Just when you think airport security is bad enough

[Brett_Henderson]

I know this is an unpopular take on it, but I feel that considering how poorly paid they are and what they have to put up with, most airport screeners are very professional, and pretty sharp.

If they were sharp.. they wouldn't put up with the conditions, or the pay.

I'm not indicting them, as much as the situation of which they're just a symptom.. Not everyone is an aspiring engineer or surgeon. If you offer 8 dollars an hour, to do a 15 dollar an hour job... this is what you end up with..

Good point, but it beats flipping burgers or handling baggage. All I know is: they're not all idiots... which is more than I can say for those who set the whole thing up (who make a lot more than the screeners!)
And again: although I

[Hagar]

Reminds me of a great post I saw yesterday; not about security per se, but it gives you an idea of how amazingly clueless some travelers are... and they can all afford an airline ticket:

http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/sh ... hp?t=20728

In defence of the poor old much-abused passenger, airports can be very confusing places. There are several examples in that thread of passengers boarding the wrong plane. One wonders how they managed to do that if the staff on the gates were doing their jobs properly. It's about time that some airline staff remembered that their raison d'etre is moving human cargo from one place to another & treated them with a little courtesy & respect, not like cattle. Without those stupid people they wouldn't have jobs.

I don't know what the average member of the American travelling public is like. Perhaps I've been lucky but those I've met seemed decent enough & reasonably intelligent. I haven't visited the US since 9/11 but was surprised at how badly American citizens were treated when returning to their own country. They had to wait while the visitors (including me) went through. I wasn't surprised at the dirty looks that some of them gave me.