airplane pre-boarding seaches...now voluntary WTF?

you guys tell me...

the last time i flew... (and will ever fly again)
I was going to Las Vegas from OKC. The boarding que was long.
The airport security asked for random volunteers from the boarders for a last minute search (several per flight list, are required by new rules) .
They cheerfully informed the waiting boarders that volunteers get to board first...
so it was a race of hands raising...
I won and was quickly rescanned and deshoed... then got to board first and pick my seat for the trip...

the whole thing was laughable, and I heard many comments to that effect....
why? why bother? no terrorist is going to volunteer for a search so he can pick his seat... and the searchers were not even trying to look when i was re-searched... just going thru the motions... (afterall, we had already went thru the main search at the gate)

Are our increased security measures just BS that gives us a false sense of security, while the real improvements are not happening?

I would rather give up the whole "anti-profiling" search thing.
If they could put an air marshall on everyflight, and a bullet/breakproof door in every cockpit...

seems like those two steps would go alot further in preventing another 9-11 than asking for voluntary searches, to prevent grandma from attacking someone with her fingernail clippers...



[edit on 2-3-2005 by LazarusTheLong]

[edit on 2-3-2005 by LazarusTheLong]

one more point...

patriot act 2 is soon to be released (in countries near you)

if they can't even get the airplane pre boarding searches right,
why are they concerned with giving agents the indiscriminate ability to wiretap and surveil?

that is leaving the door wide open while they worry about a little window...

borders and airports... those should be the focus...
wiretaps are easy to get with the slightest bit of evidence as it is... they don't need to be a "free for all..."

sorry for the rant, just had to add that...

Ah, Okie City to Las Vegas. Wasn't a Janet flight, I hope? When my wife and I vacationed in Jamaica last year, they were mean enough to choose this kind-looking, elderly scientist (me) as their searchee of choice.

Off-subject, what do you make of the new FAA construction going on here? There is rumor of an underground facility around 59th and Rockwell. They have recently fenced off a rather sizable piece of real estate. I worked relief in the April 19, 1995 bombing here, and it is a 100% FACT that the OKC police have an underground facility off North Lincoln; I have been there.

I used to live in that area, and know it well...(rockell & 63rd)

It's been a year or so, since i have been back... I should drive by and take a look.

the Underground police facilty... do you know what it is for?

I have always had a feeling that more is going on "under/behind the scenes" in OKC, that is being told...

guess it comes from all the "shadow government" rumors during the bombing...
I do know for a fact that an awful lot of "unusual" armament for a normal government agency went up in smoke that day... and a good amount more was secretly removed from a focused digging operation that was conducted in a certain area, under the premise of looking for an air pocket with survivors... no survivors were found, but an awful lot of "material" was removed in crates and "bomb boxes".
IMO they had to get that stuff out first, so that it wouldn't explode during the search... (also probably didn't want it publicized that we had those "heavy" types of armament)

Yes, nothing like picking on the old guy with the penny loafers and the pacemaker. “OK, Pops, lets check your waste for any foreign objects. OH, What’s that? Pull up your shirt! Oh, is that a colostomy bag? That makes the 7th one today.”

Meanwhile, the terrorists are passing objects around the scanners as fast as they can.

“What’s that metal thing on your keychain, Sir? Oh, Nitro pills? Isn’t that a controlled substance? Gemmy that!”

the agent at the search booth, told me that they have to perform 50* random pre boarding checks per day (at the boarding ramp) ... so they ask for volunteers... (*can't remember the exact number)
that makes lots of sense...
that will prevent lots of terrorists from killing people...(not)

Once on a flight I had, the guy at the first counter said, “We would suggest that you remove your shoes and put them on the belt.”

I said, “So, I should remove my shoes?”

He said, “We would suggest that you remove your shoes and put them on the belt.”

I said, “OK,” and put my shoes on the belt.

What a laughing stock….meanwhile the 90+ year old grandma in the wheelchair was getting the “special treatment.” They had a person on each side holding her up while another scanned her bum for AK47s and stuff like that.

Our much needed homeland security
has declined to simply "job security"

NOT what i paid for...

Having an air marshal on every flight would be nice, but that is a lot of air marshals. Not to mention it would be quite expensive.

Only further evidence the political powers that be never wanted TSA to be viable security to begin with. If only America knew...scratch that make that cared..

LoL, I must admit, this is pretty funny and stupid, yet alarming.

-wD

Originally posted by WeBDeviL
LoL, I must admit, this is pretty funny and stupid, yet alarming.

-wD

Ya know WD
that was almost verbatum to what all the people watching said.

I liken those searchers to that legenday union job of "watcher of the watercooler"

It was laughable, but scary... there were a few arab nationals in line, and you could almost hear the whispers of "i hope they raise there hands to volunteer"
and they did (along with almost everyone), but they were much slower on the draw than i and the other three winners of the early boarding pass contest...

maybe it is helpful though... they just look for the people who DON'T raise their hands... except then you also get the people who don't care about a window seat with luggage space.

The OKC police underground facility is probably not even secret, just not well known or even mentioned by the powers that be. I could still drive up to the guard shack, not far off Lincoln, close to the Capital. It allegedly is a crisis center, to deal with situations such as a tornado taking out P.D. Headquarters, a nuclear event, etc. It was well-used in April of 1995. I agree that there are many strange, mostly unseen things going on around us here. Why are they moving I40, for example? It is a fact that there are many nukes at Tinker AFB, not really surprising for a large military supply and repair depot. The common Okie gives it little thought and is likely completely unaware. Still, it's the FAA training center area that intrigues me. You must check out the area I mentioned on Rockwell. I mean it is fenced with government "No Trespassing" signs from 74th to 59th street. There are new above ground storage tanks that I think may support a covert underground area. I have heard unsolicited whispers to that effect from a few totally unbiased citizens. Janet planes from Nevada and elsewhere have been spotted here at one of the excellent aircraft maintenance companies at nearby Will Rogers Airport. Their planes need repairs too. We have a Federal Prison Transfer Station in the vicinity also. Strange that U.S. Air Force registered planes would go to a civilian repair center instead of Tinker, just a few miles East.....I live a few miles from Will Rogers and am often wakened by very loud takeoffs at 5-5:30 AM on days when there are no commercial flights slated before 7 A.M.. Then there are the AWACS planes, often doing touch and goes during the warm months. Training, obviously, but at Will Rogers instead of Tinker? Makes you wonder about the Oklahoma Air Guard Base next door to Will Rogers.


[edit on 3-3-2005 by TheAvenger]