Phil Mushnick Pulls A Sting On The TSA

[Boom_70]

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/more_sports/queue_bawl_AAjmpWRq8AIEhRMU98iopL

Pretty amazing and unsettling story. Confirms what I've always believed, that you cannot trust these people.

I hope story leads to heads rolling at Newark TSA station.

 

[imjustagirl]

Holy crap.

 

[Guy_Incognito]

Did he just confess to a crime? Can he be arrested?

 

[HanSenSE]

Anyone remember the big fuss made when some administration-type or Congresscritter demanded all gate clerks be U.S. citizens? Go USA ... we can take bribes with the best of them! As for the miracle cure, I'm suddenly reminded of the USA-Brazil women's World Cup game.

 

[Boom_70]

Did he just confess to a crime? Can he be arrested?

What was the crime?

 

[Iron_chet]

I have not been thru Newark for a while so I would be suprised if the wheelchair pusher was an actual TSA employee and not a contracted airport employee. The slack jawed security people really don't care about the security line as long as you have your boarding pass and ID.

 

[DanOregon]

Sorry - I don't see the big deal. Yes, TSA people should accept tips. But it isn't like Mushnick's plane took off earlier - he just cut in line. And I'm sure after he's done spending a few hours with the TSA people who investigate this - he will regret it.
I've stood in those lines and always been amazed at how once your boarding time gets close you get moved through pretty quickly.
The TSA isn't there to find illegal stuff or to deter terrorists - they are there to make people comfortable about flying. That's it.

 

[BTExpress]

I'd say he might have exaggerated a little to make a point.

Off we went, the four of us, circumventing roughly an hour's shuffle line.

I've never spent an hour in a security line, not even 45 minutes, almost never 30 minutes. Maybe around the holidays. Never in the middle of August.

After all, for less than 10 bucks, four of us got where we were going -- and in a hurry.

Not really. You were going to Vancouver. You did not arrive there any earlier. You only arrived at your gate a little earlier than the other people in the security line. Your 10 bucks bought you a seat for a few minutes.

 

[Azrael]

This is a big deal if they skip the security screening. They didn't. They moved faster through the line, for a fee.

A service which is also available in TSA-sanctioned form here, at slightly higher prices.

http://clearme.com/landing

 

[Azrael]

First class passengers; "elite" status passengers; certain Frequent Flyers also enjoy the same line-skipping privilege at most major airports.

http://www.flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php/Elite_Security_Lines_(AA)

 

[Stitch]

The TSA is nothing but a nice show to make us feel warm and fuzzy, while at the same time making us want to kill each other.

 

[Boom_70]

Did make me wonder if Phil confused TSA agents with the hapless Gateway security guards that usually man the wheel chairs at Newark.

 

[TigerVols]

I'm shocked, stunned and dismayed that the TSA hires people who...


...have "non-English accents" and speak with "broken English."

This incident had the potential of being newsworthy. If, say, a real reporter did this, more than once, and each time got the woman's name, and spoke to her, and spoke to her coworkers, and spoke to her boss, and spoke with TSA Administrators, and spoke to people in line that were bypassed.

But instead, we'll just stick with some vaguely bigoted anecdote about someone who may, or may not be, an employee of the department all Teabaggers love to hate.

 

[Webster]

Mushnick was more upset that the TSA had come out with alternative black uniforms for this season, which are associated with gang members.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Mushnick was more upset that the TSA had come out with alternative black uniforms for this season, which are associated with gang members.

Nicely done.

And when the woman said she expected more money, I would have said, "What are you going to do, turn us in? We'll tell everyone you take bribes!"

 

[trifectarich]

I'd say he might have exaggerated a little to make a point.

Off we went, the four of us, circumventing roughly an hour's shuffle line.

I've never spent an hour in a security line, not even 45 minutes, almost never 30 minutes. Maybe around the holidays. Never in the middle of August.

After all, for less than 10 bucks, four of us got where we were going -- and in a hurry.

Not really. You were going to Vancouver. You did not arrive there any earlier. You only arrived at your gate a little earlier than the other people in the security line. Your 10 bucks bought you a seat for a few minutes.

Go to Philadelphia any Monday morning. If you're flying USAirways, you're not getting through in less than 30 minutes. No way no how.

 

[Azrael]

Suspicious "non-English" accent.

 

[Small Town Guy]

Sorry, Phil, I'm going to have to save my outrage for **** Ebersol's infatuation with Vince McMahon, Fox Sports' insistence on covering the screen with too many graphics during baseball games, CBS' scheme of cutting away to golfers we haven't seen all afternoon just as they're going to attempt a 98-foot putt - as if we don't know it's been taped and they'll make it! - and ESPN's bizarre abbreviations of basketball teams on its ticker - did you know that Michigan State vs. Purdue was abbreviated as MIS 78, PE 67?

I'm a former wheelchair attendant at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Made minimum wage - plus tips! Really put my communications degree from St. John's University (Minn.) to good use. Folks were proud. And all I can say to this lady is, good job. They tell you you'll make tips as a wheelchair attendant. But no one tips. Tips are saved for the bastards in the carts. People in wheelchairs do not tip and it's the rare caregiver who doles out a buck. If this lady's able to make a few extra bucks while not really affecting the security, I say go for it.

Phil's undercover work does remind me of this:

 

[playthrough]

As Mushnick inferred, maybe the gal has to share some of the graft with the screeners. I know I'd be raising a stink if I was on the crew and not getting any juice while another gal ran a hustle.

But all it takes is one screener running the X-ray to turn his/her head for a second to talk to the gal (maybe arguing, maybe collecting their share), and there's a gun on an airplane.

 

[HanSenSE]

Where was this TSA worker when that 90something grandmother with Stage IV cancer was in line?