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Pay the TSA $100 and Bypass Airport Security
An anonymous reader writes "Catching a flight in the U.S. isn't a great experience anymore due to the security checks involved. You have to remove your shoes, your belt, get your laptop out, be scanned and subjected to radiation in the process. Hundreds of other people are doing the same thing, meaning it takes 40 minutes instead of four. Now, the TSA has come up with a clever, money-making alternative. Instead of scaling back security or speeding it up, you can instead pay $100 and bypass it completely!"
Even better! Now the somewhere-just-above-middle-of-bottom sheep get to feel more important than the sheep who weren't invited to enjoy shorter lines in Citizen+ class!
Nothing destroys somebody's motivation to deal with the torrent of shit flowing down the hill quite like the knowledge that there is somebody just a bit further down than he is. With any luck, we will soon be rolling the program out to cover traffic offenses, modest drug possession, and suspicion of tax fraud, making dealing with the justice system easier and more comfortable for the people who count.
The article mentioned a couple things that have profoundly disturbing implications when considered together:
1) This expedited screening program is by invitation only.
2) The TSA agents staffing the expedited checkpoints are smiling and extra-friendly.
So now, air travel has a caste system. VIPs (everybody who might possibly have a chance to successfully reform/dismantle the TSA) get kid glove treatment, and the filthy plebes get the rude assholes who steal stuff from your luggage and molest your children with complete impunity.
Joy.
I got Global Entry. My interview was touch-and-go. I got grilled pretty heavily and finally the agent said "Why are you nervous? Are you nervous?" and I was like "I wasn't nervous until now" and then he asked "are you on any medication?" I thought for sure I was going to get denied, but I passed.
We make fun of TSA a lot but they do do a background check on you, the interview is looking for certain tells, and even with the pre-check you never know when you'll go through the expedited line or express. I'm betting the agent that scans the BP can also look for tells and push you through the normal line even if the BP says you can go through the quick one.
Also, Global Entry really delivers on re-entry into the country, especially if you're sitting up front. I'm in my car 10 minutes after the door opens (I know where to park right outside the arrivals hall, which helps too)
How exactly is it a rigorous background check for only $100? Before hiring employees, most large financial services firms spend thousands on background checks. In fact it cost an old company I worked at nearly $20k to anal probe, urine test, and strip search me when they went to hire me.
I haven't seen a terrorist since 9/11. Have you?
You work for the airline. It's expected as part of your employment. Freedom of travel is a protected liberty. All air travelers have to be treated equally since the government forces certain security checks before flying. That is fine. What is happening now is that there is discrimination based on wealth and probably nationality (you know who will NEVER get a prescreening invite). The government cannot do either; it's illegal and in violation of equal protection laws. Wealth discrimination by private companies (i.e. airlines offering first class services) is not illegal, but it is for the government.
I fly first class. And I love the fact the lines are shorter (hell, I pay extra almost for that alone). But precheck is a separate lane (at least at McCarran) it's just that VIP/1st class gets you to that lane (it branches off from VIP/1st class). I don't know about other airports though.
But this article is a trip to me. Last Sunday I flew back (1st class) from Vegas, and of course was using the 1st class lane, but they had me take the Precheck lane for the TSA screening. I had NO idea at all what that lane was and was really wondering why I got singled out to go through it. And until this article pretty much forgot about the whole thing.
From reading the article, there was no reason at all I should have been in that lane. I don't fly internationally, I've never submitted to a customs screening of any sort and so on (and from the article it's American and Delta flights, I was Alaska).
TSA is goofy.
Still too many points of weakness. What's to stop someone from stealing a passport and going through the low-security line as them?
Ooh! "Citizen+". I love it. As it happens, I'm in the Global Entry/Sentri program (cross the Mexico/US border at Tijuana a lot for work), and the signs at the beginning where you walk past the 1-2 hour-long 'non Sentri' line to the 10 minute Sentri line are completely unguarded. I think a few "Citizen+ Line" stickers might be in order..
Let's see ... I've had rejected:
The problem was that the first three of 'em were at the same time. It went down something like this: (I show my agency badge). "You need to show a government issued ID." "It was issued by NASA". "I can't accept that." "They let me fly here showing this" "I can't accept it, you need to show other ID" (I show my student ID). "We don't accept student ID cards". "It was issued by the University of Maryland, which is under the state government, so it's a government issued ID". "No, we don't take student ID cards, I need to see something else". (I pull out my military dependant ID). "I have this, but it's expired." (he writes 'no ID' on the boarding pass, and sends me for a pat down).
Note ... he never asked for a driver's license, which yes, I had on me. He just kept repeating 'government ID', but then kept rejecting them when I showed them.
Now technically the first one didn't comply with the full requirements, because it didn't have my height or eye color on it, but I used it for years without problems (it didn't have any identifying information other than a last name and a picture, but it was a hell of a lot more functional than the current one, as it had in HUGE text what the damned expiration on it was).
The sad one was when I got rejected because I gave my new 'unified' government ID. The guy's not rejecting it, he's just turning it over in his hands, looking at both sides ... spent a minute or two looking, finally, I asked him if there was a problem, and he replied "I've never seen one of these before", to which I replied, "You're wearing one". "I mean a NASA one" "It's the same as yours, but it says NASA on it" "Do you have some other ID on you?" (I then pulled out my driver's license, as I didn't have the others on me).
... and the really sad thing ... back in high school (before 2001), I worked summers for a DoD office that was across the street from the Pentagon. One day, I was making the mail run, and realized I didn't have my wallet, which had my military dependant ID, which was my normal picture ID, as the summer badge didn't have a picture on it. I dug through my bag, and managed to find a Photon (sort of like laser tag) ID -- a hand-filed out crappily laminated card, but it had my name and a picture ... and the guard let me in (without even going through the metal detector, as I had the summer badge)
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
Yes, people under 40 see what's happening. Why do you think Ron Paul is consistently crushing his GOP primary rivals in the 18-30 bracket? It's the old people -- the ones who should know better, having lived through the Cold War and hearing stories of evil commies doing the same things we're doing now -- who drag us down with a succession of Bushes, Clintons, and Obamas.
It's a simple concept, called "Divide and Conquer."
Simply create many classes of privilege to discourage collective action. This technique has worked very well for many years.
Why the heck doesn't anyone who has a CAC/PID, the government's trusted ID card used by civilians, military and contractors have access to these lines? The government already spent plenty of cash doing background checks on these people.
My card (the standard gov issued one) gets me into the whitehouse (even the west wing) with an escort, with the security screen process being less intrusive than going through an airport. Heck, the west wing doesn't even have any screening. The guard just opens the gate and lets you in.
Bring back the old version of slashdot.