Dear TSA Administrator (John S. Pistole),
First, let me say that I understand that you have a job to do and I’m glad its your job and not mine. Thank you for performing it. However, as a traveler, I’d love to just go the airport and get to my flight in a timely and professional manner; I know that you and your agents can make this dream a reality despite the things that the average person tries to take with them through security as well as your challenges.
I ask travelers everyday what is the most frustrating part of the travel experience and they always say “going through airport security with the TSA.” Let me say that I’ve met some of your most excellent agents and others where I wished they had stayed home that morning. The folks in the Midwest are super pleasant.
The sad thing is that this initial experience transcend throughout the journey and this makes the entire trip a drag for travelers.
With that said, I’d like to draw your attention to the top 10 reasons why myself and other travelers are uber frustrated when we fly due to your procedures:
- You have zero provisions for customers running late; create some.
- We are humans and the world over, we run late. Sometimes its our fault, other times, its not. So, please devise a method for those customers to get through the process if they are running late. Explaining this to your agents always ends up in shrugging shoulders as we are talking to a stone wall.
- Take a trip to a foreign country such as Germany or Japan and see how their procedure is done. We can always learn from each other.
- I can easily tell the U.S. customers when I travel as they are the ones taking off belts and shoes, taking out computers, etc. without being requested to do so. I suggest you and your agents taking trips abroad and learning how other countries, with just as much at stake, process customers through security. Its so much more pleasant there; no one yells at me and I can actually have a conversation with the agents without being eyed for extra screening.
- Listen to your customers. You assume I’m a terrorist, just because I dare to ask you a question about the process; whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?
- I still have some rights, so if I ask a question about a process to which I’m subjected, please give me the courtesy of an answer, without the attitude. Its really the attitude, that gets everyone.
- Your definition of random does not correlate to the Oxford dictionary’s definition
- I’m always selected for the extra radiation screening when I travel due to being randomly selected. But I’m “randomly” selected in every airport I use. Seriously? I once challenged your officer as I realized he was profiling me, he then allowed myself and some others to go through the normal magnetometer.
- When you select me for extra screening, I’m put in a ‘holding cell’ and someone shouts out some kind of command and everyone then looks my way. How embarrassing. Please device a more customer friendly method to accomplish this task.
- Don’t shout at me
- You do not have to shout at me to get me to take off my shoes, take out my computer, take off my belt and take all the crap out of my pockets. A normal tone does suffice.
- You make me take out all the crap from my pockets and then rush me to put them all back after I get through your machine
- How about figuring out a better way to process me than have me take everything out of my pocket? And don’t rush me after I’ve taken out all the stuff from my pocket and tell me Im holding up the line. its not my fault that I had to take them out in the first place.
- Treat passengers with dignity and respect
- Not everyone flies everyday and many people are not familiar with the procedure.
- Also, if I say good morning to one of your agents, I expect the same in return. This does not happen as often as it should.
- You have a terrible job to do, but please use common sense; it can be done.
- Use your better agents to teach the others
- I’ll have one good experience for every 8 or so flight I take.
- Don’t make the terrorist win.
Thank you for listening.
Readers: what are your suggestions for the TSA Administrator? Please leave a comment below and/or share with your fellow travelers.
