TSA got you down?

[Gilldiver]

Security in a Country with active Terrorist Problems.

I just got back from my 4th trip to India in the last 8 months, here are the layers you will go through:

At the Airport:

• You must be at the airport check-in 45 minutes before a domestic flight and 90 minutes before an international flight or they just will not let you get on a plane.
• No curbside check-ins, ever
• On the side walk outside of the terminal you will be looked over by a guy with an AK-47
• At the terminal door you must show a printed itinerary that shows you flying out within the next 3-4 hours
• At check in all your carry on bags have an airline tag put on them and then you go to what we would consider normal security.
• At Security, your bags will be x-rayed and I have to tell you that they are much better than the US as they pick up things that always pass in the US, and the tag applied by the airline is stamped showing that they have passed x-ray inspection.
• You go through the metal detector and then step up on a box for a full hand sweep with a hand held metal detector and pat down , pockets are emptied etc. and your boarding pass is stamped to show that you have passed security. At each step so far there have been guys with AK-47’s
• Your next check is just after you get passed security and while in a fairly narrow hall with no other direction to go, you and the bags are checked for the inspection stamps – if you lost any of them, you get taken for questioning and re-run through security.
• Next when at the boarding gate, your boarding pass and baggage tickets are checked again
• Last, when you reach the bridge or steps to the aircraft, your boarding pass and baggage tickets are checked one last time.

At the Hotel

• Just inside of the gate your car is stopped and inspected underneath with a mirror, the trunk is opened, and sometimes the hood. The door will be opened and you will be visibly inspected, there may be an inspection under the seats and glove box.
• At the door you will go through a metal detector and may be hand wanded. You bags will be x-rayed

At the Mall

You will go through a metal detector and may have your bags inspected

At Work

You will go through a metal detector and may have your bags checked.

 

[naimis]

I recently flew to Hawaii. Because of weight issues, I put the steel backplate for my bp/w in my carry-on (along with the regulator and camera and a few other things). I figured that with all that metal, TSA would want to search the carry-on. Instead, the agent simply told me to have a safe dive. Ok, I'm impressed.

Yeah, it's been my experience that some of them actually do recognize scuba gear. It's the ones that don't and confiscate it that worry me. The one time I had an agent searching my carry-on who didn't have any idea what my regulator was, there was another agent watching over her shoulder who did recognize it and told her what it all was.

 

[naimis]

Generally worse is other countries and their security inspecting to TSA standards but in their own ways, which means they keep stuff.

Because the TSA never confiscates things....

 

[tarponchik]

BTW: TSA does much more to protect us than just the scanning that you see at the airport. I gather that there are TSA personnel doing the kinds of things people say TSA ought to be doing. It is just not obvious. And, the ones we don't see are a whole lot brighter than the ones we do see.

Did you mean those unseen TSA folks who put the late senator Kennedy on the no-fly list?

 

[lionfish-eater]

Next time you arrive in the US from an international destination, look up as you walk off the plane and down the first hallway. You will see a camera taking your picture and running your image through face recognition software. Maybe a step in the right direction towards a more intelligent approach.

 

[Doc]

Did you mean those unseen TSA folks who put the late senator Kennedy on the no-fly list?

Too bad they had no authority over driver licensing.

Oh well, we'll dive off that bridge when we come to it.

 

[rye_a]

Too bad they had no authority over driver licensing.

Oh well, we'll dive off that bridge when we come to it.

 

[simplediver247]

