Although the X-ray and metal detector rigmarole is mandatory for pilots and flight attendants, many other airport workers, including those with regular access to aircraft -- to cabins, cockpits, galleys and freight compartments -- are exempt. That's correct. Uniformed pilots cannot carry butter knives onto an airplane, yet apron workers and contract ground support staff -- cargo loaders, baggage handlers, fuelers, cabin cleaners, caterers -- can, as a matter of routine, bypass TSA inspection entirely... here's what one apron worker at New York's Kennedy airport recently told me:From the "Ask the Pilot" column at Salon, via BoingBoing.
"All I need is my Port Authority ID, which I swipe through a turnstile. The 'sterile area' door is not watched over by any hired security or by TSA. I have worked at JFK for more than three years now and I have yet to be randomly searched. Really the only TSA presence we notice is when the blue-shirts come down to the cafeteria to get food."
A private citizen who wishes to travel within his or her own country gets the full draconian back-scatter/pat-down rigmarole while low paid workers who, as they could easily be bribed, represent a real risk (of course this includes TSA employees themselves) receive little-to-no scrutiny... seems to belie more than simple incompetence that such observations are not uncommon.
ReplyDelete*headdesk* I wish I could say I'm surprised, but I'm not. I do wonder why there's so much scare talk about everything else and very legitimate stuff like this gets ignored.
ReplyDeleteI'm 'opting out' of flying until someone beats the TSA with a clue-by-four. Reports that they're starting to use TSA personnel for courthouse security worries me - does this mean I can no longer participate in the legal process in some areas without someone getting a look at or a feel of my junk? 'You don't have to fly' is a specious excuse already, but THAT would be enough for me to start rioting.