The TSA Nightmare: Airport Security

I can see it now: it's seven in the morning, but everyone on the plane is in a festive mood -- they're heading to Vegas! Why, there might even be some alcohol consumption going on. Whoo-hoo.

Transportation Security Administration screeners inspect bags at the international terminal of San Francisco International Airport. Welcome to the sometimes tedious, often frustrating world of the TSA.

(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Then it happens: a passenger reaches into her carryon, and -- oops -- discovers a couple of small knives she'd forgotten were in there. The TSA screeners missed them. So she notifies a flight attendant, and the party is over. The plane goes back to the gate at Newark for a precautionary sweep. And the hours tick by …

Welcome to the sometimes tedious, often frustrating world of the TSA.

Is there an agency in the world with a dicier reputation than the Transportation Security Administration? Probably not as far as air travelers are concerned. Is this fair? Not exactly.

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Believe me, the people of the TSA are well aware of their reputation -- as one employee says, "We have become numb to it." Still, the TSA's Greg Soule reminds us to look at the numbers: these security folks screen about 2 million people every day.

"Our officers and air marshals know they have to get it right each and every day in order to keep the airways safe," said Soule, a TSA spokesman.

But face it: security can be a royal pain.

Geoff Harris, a screenwriter in Los Angeles -- and a decidedly non-threatening-looking fellow -- has nevertheless been singled out for special "wand time" more than once.

"It's frustrating," he says, but what really irks him is all that time lost, just waiting around. "The TSA sets up all these special lines to make you think you'll get through faster, but it's like the lines at Disneyland -- it still takes forever."

I know what he means. I've been there, and I know you have, too. But, there's a lot of conventional wisdom about the TSA that really shouldn't be taken at face value. Let's try to dispel a few of these security myths.