A Frontier Airlines flight diverted after a man with two box cutters became aggressive and threatening toward others. By all accounts it sounds like this ended about as well as it could have, thanks to the teamwork between the crew and passengers.
Continue reading: Threatening Man With Box Cutters Causes Frontier Flight Diversion
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So the very basis for the TSA - to prevent people from coming on board planes with box cutters - failed to prevent a guy from getting on a plane with a box cutter. And the disaster that they tell us would result from a guy getting on a plane with a box cutter couldn't happen because of much less intrusive, expensive, and inconvenient security measures such as reinforced cabin doors and so forth.
So why do we still have the TSA, and why will we always have the TSA?
“So why do we still have the TSA, and why will we always have the TSA?”
Inertia. Bureaucracy. Or both.
It’s called human error and it will always happen. The Agents looking at those screens see 1000’s of images and process what that image is for each bag in seconds. The X-ray machine I’ve ran on a much smaller scale show all metal in Blue. Now think of your bag: buckles, keys, watches, zippers, fingernail clippers, necklaces, vapes. And it’s a moving picture. Travelers question how it could have been missed? TSA should publish what they have removed in the past year and then question if they are needed.
I had a manicure piece confiscated in Albuquerque!! But the miss two box cutters. Time for retraining and or suspension.
the thing I find most interesting is that the madman used the term 'young lady' to describe his previous seat mate!
TSA should publish what they’ve confiscated. All of it.
If you’ve booked a flight and have a tooth scraper or cuticle pusher in your bag, and the item is confiscated, and you don’t run from the screener toward an exit while looking over both shoulders, maybe you weren’t plotting a skyjacking after all.
I don’t know why this flight was diverted. They couldn’t get a box cutter away from the guy? The person next to him had gotten up. Have people in front of and behind him leave their seats and then, “Sir, kindly hand over that hand tool. To avoid more serious consequences.”
They couldn’t, if necessary, zip tie him?
Maybe someone on the flight was heading to see or attend to someone dying, contribute a kidney, get married…
I think the divert crowd just likes exercising their powers.
Box cutters can cause a lot of harm. People trying to disarm him could get hurt. I worked in pre board security (now TSA) in the 80's. Its obvious that paying the screeners more and having another form of government interference hasn't made any difference.
How did he get through the security with the box cutter? A Swiss Army knife is not allowed so how could he pass with a box cutter.
I inadvertently brought a box cutter through TSA once, recently. Yes, they missed it. It was one of those Home Depot folding carpet knives. I discovered it as I was packing my bag to return home and put t in my checked luggage. I am glad my box cutter did not hurt anyone on the plane while in my carry-on luggage.
C'mon this is America. Let's fix it the American way, 2nd Amendment style.
Let's defund TSA and put it into NRA. Let everybody bring guns on board. Arming everybody is the answer.
And shoot everybody who invades your seat under the castle doctrine.
You go to jail if flying over some states, you get a license to kill over other states.
Only in America, LOL.
FWIW, NYT reported that one of the box cutters *was* detected; TSA agents simply removed the blade and returned the casing to the guy. The other box cutter was not detected by the full-body scan or x-rays. So, somehow, the actual story of TSA incompetence manages to be worse than you'd originally think.
Ridiculous!
TSA alone, at least visually, have diverted tons of people wanting/thinking of doing bad. Is TSA fun? Hell, no! Do I like it? Hell, no! Has it been useful— absolutely!
TSA could do a better job. However, TSA could make it impossible to get anything on board but what would need to be done or the amount of things that would need to be banned would have Americans trying to throw another insurrection! People want safety but not give up a damn thing. ♂️
Exactly!
People want perfection which is impossible. But TSA HAS made it safer though I don’t like not being able to bring the stuff I want.
We, Americans, want EVERYTHING but not give up anything. You want it absolutely safe, then give up bring a ton of stuff & wait twice as long as someone goes through everything. Or better yet, no carry-ons. Now a person just has their fists. Safer— . Americans willing, absolutely NOT.
Get over yourselves people. ♂️
Have you seen the failure rates of the TSA? Just google it…. Homeland security inspection teams have been doing this for years and it’s commonly 70 - 95 percent failure rates of TSA agents finding prohibited items. That’s gross negligence at the very least… is it the equipment not spotting items, or is it those the TSA hires, or all of the above.
Either way, what isn’t caught that makes it through is the scary part.
Just be honest with it, the TSA is just security theater and not any better than what we had pre 9/11 with the private security and basic metal detectors and X-ray machines. The Homeland security inspections prove it. 70-95 percent failure rates at airport checkpoints all over the US (using high tech machines and scanners) and then a high profile incident like this happens. 9/11 hijackers used BOX CUTTERS…. How is this not just another failure of the TSA that can be added to the list since there inception.