This is very interesting, in light of all the hubbub over TSA screening practices lately:

Did you know that the nation’s airports are not required to have Transportation Security Administration screeners checking passengers at security checkpoints? The 2001 law creating the TSA gave airports the right to opt out of the TSA program in favor of private screeners after a two-year period. Now, with the TSA engulfed in controversy and hated by millions of weary and sometimes humiliated travelers, Rep. John Mica, the Republican who will soon be chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, is reminding airports that they have a choice.

Mica was one of the original authors of the TSA bill, and he’s sending letters to airport managers across the country reminding them that they don’t have to use the TSA.

Finally, one of these “big government” crusades I can get behind!

In related news, I flew to Portland and back yesterday aboard SeaPort Airlines. They fly from Boeing Field, where you can arrive 15 minutes before your flight, park for free, and be subject to NO TSA SCREENING WHATSOEVER. By flying planes that hold fewer than 10 passengers, they are not required to have security screenings. You land at PDX, but taxi to SeaPort’s own hangar and walk right out onto the street. No fuss, no muss. It’s awesome.

Anthony Hecht is The Stranger's Chief Technology Officer. He owns no monkeys.

29 replies on “Re: Backscatter Backlash”

  4. @2 – Yes, a fair point, for sure. But mostly just interesting that the law doesn’t require airports to be run this way.

    And while “private security firms” has deservedly terrible connotations because of war contractors, that doesn’t mean this would be the same thing.

  6. @3 – Just under an hour. With all the time saved not getting to, parking at, or navigating through Sea-Tac, it’s the fastest way to Portland I know of.

  7. Same thing with Kenmore Air to Victoria (and thence to Vancouver). Fast, friendly, no airport B.S., just a fairly cursory customs inspection at the other end. You have to take two flights to get to Vancouver, but combined they take less time than driving, the train, or a jet flight through the airports.

    And no one touches your dick.

  9. How many 13 year old American girls will have their privacy violated so that the Nanny State Nabobs can feel all squiffy inside?

    How many nude pix will be uploaded?

    50,000?

    That’s how many got uploaded in Florida from these scanners already.

    I’m going to declare this TSA insanity an al-Qaeda bin Laden win – cause no American will win with this pervy insanity, only the terrorists who aren’t actually stopped by these measures, as actual TSA tests have PROVEN.

  10. Reverse Polarity: No, I refuse the scanner machine.

    TSA: Sir, I’ll have to give you a manual pat down. It’s quite invasive.

    RP: Oh, yes please! *swoon*

  11. I have to echo what monkey said. Given the choice between a private company whose ultimate goal is profit and a government-run administration whose ultimate goal is security, I’ll take the one with direct oversight by the government, thanks.

  12. @9, have you seen those “nude pix”? I have. They’re not exactly what comes to mind when you see those words. You can’t make out a damn thing, to be honest; they’re just pixely blobs. Seriously not a privacy violation as far as I’m concerned.

  13. SeaPort is an inconvenient option if you use MAX, or LINK here in Seattle since there are no adjacent light rail stations. Plus, (at least for my company’s city-pair airfare contract) it’s noticeably more expensive than Horizon, and if you’re earlier/later than your scheduled flight there aren’t the every-half-hour alternatives. Oh yeah…you also get to use the express security lane on the SEA-PDX shuttle so it’s almost always fast getting to the gate.

    I do the Portland trip about twice a month, and security wait times have never been an issue…in fact, I would argue that the TSA has been getting quicker over the past few years. Curb to gate at PDX or SEA is very rarely over 15 minutes when using the express lane (and, you’re not checking luggage).

  14. Anthony,

    You’re probably too young to remember, but “private security firms” have such a bad connotation because they did such a shitty job before and on 9/11. That’s what led to the creation of the TSA, after all. Mica sounds like he wants to go back to the old days of a minimum-wage, high-turnover workforce at the airport, which will make a lot of money for the GOP’s natural constituents, but will do fuck all for travel security.

  15. I agree with 14…at least with the government there’s some oversight. The only interest Republicans would have in privatization is making money for some firm that would (I am pretty sure) make life a little more horrible for its employees.

  17. When someone asks you what the last straw was in Americans being sheep to the Nanny state pervs – this was it.

    Tell that to your kids.

    … of course, they’ll already be scarred for life by the TSA guys feeling them up.

  21. @14,15 – Yeah, I agree that the private security firm thing is unlikely to be a good solution, and of course Mica’s privatization schemes are likely to be as you say. I’m not really advocating for that, mostly joking. Having oversight is a nice idea, would be even nicer if it were honest and reasonable.

  23. Kansas City Airport uses a private security firm as their screeners. I am pretty sure they do not do the new gynecological/prostate exam TSA screening, but since I am going there in a couple of weeks I will let the SLOG know. I plan on opting for the new screening on Thursday when I am coming home from Anchorage so I can see what all the fuss is about. if my TSA agent squeezes my labia together, the SLOG will be the first to know.

  24. Private fake security screening or TSA fake security screening. . . it’s irrelevant.

    Does anyone know if the toner cartridges opted out?

  25. I don’t like the idea, but I find it hard to believe that a private company would be this horrible. For starters the TSA isn’t doing anything right, so even if the private contractor comes in and does what they do best, cut corners until they provide the minimum level of security for the most amount of money, I’d rather have that over the TSA putting their hands down people’s pants and telling us that we’re all safe now. I do think it’s time to start blaming the airlines though, if this much is true they’ve had an out for quite some time and the TSA has been broken way before all this shit. I don’t even think we should have a TSA, there’s no point, it was created by Mr. Big Government Bush and it’s been overwhelmingly expanded in the age of lobbyists sucking off congress. It’s time for CHANGE

  27. Ya really want to take this to the Nth degree? I would demand a patdown, from their hottest GUY, and then strip for it. It may help the guys in the scanners get boners. Or maybe the reverse. I think if enough people did that, in every airport, before T’day, it would get the message out. Talk about “flash mob”. AND THEY WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO SHOW THE FOOTAGE ON THE NEWS, BUT EVERYBODY WOULD BE ALL OVER YOUTUBE FOR IT. (sniff sniff, do I smell a viral coming on?)

  28. I’ve used SeaPort Air for business trips before, and so long as the above-mentioned issue of not being next to transit on either end is not a biggie (cabs, pickup, etc) it is undoubtably the best way to fly. I was encouraged (by the pilot, who leaned over his shoulder from the cockpit!) to go ahead and use my laptop and cell modem, so I was even able to keep working on a particularly hectic day. Totally rad.

Comments are closed.