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Checkpoint inconsistencies
A Times Editorial
Published July 10, 2005
Travelers walking through the security checkpoint at Tampa International Airport with a pocket knife, lighters or one of the other 66 items banned on airplanes have about a 32 in a million chance they'll face steep fines. Flying out of Orlando? The likelihood drops to just five in a million.
From airport to airport throughout the nation, individual security directors show extreme discrepancies when administering fines to travelers carrying banned items, according to a recent Wall Street Journal analysis. The result: a very skewed system that highlights yet another shortfall at the Transportation Security Administration.
Penalties for carrying banned items aren't chump change, ranging from $250 to $1,000. Federal guidelines spell out how local officials should administer the fines. In reality, they take matters into their own hands. Most travelers carrying forbidden items aren't fined at all. But the few unlucky ones face severe penalties. A traveler's attitude can determine how steep a fine will be. Travelers facing fines don't even learn of the penalty until long after the incident, making the appeal process extremely difficult.
The process is completely arbitrary. Congress established the agency after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to standardize security procedures, but clearly that hasn't happened.
[Last modified July 8, 2005, 21:08:03]
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