully knew and was prepared to wait in an unending line, fully checked at security, and then finally let onto the plane.
Now i'm not saying that security shouldn't be this tight, but it's the attitude of the people working there - the way that they take everything by the books and allow 0 tolerance for ANYTHING and everything.

NOTE: Nothing particularly spectacular happened to me or my girlfriend, it's what we observed that led me to write this short piece.

Our Flight: Bellingham to Las vegas return trip.

AT BELLINGHAM:
Small airport, lots of people. The TSA guys here were polite, kind, and generally made maximum use of their time and space to push everyone thru as quickly as possible. Signs were up at the beginning of the line to remind people of their shoes, wallets, laptops etc to smooth everything out. Basically if you can read English then the process was relaxed and a breeze. No problems here except for the little space they have.

At Las Vegas:
Big airport, lots of tourists, a crapton of space. You see, common sense dictates that when you have 7-8 lines for clearing security, the officer up front directing passengers should MAXIMIZE the use of the lanes, and DISTRIBUTE THE LOAD; so why is it that the poor grandma in front of us got sent to the longest line and myself and my girlfriend get sent to a short short line with only 2 families in front? DISTRIBUTE THE LANES... NOT BUILD A FUCKING PYRAMID - THERES A PRETTY GOOD ONE OUTSIDE THE AIRPORT CALLED LUXOR

Yelling: why yell at the passengers that are literally 2 feet in front of you? why can a small airport have signs that tell passengers what they need to place in the trays, yet a large extravegant airport such as McCarran need to have yelling officers? Man, please next time just punch me since we were so close anyways.

Now comes the part that pissed me off the most.
The milliwave scanner (full-body naked scanner) clearly had a sign next to it that read "USE OF THIS SCANNER IS OPTIONAL, YOU CAN REQUEST FOR A FULL BODY PATDOWN INSTEAD". With a female officer standing there doing nothing, my girlfriend opted for the full-body patdown as she felt uncomfortable with the scanner. So why did the TSA officer decline her request for a female officer, and told her that unless she wanted to be "patted down and felt up" by a male officer that she MUST use the body scanner? The female officer was literally standing there, hands on hips, chatting to another officer! LEARN WHAT OPTIONAL MEANS. My girlfriend gave a brief sigh and I told her the images weren't saved and only viewed by dude in the basement, and she went through the machine.

Making jokes about terrorism: I guess that 3-4 year old kid in front of us really meant it when he made the "beep beep beep boom" sound when he was in the full body scanner, which is why him and his parents got a little talk from you guys, and having all their hand carry luggage opened up.

As we left the security checkpoint we looked back. How many people were being fully checked? luggage opened and all that fun stuff? well each lane had at least one family/person being checked. To nobody's surprise, they were all non-caucasian minus the kid and his family in front of us. I wonder how many of those families were told they were getting a "RANDOM SECURITY CHECK"?

We are all normal people trying to get to a destination of our choice. I saw this lineup as nothing but an insult to our privacy, freedom to travel, and dignity as a human being. I understand that security is of a big concern, especially after 9/11 and the underwear bomber - but what I saw was closer to a queue to be indoc'd to a prison rather than boarding an airplane. Why can't TSA officers be people that treat other persons like people? please and thank yous would be nice, a little smile or even a neutral face would be better than the frown i saw from everyone. I have honestly never experienced an airport experience like this before, in Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, where-ever. As the country that basically invented mass air travel, I AM DISAPPOINT.

/rant

I've never had issues with the TSA but I've had issues at YVR and YYZ.

u were 11 during 9/11... damn i feel old. lol.


I've flown numerous times over the last decade and have never had an issue with the TSA.

I just did both airports this week and had nothing but excellent service at both airports, especially in Vegas.

How does OP even have a GF with a stupid rant like this?

OP, while I agree with you 100% about the inconvenience and hassle of travelling to a big US city in a post 9/11 world, we, as foreign nationals, have to remember that entering the United States, a sovereign country, is a privilege, not a right. Getting scanned, patted down, luggage searched is all voluntary since you chose to enter the US.

hear hear, this man speaks the truth.

yes but they act like gestapo to their own citizenry too

the issue is this will just detract people from traveling to or thru the US; i know many people who don't even travel to the US anymore and opt for pricier direct flights to their destination instead of stopping in the US since a trip is supposed to be a carefree/happy occasion (unless you're working) not a stressful; agonizing one

I haven't had an issue they've been rather polite even though they look like they're tired from working all day but family/friends/etc all have

Slightly NSFW language.

If you've experienced TSA, you'll appreciate this vid.

