IS THE TSA COOKING THE NUMBERS? Reader Scott Breffle sends this report:
While in the security line at Oakland, CA on Friday, a TSA employee asked me if I could take this yellow card and hand it to the screeners at the front. He explained that they used these cards to time the line. It seemed reasonable and I accepted. Afterwards I more fully read the text on the card. It said that this card was used to time the line and was thanking me, as the last person in the line, for helping the TSA measure how long it is taking to get through the security line. The problem was, I was already half-way through the line! Is an organization so young already stacking the performance metrics? Disappointing, and hopefully an isolated incident.
Interesting. I haven’t heard any other reports like this.
UPDATE: Reader Tucker Goodrich emails:
I recently flew out to San Francisco from Newark and back, and they were polite and efficient, far better than the old regime.
However, they missed my little Swiss Army pocket knife (on my keychain)coming and going. What to make of that?
My last flight was fine on this end (but it always was) but hell at Mineta International in San Jose, which apparently it always is. Meanwhile reader Kevin Rose says:
I was with a tour group going from Albuquerque to Houston, then to Honduras in mid April. Half of us found, on arrival in Honduras, that our dive bags had been unsealed, with the little TSA inspection notices. Not one had the “tamper evident” seals that they claim to have placed on them, they were just zipped shut. Nothing was missing, but you have to wonder if the TSA forgot to budget for cable ties? Is this common?
Beats me. And reader Bob Cady suggests:
Another possibility is that they are giving the card to (say) the 10th person in line to measure scanning rate (number of passengers/unit time) rather than just time for an unknown line to pass through the station.
If there are any journalists who aren’t busy with Bill Bennett’s casino records or Jayson Blair’s travel vouchers, this might be a story worth looking into.