A Midsummer's Night Security Theater

July 12, 2016 6:21 PM

I love the technology of flight but hate the logistics, legal strictures, and carbon footprint of travel. What's an ethical and selfish traveler to do?

After several years of mild civil disobedience (lite) protest of the security theater + privacy issues (opting out of the scanners and requesting pat-downs, driving instead of flying, or just staying home) I recently acquiesced and said "fuck it, you win" and now am willing to go through the stupid scanners.

I made this decision and thought "if I'm going to compromise, might as well enjoy it" and started thinking about getting TSA PreCheck or GlobalEntry.

This was about the same time I started reading news reports about horrible TSA security lines, including stories that PreCheck was worthless.

If I'm compromising my morals, there better be a payoff, right?

Questions:

* please share interesting anecdotes about good (or bad) TSA experiences in the last few weeks (e.g. July 2016 onwards) - airlines, airports that are good or bad? PreCheck or not?

* PreCheck/GlobalEntry: worth it? Is there any civil disobedience value in refusing these? I'm a state government employee and they have my fingerprint and picture, the feds obviously know a ton about me. If this is just another database field ("Is OK Person who gets to cut lines: yes/no") in my presumably already large database record, am I stupid for not doing it?

* Acquiesce but still protest? I'm donating to ACLU and EFF which I presume is helpful. What else?

posted by soylent00FF00 to Travel & Transportation around United States (26 answers total)

I have no particular opinion about the civil disobedience / morality aspects of your question, but PreCheck is definitely super worth it from a convenience/practicality standpoint. In most airports the lines are still much, much shorter, and the process is also a lot faster - no removing shoes, no removing laptops from bag, etc. There are indeed some airports where even PreCheck is a long line/delay these days, but that's the exception rather than the rule.
posted by Perplexity at 6:28 PM on July 12, 2016 [7 favorites]

just one random data point, but last time i entered the states (a couple of weeks back at jfk, early one morning) american citizens were walking straight through, as far as i could tell, with no queues at all.
posted by andrewcooke at 6:39 PM on July 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

If you get Global Entry, it includes TSA PreCheck. I filled out an application online, made an appointment (at LAX) and was in and out in less than 10 minutes.

- At LAX this summer (so far) PreCheck has saved me on average around 15-20 minutes. At LAX, there are different terminals for different airlines, and i have noticed that PreCheck tends to save me much more time when I am traveling a "discount" airline like Southwest. For regular airlines, like American, it is usually a wash or saves 5-10 minutes. Even if it doesn't save a ton of time, not taking off your shoes, removing your baggie full of travel-sized liquids and your laptop from your bag is nice.

-Global Entry (again at LAX)- when I returned from overseas in May, the line was horrible- snaking around several times- maybe 100 people per line/station? I bypassed that and was through in less than 5 minutes.
posted by aviatrix at 6:48 PM on July 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

In the past few weeks I've flown out of BWI, O'Hare (twice), and LAX. I have pre-check and it's more convenient for the reasons Perplexity lists, but I don't actually think it saved me that much time - the lines weren't very long for either group. Things got really bad in May but TSA does seem to have stepped up their game.

I also used to request pat-downs etc. as you mentioned, put off getting a biometric passport for as long as possible, but like...I travel a lot, and it turns out that I privilege my own convenience above making a point. (And above saving the earth, since flying is by far the worst thing I do emssions-wise. I feel guilty about this pretty much all the time but that doesn't seem to change my habits.)
posted by goodbyewaffles at 6:48 PM on July 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

also (i suspect you're aware of this, but you didn't mention it) carbon offsetting is possible.
posted by andrewcooke at 6:52 PM on July 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

In terms of protesting security theater, paying about what a TSA agent takes home every day for the privilege of skipping security theater for five years seems like a no-brainer.
posted by ejs at 7:02 PM on July 12, 2016 [3 favorites]

Precheck is far, far from worthless. I've flown a bunch in the last few months and every single time has had one of two scenarios:

1. It saved me a TON of time because the regular line was swamped.
2. It saved me little time because the regular line was short, but I still didn't have to take off my shoes or belt, pull my liquids out, etc.

Even when the regular line is short, I find the Pre line less annoying. Global Entry+Precheck is non-negotiable for me.
posted by primethyme at 7:03 PM on July 12, 2016 [3 favorites]

I'm not sure if this answers your question, but the way I've dealt with it is to avoid flying as much as possible. The environmental impact makes me feel guilty and the airlines' treatment of me makes me angry, so I've opted out. And y'know, there are a lot of great things about staying local!

