TSA's Bid to Make Nice with Travelers Crashes

The Transportation Security Administration's new efforts to make nice with travelers frustrated with aggressive security screenings has crash landed, with Americans saying that four of their five top frustrations at the airport are TSA-related.

A new survey provided to Whispers from the U.S. Travel Association finds that a majority of Americans can't stand others who are allowed to bring on too many carry-on bags through the security checkpoints, are frustrated with the long waiting lines, are upset they still have to remove shoes and belts, and are offended by unfriendly TSA workers. [Read more whispers about TSA.]

"I want to thank the men and women of TSA for a decade of dedicated service," said Roger Dow, president of the U.S. Travel Association. "While we recognize the significant steps TSA has taken to improve security screening, the process still remains inefficient and frustrating for millions of Americans," he said.

Still, Americans in his survey felt that TSA was on the right track with its latest efforts to ease security clearances by eliminating pat-downs of kids and launching a "trusted traveler program" called PreCheck.

[Read the U.S. News debate: Is TSA going too far with air security?]

Among the top frustrations of travelers in the survey:

• 72.4 percent chose "people who bring too many carry-on bags through the security checkpoint."

• 68 percent chose "the wait time to clear the TSA checkpoint"

• 62.3 percent chose "having to remove shoes, belts, and jackets at the TSA checkpoint."

• 42.5 percent chose "TSA employees who are not friendly."

There was other bad news for TSA. The survey found that most travelers haven't even noticed that TSA has instituted changes to ease security checks. "Despite support for these new procedures, a majority of air travelers have not recognized any improvements in checkpoint efficiency, when compared to the previous year." [Read more about national security and terrorism.]

See the full survey here.

• Read the U.S. News debate: Is TSA going too far with air security?
  
• Read more about national security and terrorism.
• See photos of the Obamas behind the scenes.

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