Report: Fliers, airport security screeners at odds
WASHINGTON -- It was like a bad relationship, filled with misunderstanding and unmet expectations.
Airline passengers wanted to respect airport screeners. Screeners craved passenger respect.
The dysfunction came pouring out late last year when groups of passengers and screeners met for the first time with a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) consultant and talked amongst themselves. In a report provided to USA TODAY by the TSA, passengers complained that screeners are "poorly skilled, poorly paid" mistake-prone working stiffs. Screeners bristled at "daily instances of lack of respect and abuse."
"There is a very limited understanding of the TSA," Blue Lime consultants wrote in a conclusion worthy of Dr. Phil.
A 73-page report by the Manhattan company provides rare insight into the perception of a high-profile federal agency and illustrates how public opinion shapes policy.
The focus groups helped spawn changes this year at airports across the nation. For example, after hearing business travelers and families say they didn't like sharing security checkpoints with each other, the TSA began guiding them into separate lanes at nearly 50 airports.
Last week, the TSA rolled out a series of videos accessible through travel websites that explain why passengers have to take off their shoes, take out their liquids and show IDs at checkpoints. The TSA also is installing simplified checkpoint signs.
The research approach is the brainchild of Ellen Howe, the TSA's chief spokeswoman and head of the Office of Strategic Communications and Public Affairs. Howe hired Blue Lime for $200,000 and was startled when she sat in on the focus groups without identifying herself.
Blue Lime held five 3½-hour sessions with 16 to 18 passengers in New York City, Minneapolis and Washington, D.C. Two three-hour sessions were held with 12 to 15 screeners at Chicago O'Hare and New York's John F. Kennedy airports. Passengers were told only that they would be asked about travel.
"Some of it was hard to hear," Howe said. "If they had bad things to say, they weren't holding back."
