From the outset, airlines and airports have come into conflict with the new Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and their complaints are becoming more public.
Conflict with the Transportation Department's new security chiefs was inevitable. What is news is that it has been the airlines who have been winning the early arguments.
After it formally took over all airport security on 18 February, the TSA ruled that airlines could no longer offer separate, faster check-in lines for their elite frequent fliers. The carriers immediately protested and within a day the TSA had quietly backed down. Instead the administration agreed that the separate lines can remain, so long as the chosen few, once checked in, join other passengers at X-ray machines at the entrances to sanitised areas within the airport.
"I hope this isn't a sign of the way things will be, with nothing thought out as thoroughly as it should be and confusion resulting," said Air Travellers Association president David Stempler.
TSA had no comment on the specifics but said it looked forward to co-operating with the airlines and airports on settling matters. This may be easier said than done. Tensions have already emerged between the TSA on one side and airports and airlines on the other. The TSA has already backtracked on biometric identity cards for registered or very frequent travellers. TSA administrator John Magaw had told Congress he did not support such a programme, despite strong backing by the major airlines and their Air Transport Association. A week later, he said the cards were worth considering.
Sky marshals, who are TSA employees, have also become a contentious issue between the TSA and the airlines. Carriers have begun complaining, usually in private - but sometimes in public - that the federal officials insist on taking up premium first class space.
Airport directors have also begun to go public with their criticism of the TSA. Jerry Orr of Charlotte-Douglas airport, the US Airways hub in North Carolina, says the TSA is hiring airport security managers who are not needed and spending money without consulting airport managers. Salt Lake City airport also complained that the TSA closed it down unnecessarily just as the Winter Olympics were ending.
Source: Airline Business
