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TSA is still ruining everything!

TSA is still ruining everything!

One passenger has “WTF” moment searching for the end of security line.

Last fall, Kemberlee Kaye reported on the continued incompetence of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and suggested that a smart presidential candidate should add become a “strong proponent of defunding the TSA.”

Now, as one party has a presumptive nominee and the other is still fighting over the matter, it turns out that things have already changed at the TSA! Changed as in gotten far, far worse, as airlines report that some 4,000 passengers have missed flights at O’Hare Airport because of the long wait times since February, and there have been reports of screening hold-ups, delayed baggage transport, and difficulties at many other airports.

Travelers flying out of Chicago just can’t catch a break. With increasingly long lines to get through security at the city’s airports, many travelers have been missing their flights, and some ended up sleeping at O’Hare International Airport on Sunday.

American Airlines put out cots for fewer than 100 travelers who missed their flights Sunday night due to the long lines at TSA security checkpoints.

Adrian Petra said he missed his flight after standing in line for 2 hours and 20 minutes.

The TSA has been urging passengers to get to the airport at least two hours early for domestic flights, and three hours early for international flights. However, some passengers have said that is not enough time to get through security and still make their flight.

This video shows one passenger’s quest to find the start of the security line at Chicago Midway Airport:

I already hate traveling in this environment. Unfortunately, our family has already booked tickets for a trip to the Maine coast this summer. If I had known this is what air travel had become, a road trip may have been planned instead.

Now, as news of the airport problems spread, one has to wonder if Americans are now contemplating summer travel plans that don’t involve flying.

But the TSA news gets even better!

TSA executives got fairly hefty pay bonuses for their hard work.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, cited as an example the assistant administrator of the office of security operations, who received “an amazing amount of bonuses” while his department “was in total failure.”

“Not to pick on one person, but this is what’s so frustrating when the rank and file sees this,” Chaffetz said of the low morale plaguing the TSA. “In 13 months, he gets $90,000 in bonuses.”

It takes real talent to screw up a major American industry this badly.

Furthermore, guess who the TSA blames for their boobery?

You.

When asked about those long lines, the TSA essentially blamed you in a press release, specifically passengers who bring too many carry-on items:

“There are several factors that have caused checkpoint lines to take longer to screen passengers… including more people traveling with carry-on bags, in many cases bringing more than the airline industry standard of one carry-on bag and one personal item per traveler;

” Passenger preparedness can have a significant impact on wait times at security checkpoints nationwide…Individuals who come to the TSA checkpoint unprepared for a trip can have a negative impact on the time it takes to complete the screening process.”

The cherry on top of this flaming cake of incompetence is that TSA is retaliating against a whistleblower who publicly exposed weak procedures, has been back on the TSA payroll for one year now.

While having his old job back may seem ideal, Robert MacLean is a covert air marshal.

In January, the TSA assigned him to flights to the Middle East, “despite knowing that al-Qaida was searching the internet for images of air marshals in order to murder them,” said his attorney, Tom Devine, legal director for the Government Accountability Project.

“It’s like putting a red X on every flight MacLean is assigned to. It’s a risk not only to him, but to the passengers on those planes.”

I suspect many Americans will be having their own TSA-inspited “WTF” moments in the next few months. Kemberlee is correct: A savvy candidate will make this a campaign issue. It should be “Yuge!”

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Comments

Why do we not publically blame the Congress morals who voted for this and continually fund it? If idiots are receiving bonuses, it is because the law allows it and the money is there. Can we compare what we have to the TSA sales brochures that were published when the TSA was created? Who said it was a good idea?

I think it is wrong to focus anywhere but on congress — names! Somebody sponsored the legislation and somebody voted for it.

Just like the “affordable” care act

    casualobserver in reply to TX-rifraph. | May 17, 2016 at 8:54 am

    I’m pretty sure one Congressman who takes credit for it is on the record saying its current incarnation is not what intended and it should be either seriously revamped or abolished. What struck me over a year ago when I read that is how often that is true but it is so rarely ever said that it was odd to see him quoted. His name is Micah from FL I think.

Since Trump doesn’t have to suffer all this BS, Abolishing the TSA is probably pretty far down his “to-do” list. If you have your own airplane, you just walk out on the ramp, get in, and go.

    casualobserver in reply to snopercod. | May 17, 2016 at 8:55 am

    It might be something he can quickly address. And it gives him the ability to say he “created 70,000 jobs” in the private sector or something like that.

