| Author |
Message |
    
Pippi
Supporter
Username: Pippi
Post Number: 700
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, March 12, 2005 - 12:01 am: | 
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This evening I flew from JFK to Florida on Jet Blue.
It is with great sadness, as well as a fair share of fear, that I report that NO ONE LOOKED AT MY ID or boarding pass.
That's right.
I did a self check-in and printed out a boarding pass. The only requirement was knowing my confirmation # -- I wasn't even required to dip my credit card.
I then proceeded to the security screening area, holding my boarding pass and driver's license in hand. I put my carry on on the conveyor belt, walked through the machine, slipped my shoes on and walked to my gate.
I was certain at the gate someone, anyone, would want to see my boarding pass & ID. But no. I continued to hold the boarding pass and ID in my hand while walking down the gangplank. I even felt confident that the nice people saying "good evening" to me while I took my seat might ask to see them. But no.
This is completely unacceptable. WHAT IS GOING ON OUT THERE??
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The Libertarian
Citizen
Username: Local_1_crew
Post Number: 551
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, March 12, 2005 - 12:13 am: |
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i was flying to finland out of newark last year. i was going through the metal detector and i had a large hard cover book in my hand. without thinking what i was doing i put the book down on a small table, walked through the detector, and then reached around and picked up my book. all was well and i went to my gate. it was then that i realized that i could have had anything in that book and it went through security without any x-ray, metal detection, or scrutiny of any kind. |
Bob K
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 7884
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, March 12, 2005 - 4:44 am: |
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Pippi, were you wearing a Burkha?
Libertarian, I would think your philosophy would be anti-security since this should be left to the marketplace.
Kidding aside last August I was flying out of Newark to San Francisco. It was a Sunday night and the flight had been delayed for three hours. Everyone was tired and grumpy including the SF based crew. After finally pulling away from the gate, we returned to let off a young couple. The captain, who I talked to, didn't have their luggage removed because he thought the screening at the airport was sufficient. At the time there had been a number of articles about how poorly checked luggage was screened at Newark.
I guess I shouldn't complain, we made it. 
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algebra2
Supporter
Username: Algebra2
Post Number: 3054
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, March 12, 2005 - 7:50 am: |
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Security to enter the Morgan Stanley building is so impressive -- much more impressive than entering EWR. As soon as you walk in the door you go through a metal detector. Then at security they take you id and log it in and take your picture for your id -- I assume my picture was scanned into their computer too. All this for one girl going to pick up a prospectus from the mailroom. |
Joan
Supporter
Username: Joancrystal
Post Number: 5132
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, March 12, 2005 - 8:44 am: |
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The World Trade Center had impressive security at the entrances to towers 1 and 2. Yet, that didn't prevent both buildings from coming crashing down.
Often there is more to good building (or airport) security than ID checks (suppose the person in question is using an assumed ID or has no prior record?) and metal detectors (smuggled items could be non-metal and disguised to resemble non-threatening objects).
I really don't know how we can insure absolute safety as long as we are at physical or ideological war. Still, it is nice to maintain the appearance of safety in our daily lives. |
Bob K
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 7886
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, March 12, 2005 - 9:39 am: |
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The WTC security was all show and no go.
First they fired the company that supplied the guards and replaced them minimum wage workers, many of whom couldn't see lighting or hear thunder. Employees often exchanged ID cards to see if they would be caught, they weren't.
We used a small company run by an ex-NYPD officer to move boxes and such everytime we played muscial offices and cubicles. The owner had no problem getting into the building through the service entrace without an ID. He was never challenged.
There was a robbery in WTC One where the perps had no trouble accessing the building and robbing a money room for one of the banks and making a safe escape.
There was a persistent rumor, hottly denied by the Port Authority,that someone had stolen the computer that had all the ID records from the security office in the basement.
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Joan
Supporter
Username: Joancrystal
Post Number: 5136
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, March 12, 2005 - 11:06 am: |
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Bob:
I think you made my point. Show is fine up to a point but if there isn't effective strategy and enforcement behind it, it is more dangerous than having no visible security at all. |
ML
Supporter
Username: Ml1
Post Number: 2342
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, March 12, 2005 - 11:53 am: |
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Don't worry Pippi, airports still do the full hand searches of luggage and full body frisking -- although what they base it on, I have no idea. I travel a lot, and as recently as last month, I got the full security check. Maybe my name is the same as some IRA thug. |
Straw & manure
Supporter
Username: Strawberry
Post Number: 4644
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, March 12, 2005 - 3:48 pm: |
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no, actually you look like bad news. |
ML
Supporter
Username: Ml1
Post Number: 2343
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, March 12, 2005 - 4:06 pm: |
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yeah, I look like I could take out a whole flight crew by myself
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The Libertarian
Citizen
Username: Local_1_crew
Post Number: 566
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, March 12, 2005 - 4:08 pm: |
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like on a date? |
slipknot
Citizen
Username: Zotts
Post Number: 22
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, March 12, 2005 - 5:30 pm: |
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well we just got back from Orlando and the security at Disney World was more stringent than the airport. You now have to scan you fingers to register with your admission ticket |
mem
Citizen
Username: Mem
Post Number: 4752
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, March 12, 2005 - 5:33 pm: |
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I just got back from the Bahamas, and I could have smuggled from there without a hitch. There was no security check in Marsh harbour, show passport, ticket and walk across the tarmac to the plane. I could have had a gun or bomb in my pocket. When I asked, they said, "They will certainly check in Florida", hello! The Fla immigation man didn't even look at my purse or carry on and said welcome back! I could have had fake passport, drugs, guns, dirty bomb, whatever, it was so easy (I hope al-queda doesn't check MOL).
My friends sail their boats from Fla to the Bahamas regularly, and they said they could make a fortune moving contraband around. They do swipe passports, so if you ever lose yours report it right away - I have been offered $5k twice for mine...
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anon
Citizen
Username: Anon
Post Number: 1690
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, March 12, 2005 - 7:01 pm: |
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Wow, you all get to go to such interesting fun places. I spend my life shuttling between Maplewood and South Orange. If I get as far as Livingston, I consider it a treat! |
Innisowen
Citizen
Username: Innisowen
Post Number: 625
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, March 12, 2005 - 10:38 pm: |
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Standiford Field in Louisville, KY, and the Port Columbus Airport in OH have more stringent and systematic controls than do EWR or JFK, at least in the few dozen times I've been through them in the past two years. Toronto's Lester Pearson and Montreal's Dorval don't fool around either, even if the security staff see you week after week.
I fly in and out of Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt 6 or 7 times a year, and I feel more confident and safe than I ever do locally. Those airports have been consistently GREAT with security since the Pan Am Flight 103 incident in 1989.
What is it going to take to make US airlines, airport authorities, and the federal government realize that we deserve a serious, systematic, and sustained approach to security in the airports? Are the authorities so foolish as to think that the unthinkable events of 9/11 could not happen again? |
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