Can't wear shoes through security, right?
Sep 18th, 2005, 08:16 PM
#41
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Hi Susan33, that is interesting about Sacramento airport because I have had the exact opposite experiences.
At Sacramento I go right through security. Coming home from Portland (wearing the exact same clothes and loafers) I was pratically strip searched, LOL.
Went through Sacramento again, no problem. Wearing the same clothes and shoes coming home from Burbank (on purpose just to compare) they even made me take everything out of my carryon, my shoulder bag, my cosmetic case etc.
And people seem to complain about Atlanta airport but I found it the easiest airport as far as security and getting around in.
We all have such different experiences, guess they want to keep us on our toes....our bare toes that is, LOL.
At Sacramento I go right through security. Coming home from Portland (wearing the exact same clothes and loafers) I was pratically strip searched, LOL.
Went through Sacramento again, no problem. Wearing the same clothes and shoes coming home from Burbank (on purpose just to compare) they even made me take everything out of my carryon, my shoulder bag, my cosmetic case etc.
And people seem to complain about Atlanta airport but I found it the easiest airport as far as security and getting around in.
We all have such different experiences, guess they want to keep us on our toes....our bare toes that is, LOL.
Sep 19th, 2005, 10:14 AM
#42
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I don't especially mind taking off my shoes while going through security as long as it's a requirement that's applied consistently. In my experience, it usually has been.
However, last month while flying out of the Kona airport, it was another story. First we stood in this enormous line for about an hour to go through security - the line wrapped around the building. It was extremely hot and humid, with zero breeze, and people's tempers were getting short.
When we finally get up to the xray, I see that the hold up is the general confusion of shoes on or shoes off. I see some people walking through the metal detector with shoes on, and others are taking off their shoes and putting them on the belt.
The types of shoes being allowed to be worn through the metal detectors are of all types - sneakers, hiking boots, slippers, slip ons, etc. So the people seeing this were all stopping to ask "Should I take off my shoes?" Some people being told to take off their shoes began arguing about the guy who was just allowed through wearing a pair of shoes just like the ones they were told to put on the belt. Did I mention that tempers were getting short?
It was a mess. I for one, was told to put my shoes on the belt - and yes, I saw several people allowed through with shoes similar to mine. I just complied - I didn't want to trigger an SSSS, nor hold up the line any longer. That experience reminded me why I rarely do any interisland travel any more - it's too much of a hassle.
However, last month while flying out of the Kona airport, it was another story. First we stood in this enormous line for about an hour to go through security - the line wrapped around the building. It was extremely hot and humid, with zero breeze, and people's tempers were getting short.
When we finally get up to the xray, I see that the hold up is the general confusion of shoes on or shoes off. I see some people walking through the metal detector with shoes on, and others are taking off their shoes and putting them on the belt.
The types of shoes being allowed to be worn through the metal detectors are of all types - sneakers, hiking boots, slippers, slip ons, etc. So the people seeing this were all stopping to ask "Should I take off my shoes?" Some people being told to take off their shoes began arguing about the guy who was just allowed through wearing a pair of shoes just like the ones they were told to put on the belt. Did I mention that tempers were getting short?
It was a mess. I for one, was told to put my shoes on the belt - and yes, I saw several people allowed through with shoes similar to mine. I just complied - I didn't want to trigger an SSSS, nor hold up the line any longer. That experience reminded me why I rarely do any interisland travel any more - it's too much of a hassle.
Sep 19th, 2005, 02:51 PM
#43
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While staying with friends in England, spring 2004, this subject came up. They said you can always tell the Americans in a European airport because they're the only ones with their (bright white tennis) shoes off.
;-)
;-)
Sep 20th, 2005, 06:24 AM
#45
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"Have never understood why airports that require removing shoes don't have signs posted above the checkpoint saying so."
BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO REMOVE YOUR SHOES!!!
The whole point about all of this is not simply the remove / don't remove issue. The fact that one pair of shoes is perfectly acceptable at one airport (I didn't remove this pair of sandals at one airport, and they didn't alarm there) and then completely unacceptable at another two days later, is indicative of not a policy that is designed to find explosives, but rather one that allows a group of individuals to bully passengers at their whim.
I don't mean to imply that all TSA agents are bullies, nor that all security measures are bogus. But I truly believe that with some TSA agents, they have the power, implied or otherwise, to mess you up (what time is your flight leaving?), and they know it.
I think that we do need to know what the rules really are, and I think that rules need to make sense and be sensibly applied. And I think that we need to stand up for ourselves and not put up with nonsense. By allowing ourselves to be bullied into doing something that isn't a law, we are, as a society, setting ourselves up to have other personal freedoms eroded.
BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO REMOVE YOUR SHOES!!!