(My job normally only requires in-state travel so I can pull it off.)
posted by metasarah at 7:12 PM on July 12, 2016 [2 favorites]

For customs, there is also NEXUS which saves you time at Canadian customs as well as US, if this is something that you would do often.
posted by quaking fajita at 7:28 PM on July 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

NEXUS includes Global Entry, and Global Entry includes Pre-Check. Mrs. W. And I have Global Entry and it has made security screening (at SFO and MCO especially) a piece of cake even when the airports were hammered. Saves 20–30 minutes, by my estimate. Re-entering the US takes a few minutes at a kiosk instead of a long wait for an Immigration agent (and there's a GE line for Customs, too, so getting out with your luggage is also much faster). Totally worth it.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:53 PM on July 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

I fly a ton domestically for work and I'm convinced the "pre-check is worthless" crowd are trying to discourage people from getting it so the lines stay short. It's amazing. I basically just walk through security 90% of the time. It's $85 for five years. Do yourself a favor and do it.
posted by Itaxpica at 8:00 PM on July 12, 2016 [3 favorites]

Is there any civil disobedience value in refusing these?

Income-based discrimination.
posted by aniola at 8:31 PM on July 12, 2016 [3 favorites]

Not everyone is eligible to apply for precheck screening. Who do you think they're keeping out? Who are they letting in? How transparent is the process? How fair are the rules? Etc. These questions might help with your choice. The fact is that people who travel often to the Middle East are often not eligible. I personally think that there is value in civil disobedience in cases where the government is systemically disenfranchising people, and TSA precheck is doing just that.

The reason to refuse the scans and the precheck and the nonsense is a personal one and has to do with your own moral calculus, which no one but you can perform. But my personal equation is that it's wrong for the government to touch me or to x-ray me so that I can travel and it is reprehensible that they have the gall to ask me to pay for them to chip away at my civil liberties so that I don't have to wait in lines that they created with their own posturing and theater, and I don't want to participate. I do not fly unless it is absolutely required for work. I understand that not everyone is working with the same variables I am working with in their equation, and I think you should do whatever is best for you.
posted by sockermom at 9:02 PM on July 12, 2016 [3 favorites]

I fly regularly for work, and PreCheck is amazing. Most of the time I get through within 10 minutes or so and I don't have to take off shoes, pull out my laptop, or take out my little bag with liquids. I can show up pretty close to my flight time and not worry that I'll be stuck going through security. The flight I just took Monday I showed up like a half hour before my flight boarded, was through security in 5 minutes and then just casually walked to my gate. Yes there's some airports where this isn't the case but most of the time, as a very frequent flyer, it's very worth it. Do I disagree with how we do security in this country and find it annoying I had to pay to go in a special line? Yes. But it makes my life easier to just do it so I do, because I have to fly anyway.
posted by FireFountain at 9:12 PM on July 12, 2016 [2 favorites]

The NEXUS is great since it includes Global Entry, but the rub is that you have to do the in-person interview at an enrollment center near the US/Canada border. Nexus is also half the price ($50) of GE ($100) for 5 years (Pre-Check by itself is a crap deal in comparison, at $85 for 5 years). Also note that, depending where you are, the wait times for Global Entry can be long (mine is about 5 months).

I typically fly out of SFO, which uses private security rather than TSA for screening and I think they haven't been as impacted in the recent news of long TSA lines. Here's a list of other airports in that program. But then again, TSA are unionized while private security is not and I don't know how well those SFO workers are treated.
posted by homesickness at 9:22 PM on July 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

I can only speak to the precheck stuff. I fly really often (eight flights in June and July so far), and in fact, I literally got home from the airport about 45 minutes ago.

I would say that precheck is not worth it unless you are flying at peak times of day in airports that actually have dedicated lines. The two airports I use most frequently (Charlotte and SFO) do not meet those criteria.

For SFO, they have fake TSA (one of the biggest airports not to have real TSA agents!) who rarely flag anything so the lines move quickly. They also are super quick to open metal detectors when the line backs up. I have flown through SFO a dozen times this year and have only been full body scanned maybe 7 of those. But I also fly on red-eyes, and the lines in precheck and regular are literally the same. Not worth it for sure.

Charlotte has the same line for precheck as the steerage class until you get to the agent checking IDs. That means you lose the "faster lines" advantage. Then the baggage agents flag stuff constantly (flagged in the last year: rice krispie treat, bag of unpopped popcorn, tupperware of homemade pizza, cords too close to food, etc.). So whether you take shit out of your bag or shoes off your feet, it's gonna be a while.

If you're based near a smaller airport, I wouldn't bother. If you are flying at non-peak times (i.e. not 6 AM flights or weekends), it could be worth it.

