The other day I flew from Oakland to San Diego. It’s a pretty routine event, really, for me and hundreds of other intra-California commuters and travelers. Unfortunately, I had recently moved into a new apartment, and my printer still lay dormant in a box somewhere, under many other boxes. What does that have to do with anything? Well, The FAA has instituted new “security” measures dictating that only ticketed passengers will be allowed past the security checkpoint at the airport. I can think of only one time in history when I flew with an actual printed ticket — this is, after all, the 21st century. We have ticketless travel: just show your ID and board the plane. But now we have to present a printed itinerary showing that we are traveling
ticketless before being allowed past the checkpoint.
Here’s the point: because my printer was not yet hooked up, I had to stop at my office to print out my itinerary. This itinerary was emailed to me by southwest airlines. It’s a simple text document that says my name and a flight number. This document is trivial to forge. There’s nothing special about it. Any criminal or terrorist could create one at any time to get past the security checkpoint.
It’s a farce. The new rule adds zero security, while adding a large amount of inconvenience for legitimate travelers. They tell you to get to the airport 2 hours in advance, but your loved ones aren’t allowed to the gate to wait with you and see you off. As anyone can see, the name on the itinerary can easily be changed before printing. This is what’s being passed off on the American public as “added security.”
I’d go so far as to say that all of the new security measures were added with the primary focus being public perception rather than actual security. This can be seen in every new “security measure” added on each week. People get scared about shoe-bombs, so they institute random shoe-checks. People feel safe having boys in camouflage and assault rifles standing around. It doesn’t make me feel safe. It makes me feel sick. Every security measure I’ve looked at has turned out to be inconvenient for legitimate travelers but easily circumvented by potential attackers. This is just my amateur eye giving a cursory glance; imagine what the scrutiny of a criminal mastermind may reveal!
Doorstop 