A Christmas present that no traveler had asked for this year was delivered by the Transportation Security Administration just hours after a Nigerian nut-job named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to ignite a device and blow up a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day.
The T.S.A. is now making it mandatory that all U.S. flights order passengers to remain seated for the last hour of travel. Th means no getting up to grab that ipod from the overhead compartment or take a quick bathroom break before arriving at your final destination.
In addition you can not have anything on your lap for the last hour and certain international flights will be deactivating the backseat map trackers that show you where exactly the plane currently is during your trip. Even worse is that some airline’s map tracking software is connected to the in-flight entertainment. So you guessed it, many long flights around the globe will now have their televisions turned off while flying the increasingly aggravating skies.
The T.S.A. is also only allowing one small carry on which means you will wind up checking in another bag and spending even more money on those pesky fees. I do not understand most of these new rules at all.
What if someone needs to use the bathroom in the last 60-minutes of flying? Will they pick and choose who can go potty depending on what they look like?
What does turning off a map tracking screen do for bettering overall passenger safety? Will the terrorists get completely thrown off their game plan now because they can not view the little cartoon plane slowly scrolling across a screen with the airplane’s speed, altitude and time of arrival?
It is getting to the point that we will soon all have to arrive at the airport a week before the flight, not be allowed to check in bags or carry any onto the plane, be completely covered in bubble wrap, blindfolded and stored in overhead compartments for safety reasons.
What the hell is going on with air travel? I would love to hear your thoughts on the new T.S.A. rules and how it will effect your travel plans. Will you travel less? Maybe hop a train or take a road trip instead? Leave a comment below.
Aside from annoying, they are wholly ineffective. Most of these measures are ‘security theater’ without any really cost/benefit analysis.
http://www.InnTheKitchen.com @Travelblggr
Ugh! This is the first I’ve read of the changes. I NEVER check bags if I can help it. Even when I went to Europe for 3 weeks I had two small carry on’s. Then, when I went to DC last month I had my laptop and pro-sumer video camera. They made me take EVERYTHING apart and put it out over 6 bins. As if me, by myself, can efficiently MOVE 6 bins through a security line. As if all 5′ 3″ of me was going to take over the plane with a little shotgun microphone. Puh-leeze. The TSA jerk was just on a power trip. I’m lucky I didn’t have to get pat down. It’s getting ridiculous and I don’t think it’s helping keep us “safe” at all.
http://thecupcakeavenger.blogspot.com Hilary
Usually when I travel I don’t have much flexibility so this hasn’t really changed my plans. However, flying Southwest from Columbus, OH to Baltimore, MD this morning was the first time I’ve ever been frisked at boarding on a domestic flight. Guess I fit the dangerous profile of “woman traveling alone with no carry-on baggage.”
Andrew Hickey
Well with a name like “The Cup Cake Avenger”, you might be on TSA’s list of super heroes gone rogue.
http://www.traveldudes.org Melvin
I’m sure they won’t pick anybody just from the look, who is allowed to go to the bathroom! They will come with you!
Serious? It’s politics… keep the people scared of terror. That way people allow many crazy things, which no one would have allowed a couple of years back. Easy as that…
http://www.fakesolutions.com alenov
my thoughts exactly!!! good to hear/see I am not alone in it.
great minds think alike
http://nodebtworldtravel.com brian | No Debt World Travel
Three words: body cavity search
When people started to mention that even in passing, then I worry.
http://www.nycitymama.com NYCityMama
I am not understanding all of this…was the guy trying to active the explosive device during the last hour of the flight while after checking the little cartoon airplane, or in reaction to a bad inflight movie, from the laptop on his lap while in the bathroom? WTH? And is instead of having us, the passengers, suffer even more, why not actually train TSA employees to do their job better (not inconvenience us by making their job “easier”) so that nut jobs with devices stitched into their clothing can’t get through? if we continue to make their jobs “easier” but minimizing the amount of attention they have to pay to things, aren’t we in fact “dumbing” them rather than given them opportunities to be more alert, better trained, more cautious? And if we are dumbing them because now they have to do less, because now we have even more restrictions placed upon us, aren’t we then less safe?
Just asking.
http://twitter.com/kirsten_al Kirsten Alana
I too try to check absolutely as few bags as possible (none whenever I can help it) and I do whatever I can to minimize problems but yes, like you – I’ve begun to wonder about the future of air travel…..
this is CLASSIC:: “It is getting to the point that we will soon all have to arrive at the airport a week before the flight, not be allowed to check in bags or carry any onto the plane, be completely covered in bubble wrap, blindfolded and stored in overhead compartments for safety reasons.”
Totally laughed out loud. Brilliant!
http://spinsterstravels.wordpress.com Spinster
That cartoon above sums up my sentiments exactly. All of this is bullshit.
NO thanks a lot for ruining travel, fucking jerk-off (and other idiots who screwed it up starting at or around 9.11.2001).
http://www.MonkeyBrewster.com Cornelius Aesop
Horrible to hear about them shutting off the screens 60 mins before arrival, I am pretty sure that anyone can figure out our approx distance from the airport within the final hour. As other’s have said I believe this is just more of a security theater, than actual effective security measures. I am taking off from Lima, Peru tomorrow to Houston, TX and I’m interested to see which of these new changes I will see,or be burdened with. I am planning on arriving at least 2 hours early since the new TSA regulations suggest you arrive an additional hour early. I am also worried that once I hit Houston my 1 hour break till my next flight won’t be enough time to make it through customs. Only time will tell but I will be sure to write about my experiences good or bad.
http://www.thetraveltweeter.com thetraveltweet
As I’ve been tweeting…the guy was on a list..his father warned the world about him..Britain wouldn’t give him Visa…what do we need to stop these types from getting on planes..instead of making it miserable for normal people to fly.
http://www.flipnomad.com flip
the rules suck especially for travelers (from other race), it was already tough for an Asian before to travel to the US, not it’ll seem to be tougher…
sigh!!!
p.s.
the cartoon is hilarious… hehe
http://travelsofanearthpilgrim.com Graham Phoenix
To those above who say they try never to check bags in all I can say is that you should start to try working with rather than against the system. The new rules are crazy but bear in mind you have it better off in the US than many other places in the world. I know TSA guys are rude and difficult but have you ever wondered if that’s because that’s what you expect. They didn’t make the rules, the government did. Rail at the right people and help the guys doing their job to get through their day. Would you want to meet you at a security line?
http://zenvis.blogspot.com Zenvis
Bring back profiling and minimize the screening process.
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