The Golden Age of Travel

[Stijloor]

In Reply to Parent Post by Randy

One of my favorite activities

Friday I got a couple of stitches taken out of my fanny as a result of some minor elective surgery(a real pain in the butt). I finally got tired of some airport metal detectors going into fits as I passed through, so I had a few bits of scrap from previous travels removed. I was at the point that I'd just shuck my laundry to get it over with while trying to explain to the TSA folks how it got there to begin with (called history lessons)

OK Randy, now that you have shamelessly exposed yourself...., how many stitches does it take to set off a metal detector?

Stijloor.

[Wes Bucey]

In Reply to Parent Post by Stijloor

OK Randy, now that you have shamelessly exposed yourself...., how many stitches does it take to set off a metal detector?

Stijloor.

I'm pretty sure it wasn't the stitches, but the metal remains of ordnance that found its way into Randy's rump. That can often occur when your transport gets hit by enemy [or friendly] fire.

My wounds were all hand-to-hand blade cuts - no metal left in me.

[Randy]

In Reply to Parent Post by Wes Bucey

I'm pretty sure it wasn't the stitches, but the metal remains of ordnance that found its way into Randy's rump. That can often occur when your transport gets hit by enemy [or friendly] fire.

My wounds were all hand-to-hand blade cuts - no metal left in me.

Yes, some of it was theirs and some was ours (I wouldn't use that term "friendly fire", because I wasn't friendly when it happened ...I actually tried to choke the cherry that did it)

It was just odds and ends that created enough "mass" to make things go buzz

[Kevin H]

At one time in the 1980's I worked with a crazy Israeli engineer - good guy, good engineer, but eccentric. He hadn't picked up any metal weight from serving in the Israeli Defense Forces, but he had a close friend who even at that time consistently set of metal detectors due to battle field metal pick-up.

Randy, you've got my sympathy for the operation, and thanks for your service.

[Randy]

In Reply to Parent Post by Kevin H

Randy, you've got my sympathy for the operation, and thanks for your service.

Ah, the service? Just a 40 year old pain in the butt

[Helmut Jilling]

In Reply to Parent Post by amanbhai

However, travelling is more safer and quicker now than it was before.

The last statistic I heard was 47% of the TSA auditors who test the system were able to carry weapons and contraband thru undetected. I would be willing to agree they have gotten better, but I certainly would not say they have gotten good, safe or quick. Slowly improving. Maybe your experience is better.

I loved the quote by a US Senator last year that the TSA has gotten very good at finding shampoo bottles and "little pointy things," but forgot the reason they were put there in the first place.

[Wes Bucey]

In Reply to Parent Post by Helmut Jilling

The last statistic I heard was 47% of the TSA auditors who test the system were able to carry weapons and contraband thru undetected. I would be willing to agree they have gotten better, but I certainly would not say they have gotten good, safe or quick. Slowly improving. Maybe your experience is better.

I loved the quote by a US Senator last year that the TSA has gotten very good at finding shampoo bottles and "little pointy things," but forgot the reason they were put there in the first place.

I agree some of the TSA personnel can be real jerks from a passenger point of view. As a Demingite, though, I put the blame on the managers who pick poor candidates and train poorly and have no effective program for checking competency - I sure wouldn't want competency tested in my factory by random sampling or purposely giving workers bad materials just to see whether they spoil a product by using such bad material.

I don't have an instant answer, but I'd take 1/10 of 1% of the total TSA budget for just one day for a fee to work out a program to assure competent TSA personnel who get the job done without alienating the majority of passengers and intimidating the rest into thinking every other passenger is a potential terrorist - especially when the airlines are taking away amenities one by one and making the trip, itself, even more miserable.

[qualitymanager]

You couldn't be talking about them having some Customer Service training?!?

That's just crazy-talk!


Actually I've not had any rude TSA staff deal with me when I've passed through the US after 2001.