June 27th Update to ID Requirements:
Now that the new ID requirement is almost one week old, we wanted to provide additional stats. Below are the latest numbers:
Saturday, June 21-Wednesday, June 25:
Total flyers: Approximately 10 million
Flyers without ID: 1705 (.000017 of total flyers)
Flyers denied access: 59 (.000005 of total passengers)
Average wait time for identity verification or decision: 6.9 minutes
And an editorial comment:
A few bloggers have asked us where we are and why we have not responded to questions. Questions like:
“Do these questions being to make you realize why TSA is a joke?”
“Of what are you so afraid that you refuse to address this issue?”
“Unless you are just going to turn the blog iinto (sic) a carnival or circus?”
That last one brings us to an interesting point. As Kip wrote in the opening post of this blog on January 30th, “Our ambition is to provide here a forum for a lively, open discussion of TSA issues… Our hosts…job is to engage with you straight-up and take it from there.”
I think we can all agree that comments like:
“I am just waiting for Kip to mutter "I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for those meddling kids."
“My tinfoil hat theory is that the TSA knows it doesn't and have given up any pretense of spin control.”
“I agree -- more TSA crap. The sooner y'all are simply arrested for violating our rights, the happier I'll be.”
don’t really bring anything to the larger debate and really don’t beg for nor want a response.
The simple truth is that we’re just about the only government agency engaging in this type of dialogue on security issues and policies and we’re sincerely interested in rational debate and conversation...but we have neither the time nor the desire to respond to random, vitriol filled diatribes that don’t serve passengers or other bloggers in any way.
We’ve used this blog as a method of change and hope we have proven its merit on several occasions (ending the electronics problem in Hooray Bloggers, Diamond Lanes, etc.). These posts and the bloggers' comments have had a positive impact on your experience and mine at the checkpoint. We’re more than willing to engage in a vigorous debate on controversial issues and look forward to many more spirited debates without the poison for poison’s sake.
We’ve certainly proven over the past seven months that we can take a punch but the constant barrage of body (and low) blows without substance would tire even Mike Tyson in his heyday.
Christopher
EOS Blog Team
