Like millions of other men, women and children who each day pass through the dizzying maze called the airport passenger screening system, Jim Adams, an executive at a natural gas company in Dallas, has gotten the drill down pat: taking off his shoes, stripping himself of jacket, belt, watch, cellphone and loose change, making sure his 96g tubes of toothpaste and shaving gel are safely sealed in a plastic bag, unpacking his laptop, discarding that half-finished bottle of water — all while glancing nervously at the clock, wondering if he is going to miss his flight.
But several weeks ago, a new step was added to that routine: trying to prove to suddenly skeptical security agents that he actually was the person his boarding pass and photo ID said he was.
A rule that is being phased in this year requires that the names on IDs and tickets match perfectly; it’s not permissible to have an ID that reads “John Smith,” your legal name, and a ticket as “Jack Smith,” the name you use in everyday life.
Adams, 63, says he has routinely had to wait 30 minutes or more for a Transportation Security Administration official to check his ID and enter his name in a logbook. It’s happened more than a dozen times, and he has never been told exactly why he is being singled out.
“In the early days it was anything sharp or pointed,” he said. “Now it’s gotten really personal. It’s me. It’s not my fingernail clippers or pen knife.”
Adams said, however, that he was able to avoid additional security screening and subsequent delays on two flights last month for which he used his full name, James L. Adams Jr. He said he still hadn’t received a response from the Transportation Security Administration about his problems on earlier flights.
Even for people who pass through security with less difficulty than Adams, the airport security system has made flying increasingly miserable in the eight years since 9/11. Many of the measures instituted the last few years, like the limitations on liquids and the requirement that you take off your shoes, were almost knee-jerk reactions to specific scares and were left in place as a matter of course.
As rule upon rule has been added, passengers have learned to cope with the long lines, bag checks, physical pat-downs and carry-on restrictions that border on the absurd. But now there is a fresh opportunity for change. Last month, the White House said that US President Barack Obama planned to nominate Erroll Southers, a former FBI special agent, to head up the Transportation Security Administration, which has been without a permanent head for eight months.
Southers, who is now the assistant chief for Homeland Security at the agency that operates Los Angeles International and several other airports in that region, will, if approved, face the formidable challenge of balancing the yin and yang of airport security — passenger convenience and safety.
Of course, if we look back at the state of security before 9/11, it’s clear that we have made progress. People without a ticket can no longer waltz through the airport and up to the gate. Technology, including explosive-detection devices, has gotten better and is more consistently applied to checked and carry-on bags alike. Passengers are more consistently screened by a more stable security work force with less employment turnover. And at times, even the lines seem to be moving a hair faster.
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