A couple of years ago I almost missed my flight because of these TSA idiots. I was in line a full 45 minutes early and even then they could not check passengers with acceptable speed. One person let me in the front of the line and I was told to go to the back of the line by a woman who was obviously on a power trip. Fortunately a supervisor intervened and I made my flight. I understand that if these morons cause a passenger to miss a flight even as a result of their incompetence the passenger has no recourse. TSA is just another useless unnecessary government agency. They go out of their way to make flying an unpleasant experience.

Senator B:  I think you’ve gone a little overboard here.  The “TSA Idiots” as you call them are just doing an job under unpleasant circumstances…they have no more control over the policies dictating their jobs than you and I.  In my experience, most of them try to be as pleasant as they can given the restraints places on them.  Even your account says that a supervisor took the extra step to help you.

Yep, flying is no longer (if it ever really was) fun.  Now it’s just a necessary evil in getting from point A to point B.  Thank our wise elected officials who ignored all the warning signs that attacks were imminent.  Thank the airlines and FAA who KNEW the present risks, and our weaknesses and yet did nothing.  So terrorists took full advantage of our weaknesses and demonstrated just what horrible things can occur.  That little history lesson has now cost us a great deal of our freedoms with overkill security.  Had they implemented reasonable security measures before the attacks, they might have been adequate, but no, now we have to be as extreme as the terrorists were. 

Anyway, acknowledge that your comments about the front-line TSA workers are more about your frustrating experience than their abilities.  It’s just human nature to get angry when stressed.  I hate getting to the airport two hours ahead and standing in line to be processed like cattle as much as the next guy.  I just accept it and make the best of it…its all anyone can do. 

I presume your experience wasn’t at Glacier since the volume of traffic there isn’t enough to produce that kind of delay, but if it was that surprises me.

I think Glacier’s decision to go private is probably short-sighted, given the preponderance of airports nationwide that use TSA.  When it comes to Public Safety, I strongly beleive that private, for-profit agencies have no business there.  There are plenty of examples where private enterprise has failed us and very few that demonstrate private enterprise in public safety as adequate, let alone sucessful.  That said, it remains to be seen whether TSA is any better at this than a private firm.  The proof will be in the requirements and supervision of a private firm—-which sounds like considerably more hassle than just letting TSA have it anyway.

Why would Glacier want the liability anyway….even though they are low risk, everybody knows that the chain is only as strong as the weakest link. Does Glacier want to be the next headline for a security breach or incident?  Just how much will they save and would it be worth it?  The article doesn’t say

Firebeam my experience was a Glacier airport. I was in line a full 45 minutes before my flight. A person at the front of the line offered to let me in so I could make my flight but some idiot on a power trip told me I had to go to the back of the line. Fortunately a supervisor intervened and I made my flight. I am tired of the nitpicky regulations which make flying unpleasant. Who ever thought up the three ounce rule for liquids? How many companies make products in three ounce containers? Somehow TSA does not make me feel safer when flying.

Arriving 90 minutes before a flight at GPI (and 3 hours in a major city) usually gets me on a plane with no problems - most of the time, I’m sitting in the waiting area with time to kill.

It seems like the small town airports (like GPI) always have overzealous TSA people, whereas the staffers at major airports don’t get all bent out of shape when they find something suspicious.  Going to a private company will hopefully change things for the better.