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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!"
But I'd pay double to just be shot out of a cannon at the target landing zone or something - anything instead of having to spend the rest of the 6 hour journey with the same people I had to stand in line with.
Secuity theater has been on the decline from comedy to tragedy for a while. Now it is simply a farce. It is about control and money and the illusion of security.
Silence is a state of mime.
Now only terrorists who can afford the $100 can take a bomb on your plane.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
...but I didn't expect it to be just cash money, and I certainly didn't expect it to be so low.
You could do the same thing, but cheaper. Seriously, how is this fundamentally different from legalized bribery?
-- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong. - Dire Straits
The TSA's new program, Precheck, is free (right now it's by invitation only though). The $100 is for Global Entry, the program that lets you skip the lines for immigration. If you have Global Entry you automatically get Precheck, but Global Entry is not necessary for Precheck.
I hate the TSA as much as the next guy (probably more than most since I'm an international student and have to put up with their stupid security theater often), but get your facts straight.
It's not exactly like that, and it's not exactly new. First you have to pass a rigorous background check, the same one I passed to work for an airline.
Indeed! WTF?! What the fuck took them so long?
Unless... oh dear... don't tell me they ever actually thought they were making us safer. I mean, I know the gate jockeys who feel you up or bark at you to stand still while they look through your clothes are actually convinced they're standing between terrorists and our safety, but I guess I just assumed that the guys at the top, the ones who completed high school, were smart enough to realize they were scamming us.
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.
To do this, you go through a background check and TSA interview, plus pay $100. It's an outgrowth of the SENTRI and Global Entry programs, which let you avoid the long immigration lines when returning to the US. And yes, it's worth every penny if you fly a lot.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
The article makes it seem as though the offer will only be extended to those who, due to flying frequently, are invited to the program by air lines. So really it is for CEOs, celebrities, and politicians that fly frequently to avoid those few run-ins that they have had in the past. Maybe it is just cynicism, but I am feeling like this is just "we are trying to be better" posturing masking an attempt hopefully prevent accidentally groping someone that can use their social position to have their voice easily heard by a large number of people.
I just need to not have a history of not being a suicide bomber?
Is it as rigorous as the background check needed to be hired as a TSA employee?
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
Yeah- you have be able to order pizza (and read the ad on the box) or pump gas (and read the ad on the pump).
Yes- the TSA hires from ads on Pizza boxes and gas pumps.
http://www.federalnewsradio.com/?nid=97&sid=2000678
So the choice is rigorous background check or rigorous backside check. Great!
Silence is a state of mime.
I think you have a misunderstanding of the context. Sure, there are more than 7 terrorists in the world. But the air transport industry handles 2.75 billion customers each year. Of those 2.75 billion per year, if only 2-3 are terrorists looking to actively carry out an act of terrorism in the air, then he is correct.
I haven't seen a terrorist since 9/11. Have you?
and always been at war with Iran. The ministry of truth keeps all the old newspapers updated so that I can verify that fact.
Did you hear that the chocolate rations are going up again?
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
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.
so... you enjoy the probing...
"it still beats dealing with the airlines"
> Yes- the TSA hires from ads on Pizza boxes and gas pumps.
That explains a great deal.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Here's what I object to about paying for the 'security' card: I'm a 'safe' citizen - No criminal record, no issues etc. So in effect every time I step in front of an officer at security I'm eating up the (expensive) valuable resources of a trained officer who would be better served questioning more 'suspicious' characters.
If I consented to a check, the governments of the USA and Canada would not have to waste valuable resources asking me questions any more, and would in fact save themselves money. Instead, they charge *me* money for the ability to repurpose their officers. They should be encouraging as many 'safe' citizens as possible to get these cards (for free) so security can be more efficient, and cheaper to operate.
I object to this non-sensical government tax grab.
It's not exactly like that, and it's not exactly new. First you have to pass a rigorous background check, the same one I passed to work for an airline.
Yeah, exactly, you have a pass a rigorous background check that will ensure that under no circumstances can you be bribed or threatened into bringing a bomb onto a plane by threatening or giving a pile of money to your family. First rule of security. Treat all people the same. Anyone getting special treatment is a huge liability.
Yeah- you have be able to order pizza (and read the ad on the box) or pump gas (and read the ad on the pump).
I think I've seen those ads on matchbook covers too - "Can you draw this clown? You might qualify to become a TSA Agent!"
#DeleteChrome
Not anyone. A lot of us have understood how stupid they are from the get go.
Still too many points of weakness. What's to stop someone from stealing a passport and going through the low-security line as them?
From the article:
"We can reduce the size of the haystack when we are looking for that one-in-a-billion terrorist," said TSA Administrator John Pistole.
Wow.
So if there's 7 Billion people in the world, then... there are only 7 people we need to find. Wow we're wasting a lot of time, money, and resources at the airports.
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.
The US airlines created this problem. By charging ridiculous baggage fees, they are practically forcing you to carry-on everything but the kitchen sink.
Luckily in Europe, baggage fees are mostly an exception (oversize and extra pieces over the normal limit, excess weight, etc) and this problem does not exist. Even when I fly to/from the US on a codeshare flight booked on a European carrier, I don't have to pay the baggage fees even if some segments are on US carriers.
In the event of an emergency your bag would be an obstacle to other passengers exiting the plane. There are reasons that such rules are in place.
They should really do quite the opposite, charge people for carry-ons, and checked baggage is free.
It would speed up the security checkpoints.
It would speed up boarding.
It would give everyone who actually needs to carry on baggage (people with medicine, kids, etc.) a much easier time finding space close to their seat.
-mrxak
Onions Will Kill You