There are certain "qualities" one must have (or don't have?) in order to take a job whose main duty is to feel up and grope others all day, including little children.

But the biggest joke of all are those who actually believe the TSA will protect them from "terrorists"-whatever that means.

If you think this is bad, wait till you realize it's worse for pilots :troll:

^^^^ that reminds me I heard a pilots union has recommended that pilots do not opt for the xray screening

that coupled with the news that the main doctor who signed off on their use says he wouldn't have if he knew the frequency that people were going to be xray'd

means if you're sane you should opt for the groping but wtf -_-


what's funny is the so-called "underwear bomber" was escorted through security without being screened and didn't have a passport according to witnesses waiting to board the same flight. Dutch intelligence said not true according to video surveillance the guy was alone and had a passport but never made footage available to the public the FBI later said they were attempting to look for the underwear bombers escort hmm...

this is a terrible rant
OP sounds like someone that rarely/never leaves town

I've had nothing but good experience with TSA

the american officers in YVR are worst imo.

i'd touch your girlfriend's tits too

I remember my first flight too

nope, as a matter in fact I haven't flown for the past 7 years.
:troll:



can't wait till I get to use the staff line :fullofwin:

My main point is that... at least make it efficient; and if you are going to make something optional, at least make sure it's really optional, and not unless you want to "(fill in the blanks)"

Because I care.

man wait till u go china, shit there is worst

This is an alternate point of view, but the confusion could stem from the fact that the sign didn't operationalize the meaning of the word "optional". From the point of view of the agents and the administration that created the rule, it could have meant that an individual could petition for the full body pat-down (or optional for the agent to decide, not passengers) but it does necessarily mean that they have to agree and is still subjectively determined. I would assume they have the last say.

I also could not agree with your post on the lines that it interfered with your freedom to travel. Well at least for me, I believe it is a privilege to be entering the USA, let alone any other country. Plus, there's lots of information online and it is widely known that many personal freedoms were lost in 9/11, unfortunately, everyone has to deal with the more restrictive rules. As for the inefficiencies, you weren't late or missed your flight? had to wait an extra 10 minutes? not a big deal.

As for responding to the child, might be just policy. Who knows, maybe he really is revealing something. I don't blame the agents, who wants to take a chance? too many "what ifs" and its not like it'll take an insanely long amount of time to search their luggage. Their already paid to be there.

I think after the first major annoyance, you and your girlfriend just started paying more attention to everything the agents did that was in your eyes unjustified. Don't blame you, that's a human response, and I've done it myself in the past. Been to McCarran airport once and did not have any complaints, though I will say it was a neutral experience. Flew out around 7-8ish in the PM and there was very few people in the airport at the time so the security checkpoint was typical.

The biggest hassle I have ever had was flying back to vancouver after coachella. Customs ripped apart my bag as I said...."hey you know this is just my carry on right....the only bag I have has already made it through the security line ups to get on a plane.. "They replied angrily, "well where is your other bag?!" I didn't have one. I took 3 t shirts, some boxers, and a pair of shorts. It was an odd experience. Its like they thought I got a hand off of drugs and guns 40000 feet in the air. The guys at peach arch getting into the states are the real cocksuckers, but as said, I choose to go there, so I guess I have to put up with their shit.

i remember coming back to vancouver for the summer in july from china & it was a real pain in the ass

i went throught the security check point & those dumb ass would just pile everything in so when the look at the screen it just looks like everything is just mixed together

so then they pulled me & this mid east guy over cuz they duno which bag had a lighter inside, man that was the biggest bullshit ever as they keep asking the mid east guy questions but dude duno any lick of chinese

so i told them that dude duno a lick of chinese & they told me to shut the fuck up, so i got mad at this point & just say hey knock it off this guy works for the uni-arab embassy

then i said that im translator for the transportation department & i know your head, so at this point they got scared & told use if was a mix up

so the dude with the lighter was the guy ahead of us & they never found him i guess

also dude its the usa, im pretty sure that so call freedom is no longer exist thanks to all the paranoid ppl out there in the states

There's your problem, there is no common sense in this world anymore.

It's funny to observe how some people never seem to have problems with TSA or the borders where as some people are completely hassled every fucking time.

You guys must meet some sort of profile; whatever that is :lol

op i get the impression that u are quite young and this is one of your first trips to a big airport by yourself? the lil kid wih the sounds is pretty fucked up tho lol

ive had issues with rudeness every single time i fly, both with american and canadian agents. except in bellingham and utah. ive also never got anything remotely rude from international agents. im sorry but unless its a small town, its an american and canadian thing not a culture thing