New TSA regulations could increase aggravation level

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    On our trip to California earlier this year, I dropped everything from my pockets into the Portland Jetport security bin, took off my shoes and was ready to be scanned.
“Ah, sir — could you remove your cell phone?”

    Oops. I’m so used to carrying it with me that it feels like part of my clothing.
    But if a new regulation enacted for overseas flights is expanded to the U.S., I may have to turn on the phone so that the agent knows it isn’t an explosive device.
    The regulations were announced by the Transportation Security Agency last week and will go into effect at “certain overseas airports with direct flights to the United States.”
    If the battery is dead, I’ll either have to ditch it on the spot or find another way to get to my destination. Or, as a headline in a Mother Jones magazine article puts it, “Will TSA soon have bins full of dead smartphones?”
    Undoubtedly, the person who forgets to charge up their $300 Samsung Galaxy will be incensed if they have to dump their device in lieu of giving up their seat on the plane.
    On the other hand, just about every airport has AC plugs in the waiting area. So unless you’re dashing between flights with no time to spare, you have a chance to recharge the batteries.
    Still, the newest regulation — which could be expanded to domestic flights — is another addition to a growing list of reasons why flying is more of a pain than a pleasure.
    While flight delays are supposedly rare, my wife and I beat the odds with missed flights to and from the West Coast. Mechanical problems forced a delay from Portland to Atlanta on the way out and a security breach in Detroit shut the whole airport down for more than two hours.
    What was the security breach, you ask? An Arkansas man was either in a hurry or got lost in the departure area and went through the security gate unchecked.
    He was caught and deemed not to be a terrorist. Still, the whole area was searched with bomb-sniffing dogs to make sure he didn’t leave something suspicious behind.
    But at least our luggage arrived at the same time we did. During my Army Reserve days, half the company’s bags wound up in Puerto Rico one year and it took two days to retrieve them. On the way home, my luggage landed in Portland, Oregon.
    I have nothing against reasonable security measures. And there’s probably a terrorist cell somewhere that’s trying to figure out new ways to bypass TSA security.
    But it’s gotten to the point where I’m going to avoid flying if at all possible.
    I remember when I used to enjoy it. Today, you have to show up two hours early to be packed like a sardine in a filled-to-capacity flight. Oh, and extra bags are going to cost you $25 apiece.
    But at least if I leave my cell phone on my belt, I’ll make sure it’s charged.
    (Mike Lange is a staff writer with the Piscataquis Observer. His opinions are his own and don’t necessarily reflect those of this newspaper.)