5 ms·

I have a cheaper alternative. Get rid of TSA altogether. Travelling was a whole heck of a lot more fun in 1975. Since then it's been overreaction upon overre

by Gratsby 11y ago

I have a cheaper alternative. Get rid of TSA altogether. Travelling was a whole heck of a lot more fun in 1975. Since then it's been overreaction upon overreaction. Nobody is going to hijack a plane in this day and age because of the simple fact that the passengers will immediately revolt.

aurelius12 11y ago
It's been all of one week since a plane was hijacked. http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/29/europe/hijacked-egypt-air-jet/ http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/29/europe/hijacked-egypt-air-jet/
- djsumdog 11y ago
  ..and yet airport security didn't stop this.
  - ssalazar 11y ago
    > [The] EgyptAir flight was taking too long to get from Alexandria to Cairo Not to interrupt some good-old lazy cynicism, but something tells me there is a substantial difference between domestic Egyptian airport security and the TSA.
    - tn13 11y ago
      TSA is far more idiotic ?
- wingless 11y ago
  According to Wikipedia there have been 6 notable hijackings in the last 5 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_hijackings#2010s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_hijackings#20... There are roughly 100k commercial flights per day, 36m flights per year. Therefore, the probability of your flight being hijacked is 1 in 30 million, which is an absurdly low number. Note that only one of the 6 hijackings resulted in casualties, so the mortality rate even lower.
  - deelowe 11y ago
    And none were in the US.
  - kough 11y ago
    Most likely due to the TSA's efforts! Can you imagine how many would be hijacked if there weren't a TSA?
    - chris_va 11y ago
      Ah, the good old days... The history of airport security is somewhat interesting. There wasn't a TSA for long time, and the hijackings/flying to Cuba got annoying, so metal detectors were added. Everything else since then hasn't made much sense.
      - splat 11y ago
        Interestingly, another approach that was seriously considered was to build a fake "Havana airport" in southern Florida and have the planes land there instead. http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/skyjacking/ http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/skyjacking/
    - thaumasiotes 11y ago
      Yes. Six, possibly even six and a half, flights every five years. The low rate of hijacking is due to the scarcity of people interested in doing it, not the difficulty. Same reason your house doesn't get burgled every day.
- deelowe 11y ago
  I imagine that things are a bit different in Egypt (eg cockpit doors arent locked and bullet proof)
bbanyc 11y ago
The pre-2001 airport security apparatus did a good job of keeping guns off planes, eliminating the most common hijacking scenario. Almost everything since then has been increased hassle for diminishing returns, with the most effective improvement being one of the least visible - hardening the cockpit doors.
- dwd 11y ago
  Which introduced a different issue allowing incidents such as the Germanwings and EgyptAir crashes and maybe even Malaysian MH-370.
djsumdog 11y ago
It's all security theatre. The TSA has stopped a dangerous person NEVER. I've lived around the world and airport security is bad everywhere. Australia's is terrible, German's is pretty bad, but the worst; the absolutely fucking worst is America's. I knew people who would pay more to fly through Canada to avoid American airports.
wcummings 11y ago
It's a jobs program. IMHO we should put them to work building gaudy monuments of Obama.
- sdenton4 11y ago
  Don't you mean Bush II? He started the jobs program, after all...
kough 11y ago
What a new and interesting opinion! I'm sure there are many Hacker News readers who hold the opposite viewpoint /s

by Gratsby 11y ago

aurelius12 11y ago

It's been all of one week since a plane was hijacked. http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/29/europe/hijacked-egypt-air-jet/ http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/29/europe/hijacked-egypt-air-jet/

djsumdog 11y ago
..and yet airport security didn't stop this.
- ssalazar 11y ago
  > [The] EgyptAir flight was taking too long to get from Alexandria to Cairo Not to interrupt some good-old lazy cynicism, but something tells me there is a substantial difference between domestic Egyptian airport security and the TSA.
  - tn13 11y ago
    TSA is far more idiotic ?
wingless 11y ago
According to Wikipedia there have been 6 notable hijackings in the last 5 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_hijackings#2010s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_hijackings#20... There are roughly 100k commercial flights per day, 36m flights per year. Therefore, the probability of your flight being hijacked is 1 in 30 million, which is an absurdly low number. Note that only one of the 6 hijackings resulted in casualties, so the mortality rate even lower.
- deelowe 11y ago
  And none were in the US.
- kough 11y ago
  Most likely due to the TSA's efforts! Can you imagine how many would be hijacked if there weren't a TSA?
  - chris_va 11y ago
    Ah, the good old days... The history of airport security is somewhat interesting. There wasn't a TSA for long time, and the hijackings/flying to Cuba got annoying, so metal detectors were added. Everything else since then hasn't made much sense.
    - splat 11y ago
      Interestingly, another approach that was seriously considered was to build a fake "Havana airport" in southern Florida and have the planes land there instead. http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/skyjacking/ http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/skyjacking/
  - thaumasiotes 11y ago
    Yes. Six, possibly even six and a half, flights every five years. The low rate of hijacking is due to the scarcity of people interested in doing it, not the difficulty. Same reason your house doesn't get burgled every day.
deelowe 11y ago
I imagine that things are a bit different in Egypt (eg cockpit doors arent locked and bullet proof)

bbanyc 11y ago

The pre-2001 airport security apparatus did a good job of keeping guns off planes, eliminating the most common hijacking scenario. Almost everything since then has been increased hassle for diminishing returns, with the most effective improvement being one of the least visible - hardening the cockpit doors.

dwd 11y ago
Which introduced a different issue allowing incidents such as the Germanwings and EgyptAir crashes and maybe even Malaysian MH-370.

djsumdog 11y ago

It's all security theatre. The TSA has stopped a dangerous person NEVER. I've lived around the world and airport security is bad everywhere. Australia's is terrible, German's is pretty bad, but the worst; the absolutely fucking worst is America's. I knew people who would pay more to fly through Canada to avoid American airports.

wcummings 11y ago

It's a jobs program. IMHO we should put them to work building gaudy monuments of Obama.

sdenton4 11y ago
Don't you mean Bush II? He started the jobs program, after all...

kough 11y ago

What a new and interesting opinion! I'm sure there are many Hacker News readers who hold the opposite viewpoint /s