PC correctness & the ACLU have dragged the U.S into the gutter. Why work, the gvt will pay for everything, enter the country with no papers & you win the lottery!!!! Section 8 housing, free medical, free dental, food stamp program, oops not food stamps we might offend someone so lets give them the LINK card so they get free food too. Oh that Nativity scene is offensive to someone from another distant camel country sure no problem lets take it down so not to offend someone from a distant land who's on welfare here in the U.S., but lets not violate his civil rights he may sue the U.S. citizen since he feels unwelcomed here in the U.S. and we have violated his or her religious beliefs for making them take off there bed sheet covering their whole head so only their eyes show. Can't target middle eastern men & woman that have links to terrorism, don't look at a middle eastern man thats speaking out loud at the airport that he hates the U.S. and prays that death come to all Americans, that's no reason to question him, but lets check the 85 year old seniors, oh don't forget the NUN she is part of a large network of possible suspects, military personal not exempt from the idiot gang bangger TSA agents power trip either,every hard working American has to take it up the waazoo and be treated like squat by some jug head at the airport TSA that has ZERO military experience, GED, no college and no common sense get's their rocks off with a power trip for his or her 8 hr shift. I understand the need for stringent tight security and I am all for that, but I did not pay my taxes serve my country to have tweedle de & tweedle dum treat my wife & 2 year old daughter like mini bomb throwers since the button on my wifes cloths set off the metal detector. Anytime I leave the United States I understand the countries customs & traditions where I am visiting and I respect that. I have had dive knives that are razor sharp with a bone saw on the other side taken away and given back at my destination when all my scuba gear is with me, I have no problem in countries that arm their personal with M16 in the air ports. Hey now that's a great idea lets give the TSA screwballs M16s and a small side arm so they feel safer molesting US citizens. Bottom Line Security is important and needed and lets DIR. I understand the middle east has some great diving areas anybody interested?

 

[ScubaSteve]

Feel better? is what I say.

PC correctness & the ACLU have dragged the U.S into the gutter. Why work, the gvt will pay for everything, enter the country with no papers & you win the lottery!!!! Section 8 housing, free medical, free dental, food stamp program, oops not food stamps we might offend someone so lets give them the LINK card so they get free food too. Oh that Nativity scene is offensive to someone from another distant camel country sure no problem lets take it down so not to offend someone from a distant land who's on welfare here in the U.S., but lets not violate his civil rights he may sue the U.S. citizen since he feels unwelcomed here in the U.S. and we have violated his or her religious beliefs for making them take off there bed sheet covering their whole head so only their eyes show. Can't target middle eastern men & woman that have links to terrorism, don't look at a middle eastern man thats speaking out loud at the airport that he hates the U.S. and prays that death come to all Americans, that's no reason to question him, but lets check the 85 year old seniors, oh don't forget the NUN she is part of a large network of possible suspects, military personal not exempt from the idiot gang bangger TSA agents power trip either,every hard working American has to take it up the waazoo and be treated like squat by some jug head at the airport TSA that has ZERO military experience, GED, no college and no common sense get's their rocks off with a power trip for his or her 8 hr shift. I understand the need for stringent tight security and I am all for that, but I did not pay my taxes serve my country to have tweedle de & tweedle dum treat my wife & 2 year old daughter like mini bomb throwers since the button on my wifes cloths set off the metal detector. Anytime I leave the United States I understand the countries customs & traditions where I am visiting and I respect that. I have had dive knives that are razor sharp with a bone saw on the other side taken away and given back at my destination when all my scuba gear is with me, I have no problem in countries that arm their personal with M16 in the air ports. Hey now that's a great idea lets give the TSA screwballs M16s and a small side arm so they feel safer molesting US citizens. Bottom Line Security is important and needed and lets DIR. I understand the middle east has some great diving areas anybody interested?

 

[naimis]

Q: What kind of dumbass uploads child porn to their facebook and photobucket accounts?
A: The kind they hire for airport passenger screening. (think about this one the next time TSA insists on giving your child a pat-down)

Airport passenger screener charged in distributing child pornography - Philly.com


Q: What does the DHS do, exactly?
A: Pretty much whatever they want, it seems.

Colorado revokes hundreds of driver's licenses amid Homeland Security allegations - The Denver Post
Homeland Security seizes domain names - The Hill's Hillicon Valley
U.S. accidentally shuts down 84,000 sites | World | News | Toronto Sun

(I would have figured this would be more the domain of the FBI, but DHS and TSA are so very desperate to justify their own existence...)

And on the subject of justifying one's own existence..
Step 1: Induce large-scale paranoia.
Step 2: Tell everyone how great a job you're doing by responding to calls of suspicious toilet paper and tourists.
Step 3: Profit?

Suspicious white substance on plane turns out to be toilet paper - CNN.com
Report Of Suspicious Passengers Forces Plane Back To Gate - Denver News Story - KMGH Denver