Pilots will be exempted from screening?

The next step will be to put the kybosh on gate agents lording over us on the way down to the plane. Just give us the codes to the jetway doors, at least at the hubs! In fact, I think that sharing those codes might be a company to company thing....but the agents where I work sure do lord it over you, and heaven help you if you go back up to the terminal to use the restroom then go back down the jetway without consulting with them. SIR! SIR! WHO ARE YOU? WHO ARE YOU? YOU HAVE TO CHECK WITH ME FIRST! IT'S TSA REGULATIONS !!!11! (even though you just stood in front of them and showed them your ID 5 minutes ago). It's especially annoying when you get up at 0330 to show up at 0500 then have to sit there and wait around because the agents can't be bothered to come up and let you down to the airplane.

/rant
 
Alchemy said:
The next step will be to put the kybosh on gate agents lording over us on the way down to the plane. Just give us the codes to the jetway doors, at least at the hubs! In fact, I think that sharing those codes might be a company to company thing....but the agents where I work sure do lord it over you, and heaven help you if you go back up to the terminal to use the restroom then go back down the jetway without consulting with them. SIR! SIR! WHO ARE YOU? WHO ARE YOU? YOU HAVE TO CHECK WITH ME FIRST! IT'S TSA REGULATIONS !!!11! (even though you just stood in front of them and showed them your ID 5 minutes ago). It's especially annoying when you get up at 0330 to show up at 0500 then have to sit there and wait around because the agents can't be bothered to come up and let you down to the airplane.

/rant
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Bid ORD. We're still supposed to "check with the agent", but we've got the codes.
 
Monday morning quarterbacking. . .11 months later. . .

from wikipedia (cause no official versions have been released that I can immediately find)
Northwest Airlines Flight 253 was an international passenger flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Michigan, United States. The flight was the target of a failed al-Qaeda bombing attempt on Christmas Day, December 25, 2009, in which a passenger tried to set off plastic explosives sewn to his underwear. There were 290 people on board the plane, which was operated by Northwest Airlines.

. . .continuing
A couple, Kurt and Lori Haskell, said that while waiting to board Flight 253 at Schiphol Airport, they saw a "poor-looking black teenager around 16 or 17" who Kurt Haskell claims was Abdulmutallab with a second man, who was "sharp-dressed", possibly of Indian descent, around 50 years old, and who spoke "in an American accent similar to my own."[9][10] According to Lori Haskell, the second man told the ticket agent: "We need to get this man on the plane. He doesn't have a passport." The ticket agent said nobody was allowed to board without a passport. The well-dressed man replied: "We do this all the time; he's from Sudan."[11][12] Lori Haskell said the two were then directed down a corridor, to talk to a manager. "We never saw him again until he tried to blow up our plane," Haskell said of Abdulmutallab.[10] Only U.S. citizens are permitted to board international flights to the U.S. without passports, and even then only if the airline confirms their identity and citizenship, said a spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).[13] A CBP official and spokesman confirmed there were not any Sudanese refugees on the plane.[13] The Dutch counter-terror agency said that Abdulmutallab presented a valid Nigerian passport and U.S. entry visa when he boarded Flight 253,[14][15] and after reviewing more than 200 hours of security camera recordings, did not find any indication that he had accomplices at the airport or that he acted suspiciously there.[16] Haskell suggested authorities should, "Put the video out there to prove I'm wrong."[17] Federal agents later said they were trying to identify and find the well-dressed man.[18] U.S. authorities had initially discounted the passenger accounts, but agents later said there was a growing belief that the man played a role in making sure Abdulmutallab "did not get cold feet".[19]
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Surprising to me and significantly confusing to me is that perspective that I had about Schiphol Airport security. Until this year, I've always "perceived" their professionalism to far exceed that of the TSA. I might need to rethink that now terribly wrong opinion.

Additionally, this "guy" got significantly more attention pre-board than any average passenger, and he STILL was able to carry a bomb onboard?

Maybe he threatened/intimidated the Amsterdam security officials with arrest if they touched his "junk" in his trunks. :sarcasm:
 
It's a good step, but the charade shall continue.

Yesterday I was not allowed to get through security because I didn't know my flight number. I was starting a trip, and I knew where I was going and what time, but I didn't know the number. The supervisor said, "I'm sorry, we must refuse you access." I asked if I could be escorted 100 feet to the monitors to see what the number was, and I was rudely told, "No, I don't have time for that. I have a checkpoint to run."

I thought we were on the same team. Guess not.

(There are a few details that are purposefully missing, but I hope you get the gist.)
 
I'm sure that was a solid lesson learned for you, FlyChicaga. Next time you know to just make something up :)
 
If the gate agent won't let me down, oh well. Technically, they are right, it is TSA regulations to verify the crew against a crew list. Ours sometimes gets eaten in the process. In MEM, we can swipe ourselves down with a SIDA badge. However, since it is company policy to have the crew verified by a gate agent, I wait until they check me against the crew list. If that agent is working another flight, I wait until they're done to check me on the list. If that means we go down there 10 minutes until departure, I know who the dealy ISN'T going on. This is what happens 5 1/2 years into contract negotiations, BTW. :)

As for TSA not letting me through if I didn't know my flight number.....see above. If I'm late, well that delay's going on TSA, too. I'll just step away, call scheduling and tell them "Hey, this flight is gonna be late because TSA isn't letting me through. You might wanna call someone to call them."
 
