And here's what gets to me...I referred to what happens at Heathrow...the flights to the United States are the only ones who have the random checks at the gate..the other airlines seem to trust Heathrow security to do a good job and there have been no incidents coming out of Heathrow...so why do we Americans and those flying to our country have to subject to these humiliating (and they are humiliating) random checks and be wanded and told to take everything out of their pockets and see these geniuses go through their wallets, all their hand luggage, make them turn on their mobile phones, make them turn on their cameras and all that when if there was a problem, it would be picked up at the general check.

If somebody can explain to me how this shows what great hosts our country is or how this enhances security (in other words are they saying they don't trust Heathrow security; the other airlines do).

And are conditioned reflex now..it's okay; so what if we infringe on people's dignity.

(Incidentally Heathrow security does not require removal of one's shoes.)

The times that I have gone through security wearing my shoes it was no big thing. The lines were short (at SNA and at JFK jetblue) and there were TSA people standing around, so why not? They didn't mind. At other times/places when it is really busy, I will take off my shoes, no problem.

Taking off my shoes inconveniences me. Not taking off my shoes did not inconvenience any other passenger. There is no issue of inconveniencing the government employee because it is actually a part of their job. Making an idle TSA employee actually do some work is a good thing.

Our local SF station ABC,( www. abc7news.com) Michael Finney who is the consumer reporter has had quite an article regarding shoe removal at airports. Evidently one can pick up horrible bacterial and/or viruses on ones feet when walking on the floor at an airport either barefoot or in just ones socks, and medical test has proved that it is a problem. People have ended up with feet infections, warts etc. And when one goes to the doctor the doctor does not know to ask "have you flown on an airline recently?".

IMHO I think the best thing to do regardless of the weather is to wear a very thin sole flipflop until you get through security. One that does not have any metal in it of course. And than once past security put on whatever shoes/socks you want to fly in (have them in your carryone of course) and put the flipflops in a ziploc bag and put them in your carryon. Flipflops are always good to have instead of slippers while on a trip.

Here are the URLs for the local SF televised report and the follow-up. Yikes! I'm carrying my flip-flops from now on!

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?sec...amp;id=4378146

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?
section=7on_your_side&id=4385904

Maybe they should post a sign like the "open, closed" signs in stores. They can flip it to whatever side they desire that day "shoes on, shoes off". Then we would know whether THAT day we need to take them off!

I just wish they would make up their minds and all the airports would come to an agreement as to shoes "off or on" (well, and everything else!).

My Reeboks are a pain to lace up but they sure are comfy and good for running to catch a connection. However, I always feel like a convict if I leave my shoes on - I never know what I am supposed to do. Also, don't you hate when you leave them on only to find you have to take them off, you are holding up the like, and everyone is giving you dirty looks.

LvSun, every since 911 I have worn loafers when I fly. Easier to take off and to get back on. But the ABC7 report by Michael Finney (a very respected consumer reporter) freaked me out because evidently you can pick up "crud" on your feet through your socks, sigh. So I guess in the future I will put on very thin flipflops before going through security and than put on whatever shoes I want to wear on the plan after going through security.

I wonder if this is how I got a staph infection on my foot a week after returning from London. . .

I usually don't mind whatever security checks are required. But last week going through Heathrow I was disgusted when I saw the agent forcing a women to make her baby "walk" through the screening device alone.

This was a baby about 11 or 12 months old who couldn't walk on her own, her mom held her hand on one side of the screener and she was expected to walk through to the agent/stranger holding her other hand on the other side.

This baby was terrified, she was screaming trying to hold on to her mom, and the agent was saying no you cannot carry her through, she has to go through on her own.

Now that was not only ridiculous, but cruel. What difference would it make to go through in her mom's arms? If there was something in her diaper, the screening device would have found it either way.

The main reason you have to take off your shoes is that most shoes have a metal strip in them that helps keep the shape from the heal to the toe. This is what sets off the detector. I have no problem taking off my shoes or doing the random searches. It makes me feel better knowing "something" is being done.
As for the checks being nonsense, Just because the TSA doesn't advertise when they catch people with bad things on them, doesn't mean it doesn't happen. My husband is in the airline industry and gets briefed when things like this happen so he can be on the look out for it himself. The tsa has a complicated formula that they use when picking people for screening. They check for folks with the same profiles the terrorists used (last minute tickets, one way tickets)for one thing as well as others that I am not aware of. This nonsense does have a point behind it, so just go with the flow and know that you are a little safet thanks to what these folks ask you to put up with.

Well I certainly do not want to put up with a bacterial infection from having to take off my shoes. And I wonder if the bad baceterial infection I got on my foot after flying home from Atlanta wasn't from the airport floor. I believe in the future I will keep my shoes on and they can check them out while I sit down (I had this happen at PDX) and they can wand me etc. as I certainly have nothing to hide.

But the metal in shoes can be detected by the walk thru scanner, monorailgold. It used to be that you had a choice of keeping the shoes on if you were not going to set off the metal detector (e.g. Merrell mocs).

Now, if you go walk thru with your no-metal shoes and don't beep then they swab your shoes to check for chemicals that are used in explosives.

But the shoes that are going thru the belt scanner are not being swabbed!

They reason I think that they want everybody take off their shoes is simply to keep the line moving. Otherwise, there would be people with shoe-metal walking thru, then coming back and taking off their belt, and their ring, and pulling out their fillings, and then walking back thru and setting off the detector because of their shoe-metal. All of that takes time.

If you have trouble with the sanitary issues involving taking off your shoes at the screening area, do like I do and bring a pair of sockies to put on. The shoes come off and go in the machine to be screened and my sockies go on until I am on the other side. I do this every time and have faced no delays (or bacterial infections).

Mr. W., they don't always swab your shoes if you don't take them off, they may, but not always. The process is intended to be random.

But it is preferable to simply take you shoes off, because it does take up less "queue" time, as it's called, than if you don't take off shoes, and they call you back to do a secondary screening.

Regarding the shoes/no shoes issue:

A TSA officer told me that they recommend/suggest/encourage shoe removal based upon the thickness of the sole. If the shoes do not alarm, a passenger can have them swabbed instead of taking them off. So basically, if the shoes have metal in them, they come off. If no metal, but thicker soles: remove and x-ray, or leave on and get swabbed (which usually takes less than a minute). I have asked other TSA officers about this and it seems to be the rule of thumb.

If you look at this post now, all this griping about hand-wanding of shoes seems more than a little frivolous, in light of current events, no?

NO

No. I don't see a connection.

AA & rkk you are kidding right?!

AAFF and I are complaining about procedure that makes little sense and bureacracy. Not about the need for effective screening.

As we can see clearly today, intelligence and police work is what saves us. Not screening.

And I can't understand how highly publicized increased measures in screening AFTER they're already foiled the plot is going to make us safer today or tomorrow.

Do you really think wrecking the airline industry and disrupting tens of thousands of flyers right in the height of summer travel season is making us safer? I don't think so.

Again, I'm all for <b>effective</b> screening, with whatever techniques (racial profiling, total random checks, screening of traveler's names, whatever you name it). I just don't see TSA's doing that, for whatever political, budgetary or institutional reasons.

The screening does work. The strict guidelines that the security now requires continues to make it more difficult for terrorists to come up with ideas. This most recent plot tried to take advantage of the one remaining area that sailed clearly through security...liquids. The terrorists know weapons, shoes, bomb residue, knives, blades, etc are off limits, so they continue to look for more opportunistic ways. This time liquids/gels. Next who knows? It's the world we live in.