At home, we take off our shoes and keep them in the laundry room - my H is fussy about wearing shoes upstairs and so I indulge him in his neurosis. I think the bottoms of shoes are likely far more potentially dangerous to my health than twenty seconds of barefoot! But honestly I just don’t worry about this stuff at all. It’s not like I live in a third world country. I got plenty sick from traveling to one, but that’s because there were no sanitation practices.
I use commuter trains and Amtrak regularly I am at the airport the second this week. I think they should cut TSA budget to half to reduce the number of staff. They are so busy talking to each other they get in the way. Last time they were blocking a kiosk talking while a long line formed. This time they were too busy talking to each other and failed to redirect pre heck passengers. We had to double back up the escalator back down again up again, etc.
Our TSA folks (especially the ones where you show your license and boarding pass) at our Nashville airport are SO nice. Everyone comments on it. They call you honey and are just as pleasant as can be. Down at the scanners it is a little more uneven, but still better than most of what I encounter at other airports.
igloo
the tsa is a jobs program and the “security” they provide is virtually zero. the shoes off and the body scanners (health issues aside) are worthless and just add to unneeded stress and waits at the airport. the tsa by it’s own admission fails 95%+ of it’s own tests ( I suspect that number is close to or at 100%) and they have yet to foil even one attack. get rid of the tsa, go back to metal detectors and xray of bag (again tsa does a terrible job at this already) and try and restore some dignity and ease of movement in airports. as I have said before 100,000x of unchecked people, trucks,food packages, tons and tons and tons of airfreight moves unchecked straight onto the runways, planes ,kiosks and restaurants on the “secure side” of security across America everyday. and attacks can and will occur in places like a fireworks display is Nice, a nightclub in Orlando, etc…
I am very much for safety/security do not get me wrong…but I know the TSA and the people I see “working” for them who are either texting, talking ,napping or being nasty to passengers because they are on a power trip are not going to keep us safe. and increasing the TSA budget to 100000000.00 a year will not change that.
"Our TSA folks (especially the ones where you show your license and boarding pass) at our Nashville airport are SO nice. "
you need to spend less time in a great place like Nashville…and more time in Newark, jfk, LA, o hare ,Miami ,philadelphia etc…
how dare you live in one of the best all around places in America.
The TSA folks in HI are amazingly nice. So are the TSA folks in Bellingham. I much prefer to fly out of Bellingham than out of SeaTac, where the TSA are like a bunch of barking dogs most of the time.
I probably told you about the strawberry story… if they are squished, they are a “liquid,” according to the TSA at Seatac. Otherwise, they are fine to fly.
Yeah, well. I spend more than enough time at the Philadelphia airport where everyone is nasty! I even saw a tshirt that said "I’m not angry. I’m just from Philadelphia. " (I grew up there)
bunsenburner imagine a person smart enough to create a weapon that could be injected into a strawberry and than extracted on the plane being defeated by a TSA agent like that. so you have 95% of the TSA folks doing nothing and 5% kind of working and .0001% who think they are going to pick out james bond from the 10000x of people going threw security everyday and stop the strawberry threat. it would be comical if it were not reality.
p.s. yes that adds up to 100.0001% I know.
I know much of it is theater but in my experience most TSA staff, whatever they’re doing or not doing, are nice. They’re kind of hated and harried. I always thank them, and they appreciate it. No need to malign them for the stupid system they’re working in.
And fungus really needs moisture to pose a threat. Again, the risk isn’t zero. But it isn’t very high.
“No need to malign them for the stupid system they’re working in.” the system is a joke…this is true but the % of jerks and “angry at the world” folks and people who do not work just chill… employed by TSA is very high and it is not something that should be ignored. (since it is not like a hotel with bad service you can just avoid) and I I get the job is in line with other entry positions that are thankless and hard to fill like in fast food and such. but the behavior is not something that should be tolerated. ooo…they are government employees that is just how it is not acceptable. I doubt any of the TSA agents would or do accept the treatment they dish out for themselves. and just because a couple of nice people work for the TSA in some airports does not mean that the pervasive nasty attitude is not endemic with the TSA.