I_Money said:
The pilots concern was not about dignity, but was about safety of these devices - therefore the TSA has basically said yes they are unsafe, or minimally we are not sure if they are safe.
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i think they were going with the whole, "the general public won't like it if the pilots won't stand for it. the pilots are making the most noise, let's shut the pilots up, and everyone else will fall in line" tact.
 
FlyChicaga said:
It's a good step, but the charade shall continue.

Yesterday I was not allowed to get through security because I didn't know my flight number. I was starting a trip, and I knew where I was going and what time, but I didn't know the number. The supervisor said, "I'm sorry, we must refuse you access." I asked if I could be escorted 100 feet to the monitors to see what the number was, and I was rudely told, "No, I don't have time for that. I have a checkpoint to run."

I thought we were on the same team. Guess not.

(There are a few details that are purposefully missing, but I hope you get the gist.)
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Good, go back to the hotel, or go home! CX pay FTW!!! :)
 
kellwolf said:
If the gate agent won't let me down, oh well. Technically, they are right, it is TSA regulations to verify the crew against a crew list. Ours sometimes gets eaten in the process. In MEM, we can swipe ourselves down with a SIDA badge. However, since it is company policy to have the crew verified by a gate agent, I wait until they check me against the crew list. If that agent is working another flight, I wait until they're done to check me on the list. If that means we go down there 10 minutes until departure, I know who the dealy ISN'T going on. This is what happens 5 1/2 years into contract negotiations, BTW. :)

As for TSA not letting me through if I didn't know my flight number.....see above. If I'm late, well that delay's going on TSA, too. I'll just step away, call scheduling and tell them "Hey, this flight is gonna be late because TSA isn't letting me through. You might wanna call someone to call them."
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Interesting. When I worked the ramp at LAX, anyone and everyone working in the secure area has access to the jetbridge codes and can use them as long as they have a SIDA badge. Pilots too would have access, and I cant think of any time where our gate agents would stop them and questions them. The most was verify their ID, then allow them to punch their own code to enter the jetbrige.
 
FlyChicaga how can that be? What if you were commuting and didnt know your flight number? Or were gonna figure it out later?
 
Start storing jetway codes in your phones gentlemen (and ladies...I suppose...). That way you don't have to worry about bugging the gate agent or ground peeps three times a day when you come in and out of a new hub...
 
I'm talking about the ones that go from the terminal to the jetway. We aren't even supposed to have those codes for whatever reason. I know there are a few airports that give those out to pilots but most airlines/airports won't seem to do it. It seems like we should be able to get to our plane without having our identities verified yet again by some gate agent. Plus they look at you like they're doing you some kind of massive favor when you ask them to let you down there...that's if they don't outright ignore you for 5 minutes while they look up something more important on their computer screens. I do try to smile and be friendly with them too, but it's like whizzing in the wind.

That's my 2 cents, but I'm probably just venting from being "confronted" by a rude agent last week. Sorry for the whining.

The codes I think you are talking about, surreal1221 (jetway to outside) I did, of course, have stored in some secure manner when I was an FO and did walkarounds multiple times per day.
 
Kingairer said:
Before we get to excited...Ive read that this exemption will only cover us while in uniform ON A WORK ASSIGNMENT....so sounds like we stil get the Grope when we are commuting to work every week.
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"TSA said beginning Friday, pilots traveling in uniform or on airline business could pass security by presenting two photo IDs, one from their company and one from the government, to be checked against a secure flight crew database. Their unions said pilots could skip the pat-downs immediately."

This article uses "OR" in a good place. I hope this is the case.
 
Bill said he saw in an article that the pilots are being asked to pay for this themselves, via ALPA? Taking pilots' dues money to fund a government project?! Please say this isn't true? I've looked for today but haven't been able to find any articles with this wording.
 
FlyChicaga said:
Yesterday I was not allowed to get through security because I didn't know my flight number. I was starting a trip, and I knew where I was going and what time, but I didn't know the number. The supervisor said, "I'm sorry, we must refuse you access." I asked if I could be escorted 100 feet to the monitors to see what the number was, and I was rudely told, "No, I don't have time for that. I have a checkpoint to run."
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Kinda reminds me of the time I non-revved through JFK from LHR. I was listed on a connecting flight to RDU. I cleared customs in JFK, but then I had to go through TSA to get into the terminal. The agent refused to let me through because I didn't have a boarding pass (I did have the confirmation that showed I was listed on the flight). After going back and forth several times, trying to explain how the industry which she works for actually operates, I said something along the lines of "well what are you going to do? Put me back on the plane to Heathrow?" She got all pissed off and let me through in the end.
 
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