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ICE: $45 an Hour to Stand There. TSA: $0 an Hour to Keep You Safe (botonomous.ai)
submitted 6 months ago by [M, B] to c/hackernews@lemmy.bestiver.se
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[–] 5 points 6 months ago (7 children)

Enhanced security was a good idea, but you just have to fly internationally to see that TSA is such a fuck-up. Unclear instructions, napoleon complexes, arbitrary rules that make no sense. It's stuff like that, that makes it security theater. Every foreign airport I've flown through has baggage checks and some sort of body scanning. The other rules are clearly posted and not arbitrary. Like come on peanut butter is not a liquid.

And don't even get me started on customs/Border control. I've entered foreign countries with less questions than reentering my home country. It's a mess

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  • [–] -2 points 6 months ago (6 children)

    All these stories about TSA are foreign to me. I've never witnessed anything other than resigned professionalism from them. They don't look they're having a great time at work, but I've chalked at least half of that up to training, and the other half is just basic exhaustion.

    Like people who complain about noisy theaters. I've never really experienced that, and I go to high volume theaters.

    When people start hollering about how badly everyone is treating them, I start to wonder how they were behaving.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago (5 children)

    Good job you've been lucky. I'd say 9/10 times its fine. The issue is the 1 time it's not they have an absurd amount of power over you and can absolutely ruin your day over something petty.

    Some agents absolutely take that exhaustion out on travelers.

    And to your movie theater example same thing. The vast majority of times its fine, but once again I've had a few times where a group sat behind me that wanted to talk to each other and not watch the movie. It's annoying, but rare.

    Did you consider the possibility that people complain about the times that are bad and not the times that are good?

    Also you only addressed 1 point of my comment the attitude of TSA, not the systemic issues that make the system asinine

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  • [–] -1 points 6 months ago (4 children)

    I didn't address any more of you're post because I've been having this argument for two days, and I'm tired of it.

    Essentially, everybody wants to get rid of TSA because they aren't effective, and NOBODY has made any suggestion at all about what would be a better alternative. Whatever the reason is, the current system has worked well for 25 years, far better than any other previous 25 years period, and nobody can agree which elements are the most important, so I'm for keeping the whole thing as it is.

    Besides, what would a new system look like? When all was said and done, it would probably end up looking pretty close to what we have now, except the agents would have to be NICER. Truthfully, that seems to be the biggest objection these babies have about TSA.

    And one final thing: How excited are you going to be to start flying in a system that doesn't bother to screen and passengers or bags, because the cockpit door is locked, so everybody is perfectly safe?

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago* (3 children)

    I didn't address any more of you're post because I've been having this argument for two days, and I'm tired of it.

    I mean at that point you really aren't obligated to engage.

    what would a new system look like

    Like you said. Basically TSA, just standardized across airports with a common sense streamlining of the rules. Like if I can take down a plane with a full sized tube of toothpaste you can do it with 5 mini tubes of toothpaste that fit in a quart sized bag.

    Honestly like I said just model it off of most EU countries' standards.

    to be NICER

    Yes, a civil society should hold our government workers to standard. They can act a way that would get any average retail worker fired. Kinda weird. To be clear I'm not saying they need to be subservient to the flier, just polite, decent, and professional. As I expect of all government workers.

    How excited are you going to be to start flying in a system that doesn't bother to screen and passengers or bags, because the cockpit door is locked, so everybody is perfectly safe?

    I'm not and never even advocated for a system like that. Maybe someone else in this thread did, but I didn't because it's a monumentally bad idea.

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  • [–] -1 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    You're the first person in two days to offer ANY alternative beyond "Get rid of TSA because they suck!" and your suggestion is, like I said, basically the same as now, except they're forced to smile and kiss our asses. That should be gruesome.

    I was hoping someone would have suggested some sort of ticket system, where you check in, and you get a number, and groups of people get called for screening. It may require a short wait, but it won't be an hour+ like it can often be on a good day. Instead, people can sit, nap, walk around, eat, etc. It wouldn't change anything about the screening process itself, but it would greatly reduce the wait, which is one of the worst problems associated with security screening.

    My DMV implemented a system like that, and now going to the DMV is breeze. I've never been in there longer than 30 minutes. We could do something like that at Airport Security. We wouldn't even have to do it at the airports all the time, just at times when things get crazy, like holiday weeks, or like, y'know, now.

    But no, it's all been "TSA isn't nice enough to me, well not me, it's never happened to me, but I hear other people say it, and I read one time that someone smuggled a nail file on board, and I'd rather fly with no screening because everybody in the world is nicer than TSA, because they suck!"

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago* (1 child)

    I'm sorry dude I tried to be reasonable and give the benefit of the doubt but having some professional standards is not ass kissing. Calm down.

    The fact that a small nail file has to be "smuggled" on to a plane, but I can bring a metal pen or a screwdriver under 7in no issues is crazy. Both of those can cause more harm than a nail file. None of them are a threat, as you said it's been 25 years so clearly a screwdriver is safe. But God help if you have a nail file or a jar of peanut butter.

    Streamline the rules to make some sense, and act like a professional. Literally every airport/country in Europe can manage this. Yet somehow it's just the craziest thing you've ever heard.

    Also you keep saying 2 days but this post was posted 12hrs ago. I'm clearly not in the other thread you've been arguing in

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  • [–] -1 points 6 months ago*

    I think they are perfectly professional enough. Its bad form to bitch about your fellow working citizens. Save your derision for their Directors.

    I had the same argument on a different thread yesterday, with all the same lame arguments. I'm bored.

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