'Tighter' Security An Airport Sham

The U.S. government is lying to citizens and the airline industry is lying to the traveling public about airline security measures. The government is lying about sham security measures (picture IDs and luggage questions) that protect no one. The airlines are using these measures and their cozy relationship with government to fatten their revenues. The lying should stop.

Latest example: Last Thursday, one of my best friends and colleagues joined me for dinner in Salt Lake City. Later that evening, he went to the Salt Lake airport to catch a plane to San Francisco for an day-long meeting he had arranged that included many of the West's top legislative leaders.

On the way to the check-in gate, he stopped by the ATM machine to refresh his supply of cash, placing his billfold atop the ATM machine. When he completed his transaction, he walked away, leaving his billfold atop the ATM for the 20-25 seconds it took him to count his money, place it in his money clip and realize he had left his billfold at the machine -- with his picture ID/driver's license and credit cards. When he returned, it was gone.

When my friend got to the Delta Airlines gate, all he had was his ticket to San Francisco, $200 in fresh cash and an ATM card with his name on it. But the airline gate staff, citing FAA security regulations, would not allow him to board the aircraft because he didn't have the picture ID required by the FAA.

Even the filing of a police report was not sufficient to guarantee safe passage through the maze of silly questions and airline functionaries that protect us from terrorism. It took the intervention of his travel agent in Denver, who knows the ropes, before Delta Airlines would let him use his ticket to fly to his destination.

What is so outrageous about this episode is that "the FAA requirement" to show your picture ID has nothing whatsoever to do with security. It is a requirement long desired by the airlines, but rejected by customers. Finally, in the name of "toughening airline security," the FAA adopted and is now enforcing the industry-inspired requirement to show your picture ID. In fact, any illegal alien can tell you where to get a picture ID for $5. He will tell you it takes about two hours, max.

The government also requires travelers to answer three luggage-related questions: Did you pack your own bags? Did anyone you don't know give you something to carry? Did you have your bags under your control at all times?

All three questions are stupid, but at least the first two can be answered truthfully by most people, without risking a long delay. But the third question requires nearly every business traveler to lie or face a long delay while airport baggage security reroutes the "uncontrolled" luggage (also delaying the passenger) through an intensified baggage search process. Reason: Most business travelers store their bags on a travel day with the hotel bellman or in a client's cloakroom for afternoon pick-up, or they use a shuttle bus, which often stores bags out of the sight of the traveler. Travelers quickly learn the high cost of giving the wrong answer. So, knowing this is sham security to start with, most engage in government-induced lying rather than face another 30-minute delay at the airport. Government promotes gambling. Why not lying?

Where are the news media in all this? Here is a case where big government and a big government-regulated industry are colluding around a big lie that results in a massive invasion of privacy and, in the case of my friend (and many others like him), denial of the freedom to travel within the U.S., a basic right found in the Constitution. Yet, unfortunately, no one seems to care. It's scandalous.