Expedited security screening for frequent flyers?

fish1260

fish1260

Well-Known Member
I don't know if I have been living under a rock recently, but this evening I caught a glimpse of the late news and they had a piece on the new TSA PreCheck program. While I certainly am not a fan of the way the TSA, works this seems to be a step in the right direction for frequent travelers. Its a great for those who may participate, but for most of us, crews and other 'regular' travelers this does nothing but remind me of the frustration of the daily security hassle.

While PreCheck is no CrewPass or Known Crew Member, it certainly would make life a heck of a lot easier not to dig out the laptop, remove the coat, etc. It drives me crazy how this is getting some press, and being made available much more rapidly than a program for flight crews.

We now have KCM checkpoints at what, 6 airports across the country? I haven't seen a word about KCM in the news, online, or even from ALPA who is sponsoring this right? Is the program dead in the water again?
 
There was a passenger at MCO the other day that held up his iphone to a reader at the TSA checkpoint where they check your id and it scanned a bar code on the iphone. The guy was waived through without an id check. That's the first time I've seen that. The reader was right in front of the TSA podium. Anyone have a short answer to exactly what that is?

Joe
 
JOEFRIDAY2 said:
There was a passenger at MCO the other day that held up his iphone to a reader at the TSA checkpoint where they check your id and it scanned a bar code on the iphone. The guy was waived through without an id check. That's the first time I've seen that. The reader was right in front of the TSA podium. Anyone have a short answer to exactly what that is?

Joe
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I've done that with my Delta boarding pass but still had to show an ID.
 
JOEFRIDAY2 said:
The reader was right in front of the TSA podium. Anyone have a short answer to exactly what that is?
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I would say you can go through a TSA checkpoint at least 20% of the time without showing ID, or even a boarding pass. They are humans, doing a busy, monotonous job. Just say "I'm with them" and follow a crew member, or say "you already looked at my boarding pass," or just lift up the rope and walk past them. What are they going to do? Most of the time - nothing.
 
You know I was just airlining home the other day out of ATL, and I noticed the "Frequent Flyer" line. I actually missed the entrance to it, but I'm curious what the differences really are, and how they handle the frequent flyers vs the regular line
 
JOEFRIDAY2 said:
There was a passenger at MCO the other day that held up his iphone to a reader at the TSA checkpoint where they check your id and it scanned a bar code on the iphone. The guy was waived through without an id check. That's the first time I've seen that. The reader was right in front of the TSA podium. Anyone have a short answer to exactly what that is?

Joe
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It wasn't the mobile (if you have a smartphone) boarding pass that he was scanning the bar code of?
 
Mark815 said:
You know I was just airlining home the other day out of ATL, and I noticed the "Frequent Flyer" line. I actually missed the entrance to it, but I'm curious what the differences really are, and how they handle the frequent flyers vs the regular line
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Keep shoes on, laptops stay in bags
 
drunkenbeagle said:
Keep shoes on, laptops stay in bags
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That's it huh? hmm kind of interesting. How do they know if you're a frequent flier or not? Is there a list? I mean in ATL it seemed like you chose either line A which was frequent fliers, or line B which was general public.
 
JOEFRIDAY2 said:
There was a passenger at MCO the other day that held up his iphone to a reader at the TSA checkpoint where they check your id and it scanned a bar code on the iphone. The guy was waived through without an id check. That's the first time I've seen that. The reader was right in front of the TSA podium. Anyone have a short answer to exactly what that is?

Joe
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The only thing you've ever really needed to get through security with whatever you want, is an unintelligent TSA worker to let you through because you've confused them to the point where they think they should let you through. No offense to any individual TSA worker, but some of them are not fit for the job of security person. They do not grasp the importance of what they are supposed to be doing, but aren't.

Terrible, terrible security in this country.

Everyone should read this entire thing if they haven't already:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/11/the-things-he-carried/7057/
 
"My Beerbelly, which fit comfortably over my beer belly, contained two cans’ worth of Bud Light at the time of the inspection. It went undetected."
wow

That's a pretty interesting article, and explains exactly why it's all smoke and mirrors. It's truly amazing that the American people are okay with their government spending billions upon billions of dollars on a smoke and mirror show, all in the name of "Security". I airlined twice this week, and its just a joke. For the second time in two months, I witnessed an old disabled woman in a wheel chair be forced to stand up, and struggle through the body scanner machine. It's an organization that needs to be done away with. I wouldn't feel any more vulnerable or less safe if the TSA was done away with tomorrow.
 
