My wife just got back from a consulting trip out of state. It was the first time she has flown since 9-11. When she returned home she swore she will never fly again, even if it means missing out on some work. (This is a side line for her, extra money for the household) What she described has my blood pressure up a notch or two. First, the initial screening at the airline check-in was like something you would imagine at some third-world heck hole. The security screeners were rude and openly leering at every woman under the age of fifty. I guess we are so afraid of being un-PC, that anybody RESEMBLING one of the hi-jackers of 9-11 i.e. Arab or middle-eastern appearance, 18-40, male, are waved right through. My wife went through the initial screen at two airports, it was the same story. The ONLY people she saw picked for bag searches were women and one very elderly man. She saw one 80 year old women deliberately humiliated by a male screener who was having a laughing good time hold each and every pair of the poor womans underclothing up, in plain view of over 40 waiting passengers. If this was the luck of the draw, I would write it off as just gutter-minded employees, but out of 30+ passengers in front of my wife, the 5 selected for bag dumps were two nice looking young women, the 80 year old, a 70 or so year old woman, and an elderly man who was barely able to walk. While these "threats" were being dealt with, two male middle-eastern men were barely even questioned and went right through. The impression given was that only the persons being subjected to this "screening" were people who were most likely to be compliant or unlikely to object to their treatment.
It was worse at the second screening point going onto the passenger concourse. The employees were rude, but at least did not discriminate, forcing everybody to remove their shoes for examination. Every male going through was made to remove their belts to be examined. One elderly (surprise!) man who questioned why the belts were being removed was immediately hauled off by two national guardsmen to a side room for a strip search. Apparently anybody who questions ANY aspect of the security procedures, even if politely, is automatically assumed to be evading the security and subjected to a strip search.
There is more, but you get the picture. I guess I have a hard time understanding just how this thorough screening of the elderly and attractive young women is making our skies safe. Maybe some of you here can make better sense of this, cause I cannot.
BTW, a couple of tips. Take absolutely the minimum items with you on the plane. Remove your belt if you are a male and place it in your checked baggage (unless you are like me and need it to actually hold your pants up). Have your drivers lic. in your top shirt pocket and leave it there. You will be asked for it repeatedly, even by people who have already seen it a couple minutes before. Try to take no carry on bags if possible, the security people treat lap tops and other electronics like they were tossing around scrap wood. My wife saw one medical doctor's expensive new high line Fujitsu lap top literally broken in two by an idiot who thought it could be flipped shut holding the screen at the top edge. (the security people told the doctor they were not responsible for any damages during screening)