As to the civil disobedience part, I feel like I'm a pretty ethical traveler. And that means that I do whatever necessary to make myself as small and unnoticeable as possible. I don't leave trash, I smile at people, hold doors, pay for people who only have a foreign currency and really need water, never recline my seat all the way, etc. I make it as pleasant as I can, because travelling fucking sucks most of the time and everyone is stressed and I strongly believe the most ethical thing I can do is make sure I'm not being an asshole. That's what I would encourage you to focus on rather than asking for a pat-down.
posted by guster4lovers at 9:22 PM on July 12, 2016 [2 favorites]

**If you ARE flying at peak times it could be worth it.

Sorry. Long day, long flight. But less than 5 minutes waiting in security lines!
posted by guster4lovers at 9:35 PM on July 12, 2016

I like Pre-Check because it makes flying more pleasant. Seriously, keeping your shoes on your feet, your liquids in your bag, and your arms by your sides makes security feel downright civilized.
posted by actionstations at 11:08 PM on July 12, 2016 [2 favorites]

The one thing about PreCheck which is kind of a pain is they tend to use the X-ray machines rather than the scanners. If, like me, you wear a lot of bangles or other jewelry or otherwise may set off the X-ray, it's kind of a pain. However, I have generally found that the shorter lines are worth it. Also I believe you can request the scanner specially as well.
posted by Cocodrillo at 3:59 AM on July 13, 2016

Response by poster: Thanks, all, this is great stuff.

Cocodrillo, you mention X-ray vs. Scanners. I thought that all of the Backscatter (X ray) Scanners were gone, and the only thing in use now are the terahertz wave scanners, and regular old metal detectors. Is that wrong?
posted by soylent00FF00 at 7:21 AM on July 13, 2016

I've only seen the metal detector or the wave scanners. Yeah if you wear a lot of metal you will set off the metal detector in PreCheck and they'll make you take it all off.
posted by FireFountain at 7:27 AM on July 13, 2016

Nthing the above that Nexus (if you ever fly into/out of canada) > Global Entry (if you ever fly internationally) > PreCheck >>>>> the alternatives.

I went with Global Entry 2 years ago (because getting to a Nexus interview wasn't going to work with my plans) and it's been great -- to the point that on a recent work trip , I made it onto a flight that my collegeages (without PreCheck) missed because the regular-folks security lines at O'Hare were understaffed/incompetent.

As far as ethics go, I have an extremely long, definitely "foreign", and vaguely Muslim looking name. There was a period in the Aughts when I was "randomly selected" for special screening on almost every flight. That definitely lessened in the last few years, and it hasn't happened once in my couple of dozen TSA Prechecked flights (and I doubt it would again).

The idea with the PreCheck/GE interview process is that they can take the time to verify, that yes, this brown person may have a name similar to Bad People, but we've looked into it carefully and realize that this brown person is not Bad People, please don't hassle him/her. This is a net good for people who would otherwise be profiled (a little crappy that there is a fee associated with it, but compared to the cost of flying, I feel like the GE fee is pretty nominal).

As far as privacy/civil rights go, even if you aren't a government employee, the government can track the information about your air travel pretty trivially if they are interested in you. The information that you give in the PreCheck process is information that they could get with/without a warrant regardless.
posted by sparklemotion at 8:19 AM on July 13, 2016

I've been chewing on this for awhile, and I think that the heart of your question is really "Is there any civil disobedience value in refusing things that do not negatively affect me personally but do negatively impact the civil liberties of other people who are not me?" Answer that question, and you've also answered your more specific question.
posted by sockermom at 11:07 AM on July 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

Sorry, I meant metal detector but said x-ray instead. It's just the plain old metal detectors.
posted by Cocodrillo at 2:17 PM on July 13, 2016

Response by poster: @sockermom - hope this isn't threadsitting here, but I feel like your reframe of my question isn't quite right, but I appreciate the issues it raises.

To me the answer to your question is "yes" - action on behalf of others when you hold no personal stake is fundamentally more noble.

But that's not my main concern here.

Rather, I'm asking about what happens when the action you are taking has, after sufficient time, shown to have little or no effect; the battle is lost (or at best, at stalemate).

In other words, the action being taken, while theoretically on behalf of others, has no practical benefit to others, and thus may be seen as primarily a selfish act (to assuage one's guilt?).

There is a side question of privilege here which is important - if I make TSA as pleasant for me as possible, am I hurting those who can't? I'm still kind of leaning towards a scenario where I pay TSA $X but donate significantly more than that to the groups working to fix the problem.
posted by soylent00FF00 at 6:11 PM on July 19, 2016

Slightly late, but in case you're still checking.

There is a side question of privilege here which is important - if I make TSA as pleasant for me as possible, am I hurting those who can't? I'm still kind of leaning towards a scenario where I pay TSA $X but donate significantly more than that to the groups working to fix the problem.

TSA is $85/5 years and GE/Nexus $100 for the same period, I believe. If you can afford to fly, you can afford the extra $15-20 per year for one of those two even if it's just one RT annually. People may choose to opt out for CD/privacy reasons as you mention, but "Can't" really isn't a thing. (For purposes of this question I'm not talking about those ineligible for either).

Also data points, Pre was a sanity saver in Orlando (June 29 but close enough to July for you I'd imagine), LAX and ORD in July. My time is worth more than the money it costs. I fly often, it's maybe 1.50 / flight.
posted by TravellingCari at 8:21 PM on July 20, 2016 [1 favorite]