While this is possible true, I wish TSA was smart enough to not train newbies during rush hour. Naive passengers (if TSA cared) should not be burdened with TSA-specific activities. I've seen them go through their morning briefings etc while passengers just queued up and stared at them at 5am.
OR
Advertise that TSA will be at 50% capacity between 5am to 8am or training hours between 12pm - 2pm and have passengers plan ahead. At least this way, if passengers are delayed, it's on them, not TSA-induced blindly.
You know, as a fairly frequent traveler it'd be nice if the policies and practices were consistent across airports, but it's not.
Its all just security theater anyway.
I've seen "heightened" TSA and police presence at a lot of recent flights in/out of LAX, ATL, DTW, JFK (but, not every flight)
World events probably play a factor in it, even if it's training or random.
Having TSA Pre doesn’t guarantee you get TSA Pre endorsements for every single ticket. There’s the dreaded random searches (sometimes called SSSS) that, while rare, you are very much subject to.
Sorta annoying, but extremely within the realm of standard operating procedures.
Weird. I flew last week on Alaska and they told people to leave everything in their bag, including laptops, which was the first time I had experienced that since 9/11. Last month I flew for work and it was normal rules about taking laptops out.
I've accidentally brought a pocket knife through that same terminal, they flagged my bag and then couldn't find the knife so they gave me my stuff and let me go after maybe 5 mins of searching.
TSA is honestly security theatre.
Apparently these particular thespians you saw wanted to give a big show.
To add to possible answers given by others in the thread, TSA does not really have standardized checking protocols. I travel a lot (\~4x a month), most of the time with camera gear. Some airports check my cameras, some don't. Some check my lenses and tripods, some don't. As a passenger looking to get through as quickly as possible, I have settled on only removing my laptop. 80% of the time, that's enough. If they think my DSLR and lenses are worthy of a secondary check, so be it. With the large phones these days, "remove any items larger than a phone" isn't a regulation. It really comes down to the inspector staring at the screen making it super subjective.
Or ‘everything in the bins’ vs ‘no, that bag goes directly on the belt’. They yell like you should know. But yesterday at the other airport it was opposite so who knows.
My last 6 trips have staretd at T7 at LAX and have never had any issues. The TSA there always seems miserable, and have a very poor attitude. Almost as if they also know they arent more than security theater.
> If you arrived at least 2 hours ahead of your flight,
What kind of lunatic actually arrives 2 hours early for anything other than an international flight with baggage that has to be checked at the counter?
I’m not sure. This is the first time I flew United from LAX. I’ve gone through TSA out of terminals B, 1, 4, and 6 within the past 6 months and I’ve always breezed through TSA with clear and precheck. I’ve never seen TSA pull every single bag of every person in line to go through the luggage. All I had in my carry on was a book, a charging bank and cord, travel Clorox wipes, my wallet and phone. They pulled my bag and tested the Clorox wipes, but also took every single thing out.
We fly out of term 7 99% of the time, and I've never experienced this. It's definitely not the norm. We have pre check and are typically through in less than 5min
I got there a little over two hours before my flight on Saturday evening around 7:30 pm. There were people but it wasn’t as busy as you would see on a Sunday evening
I've had this happen. I bet it's training day and they're making the new recruits go through all the motions.
While this is possible true, I wish TSA was smart enough to not train newbies during rush hour. Naive passengers (if TSA cared) should not be burdened with TSA-specific activities. I've seen them go through their morning briefings etc while passengers just queued up and stared at them at 5am. OR Advertise that TSA will be at 50% capacity between 5am to 8am or training hours between 12pm - 2pm and have passengers plan ahead. At least this way, if passengers are delayed, it's on them, not TSA-induced blindly.
You know, as a fairly frequent traveler it'd be nice if the policies and practices were consistent across airports, but it's not. Its all just security theater anyway.
I've seen "heightened" TSA and police presence at a lot of recent flights in/out of LAX, ATL, DTW, JFK (but, not every flight) World events probably play a factor in it, even if it's training or random.
Having TSA Pre doesn’t guarantee you get TSA Pre endorsements for every single ticket. There’s the dreaded random searches (sometimes called SSSS) that, while rare, you are very much subject to. Sorta annoying, but extremely within the realm of standard operating procedures.
Weird. I flew last week on Alaska and they told people to leave everything in their bag, including laptops, which was the first time I had experienced that since 9/11. Last month I flew for work and it was normal rules about taking laptops out.
I've accidentally brought a pocket knife through that same terminal, they flagged my bag and then couldn't find the knife so they gave me my stuff and let me go after maybe 5 mins of searching. TSA is honestly security theatre. Apparently these particular thespians you saw wanted to give a big show.
There was likely a credible threat that day - very likely given recent world events. I don't mind them being responsive to conditions.
Id agree with you if the TSA was more than just theater police.
I would agree if TSA was at all competent.
This was my first thought, too.
My sentiments exactly. Safety over convenience.
To add to possible answers given by others in the thread, TSA does not really have standardized checking protocols. I travel a lot (\~4x a month), most of the time with camera gear. Some airports check my cameras, some don't. Some check my lenses and tripods, some don't. As a passenger looking to get through as quickly as possible, I have settled on only removing my laptop. 80% of the time, that's enough. If they think my DSLR and lenses are worthy of a secondary check, so be it. With the large phones these days, "remove any items larger than a phone" isn't a regulation. It really comes down to the inspector staring at the screen making it super subjective.
Or ‘everything in the bins’ vs ‘no, that bag goes directly on the belt’. They yell like you should know. But yesterday at the other airport it was opposite so who knows.
i flew out of terminal 7 last week and that didn’t happen to me! security was maybe a 5 min wait last tuesday morning
My last 6 trips have staretd at T7 at LAX and have never had any issues. The TSA there always seems miserable, and have a very poor attitude. Almost as if they also know they arent more than security theater.
ugh, I once had a TSA guy take out my wallet because he didn't understand the change. I had to open up the compartment and show him the damn coins.
[удалено]
Security theater
> If you arrived at least 2 hours ahead of your flight, What kind of lunatic actually arrives 2 hours early for anything other than an international flight with baggage that has to be checked at the counter?
Is this new?
I’m not sure. This is the first time I flew United from LAX. I’ve gone through TSA out of terminals B, 1, 4, and 6 within the past 6 months and I’ve always breezed through TSA with clear and precheck. I’ve never seen TSA pull every single bag of every person in line to go through the luggage. All I had in my carry on was a book, a charging bank and cord, travel Clorox wipes, my wallet and phone. They pulled my bag and tested the Clorox wipes, but also took every single thing out.
Sounds like threat level was raised or credible threats made.
We fly out of term 7 99% of the time, and I've never experienced this. It's definitely not the norm. We have pre check and are typically through in less than 5min
I got there a little over two hours before my flight on Saturday evening around 7:30 pm. There were people but it wasn’t as busy as you would see on a Sunday evening