The American Air Travel Nightmare

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The American Air Travel Nightmare

Written By : John Hawkins

Honestly, I HATE flying. I hate the confusion when you’re getting in and out of a strange airport. I hate showing up a couple of hours early at the airport to make sure I don’t miss my flight. I hate the obtrusive security checks. I hate the way they pack you in like sardines in teeny, tiny seats.

“Oh, but things will be so much better when they have full body scanners everywhere and you can just zip through security!”

Yeah…about that, this quote from passenger Lydia Habhab, who actually had to go through one of these scanners, jumped out at me:

I felt personally violated, but I understand why the procedures are necessary.

Being “personally violated” as a condition of using a service sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?

As if that wasn’t enough, as per usual when the government gets involved, things only go downhill from there. That has certainly been the case with flying. As Richard Reid and the Pantsbomber proved, the government’s security measures don’t actually prevent terrorists from getting on the planes. Meanwhile, customers have to put up with nonsense like this:

There’s new fallout Monday from a breach that triggered pure chaos at Newark Liberty International Airport, and officials are beginning to point fingers after thousands of passengers were corralled into a jam-packed waiting area when an intruder slipped past a checkpoint.

…A private security guard was disciplined Monday following Sunday night’s security breach and mass passenger re-screening. It was an ordeal that began at 5:30 on Sunday night when someone went into a terminal through an exit.

The massive backup stretched on past midnight with a residual hangover that dragged into the new day.

“Because of the lockdown situation, we missed the connection,” traveler David Bannister told CBS 2 HD, his wife Jill adding they’d been up for 27 hours without a break.

Experts said security officers had no choice once they lost track of the intruder.

…Then there’s the question of accommodating the thousands who experienced the massive inconvenience. The Port Authority insists it did its best and said restaurants and toilets were available, but with crowds so thick, the question became, what more could they do?

It was a maddening delay for people caught in the crush. The crowd swelled to 10,000 at one point. Ernesto Butcher, the COO of the Port Authority, which owns the airport, apologized for the incident and told CBS 2 HD he had some stern conversations with TSA.

What we’re doing now? Contrary to what Janet Napolitano might believe, it ain’t working. We need a rethink of our air travel system, preferably one that features much less government involvement and more emphasis on customer satisfaction.

BlogReader

Whats going to happen when the terrorists realize that instead of taking out a maximum 2 to 3 hundred on a plane with exotic one-off hidden small charges, they can detonate a conventional bomb in the security line and take out even more? There’s nothing to stop them from filling up a carry-on with C4 and detonating in the lines that our current useless TSA scanning creates.

When will the US finally wise up and move security out to the curb like the Israelis have been doing for years?
dfenstrate

I’ve got to make a trip to San Antonio in March. It’s a couple hours on a plane, or 31 hours on the road. The cost would shake down to be about the same, including a rental.

I’m seriously considering driving.
http://www.superdickery.com mightysamurai

When will the US finally wise up and move security out to the curb like the Israelis have been doing for years?

Israel is a small country with a very temperate climate. They can afford to make people wait on the curb.

Just try making people in Detroit or New York City wait outside in the dead of winter. I dare you.
whats_up

We need a rethink of our air travel system, preferably one that features much less government involvement and more emphasis on customer satisfaction.

John,

I guess I am confused here, are you saying that we shouldnt be screening passengers and patting them down? You dont want the securtiy procedures that have been put into place?
TheBaud

I guess I am confused here,

Yes you are, OFTEN

are you saying that we shouldnt be screening passengers and patting them down?

So lees government involvement means no security? Only the government can do security at airports?

You dont want the securtiy procedures that have been put into place?
Posted by whats_up 2010-01-05 10:14:48

Which security procedures do you mean, whats_up. The scanning of shoes, put in place AFTER the shoe bomber? Or maybe the restriction against liquids, put in place AFTER the London incident. Or maybe the new governmental virtual strip search, being considered AFTER the UndieBomber.

I want security at airports that stops a terrorists BEFORE they get on a plane and do damage, not some half-asses feel-good measure that only get implemented after that type of incident occurs.
whats_up

I want security at airports that stops a terrorists BEFORE they get on a plane and do damage, not some half-asses feel-good measure that only get implemented after that type of incident occurs.

Posted by TheBaud
2010-01-05 10:32:18

Again this statement shows your ignorance about living in a free and democratic society. Are you trying to say that you want security for every possible scenario? By all means tell us what that would entail. What scenarios are you planning for, what security measures would you put in place. Jesus, you are ignorant.
http://guardian.blogdrive.com/ CavalierX

I’m seriously considering driving.

