(Fred Weinberg) – I’ve been flying on Southwest Airlines more often recently because a friend of mine has purchased a radio network and I’ve been helping return it to financial health.
A few years ago, I wrote that Southwest CEO Gary Kelly ought to spend more time sticking up for his customers as opposed to letting them be run over by those Thousands Standing Around who reserve the right to strip search you at the airport.
Shortly after I wrote that, I went on a business trip and, lo and behold, I had the TSA Pre-check logo on my boarding pass.
It made great sense. After all, I’ve probably flown more than a million miles on Southwest dating back to the days when their tickets were a cash register receipt and you could fly from Tulsa to Dallas for $19 on a Friday night. It’s not like I’m not in their Rapid Rewards database. They know exactly who I am and have voluminous records on my flying habits. Whatever some of their executives may think of me, they know I’m not a terrorist.
So, you would think that when I schedule a six segment week—about ¾ of a lap of America—they would use their good sense and allow me to go through the metal detector with my shoes and belt on and save us all a bit of time and money.
But noooooooo.
Of the six flights I took that week, only the last two, returning back to Reno from Raleigh-Durham were TSA-Pre checked.
And you wonder why Donald Trump is leading the GOP field of candidates.
Here’s a question for both the TSA and Southwest.
How could I be a potential threat that needs full screening for the first four segments and then, all of a sudden not a threat for five and six? Did it really take four flight segments in two days for some pinhead at Southwest to figure out who I was? Not likely.
The TSA has nearly ruined business travel. The whole object of 9-11 was so a bunch of Islamic jerks could get us to fear something. As it turns out, what most of us fear is the complete and utter waste of time that dealing with the TSA has become. And the huge amount of lost productivity the TSA has caused.
What you see at the airport is largely eye candy.
People who don’t fly a lot probably think there’s some scientific method to TSA airport screening which keeps us all safe.
The truth is that TSA airport screening is to security what Obamacare is to healthcare.
It’s an insult to the collective intelligence of Americans who aren’t going to hijack an airliner or hurt anyone but just want to be left alone.
And the only way it stops is if the airline executives like Kelly grow a pair and tell the government where to shove it on behalf of their long suffering customers.
If the airlines demanded a stop to the nonsense, they’d get it because they know their customers would be behind them all the way.
Wouldn’t it be nice if someone is Dallas was paying attention
Mr. Weinberg is publisher of the Penny Press. Get to know more about him by visiting www.PennyPressNV.com.
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