While the news has run rampant with passenger complaints over new security measures brought on by the Transportation Security Administration, the agency claims the reports on the new procedures have not been accurate.
The media has blown this out of proportion to such a degree, said TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis. `Passengers are complimenting us and are happy with what we’ve been doing.`
Before boarding a plane, passengers must undergo a full body scan by using one the Advanced imaging technology machines, or they can opt out and be administered a pat down, which TSA Administrator John Pistole has admitted is a more invasive than previous pat downs.
In Albany International Airport’s case, since they do not have the AITs in place, if a passenger sets off an alarm when they go through a metal detector and the issue can’t be resolved, they must then be administered a pat down. Albany International spokesman Doug Myers said on Nov. 24, one of the busiest traveling days of the year due to the holiday, that there were no complaints coming from passengers.
`Our average line today was 5-8 minutes,` Myers said. `People were surprised they could walk right up to our check point,`
The airport reviews projected statistics of passenger loads and ticket loads and analyzes how much staff they will need for the day, said Myers. With the new security measures, he has advised that passengers arrive 90 minutes before the flight.
`It seems to have worked very well today,` he said, adding that they will most likely follow the same procedures during the Christmas travelling period.
Davis said that while Albany International is `well suited` for the machines, that she hasn’t seen a plan for when the will be put in place.
`It’s a complex endeavor,` she said. `They’re large, heavy ad tall. Screening equipment would need to be relocated and electrical requirement would have to be put in plance.
The implementation of the AITs and pat downs were a result of the 2009 Christmas Day bombing plot involving Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, said Pistole, adding that it is a `two prong approach` to combat a terrorist attack.
Due the terrorist threats coming from al-Qaeda and high threat levels coming from Europe, Pistole said TSA decided to roll out the new procedures and technology. He said it is important for passengers to feel safe in knowing that everyone on the flight has been thoroughly screened.
Children 12 and under will not have to go through the extensive pat downs that others have to and that they will be administered a `less invasive pat down,` according to Pistole.
`We try to be sensitive to both children and, of course, the parents,` said Pistole said during a conference call. `So in recognition of that, we try and use risked based intelligence that say children have not been used in terrorist attacks, but we have heard teenagers have been used. So if there’s something they [children] alarm on, we have to resolve that, but it will not be as thorough as with the adults.`
While many feel their privacy is being violated by these AIT machines, Pistole maintains that when a passenger goes through the scanner their image appears so a TSA agents can review it, and then deleted so the next image can appear.
`We’re not talking about photos here,` he said, `we’re talking about a blurred image looking for anomalies and for an object that could take down an air craft. A privacy filter is applied to all images.`
One passenger at the Albany airport, Sophie Delano, 85, from Schaticoke had just arrived from visiting her daughters in Georgia, said she had no problem with going through the security checkpoints, adding that she didn’t have to experience one of the pat downs.
She said, however, that she wasn’t sure if it was right that TSA has implemented these new pat downs, but said they should only be done for one purpose.
`Just for safety’s sake I think it’s all right,` she said.
David Karain, on the other hand, said he would not be happy if he had to go through one of the pat downs, but said he would have no problem with going through one of the full body scanners.
Karain, who is originally from the Capital District but now resides in Washington D.C., said he doesn’t understand the reason for the pat downs.
`I just don’t see the necessity of it,` he said before boarding a flight to Baltimore. `I don’t have a problem with them seeing stuff, I just don’t want them touching me.`
After screening over 35 million people across the nation, Pistole said they have only received 2,000 complaints.
As passengers have complained about these new procedures, Davis said it isn’t easy for the TSA agents performing these pat downs either.
`I haven’t personally talked with any of them personally, but they’re not excessively comfortable giving people a pat down,` she said. `But they’re performing them for a very critical reason.`
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