How did the old commercial go? “See the USA in your Chevrolet?”
Rickvid_in_Seattle

I had to remove my shoes at Yuma Airport in Nov 2001, months BEFORE Ried’s failed attempt. But only there, not at SeaTac, Phoenix, Charlston, BWI, Richmond or Reagan National to which I was also traveling at the time. Hmmmm….
http://guardian.blogdrive.com/ CavalierX

I guess I am confused here, are you saying that we shouldnt be screening passengers and patting them down? You dont want the securtiy procedures that have been put into place?

The procedures currently in place are random, half-assed, and therefore completely ineffective. Does it make sense to you that because a guy tried to light up his exploding jock strap on a plane, female passengers can no longer carry large purses? BVD Boy didn’t have a purse, nor would banning purses be effective even if he had. Terrorists will just try another tactic. The “shoe bomber” caused screeners to check shoes, so the terrorists moved to underwear. Now they’re going to check underwear (using the invasive X-Ray Specs Machine), so the terrorists will just do something else. What’s next: no coats, no carry-ons at all, no goddamn clothes aboard flights? It’s stupid and pointless, and like most idiotic Liberal feel-good “ideas” only law-abiding people will suffer from them. We should definitely be doing pat-downs and spot-checks, but we should focus on the people most likely to be terrorists: people a) traveling one way who b) buy tickets for cash but c) have no luggage while d) showing stamps from terror-supporting countries on their passports and e) have Muslim names, since 100% of the terrorists we’re fighting are Muslims.
TheBaud

Again this statement shows your ignorance about living in a free and democratic society. Are you trying to say that you want security for every possible scenario? By all means tell us what that would entail. What scenarios are you planning for, what security measures would you put in place. Jesus, you are ignorant.
Posted by whats_up 2010-01-05 10:44:35

This statement above highlights your ability to lookat a response given to you, ignore it completely, and then make up a new argument out of whole cloth. I never said I want security in every senario, and you know it. You lie as a matter of course and only to make yourself appear intelligent; an attempt you have fail at 100% of the time.

The Israelis have a pretty good record on airline security and were consulted after 9/11. Their recommendations were rejected out of hand and they were sent packing. Those recommendations were “You screen for bombs, we screen for terrorists.” Strip searching WWII veterans with artificial hips and taking toy GI Joe guns away from children does not keep us any safer from terrorists, but keeps the lawyers and greivance whores off the backs of the TSA.

The undiebomber bought a one-way ticket with cash, had no luggage, and reportedly did not even have a passport. AND HE GOT ON THE PLANE ANYWAY.

So maybe you can tell me what security procedures do we have in place that make the skys safer, whats_up. Are you able to answer a question put to you without your lies and strawman arguments?
whats_up

a) traveling one way who b) buy tickets for cash but c) have no luggage while d) showing stamps from terror-supporting countries on their passports and e) have Muslim names, since 100% of the terrorists we’re fighting are Muslims.

Posted by CavalierX
2010-01-05 11:35:14

As you pointed out above in your so elequent post, even should we adopt the proposals that you want, how did you put it:

Terrorists will just try another tactic.
whats_up

The undiebomber bought a one-way ticket with cash, had no luggage, and reportedly did not even have a passport. AND HE GOT ON THE PLANE ANYWAY.

Posted by TheBaud
2010-01-05 11:43:40

You do understand that he boarded this flight in Amsterdam right? Since Amsterdam is in a foreign country tell us exactly how any of our security measures here in the United States would have helped? You really cant be this stupid.
whats_up

I never said I want security in every senario

Posted by TheBaud
2010-01-05 11:43:40

Sure you did, here is your quote:

I want security at airports that stops a terrorists BEFORE they get on a plane and do damage

that sure sounds like you want every possible scenario in which a terrorist could board a plane to be covered.
TheBaud

You do understand that he boarded this flight in Amsterdam right? Since Amsterdam is in a foreign country tell us exactly how any of our security measures here in the United States would have helped? You really cant be this stupid.
Posted by whats_up 2010-01-05 11:50:47

You do understand that the destination was AMERICA, right?

And you obviously ARE that stupid.

I am still waiting on your suggestions for airline security, since all you have done is whine about everyone elses suggestions.
TheBaud

that sure sounds like you want every possible scenario in which a terrorist could board a plane to be covered.
Posted by whats_up 2010-01-05 11:54:15

You are either a liar or are listening to the voice in your head. Security at airports designed to stop a terrorists (rather than what we have now, security designed to inconvenience the maximum number of people while not making the skys any safer) does not mean every possible senario.

