Just as I suspected, the lines at the airport screening point were five times as long as they normally are this time of day. In spite of two TSA screeners set up at a table to assist people with removing their liquids (nice effort, actually), the line was still far too long.

I looked around at the people in line and didn’t see one overnight bag anywhere. Why the delay? It seems that the X-ray person was carefully screening each bag for liquids, even though the TSA said on Monday that liquids posed a “very unlikely” threat. As he looked at the lady’s bag behind me, the X-ray operator commented to the screener behind him, “is that a drink?” So clearly liquids are still being screened, in spite of their unlikely threat. At least they aren’t rocketing bags through the machine like they were a few weeks ago.

Another thing I noticed is that the airport is still covered with signs saying liquids are prohibited, even though as of Monday that’s no longer true. People may still be dumping their expensive colognes and perfumes (in some cases not a bad thing) needlessly. I took it as another example of how the new screening rules are half-baked.

As the fifteen readers of MT.Net know, I travel a lot. That gives me an up-close look at the War on Terra, as fought by the fine folks of the TSA. Thus when I saw USA Today’s headline “Liquids not as risky as first feared”, I was about to let rip a “woohoo!” Then I read the new rules and was left scratching my head. If the ban on liquids wasn’t an example of asshattery to begin with, this new move takes the cake.

The essense is this: FBI tests have shown that its “highly unlikely” that terrorists could bring down a plane with small amounts of fluids. This comes to no surprise to anyone who’s looked into it, yet it took the feds a little more time to figure it out. In the meantime, airline traffic has taken a hit, lines are longer for checking bags, and because of the huge volume of checked bags those that do get checked are often rushed to the plane without adqeuate screening. Thus, the things that really can bring down planes aren’t being detected. Feel safer?

Okay, so now the TSA admits that liquids on planes don’t pose a threat. Does that mean we can fly with our toiletries properly stowed in our carryon bags? No. Even though they just admitted there’s no threat, they roll out even more rules! Liquids have to be in tiny travel bottles and must be packed in a clear plastic bag. Now everyone in line at security will know the contents of your toiletry bag. Screeners will have yet another thing to check, which means even more delays getting through security as people fish their bottles out of their bag.

But wait! Haven’t experts told us that liquid explosives can’t be detected by X-ray? Why, yes they have. So what’s the point? The screener’s not going to directly see the bag since its on a belt in an enclosed machine, so what good is it to take it out of your luggage? The screeners are going to have long lines with people fishing out new stuff for inspection, so guess what they’re going to do? They’re going to speed the bags through the machine without carefully checking them.

In the past few weeks, I’ve actually seen that happen. At a major unnamed airport, I watched as an X-ray screener moved a half-dozen bags through the scanner without as much looking at them! Start to finish, the bags never stopped moving. I predict this won’t be the last time once the lines start backing up again.

I’m all for keeping the skies safe. After all, I spend a lot of time in the skies. Eventually, though, someone has to apply some common sense. The liquid ban wasn’t being enforced, or only half-heartedly at best. The odds of someone pulling this off were extremely remote to begin with and the TSA said as much yesterday. Instead of saying they were wrong about the ban, TSA weasels new rules into place which just make a dumb idea dumber.

Like many pilots will admit, the screening process is a charade. If you’re going to do it at all, do it right. Adding rules for the sake of adding rules does nothing but increase self-importance of a government bureacracy.