The whole point about all of this is not simply the remove / don't remove issue. The fact that one pair of shoes is perfectly acceptable at one airport (I didn't remove this pair of sandals at one airport, and they didn't alarm there) and then completely unacceptable at another two days later, is indicative of not a policy that is designed to find explosives, but rather one that allows a group of individuals to bully passengers at their whim.
I don't mean to imply that all TSA agents are bullies, nor that all security measures are bogus. But I truly believe that with some TSA agents, they have the power, implied or otherwise, to mess you up (what time is your flight leaving?), and they know it.
I think that we do need to know what the rules really are, and I think that rules need to make sense and be sensibly applied. And I think that we need to stand up for ourselves and not put up with nonsense. By allowing ourselves to be bullied into doing something that isn't a law, we are, as a society, setting ourselves up to have other personal freedoms eroded.
Sep 20th, 2005, 11:59 AM
#47
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"Have never understood why airports that require removing shoes don't have signs posted above the checkpoint saying so."
"BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO REMOVE YOUR SHOES!!!"
(What's with all the capital letters today?)
OK, strictly speaking, no, it doesn't say anywhere, "shoes must be removed." But functionally, as is quite obvious in this thread, there are airports where you have a very good chance of being stopped and asked to remove your shoes by the TSA people. So perhaps what I should have said, why isn't there a sign that says: "A lot of you will probably be asked to take your shoes off, so save yourself and everyone else a little time by taking them off before you reach the Xray conveyor-belt area, but if you truly object to this, please let the TSA agent know so we can put you through separate processing. Thank you."
Yes, our personal freedoms and privacies are being eroded daily, but my feet just aren't the thing I'm most worried about having the gummint know something about.
"BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO REMOVE YOUR SHOES!!!"
(What's with all the capital letters today?)
OK, strictly speaking, no, it doesn't say anywhere, "shoes must be removed." But functionally, as is quite obvious in this thread, there are airports where you have a very good chance of being stopped and asked to remove your shoes by the TSA people. So perhaps what I should have said, why isn't there a sign that says: "A lot of you will probably be asked to take your shoes off, so save yourself and everyone else a little time by taking them off before you reach the Xray conveyor-belt area, but if you truly object to this, please let the TSA agent know so we can put you through separate processing. Thank you."
Yes, our personal freedoms and privacies are being eroded daily, but my feet just aren't the thing I'm most worried about having the gummint know something about.
Sep 20th, 2005, 12:48 PM
#48
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Perhaps my last statement should have read:
By allowing ourselves to be bullied into doing something that isn't a law, we are, as a society, setting ourselves up to have other personal freedoms eroded while we sit back and say, "so what, it's just our ....".
And the caps were used simply because I didn't use bold or italics, either of which would have signified that I was emphasizing the point.
By allowing ourselves to be bullied into doing something that isn't a law, we are, as a society, setting ourselves up to have other personal freedoms eroded while we sit back and say, "so what, it's just our ....".
And the caps were used simply because I didn't use bold or italics, either of which would have signified that I was emphasizing the point.
Sep 21st, 2005, 07:53 AM
#49
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For the record, I'm not really saying, "it's just my feet." I agree with everyone who's saying that all the TSA stuff in the airports is one part preventative and five parts show, although that doesn't apply to the actual TSA agents on the site -- who take their job very seriously -- but rather to the uberTSA's and above who are masters of high-profile gestures covering complete absence of giving enough of a dang to do what's really needed.
But it's what's happening in the courts and in Congress -- or the end-runs around Congress -- that scares me to death about our personal freedoms, and somehow causing a ruckus with an overzealous TSA agent about shoes doesn't strike me as having much hope of reversing an deeply troubling trend.
But it's what's happening in the courts and in Congress -- or the end-runs around Congress -- that scares me to death about our personal freedoms, and somehow causing a ruckus with an overzealous TSA agent about shoes doesn't strike me as having much hope of reversing an deeply troubling trend.
Sep 26th, 2005, 02:49 PM
#50
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Moving on from shoes...my best security silly...having them take away the Business Class little kit I had gotten on connecting flight and then getting another identical one as soon as I got on the next plane.
Sep 27th, 2005, 08:35 AM
#51
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We fly all the time, and about two years ago noticed that some airports (Seattle) ALWAYS require removal. Some (CHICAGO) were more lax. So I started carrying my hiking boots in a plastic sac, and wearing slip on clogs to quickly remove and put back on - then once through security I put on my hiking boots. The removal of shoes doesn't gnaw at me. The filthy floors do. I get so tired of getting my socks filthy when I have to tread through security wear thousands walk it makes me sick, because my socks are supposed to be white, not filthy gray. My husband giggles as I am a little freaishly compulsive about filthy, but that is the only thing I hate about walking sock-footed through security.