Your lies are getting boring, whats_up. Isn’t it time for you to run away?
NoloContendere

Why does a moron show up sooner or later in every thread?
http://guardian.blogdrive.com/ CavalierX

As you pointed out above in your so elequent post, even should we adopt the proposals that you want, how did you put it:

Terrorists will just try another tactic.

What tactic would that leave them? Non-Muslims travelling with their families on round-trip tickets bought with credit cards who have never been to a country listed as a terrorism sponsor? Sure, there’s lots of people like that who would kill themselves for al-Qaeda. You have to shove them aside just to walk down the street.
whats_up

You do understand that the destination was AMERICA, right?

And you obviously ARE that stupid.

I am still waiting on your suggestions for airline security, since all you have done is whine about everyone elses suggestions.

Posted by TheBaud
2010-01-05 11:54:54

What does that have to do with anything, you complained that this man was able to get aboard the plane despite all of the US security, I was simply pointing out that he boarded in another country and went through THEIR security which we have no control over, Jesus but you are ignorant.
TheBaud

What does that have to do with anything
Posted by whats_up 2010-01-05 12:25:45

STILL waiting on your suggestions for airline security.

Man up and answer, Nancy-boy!
whats_up

Posted by TheBaud
2010-01-05 12:30:32

Certainly after you answer the two questions put to you which you seemed to ignore.
TheBaud

Certainly after you answer the two questions put to you which you seemed to ignore.
Posted by whats_up 2010-01-05 12:34:50

You mean the question you asked me to divert attention from my question to you? Sorry, not going to play your game whats_up. I knew you had no intention of answering, just to come one here to bitch and moan.

Your cowardise and ignorance have been established. Run along.
whats_up

Posted by TheBaud
2010-01-05 12:38:01

Ah yes the typical conservative attitude, you want others to answer your questions but you can answer theirs, what we have come to expect from you.
TheBaud

what we have come to expect from you.
Posted by whats_up 2010-01-05 12:51:16

TheBaud: Whats_up, how old are you?
whats_up: Your a racist and an idiot. How many slaves to do you and how often do you beat them?
TheBaud: I just asked how old you are. Answer me.
whats_up: Not until you answer my questions.

Your games are childish and boring. When you want to have an adult conversation, wade back in. Intil then, we are done!
http://www.superdickery.com mightysamurai

Are you trying to say that you want security for every possible scenario?

The ENTIRE POINT of a security system is to anticipate threats BEFORE they happen.

My GAWD you are dumb.
http://www.superdickery.com mightysamurai

What tactic would that leave them?

I suppose they could always renounce Islam and convert to Christianity.

Say, there’s a thought…
whats_up

Posted by mightysamurai
2010-01-05 12:55:54

My God but you might be the dumbest one here Mighty, it is impossible to anticipate every single threat before they happen.
whats_up

Posted by TheBaud
2010-01-05 12:54:59

blah, blah, blah. More of the same from you Baud, it never changes. You expect others to answer your questions, but cant answer their’s. You’re arrogance is amazing, laughable but amazing. Run along now and play with the kids.
airfr8er

Jesus, you are ignorant.
Posted by whats_up
2010-01-05 10:44:35

You really cant be this stupid.
Posted by whats_up
2010-01-05 11:50:47

Jesus but you are ignorant.
Posted by whats_up
2010-01-05 12:25:45

My God but you might be the dumbest one here Posted by whats_up
2010-01-05 13:47:09

Whats_up, You ever work in a movie theater?
TheBaud

More of the same from you Baud, it never changes. You expect others to answer your questions, but cant answer their’s. You’re arrogance is amazing, laughable but amazing. Run along now and play with the kids.
Posted by whats_up 2010-01-05 14:00:25

So I ask you a question, you freak out and ask me a completly unrelated question as a way to divert from your own inability to answer, and you think *I* am arrogant.

Your disconnect from reality could keep a whole team of doctors shrinking your head for years.

You can’t answer, I accept that. NOW MOVE ON!
http://PatriotPost.US bthewolf

Posted by whats_up
2010-01-05 14:00:25

blah, blah, blah. More of the same from you WHAT-A-TARD, it never changes. You expect others to answer your questions, but cant answer their’s. You’re arrogance is amazing, laughable but amazing. Run along now and play with the kids.
http://guardian.blogdrive.com/ CavalierX

I suppose they could always renounce Islam and convert to Christianity.

Hey, who the hell are you — Brit Hume? ;)
http://www.superdickery.com mightysamurai

My God but you might be the dumbest one here Mighty

Oh I couldn’t hope to challenge your colossal dumbness, Whats_up.

What exactly do you think a security system is for if not to anticipate all possible scenarios and prepare accordingly?

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