Monday, April 30, 2012
Want to immediately report unfair TSA screeners? There’s an app for that.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports:
An advocacy group launched a free mobile application Monday that allows travelers to complain immediately to the government if they feel they’ve been treated unfairly by airport screeners.
Launched at midnight by The Sikh Coalition, the FlyRights app had already fielded two complaints by 10 a.m. EDT Monday.
The first complaint came from a woman who said she felt mistreated after she disclosed to a screener that she was carrying breast milk. A man who is Sikh filed the second complaint, saying he was subjected to extra security even though he had not set off any alarms. The woman’s complaint was based on gender and the man’s, religion, said coalition program director Amardeep Singh.
Singh said the Department of Homeland Security and Transportation Security Administration were notified of the app before its launch. The agencies agreed to allow the app to use the agencies’ system for submitting the complaints.
TSA said in a statement that it does not profile passengers on the basis of race, ethnicity or religion and is continually working with communities, including The Sikh Coalition, “to help us understand unique passenger concerns.” The agency said it supports “efforts to gather passenger feedback about the screening process.”
The app, available for iPhone and Android phones, was conceived in response to complaints from Sikhs in the U.S, who since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks are routinely subjected to additional inspection, Singh said. Some are made to remove their turbans, which Sikhs wear for religious reasons, Singh said.
The app is intended for everyone who feels they are racially profiled or subjected to other unfair treatment. It is also intended to provide better data on how often such incidents occur.
From the Left 
All fingers point to Janet Napolitano. She’s the reason the TSA is out of control and needs to be monitored. The treatment many passengers receive by the screeners is appalling. If one of those goons mistreated my wife I would knock him or her on their ass.
I haven’t flown in years because of:
1. ticket prices, and,
2. TSA screening practices
You either agree to get nuked with radiation or let a TSA agent grope you. Sorry, but I ain’t happening.
Here’s the bullshit about airline security and the TSA. These freaks can go to 2nd and 3rd base with every passenger at the gate but, the fact of the matter is, the cargo going under the floor or the passenger cabin isn’t X-rayed or screened for explosive devices. I mean, seriously? The thing is, in the European Union and Israel, screening equipment looks inside every piece of cargo. As usual, the USA does it on the cheap and ineffectively.
Randy – Did you know the cargo scanner was invented in California and sold to Japan, Israel and the European Union?
For reasons never really explained, the U.S. passed on the cargo scanners. The FAA decided to focus on frisking passengers for airline safety. Crazy, huh?
It’s a sad for America when we need an app to help protect us from governmental excess. But this is the post-9/11 era and it isn’t the America I knew. Oh well, and so it goes.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Americans were not the terrorist on 9/11. But go to an airport in the U.S. and we’re treated like we’re the bad guys. Personally, I resent it and I don’t buy the “We are keeping travel safe for everyone because the the threat is real” meme. It’s a croc of shit. The U.S. could learn a few things from the Israelis when it comes to passenger screening and yes, profiling. Sorry ACLU but their model works.
Camera phones are an excellent tool to monitor the behavior of TSA screeners. My philosophy is a take on Napolitano’s “if you see something, say something.” My I travel, if I see a TSA screener do something, I film it and post it on YouTube. If the TSA wants war, bring it.
The image of 75-year old slot machine ladies on their way to Vegas being forced to take their shoes off before boarding a flight is totally moronic.
I’d like to see fat-ass Janet Napolitano have to do this before boarding a flight. On second thought, I don’t think I want to see that.
Pechanga is correct. I read an article way back in 2003 or 2004 about the cargo x-ray equipment being made in the USA and sold to Europe and Israel. There is no excuse for the FAA not to require American airlines to implement this critically important technology. Frisking old men and women at the gate makes no sense to me.
Christopher – You must’ve posted this late yesterday because I missed it. I recall reading a piece about cargo detection scanners and the debate about putting them in out largest 50 international airports. The airports and airlines voted the proposal down. A terribly irresponsible decision in my opinion. We should never reject technology.