TSA becomes passenger sensitive at last

By Prof. Alan (Avi) Kirschenbaum*

We are finally seeing the reality of airport security made official. If you’re over 75 or younger than 12, you get “preferential” treatment when it comes to security!

Source: IAA site

Nothing new here as airport security has long been inundated by security decisions that are characteristic of bending and even breaking the rules – especially when the situation calls for it. What has changed is that TSA airport agency managers have been forced to face reality, something that – to the consternation of the “shop floor” employees – has long been missing.

Nothing new here either: managers have not been in touch with the realities of stress, pressure, anger and frustration among security employees, and especially among passengers. This is exactly what employees reported in the BEMOSA project to be their greatest complaint against their managers.

So, what we see now is a remarkable, positive sign that perhaps the rule makers and regulators are starting to take into account human behavior and are no longer viewing passengers through the prism of an industrial process but rather as a human service organization.

Let’s hope the ages for preferential treatment expand to include all of us!

*The writer is the initiator and coordinator of BEMOSA (Behavioral Modeling of Security in Airports).