Security checks don't bother me at all, in fact I would rather be patted down - along with fellow passengers - and sock-footed, than to have my name carved on a memorial somewhere to remember a flight that went wrong. So I roll with the punches, and keep on flying around the world, with a smile and a cheery attitude, covering my aversion to airport floor dust and filth
Security checks don't bother me at all, in fact I would rather be patted down - along with fellow passengers - and sock-footed, than to have my name carved on a memorial somewhere to remember a flight that went wrong. So I roll with the punches, and keep on flying around the world, with a smile and a cheery attitude, covering my aversion to airport floor dust and filth
Sep 28th, 2005, 06:30 AM
#52
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A week ago flying from MSN to SFO and back. Wearing tennis shoes.
No-one in Madison cared about my shoes, there were no signs and no one asked me to take them off. I do recall 2 years ago when I flew out of MSN we were asked to step on a metal plate in the floor and if a light came on (indication of metal?) we had to remove our shoes. There was no metal plate this time.
Flying back there was a sign in SFO requiring all to remove their shoes and run them through the x-ray machine.
I am wearing hiking boots for my trip this weekend (MKE-SNN). We'll see what happens.
No-one in Madison cared about my shoes, there were no signs and no one asked me to take them off. I do recall 2 years ago when I flew out of MSN we were asked to step on a metal plate in the floor and if a light came on (indication of metal?) we had to remove our shoes. There was no metal plate this time.
Flying back there was a sign in SFO requiring all to remove their shoes and run them through the x-ray machine.
I am wearing hiking boots for my trip this weekend (MKE-SNN). We'll see what happens.
Sep 29th, 2005, 08:18 AM
#54
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Speaking of the chairs ... has anyone noticed that if you do try to use one of their chairs to put the shoes back on, they try to shoo you away? ("These chairs are for official business only, sir."
Similarly, if you grab the shoes and kneel down to put them back on they get all bent out of shape?
I have found that simply staring back and saying "I am not walking over your dirty floor without shoes" shuts them up and I can continue the process.
Similarly, if you grab the shoes and kneel down to put them back on they get all bent out of shape?
I have found that simply staring back and saying "I am not walking over your dirty floor without shoes" shuts them up and I can continue the process.
Nov 3rd, 2005, 06:35 AM
#55
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An article in today's Wall Street Journal on the new TSA security rules that will be unveiled shortly, quoting Kip Hawley, new chief of the TSA:
The TSA is also reconsidering other security procedures. Mr. Hawley has said that he foresees a system that relies on less-predictable patterns of security checks to keep would-be terrorists off balance. Under this philosophy, for instance, travelers might sometimes have to take off their shoes and other times not. "Nobody will know exactly what they will face when they show up at the airport," he said this fall.
I believe if you go up to my post dated 9/8-this is pretty much exactly what I said. Hmmm. wonder why that is? (smile)
The TSA is also reconsidering other security procedures. Mr. Hawley has said that he foresees a system that relies on less-predictable patterns of security checks to keep would-be terrorists off balance. Under this philosophy, for instance, travelers might sometimes have to take off their shoes and other times not. "Nobody will know exactly what they will face when they show up at the airport," he said this fall.
I believe if you go up to my post dated 9/8-this is pretty much exactly what I said. Hmmm. wonder why that is? (smile)
Nov 3rd, 2005, 09:04 AM
#57
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spygirl - You're confusing "randomless" and "lack of rules", at least in your 9/8 posts.
I don't care if they ask everybody to take off their shoes, or don't ask anybody to take off these shoes. Or pick random people to take off their shoes, or if they do profiling and only ask Middle Easterners or Chinese, or only old people. <b>I don't care.</b>
But they have to say "you take off your shoes" or they say "you don't take off your shoes". What I have problem is this "suggestion", "encouragement", "advice", "recommendation" or whatever term the TSA uses.
I don't care if they ask everybody to take off their shoes, or don't ask anybody to take off these shoes. Or pick random people to take off their shoes, or if they do profiling and only ask Middle Easterners or Chinese, or only old people. <b>I don't care.</b>
But they have to say "you take off your shoes" or they say "you don't take off your shoes". What I have problem is this "suggestion", "encouragement", "advice", "recommendation" or whatever term the TSA uses.
Nov 3rd, 2005, 09:36 AM
#58
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Since there's no consistency about the shoe thing and since I'm not prepared to get into a time-consuming argument with a man wearing a gun (legal or not, they can still detain you for some time), I'll take of my shoes. But I hate walking on that filthy floor and then putting my dirty feet and/or socks back into my shoes.
For the price travelers are paying for airline tickets, woudn't you think they could provide us with paper slip-ons we could toss into a bin at the other side? Maybe I'll start saving all those hotel shower caps just for this purpose!
For the price travelers are paying for airline tickets, woudn't you think they could provide us with paper slip-ons we could toss into a bin at the other side? Maybe I'll start saving all those hotel shower caps just for this purpose!
