cygweb

My family and I recently took a trip out to Colorado. We've flown once since 9/11, Thanksgiving Weekend 2001, but hadn't flown since the TSA was in full force in the nation's airports. What an experience it was this time. The best fares we could get for our trip was by using the BWI airport, a 2-hour drive for us, but we were able to fly straight to our destination, Colorado Springs. We were willing to settle for Harrisburg-to-Denver, but the fare total was several hundred dollars higher. Sorry, but we're not willing to pay that much for "The Antidote to the Big Airport". Aside from the drive and a little morning rush-hour traffic, we got to BWI on time and got checked in with some time to spare. We had already spoken to friends who travel by air often and were warned that we'd have to take off our shoes at the security checkpoint. Luckily, they didn't make us take off our son's shoes (he's almost three, and I can assure you he looks nothing like Richard Reid). The thing I used to hate most about traveling by air was all the stuff I we had to carry onto the plane for our son (car seat, diaper bag, toys, now a portable DVD player). Now it's the TSA.Yes, I know our government's goal is to protect the safety of air travelers, but by instituting a system where every single person is checked every single time they arrive at an airport for a flight, they've turned air travel into "the last resort" for me. Let me clarify. According to what I experienced on our trips to and (especially) from Colorado Springs, the same security checks are performed on a person independent of any historical record. Is a business traveler who's cleared hundreds of checkpoints in the past year probably a shoe bomber? No. Is a married couple traveling with a 2-year old son likely to have put a bomb in their luggage? No. However, since 9/11, anything is possible, and statistics be damned, everyone will be searched every time. This situation is completely stupid. Do I think the airlines deserve to be propped up by the federal government to avoid bankruptcy? No way.Take, for example, the worst airport experience I've had in a long time. My family and I arrive at the Colorado Springs airport two hours early for a 9AM flight on Continental. At that airport, America West and Continental share the same ticket counter, so we're queued up together. Also, TSA reps are inspecting checked baggage after check-in and tagging, requiring a second line of passengers outside of the ticket counters; not a great system. There happens to be an America West flight leaving before ours, so the counter agents begin requesting "America West passengers only!" without specifying passengers on the one flight before ours. We're made to stand in line for an hour and a half because of this, when our original position in line would have probably allowed us 45 minutes of wait. To make things worse, our overstuffed suitcases both have to be opened and inspected by TSA personnel before they can be sent to the plane. "You can go ahead to your gate," the TSA inspector says as she's about to check our luggage. No way. We stay for the entire procedure. The baggage clears and we head off to the sock hop. We eventually make it to our gate 10 minutes before boarding.Dear Admiral Loy, please make the TSA smarter and more efficient? How can reducing the number of screeners by 3000 not make things slower, unless they're checking less things or less people? Perhaps the number of airline passengers is declining? Maybe. I know of three people who won't be flying for quite a while.Has the TSA busted any terrorists yet? Hmm, I guess they grew tired of the wait.