Richard Aubrey | May 17, 2016 at 8:26 am

So, between getting to the airport hours early, the flight time, the time spent getting off the aircraft and finding luggage, if any was checked, how long does it take to fly, say six hundred miles? And when you’ve accomplished this…you’re at the airport.
Pretty much all day, when you consider you still have to get to your destination. How long from your airport to your destination on the Maine coast?
How long to drive the same distance?
Seats are more comfortable.
You choose your companions.
You choose your entertainment.
The food is better.
Rest rooms are bigger, cleaner, and there are no lines.
You get to see the country.
If something interests you, you stop and enjoy it. Modify your plans.
Pack what you want.
When you get there, you have a car.
And you leave when you want.
So, how far would you have to go to be flying instead of driving?
Six hundred miles?
Four hundred?
Six hundred miles of driving is a long day. But if you split it up, it’s two leisurely days with time for things you see as you go, or planned stops for other interests such as museums, parks, or scenic back roads.
And when we get there, we have a car and we’ve packed everything we want.

    Subotai Bahadur in reply to Richard Aubrey. | May 17, 2016 at 11:58 am

    Also figure the costs per person. Flying the 600 miles is going to cost a couple of hundred per person, each way. At least. Say $1600 for a notational family of 4. You can drive a long way, round trip, on $1600. And have money left over. Plus all the advantages you list.

    And the mental one of knowing that you have flipped off the Federales and not allowed yourself to be tracked.

    The key thing is to have access to a car large enough to be comfortable [and car seats are larger and more comfortable than airline seats] and in good enough shape to make the trip. Yes, it eats some time. But any day flying is a totally lost day, anyway.

    Agreed! We no longer fly anywhere but take the ‘cage’ (truck) or our motorcycles everywhere. The airports and TSA can crash and burn as far as we’re concerned.

Expecting efficiency and competence from gov is expecting the impossible. It is where the incompetent go to get jobs where they won’t be fired.

casualobserver | May 17, 2016 at 8:58 am

I am such a cynic about this administration at this point. When I read something like this one of the first places my thoughts go: This is probably deliberate and a way to highlight a “do nothing Congress” during an election year. The press will highlight “funding” issues with glee.

Air travel has been going downhill for decades. If we look at the ‘spoke and hub’ layout currently in use, airports like O’Hare and Atlanta will always have over crowding. Add to that the insipid TSA ‘professionals’ who have a nasty predilection to steal and we have the makings of a ‘perfect storm’.

Could it be that our social engineering ‘masters’ in Washington are actually working to Balkanize us?

This will all change as the terrorists realize they can do more damage/kill more infidels, by blowing themselves up while standing in the long security lines at the airport. They don’t even have to do anything but walk into the terminal, trigger the bomb, and start counting their virgins.

Humphrey's Executor | May 17, 2016 at 9:42 am

From the beginning the TSA was designed primarily as a massive Federal jobs program. Scrap it. Tell the Airlines they are responsible for security and provide proper oversite and penalize them for failure.

Fla4Liberty | May 17, 2016 at 9:48 am

Call this what it actually is: an intentional work slowdown by the TSA to punish travelers, to try to force travelers to register for the TSA pre-check (so the gov can collect more data on travelers), and to blackmail congress for more money. Another example of the Alinskyites creating chaos for distraction from the real, serious issues facing this country. TSA is merely bad theater for us and makework for union goons.

This is not the result of incompetence, although the administration is perfectly happy to have you believe it is. This is a deliberate test of Americans’ tolerance for being shoved around by their government. So far, we’re passing with flying colors.

Between the torn-up roads and the nightmare of the TSA it seems logical to conclude that that do not want us traveling.

I had to make an emergency trip to Georgia on Mother’s day and flew back out of Hartsfield Airport on Sunday. NEVER AGAIN. I still have to go back several times a year but there is no longer any situation that would constitute enough of an emergency to make me get on an airplane instead of making the drive in two days. I’ve been in third world airports with better organization.

Some things to remember about the Collective…

1. they HATE the middle-class

2. they don’t like you having a car

3. they don’t like you flying

4. they want you in mass transport for surface transportation

5. they have plans for pushing the TSA down into surface transportation, too.

2nd Ammendment Mother | May 17, 2016 at 11:07 am

I’ve got a business trip planned for this fall to Phoenix for a firearms instructors course. When I look at the hassles just I’m already planning to drive the 14 hours each way across country rather than fly from DFW (just a few miles away) to Phoenix.

I don’t fly much but had occasion to do so twice this year. Both times I had to run to catch a plane at the last possible minute after standing in line (or walking from one end of the terminal to the other to get to the line) for an hour or more.

It just isn’t worth it. Lay off the entire TSA – starting at the top! If you’re still worried about terrorists, arm the passengers. It will not be worse.

All of this TSA madness can be laid at the feet of one person. Dirty Harry. He was the main push behind it. He did this to help his union buddies.

Get rid of the TSA, it does nothing. Go back to the metal detectors and profile, profile the Muslims.

Has anyone had this happen? Going to Korea, go to Korean Air web site and buy tickets leaving from DFW. Arrive to find out that American Airlines is the carrier and not Korean air, for whom you paid extra bucks due to their history of luxury. In typical American Air fashion, they delay the plane 3 hours with it full and at the gate, no compensation. Plane is dirty and staff rude as usual. American will not acknowledge that they had flight or give points, not that I want to use them or United ever again.