.When I go through air port security I tell the agent to do a good job as I hope he/she does for the entire shift And I also thank them for a job well done. I'm sure they hear the same thing 100's of times every shift, but some how it makes me feel safer
Imagine to my horror when agents of DOD were able to smuggle weapons etc. on board any aircraft, picked at random, fully 95% of an attempt to do harm if in real time.
So what to do??
I know the odds of an in flight tragedy is very low, but how many attempts have been foiled, that we don't know about. And on board procedures have improved
Are the long lines at security really necessary or could some new technology do the same or better, with shorter wait time. Also general air port baggage and personal wandering about needs to improve. Even GPS locators would help
Would you be willing to pay say ?? 25.00/person each way or 100.00 round trip for a couple on vacation for better technology.
Since TASA is Federal and the federal gov't pays the biggest share of airport security, Trump wants the public users of this security to pay more
I would agree if the technology was better.
I love to fly. I've done a lot of it for both business and pleasure over the years. I even got my pilots license back in the 90's tho I have since let my medical certificate lapse.
Back in 2007 I was doing a project on Cape Cod. Bed, Bath and Beyond bought a local chain called Christmas Tree Shoppes, a successful bunch of "Tourist Traps" and I was charged with designing and implementing the interface between their respective systems. Teaching them to talk to one another. Great project in a great location. I spent much of the year commuting between Atlanta and Cape Cod via the Boston Airport. I'd fly out of Atl on Monday morning and return Friday evening.
Atl is the busiest airport in the world and those of you who have been in/through the airport know it's an absolute marvel. Subways and electric walk ways moving millions quickly and efficiently. But security turned it into an absolute nightmare. Granted leaving Monday morning and arriving Friday evening is the absolute worst time for the airport, but I was spending a minimum of 3-5 hours per week in security lines.
I refuse to fly now unless I absolutely positively have no choice. I can drive anywhere along the Eastern half of the country in just a few hours longer than the "door to door" time for flight. For example, if all goes well, I can fly from Atl to Buffalo in 7 hours, "Door to Door". I can drive it in 11-12. If there are no delays, and it seems there always are, flying will save me 4-5 hours, add all kinds of hassle and cost a few hundred more.
Anyway, sorry for the diatribe, but essentially yes, if they could improve the security wait SIGNIFICANTLY, I may consider air travel again.
For those of us that fly int'l routes, we have no choice but to use air lines
We fly business class, but have the same wait time at security. And then at the gate I wonder who is supposed to be out there and who might be a dangerous individual. All I can do is hope the odds favour a safe journey.
Even I can see where technology would help and I am no expert.
I would pay the 100 dollars when I am already paying 3500.00-4000.00 or more, depending on location.
."For example, if all goes well, I can fly from Atl to Buffalo in 7 hours, "Door to Door". I can drive it in 11-12. If there are no delays, and it seems there always are, flying will save me 4-5 hours, add all kinds of hassle and cost a few hundred more."
Good point Tim and Wayne.
Deb and I drove to Denver when our son was sick recently. For both of us to fly would have cost $2,200 round trip. With the price of gas being $2(less than that in MO) gas was less than $200!
2,000 miles getting 20 mph+ is 100 gallons of gas and $200.
We rented a car and it ended up being 2 weeks instead of 1 so that added another $500..........but we totaled the car hitting a deer an hour outside of Denver. Nobody was hurt luckily but glad it wasn't one of our cars.
The drive was 14 hours one way. However, when we got there, we had the vehicle loaded with lots of things (no need to get a rental car) that could not have been taken on a plane and best of all, when our son came back with us, we had room for all of his stuff and him at no extra cost vs another $550+ for his air plane ticket.
I love to drive so no big deal, especially if you have other people in the car to have conversation with.
If we had flown, one can guess it would have been around 6-7 hours? dialing in the need to get to the airport early, then after arriving, getting a rental car. ...........and having to be to the airport at exactly the right time.
We never knew when our son was going to be discharged from the hospital as we waited for day after to day to monitor his progress. Finally, the day that they told us he was getting out, we waited from 8am until they finally discharged him at almost 3 pm. How do you get that to fit into an airplane schedule?
With the rental car, we had tremendous flexibility.
It was very thoughtful of Carl to fill in here during my absence. It's things like that which speak volumes about a man/womans character. Speaking of Carl, I have noted his absence this weekend and am hoping he's ok.
Are you ok carl?