Submitted via IRC for Sulla
The Transportation Security Administration is considering eliminating passenger screening at more than 150 small and medium-sized airports across the US, according to senior agency officials and internal documents obtained by CNN.
The proposal, if implemented, would mark a major change for air travel in the US, following nearly two decades of TSA presence since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and comes as the Trump administration has stepped up screening measures for items such as laptops and tablets.
Internal documents from a TSA working group say the proposal to cut screening at small and some medium-sized airports serving aircraft with 60 seats or fewer could bring a "small (non-zero) undesirable increase in risk related to additional adversary opportunity."
The internal documents from June and July suggest the move could save $115 million annually, money that could be used to bolster security at larger airports.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday August 02 2018, @11:09AM (10 children)
When non-screened US airports feed the "real" transportation hubs like LaGuardia and JFK, will we be treating the passengers like we do international flights now?
Anybody ever see "FreeJack"?
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 02 2018, @11:22AM (8 children)
Pick your theatre: You can have security at the borders or you can have security everywhere. [dw.com]
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Thursday August 02 2018, @12:25PM (2 children)
Where is the border on a flights from SF to LA?
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday August 02 2018, @01:10PM (1 child)
On your right (with intentional waters) and straight ahead (with Mexico). You're welcome.
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday August 02 2018, @05:41PM
It's definitely an aggravating circumstance which requires extra screening, having to deal with intentional waters.
I hear those are filled with sharks, too.
(grin)
(Score: 5, Insightful) by khallow on Thursday August 02 2018, @12:34PM (4 children)
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday August 02 2018, @01:13PM (2 children)
Screaming is not usually a problem at the smaller airports. So why even bother to eliminate it there? Smaller airports do not seem to interfere with the theater experience. And you are more likely to know the people groping you.
If you eat an entire cake without cutting it, you technically only had one piece.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 02 2018, @02:20PM
Yes, only long haul flights have the screeching infant held with it's face between the head rests of the seats in front... for the entire fucking flight. TSA and airlines should also offer the torture light or "gitmo experience" where you can be waterboarded for the entire flight time.
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Thursday August 02 2018, @02:47PM
not true. My local airport has 12 gates (2 wings). A single scanner, metal detector and 2 belts. Granted, they seem quite professional, how it has taken over *90 minutes* to get through to a gate, because the "TSA Pre" option was slowing down everyone else!!!!
I feel sure we are being manipulated with this recent release, as someone is well aware how unpopular the TSA is.
I guess as the old adage goes, "follow the money".
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday August 02 2018, @08:36PM
Think of the jobless TSA agents, think of the worried travelers, think of the contractors all over the country who still have millions of income riding on delivering the next X-ray machine / explosive sniffer / bioparticle amplifier, think of how much harder it will be to pick political targets out of the queues of travelers and arrest them.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Thursday August 02 2018, @07:19PM
They'll add screening at the larger airports and screen the inbound passengers the way they do for inbound passengers from insecure countries.
As a frequent traveler I don't love the idea. If I get fed up with the TSA at my source airport I can walk out, rent a car, and drive. A poor implementation of this idea takes away my option to do this mid-trip.
I understand their motivation though. In Little airports (Charlottesville VA comes to mind) the TSA guys are ~ 1/3rd of the total airport staff.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 02 2018, @11:39AM (9 children)
https://www.aci-na.org/north-america-airport-rankings [aci-na.org]
Unfortunately, the chart shows no stats for how many flights from small airports connect at a bigger one.
Good news, no waiting for screening for the first hop.
Bad news, big wait at the hub for the second hop.
What do you figure, 3 hour minimum connection time?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by khallow on Thursday August 02 2018, @12:30PM (7 children)
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 02 2018, @01:22PM (3 children)
I wonder if this will create a business opportunity for flights that avoid large airports altogether.
Should be interesting when Southwest starts flying 737s out of smaller, regional airports (some of them do have big enough runways). Trumptards need another 9/11 to justify their excesses ... how long before one happens in the wake of standing down our security, however imperfect and theatrical it may be? But hey, most of the victims will be in urban areas, and they aren't his base anyway.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bradley13 on Thursday August 02 2018, @01:30PM (1 child)
"Trumptards need another 9/11 to justify their excesses"
TSA is an equal opportunity joke. It may have started under The Shrub, but Obama kept it going just fine for eight long years.
Now, under Trump, they're considering eliminating some of the useless theater - and you somehow manage to twist that to fit your anti-Trump agenda?
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday August 02 2018, @06:17PM
Now, under Trump, they're considering eliminating some of the useless theater - and you somehow manage to twist that to fit your anti-Trump agenda?
Yes, in the same way you are twisting this Obama-admin proposal into your ant-Obama agenda.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Thursday August 02 2018, @03:16PM
Already happens when traffic justifies it and the airport can handle it, just not by Southwest.
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article149355429.html [fresnobee.com]
http://www.aviationpros.com/press_release/12416565/alaska-airlines-adds-boeing-737-800-service-to-operations-at-redmond-municipal-airport [aviationpros.com]
https://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2018/05/22/united-airlines-making-the-slopes-in-vail-alot.html [bizjournals.com]
But my guess is that if traffic flow is big enough for 737 service then it probably won't lose TSA coverage (just guessing).
This sig for rent.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bradley13 on Thursday August 02 2018, @01:33PM (2 children)
"I wonder if this will create a business opportunity for flights that avoid large airports altogether."
That would be great - a return to the pre-hub days, when there were a lot more direct flights between cities. It may be less efficient for the airlines, but it is a lot more convenient for passengers. And no TSA? Wow!
Of course, if this happens, it's entirely likely that TSA will be back with a vengeance. Otherwise, they might be shown to be as irrelevant as they actually are...
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2, Informative) by nitehawk214 on Thursday August 02 2018, @04:58PM (1 child)
The industry is already moving in this direction. Aside from the A380, smaller planes are being introduced, replacing large ones in more direct routes.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by legont on Friday August 03 2018, @12:58AM
Yep; they are also usually cheaper.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday August 02 2018, @08:39PM
This is good for SouthWest - they fly direct from small airport to small airport on many of their routes.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Alfred on Thursday August 02 2018, @01:32PM
Little airports may have no security but when you fly from one of those to big airport you will have to be screened there. If your main hub is Denver or Houston or Atlanta or whatever, all of the security theater at those will be escalated to Holywood-physics levels of stupid to compensate for the lack at the smaller airport. They will still consider it necessary to have screenings between public and sterile zones, its just some airports will move out of the sterile zone.
All in all the TSA does nothing but make some contractors rich. I worry more about the TSA being involved with a terrorist incident than my fellow passengers.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Thursday August 02 2018, @01:49PM (1 child)
I'd bet what's being talked about here is not having "no" security at regional airports, just the TSA dropping their coverage. As in those regionals will still be required to provide their own security that meets TSA standards, just not being paid out of the Federal coffers.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday August 03 2018, @01:11AM
That's the punchline to a joke, right?
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 02 2018, @06:37PM
they just need to do a check against a federal database when you buy your ticket. in 2 seconds, approved or not. make the no fly lists nice and legal and fair (no americans not currently *wanted for a crime*, convenient remedies for others, etc.). no other mandated screening in airports at all. If a particular airliner wants to screen they can try different things and see what the market will bear. if the feds want to do something maybe only armed security for people trying to brute force their way in. only ticket holders allowed in past a certain area. instead they violate and subjugate everyday americans while they aid foreign fighters/terrorists and help the israelis blow up the twin towers so we can help them build the Greater Israel and make a little money for the MIC. we need to round up the real terrorists (in the government).