Fly much? We used to. We’ve been flying long enough to remember when air travel was considered elegant and passengers were treated like human beings. Up until this year, we flew a lot (for non-business flyers). It’s 700 miles north or southwest to our family, and that’s a long drive. But a trip that cost $318 for two last year now costs $826 (and it’s no longer non-stop!).
Air travel is far from elegant or romantic, and passengers are treated about as well as factory-farm cattle. So, we gave up the elegance and luxury (and decent fares) to be treated badly, to be inconvenienced, to be charged for everything, and to be safer. You know you feel lots safer when I take my shoes off in the airport and some stranger pokes through my carry-on.
What about the security provided by the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA, part of Homeland Security)? Is it worth all the money we taxpayers pour into it? Are the skies friendly again? More importantly, are they safe?
Boston Aviation Services, Inc. has recently released a DVD that asks the question, “Are our skies safer after 9/11?” It “is the brainchild of executive producer Fred Gevalt, a pilot and aviation publisher, who was galvanized to expose the TSA’s weaknesses after watching the burgeoning size and influence of the agency since its creation after 9/11.”
TSA answered the question regarding safety by “respectfully” declining to participate in the making of Please Remove Your Shoes, which begins with reactions to the horrific events of 9/11. Lawmakers by the score called for increased security on behalf of their constituents and the bureaucracy got down to doing what it does best—creating more bureaucracy.
Brian Sullivan, former FAA Security Agent, serves as host of this documentary that points out where and why airport security is not all it’s supposed to be, and certainly not what it’s meant to be. Sullivan tells us that upon creation of Homeland Security “…we were told the TSA…would succeed where the FAA had failed” in providing airport security.
Article comments
1 - Lynn Voedisch
I'm sure this DVD would simply enrage me.
The idiots in charge of our security are totally clueless about what a real terror threat is.
On a plane recently they had me turn off my Kindle before takeoff and landing. And this is a READING DEVICE. (And, yes, I had the WhisperNet wireless connection turned off already.) It didn't matter to them. It was electronic therefore it must be a threat. What are they smoking?
And watching TSA go over an old woman in a wheelchair with metal detectors just about made me blow my top.
We aren't protected by these jokers, we are imprisoned by them.
2 - the real bob
You couldn't be more correct. I had a pair of children's plastic safety scissors confiscated. I guess I could have done a lot of damage if we had a paper pilot. (Or maybe they were just protecting the in-flight magazines).