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Pay TSA, keep your clothes on

October 31, 2013

tsalogoTravelers can now pay the U.S. Transportation Security Administration $85 and avoid the hassle of taking off shoes and jackets and removing laptops from cases at airports. [KCOY]

The TSA Pre-Check program currently allows select passengers to receive expedited screening at airports. Beginning, next month, all U.S. citizens can apply for the program by submitting an $85 application that includes proof of identification and fingerprints for a background check.

Pre-Check lines are expected to appear in 350 U.S. airports by the end of the year, but San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport does not plan to add one.

“There is not the ability to have a dedicated Pre-Check line,” said airport Assistant General Manager Craig Piper. “We just don’t have enough room for that.”

San Luis Obispo airport is implementing a form of expedited screening, but participating passengers must wait in the same line as everyone else.

Santa Maria Public Airport has also implemented certain aspects of Pre-Check, and Santa Barbara Municipal Airport officials plan to implement the full program soon.

 


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Flew out of SBP last week to east coast. Was pleasantly surprised by “TSA pre approval” on my e-ticket. Especially nice in big airport like Boston/Logan, special line, don’t have to take anything out of carry-on’s including computer, only jacket needs to be removed. Really fast and painless! Takes 30 minutes out of check in ….thumbs up.


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BTW, I didn’t pay $85, the pre approval just showed up on ticket.


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And of course “the first one’s free” may be in the equation.


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You may have been the beneficiary of a bureaucratic screwup. I wonder if someone someplace else was supposed to get the pre-approval? Mr. Quida perhaps?


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Damn, ruined my pun with a misspelling. “Mr. Queda.”


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So does the TSA believe that terrorist can’t come up with 85 clams? It’s time for the American people to wake up and realize that when it comes to the BIG government machine…getting their hands on your money is first and foremost.


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Who pays TSA in the first place? Our tax dollars, right ($7.6 Billion in 2012) ? Now our government wants to charge us an additional fee to expedite us through a line. REALLY?!!! Government double dipping at its best! And! At $85.00 a pop it would only be those who travel frequently that would benefit, right? So, the very well off would be getting another government perk that most of us cannot. Our government; a government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich..,


Just Sayin’…


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Background checks are not cheap so they are just trying to pass the costs onto those who want less inconvenience. The issue is getting people used to further invasions of privacy so that they can build a bigger database about American citizens. This would be extremely useful for the eventual control of the population by the emerging plutocracy. I wouldn’t pay for them to further invade my privacy even if I did fly enough to justify the cost.


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While I agree with your “information gathering” assessment the reference to background checks as being expensive is, I believe, not as accurate. The background check is done by another federal, tax payer funded, agency and if there is any cost involved it is a mere “paper chase” charge (where one agency “charges” another to show money spent with no actual monies exchanged). More than likely, since any federal law enforcement agency is now under the banner of Homeland Security (and most of these background checks are done by the FBI and CI&I), there is no charge at all, even a “paper chase” one. Besides, TSA would probably state a “need to know” claim revolving around national security, and find some way to get more funding for the “service” all the while charging us for it.


Just Sayin’….


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DOJ and FBI Live Scan costs approximately $70 depending on where you have it done. The place doing the Live Scan charges a rolling fee and the DOJ/FBI charge a fee.


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I always opt for the pat down and would gladly submit to a free strip search, if offered.


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Fire the TSA.

Simply require all passengers on the airplane to meet in a secured room with the flight crew. If the crew says you are good to go then you get on. If they have suspicions then you dont. After all it’s their lives on the line too.


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I agree with your first comment but really? You want to substitute the flight crew’s judgment? I can see as much potential for abuse there as currently exists with the TSA. The intelligence of the cabin crew may be a step higher than some of the clowns hired by TSA but not necessarily enough to do that job.


The only improvements needed in the air transportation system post-911 were increased vigilance on the part of everyone including fellow passengers and better restriction of access to the cockpit. The first occurred before the last 911 plane crashed and the second followed as rapidly as could be expected. The other changes have had little effect — far too little to compensate for the associated assaults on the freedom and privacy of the traveling public.

TSA should be TST (Transportation Security Theater.)


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In my opinion, what big brother is really after is a national data base with everyone’s finger prints.


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Not just fingerprints — they can already come close to that. They want to accumulate as much data (background checks) as they can about everyone — and they want you to pay for their trouble in doing so. One more little step in our descent into tyranny.


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Government run amuck


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