We’re halfway through the first month of the new year, you guys! That means most of the “Year in Review” posts are pretty much done.
The TSA was a little late to the table though, and juuuuuuust put out their “2023 Year in Review” on Friday the 12th.
I actually enjoy reading the TSA’s year in review every year because they’ll share little snippets that we, the general public, might not otherwise hear about. Here are some interesting snippets of what the TSA did in 2023:
- Screened more than 858 million passengers, averaging about 2.4 million passengers per day; 484 million checked bags and 1.9 billion carry-on items. The agency also pre-screened nearly a billion passengers through Secure Flight.
- Prevented 6,737 firearms (93% loaded, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT???) from getting into the secure areas of the airport and onboard aircraft.
- Executed a new compensation plan for TSA employees in July 2023 – a bunch of them got raises, which hopefully has helped with some of them being so dang irritable. As a result, TSA has seen a significant reduction in attrition and an improvement in the ability to recruit for open positions.
- Trained frontline employees at their new state-of-the-art TSA Academy West at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas and TSA Academy East in Glynco, Ga., where the 100,000th TSO graduated in September (here are some of the things they’re taught).
- AskTSA answered 3 million traveler questions, usually within 2 minutes (I didn’t like the answer they gave me, LOL).
- Enrolled another 4 million people into TSA PreCheck (that’s why they tried to fool us with a recent announcement).
- Added 8 new airlines to their roster (these are the most recent).
- Updated their rules for who can use PreCheck for free.
- Continued to deploy next-gen CAT machines.
- Expanded their mobile driver’s program via Apple and now Google cell phones.
There were a few other entries, but this is the one that intrigued me:
- Conducted a passenger experience survey with a sample size of 13,000 travelers at multiple airports across the nation. Survey results revealed that 93% of travelers were satisfied with the passenger experience and 94% of the respondents were confident in TSA’s ability to keep air travel secure.
And I’m thinking, really? 93% of travelers were satisfied with the passenger experience and 94% of the respondents were confident in TSA’s ability to keep air travel secure?
Regardless of the pay increase I mentioned, I still read and hear about plenty of TSA officers who are, shall we say, less than pleasant. On top of that, people who have to go through the “regular” TSA queue can still easily be looking at a 30 to 45 minute queue at busier airports (and let’s not even get into during prime holiday season).
I could see 94% of respondents trusting the TSA’s ability to keep us secure. After all, despite comments about “security theater,” nothing has happened – no bombings, no hijackings – since 9/11. But 93% of their respondents were happy with their passenger experience?
I found a reference to the survey in question (apparently it’s the first one TSA has ever done where they’re sharing the results with the public), which included a link to the survey itself – click here to see it – but it’s admittedly difficult for a layman to understand.
Personally, I would LOVE to know what they asked respondents, WHO they asked (PreCheck vs 60-minute regular queue people?), what airports respondents were in (any in NYC, where the TSAOs tend to be brutal?), etc. However more information about the survey will be shared on TSA’s website at a later date.
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary, or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
2 comments
Wow. I can’t believe I’m doing this but I guess I’m comparatively defending the TSA in this context. Here goes.
Going through security is simply never fun. There are some places that make it easier like ICN airport but pretty much you’re always going to wait in at least a short line and partially bust out your belongings for the x-ray machine. The lines are often longer in the USA but a LOT of that is not on the TSA itself. TSA is stuck with existing infrastructure and even if it somehow could just massively expand infrastructure it would cost gigantic amounts of money. Where would the money come from? Then there’s the fact that the traveling public is dealing with a group that traditionally has high turnover, mediocre pay, a culture of sexism, a lack of responsibility for their actions, that are dealing with a job that is both absolutely critical and simultaneously mind-numbingly boring. They do this, generally without being rude or unpleasant, and if they’re sometimes short with people who need something repeated several times I still think they overall do a decent job.
As to the confidence in TSA catching everything, I’m less sanguine. A lot of the problem is that they’re put in a position to fail. Let’s say you have someone trying to smuggle a loaded handgun onto a plane by being in a wheelchair, which sets off the metal detector anyway. Let’s further say that this person is a U.S. Congressman. Every time the TSA finds the hidden gun they simply do not – any arguably can not – do anything to disincentivize the person from trying again. No-Fly list – nope. Jail or prison – no. Massive fine proportional to the net worth of the individual – that’s a negative Ghost Rider. Now, this (actual) person exemplifies other problems in our system as well but if a person absolutely knew that they would spend a decade or two on the No-Fly list at an absolute minimum for attempting to bring a weapon on a plane then there would be fewer people trying to flaunt the law. Why do other countries not have this problem? Because if you tried to carry a loaded gun onto a plane in Brazil you’d be put in prison. TSA simply doesn’t have the power to stop people.
TSA is a complicated beast. It’s extremely far from perfect, even at the things it should be doing best. The lack of a major incident has made the agency look a little better than they deserve perhaps but given the restrictions and parameters the people and agency deal with daily I think cutting them a little slack in understanding is warranted.
👍