Posted on 11/10/2010 7:26:37 AM PST by rawhide
A flight attendants union with 2,000 members is upset over what it calls "invasive pat-downs" recently implemented by the TSA.
"We're getting calls daily about peoples' experiences, our members are concerned," said Deborah Volpe, Vice President of the Association of Flight Attendants Local 66.
Volpe confirmed that the union is offering advice to its flight attendants, who mostly work for Tempe-based USAirways, involving the security moves.
According to a union email obtained by ABC15, it tells flight attendants if they opt out of using the body scanner through security and are required to undergo a pat-down to ask the pat-down be conducted in a private area with a witness.
"We don't want them in uniform going through this enhanced screening where their private areas are being touched in public," said Volpe. "They actually make contact with the genital area."
Some passengers have told ABC15 they've already encountered flight delays due to crew members having problems with TSA employees.
"It (delay) was over three hours when they finally found a crew member to take her place," said Les Johnson who says his Charlotte bound flight was delayed. "She (flight attendant) felt that she was groped and supposedly filed a claim."
"They've already contacted the ACLU," said Volpe when referring to some members of the union. "We don't know if somebody may have had an experience with a sexual assault and its (pat-down) going to drudge up some bad memories."
Volpe made it clear the union is not against security.
"Security is the most important aspect, our offices were used as murder weapons," said Volpe. "Keep in mind we undergo extensive background checks and we fly quite often."
(Excerpt) Read more at abc15.com ...
Hmm. Some attendant 'believes' something ...Yeah, right.
“If I can’t drive or take a train to where ever I am going....I am not going.... “
Indeed.
My last flight on a big commercial jet was in 1984. I was on a small commuter-sized jet in 1987. Haven’t been off the ground since then.
I don’t intend to fly again, ever.
If I can’t get where I want to go on the ground.... I ain’t goin’.
I think the time will come when we see “body cavity” searches for some. Don’t think that could happen? Ten years ago, who would have believed (or accepted) the indignities that folks who travel by air are subjected to today?
But I think it’s going to go even further than this.
Eventually, I think those who fly on “private aircraft” and corporate planes are going to be required to submit to the same inspections before they are allowed to board/operate their own planes. We’ll see TSA at EVERY small airport in the country, commercial or not.
After all, what this is REALLY about is the accumulation and exercise of power — and NOT the goal of “security”.
If it was in fact about “security”, the USA would have installed an Israeli-style screening system, which is totally different than ours.
Any true conservative administration should consider defunding the TSA as well as the EPA. Both are serious threats to our freedom!
Haven’t Hollyweird and publik skoolz done a good enough job assuring us that kids don’t grow up normal without their own parents helping.
And getting my junk squeezed by Bubba from TSA, priceless.
TSA = Terrorist Sexual Assault............
As my old boss would say if he got snookered on a deal.....”Screwed without the kiss.”
After 9-11, every flight, I remember getting on the plane, looking around trying to get a mental picture of who might want to kill me. Then sitting in my seat visualizing a fight to the death to prepare myself. Grizzly stuff.
Now I just relax, take the drive, see the sights. I never get searched. No lines. No arriving three hours early for groping or wanding.
“If it was in fact about “security”, the USA would have installed an Israeli-style screening system, which is totally different than ours.”
Follow the money of who benefited from having scanners installed. It’s about money, not security. They names and connections have been posted before, but my memory isn’t that great.
True. If they’re driving into O’Hare, one person just swipes an airport issued ID card at the entrance to the employee “secure” parking lot. Now you have access to all planes.
After 9/11, airports conducted “more thorough” screening measures. I was processed through O’Hare. I could not believe the form we had to fill out!
Name, address, and whether you were:
1.Caucasian
2.Hispanic
3.African-American
Yep..No “other” choice for ethnicity. And very few kitchen workers and cleaners spoke English.
Oh dear...I could go on and on about other stuff.
....sigh...
Prior to 9/11...
We had a layover somewhere in the midwest. We arrived at night and when we came back to the same plane in the morning, the captain noticed that all the switches in the cockpit had been tampered with. He knew how he left them the night before. After an investigation, which lasted about 30 minutes, we used the plane without incident.
Oh dear...I could go on and on about other stuff.
....sigh...
Now I see that “Asian” has been included on the ID form.
http://www.ohare.com/badging/CDABadgingApplication82010.pdf
Just found this:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2352300/posts
They are my priorities a** wipe ... thank you very much!
Besides, machines can break, TSA operator error and governments outright lie......so, no thanks
The Coast Starlight is a great ride. I did a 5 hour trip on there last weekend. Quite nice going over Willamette Pass with the snow all around.
No passenger screening at all when you board. Just hop on.
You’re obviously not one of the “business people,” if you think air travel is frivolous and unnecessary for trade.
“Hmm. Some attendant ‘believes’ something ...Yeah, right.”
I’ll correct that...we KNOW it!
They aren't. Why do you say they are?
Diamond buyers I'm sure must physically travel to and fro and simular professions.
We don't make steel anymore, nor manufacture much of anything .. so what do we sell that we need to look into a man's eyes and wink ... or pull an envelope from our pocket?
Enlighten me.
if they fly the same day and have layovers they can leave the secure area
More reasons I won’t resume flying. Flying used to be a pleasant adventure when I was young; you got dressed up, and flew with a better class of people. The airline employees treated you well and the food wasn’t bad. Over the years the experience went downhill. I finally got fed up with airborne cattle cars over ten years ago and quit. I’ll either drive or stay home.
That's the only solution that ever made sense.
that's always been true. The indignities inflicted upon the flying public is purely theatrical. It is designed to get us used to an ever more intrusive government.
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