I do not doubt your experience. I don’t doubt mine either.
I can deal with the surliness. I can’t deal with the incompetence. Take a trip through some international airports to learn how security SHOULD be done, CDG for example. Nothing is foolproof, but the process in the USA gives me very little confidence and too much hassle.
Jaylynn I am nice to everyone and respectful…always say please and thank you…hold the door, say good morning and when I deal with the TSA or anyone else I am courteous and friendly… but the TSA needs a major make over or replacement with a workforce that is responsive and respectful of passengers. no doubt there are a couple of really friendly TSA people at some airports and jerks who are passengers (not just frustrated passengers … self absorbed self important) but the system is a combination of security theater and employees with a bad attitude and in the airport paradigm the TSA is a cause of the majority of the issues not thankless passengers.
The worse treatment I received at an airport security area was in Toronto. They completely (and in a rude manner) emptied out all my carry- ons. I’m sure I looked like a terrorist at age 62 in my Toronto Marsthon shirt.
The worst behavior I’ve seen at the airport in the last 6 months was actually an American Airlines employee walking down the jetway rudely grabbing people’s carry-on bags for gate checking. No comments, no explanation, no general announcement, just grabbing and pulling the cases from people’s hands. I reported that. Close second was a United Express flight attendant screaming at the 7 AM business travelers that “there is no more room in the overheads”. There was plenty of room and these red eye travelers were experienced, efficient and self-sufficient. I don’t know what her problem was. Ah, for the days of the Friendly Skies.
I’ve even had TSA smile at me recently at ORD. Although I’m sure that was a random lucky occurrence.
jaylynn, sure, the risk is small, but people underestimate how hard it is to get rid of a fungal infection. I approach this with the Hand Formula: the chance of something happening times the pain it will cause vs the cost of a preventative remedy. Wearing footies is not that much of a trouble, really. Taking antifungals… no thanks, even if the risk is small. Those TSA checkpoint mats are sticky in the late summer for an obvious reason (and it ain’t Lysol in them). I have a relative who picked up what looked like a minor case of a nail fungus. It is not just a cosmetic issue. Athlete’s foot creates cracks in the skin through which nasty bacteria can enter, causing further damage. If one has diabetes, she or he has to be extra careful.
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Athletes-foot/Pages/Introduction.aspx
@doschicos - in a major airport in the country where kid lived and worked… not the place anyone posting here would likely be flying through any time soon. I have never been asked to take my shoes off anywhere else abroad: Paris, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Istanbul, etc.
I know fungal infections can be difficult to treat (though nail much more than simple skin tinea, which is not as difficult); I’m a physician. I’m just saying that the risk is low. Not zero, just low. Gross out factor is high. It just depends on how you see the situation. This can be applied to my comments about TSA staff, too. We all view things our own way. If the risk is too high to you, wear socks. If you think it’s low (and you’re lazy), don’t. S’all good. 
Most of the TSA people in Portland, Maine are very friendly, but I got so furious at one employee that I wrote a letter of complaint. I got permission to go to the gate with my 18-year-old son because I explained to the gate agent that he had a mental illness. Well, the woman who checked my son’s ticket and my “pass” pointedly looked at him, then me, and started shaking her head no. I politely explained that he had a mental illness, and she just kept frowning and shaking her head no until she passed us through. I could not believe it. I hope I got her in trouble.
Lol I’m currently sitting in ATL airport. I have a gallon sized ziplock with my liquids. . I forgot to take it out of my suitcase and was not stopped. However I had to go thru security again at the gate( that was a first, I’ve never had screeners at the gate). So the gate screeners questioned my deodorant wth?? And tossed out one bottle of liquid though it was clearly less that 3.4 oz, sigh. I just wished there was a modicum of consistency.
partyof5 it is a silly game…but if you want to fly you got to play security theater.