The TSA is capturing MORE terrorists!

Dang, they let explosive underwear onboard, but confiscate my fingernail file and hairspray...then call a female guard to totally frisk me from head to toe, take off my shoes, empty all contents of my purse, and go over them with an infra red wand.

Can someone please tell them that Terra isn't short for terrorist? Sheesh!

What awesome intelligence we have!:rolleyes:

Terra the lil terrorist

but thats the prolem. we're entrusting the security of the country to people who work for minimum wage. I've worked minimum wage jobs befoer. My dedication was subpar to say the least. I doubt thats changed much with the minimum wage crowd.

Lol. I think that might be the first time I ever laughed at something you wrote, Steve. A good omen for 2010, I hope.

And the point im making is at 9.00 an hour or less, you aren't going to get the caliber of person that gives a rat's ass what they are supposed to do, or how fast you get through check in or if you make your plane. You also will have someone that probably isnt all that sharp and as you pointed out has the power to have you slapped in jail or atleast enjoying a cavity search if the mood strikes them.

If you want better performance it will require better pay.

And i know atleast 5 branches of the military that also provide food, clothing, housing, education, outstanding insurance for you AND your family AND provide you with weapons and ammunition when you're checking people's crotches for bombs.

I don't care how long i have to wait i would rather wait and know i am safe than push everyone through.

Well, SOME places are moving AWAY from smoking lounges. Fort Wayne USED to have one and NOW, they got rid of it. Ironically, I think that is partially because of 9/11. They HAD a restaurant in the public area, and 9/11 meant they had to have a sterile area one, so the smokers lounge was done away with.

BARS, and some restaurants in SOME large airports allow smoking but most other places just don't allow it. I'm HAPPY abaout THAT! OH WELL, back on topic...

Pilots of LARGE planes sometimes make a LOT. I heard of some on some superjumbo international flights making about $250,000USD! The SMALLER plane pilots, like CRJs supposedly can make in the $20K range. Others are somewhere between. AGAIN, the 9/11 thing had a hand in that. It helped to stunt the airline industry, and all but kill it, and companies moved to smaller aircraft and fewer flights. A SUPERJUMBO could EASILY gross over $500,000 per flight. Some small CRJs aren't likely to make even $12,000. Allowing for flight times and turn around times, that means that the SUPERJUMBO EASILY makes over four times as much a day, and there are fewer per market so capacity is better used, and there is the economy of scale. AND, in the prices noted above, realize the superjumbo is more likely to make more, and those values DON'T count costs.

Maybe if the unions didn't eat up so much income, and force money to go to STUPID places, the airlines could maybe shave off a little income, and distribute it in a fairer way. The international pilots DO have a long, boring, and limiting job, but do they really NEED $250K+? And the way they hold people up because of FLIGHT attendants, etc... It is LUDICROUS! So the airlines are hit on ALL sides. The current sweetspot for domestic travel is probably about $400, so THAT doesn't have much room. So they pretty much have to make it with what they have. And more and more people talk about DRIVING all or part of the way. If parking weren't so high, I would drive half way(One less ticket to pay a pilot!). If I were much closer, I would drive ALL the way(less for TWO pilots!). HEY, I did it on a trip to chicago. I drove the whole way every week or so. And chicago is REALLY bad because there are LOTS of delays. And did you know that FLIGHT ATTENDANTS can make like $20K? To put this in perspective, the highest minimum wage planned in any state in the US, with NO benefits or vacation, is about $17,784.

Here is what one site says:

Do you think THAT is fair?

As for paying the TSA workers more, I don't think they currently deserve any more. They are so careless, cause so many problems, and don't seem to really help. I think MOST realize the DHS and TSA are just jokes. I certainly don't feel safer. Luckily, I haven't flown a jumbo for a while, and only ONE market on my trip is currently a reasonable target, but I don't think the terrorists are smart enough to figure that out!

Steve

Those "smoking rooms" are disappearing because some nitwit non-smoker imagined they could smell the smoke from 500 away and complained...

Who were you telling - a minimum wage worker??? "Service" and airlines don't seem to be connected words these days.

Maybe it's not "holier than thou" - maybe the space was needed for something else or job cuts made it a good excuse to eliminate an area that needed more cleaning hours than other areas. Many businesses have used the tight economy to cut back or eliminate "services" they didn't like providing in the first place.

Steve -

I think what happens is "reactionary protection". I remember as a kid thinking it was stupid to put a stoplight at a dangerous intersection only AFTER someone was killed there - but it still happens that way.

What is funny about the recent incident is the big push for full body scans. The dude hid the explosive exactly where the supplied "shield" would have been on a body scanner. How would that help or protect anyone?

There is nothing that will protect anyone 100% from something bad happening. But at least we should require some level of common sense which is not what we've seen recently.

A trained dog checking passengers would find more than all the screening equipment - so why isn't that done?

kay