<http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB110247168313594059,00.html> The Wall Street Journal December 8, 2004 Complaints About TSA Screenings Skyrocket By AMY SCHATZ Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL December 8, 2004; Page D4 WASHINGTON -- For months, top Transportation Security Administration officials have pledged to improve customer service at airport checkpoints. It doesn't appear to be working. The number of complaints and comments filed by passengers skyrocketed in October, according to a recent federal report. Almost 700 passengers called, wrote or e-mailed about rude or discourteous service -- more in one month than in the past six months combined. Complaints and comments rose sharply in almost every category, suggesting that the agency's customer-service woes are far broader than widely publicized reports about female passengers complaining about being groped at security checkpoints. TRAVELER FEEDBACK More passengers filed comments about screening in October than the previous three months combined Comments October July to September Customer treatment 690 359 Screening procedures 385 300 Time to clear security 70 62 Handling personal property 809 1,400 Damage claims on handling of luggage* 438 1,108 Total complaints 2,392 3,229 *At security checkpoints Source: DOT Air Travel Consumer Report for July-Oct. The number of "contacts" from the public about inappropriate screeners more than doubled, to 385 complaints from 150 in September, when new procedures were put into place that instruct screeners to touch intimate areas of a passenger's body to ensure no explosives or guns are hidden. More passengers also complained that their personal property was mishandled, with 809 complaints in October, compared with 436 in September. TSA improved in just one area: The number of claims for bags damaged at checkpoints fell slightly to 438. TSA is required by Congress to report figures about its customer service, and those numbers are included in a monthly report about airline on-time data and passenger complaints released by the Department of Transportation. A TSA spokeswoman said the agency's figures include complaints, comments and questions received from the flying public, and don't necessarily suggest customer service is worsening. The sharp increase shows TSA has been effective in telling customers how to contact the agency, said spokeswoman Amy von Walter. "We see this as a positive," she said. "We encourage comments. We want to hear the good and the bad, so we can refine our procedures." TSA declined to release a breakdown of the figures that showed the complaints versus questions or compliments. Not only are the total numbers up, but so is the rate of complaints per passenger. TSA received 1.61 comments for each 100,000 passengers about mishandled property in October, compared with 0.88 the month before. The rate was even worse for passengers concerned about discourteous TSA employees: The agency received 1.38 complaints for each 100,000 passengers about rudeness in October, compared with 0.23 in September and 0.27 in August. TSA says it has responded to some complaints by retraining screeners to be more open about what they are doing and why, particularly during pat-down searches. So far, TSA has no plans to relax its revised pat-down rules that went into effect in late September, allowing full-body searches. TSA is in a bind: Its metal detectors won't catch hidden explosives, but the agency can't afford to replace them. The expensive "puffer" machines can detect the whiff of explosives by shooting puffs of air at passengers as they walk through. The agency also hasn't gotten past the serious privacy issues surrounding its other option: new X-ray technology that clearly slows guns or explosives hidden on a passenger's body, but also produces an image of the passenger, sans clothing, to screeners. A version of that technology is being tested on volunteers at London's Heathrow Airport, but it has been met with mixed customer response. -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'