Mark815 said:
"My Beerbelly, which fit comfortably over my beer belly, contained two cans’ worth of Bud Light at the time of the inspection. It went undetected."
wow

That's a pretty interesting article, and explains exactly why it's all smoke and mirrors. It's truly amazing that the American people are okay with their government spending billions upon billions of dollars on a smoke and mirror show, all in the name of "Security". I airlined twice this week, and its just a joke. For the second time in two months, I witnessed an old disabled woman in a wheel chair be forced to stand up, and struggle through the body scanner machine. It's an organization that needs to be done away with. I wouldn't feel any more vulnerable or less safe if the TSA was done away with tomorrow.
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Just wondering what the old disabled woman should have gone through? She shouldn't be subjected to the same rules or policies?
 
Bigey said:
Just wondering what the old disabled woman should have gone through? She shouldn't be subjected to the same rules or policies?
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Take her through the metal detector like I did. It's stupid, and it's the second time I've witnessed it. They let people who are healthy go through the metal detector, but they randomly screen a disabled woman in a wheel chair? The rules and policies of the TSA are beyond stupid and need to be totally revamped if not done away with. I'm all for hiring private companies that may actually know what their doing, instead of trusting our security to people who simply 'needed a job'.And the worst part is, it's government so it might never go away.

The first time I witnessed an elderly person having to deal with this issue was a couple months ago, and the agents were actually getting visibly frustrated with the woman. They had to help her out of her wheelchair, and they kept telling her to raise her arms completely above her head for the scanner, and she wasn't able to do it. You could see her arms shaking as she tried to get them up, in fact one of the screeners actually had to hold her arms up, and looked very annoyed while doing it. This is what air travel has come to? I don't blame people one bit for wanting to drive or take a train instead of driving.
 
These "privileges" that are being passed to these passengers should also be given to all crew members, in or out of uniform. We have all been very well screened and our backgrounds checked above and beyond the additional personal details these passengers are providing. Our information has not only been screened by our company, but the TSA themselves, and several other gov't agencies.
 
I saw the same piece about the frequent flyers line and it requires, at a minimum, being fingerprinted and providing unspecified personal information. More and more, we're being required to offer our fingerprints. I had to submit to fingerprinting to get a new driver's license. It irked me to no end! I probably wouldn't give my prints to Homeland Security just to get through the security lines faster, but I don't travel every day like many of you.
 
I do travel by air pretty much of the time, and it annoys me to no end.

Seriously, I remember going through less crap in the military than I do with TSA every day, and the Air Force let me wander around things that could certainly cause damage even in the right hands.
 
Sisson2011 said:
These "privileges" that are being passed to these passengers should also be given to all crew members, in or out of uniform. We have all been very well screened and our backgrounds checked above and beyond the additional personal details these passengers are providing. Our information has not only been screened by our company, but the TSA themselves, and several other gov't agencies.
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This.

My SIDA badge required a 10yr background check and fingerprinting, but try to bring toothpaste on board a plane and I might get arrested
 
Sisson2011 said:
These "privileges" that are being passed to these passengers should also be given to all crew members, in or out of uniform. We have all been very well screened and our backgrounds checked above and beyond the additional personal details these passengers are providing. Our information has not only been screened by our company, but the TSA themselves, and several other gov't agencies.
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I was wondering the exact same thing. It seems to get into the program you have to pay $100 and go through an interview process before getting clearance. The website is Global Entry and they also do the Nexus program as well as other similar programs. I did not know that they had another program for entry into the Netherlands called FLUX which is similar to NEXUS for Canada and SENTRI for Mexico
 
I was at the employee bus stop at my local favorite domicile airport and listening to 3 TSA folks bitch. They knew themselves what they do is just utter stupidity. It was actually very enlightening. They were just as disgusted as we, and the general public are about how the security measures really are nothing but akin to locking the door on a soft top jeep wrangler.
 
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