Remember Logan Airport?

Made notorious for its lax security by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, you would think that the folks at Logan, or at least the many government entities that have a stake in security, would be eager to tighten that ship. 

Well, if by tightening you mean zealously using the full body scanners that would not have detected the box cutters that the terrorists used, then you could say that it's tighter.  If by "tightening" you mean implementing procedures that subject high-risk passengers (or even medium risk- let's make it easy) to closer scrutiny, you would have to say "nah."  In fact, what they have done is to dedicate on body scanner to the priority line, you know, for those passengers who have accumulated so many miles flying without blowing anything up that they've earned upgrades.  Also, business travelers whose companies are paying for round trip tickets in biz class. 

I was in the Priority security line because I had been upgraded because a certain family member commutes by plane to Dallas three times per week, and occasionally flits off to Singapore just for the miles.  He has quite a track record for not showing any interest in violently disassembling the airplanes he's flying on, except when he's stuck in coach (Jan: just kidding!)  We noticed that even though bags were making it through the x-ray, there was a line for the body scanner, and the metal detectors were unused.  I asked the TSA guy about this.  He said, "Oh, we put everyone in the priority line through the scanner."  The man in front of me said, "Is anyone looking out for our stuff on the other side?  My wallet is in a dish on the conveyor belt."  "Oh, we got 20 guys watching that belt! Ha ha!" said the agent.  My companion, "Yeah but they don't know whose bag belongs to who.  They're just watching people pick up stuff off the belt." The reason we had this extended back and forth was that the guy two people ahead of me was being put through the scanner more than once, with a (non-regulation) pat-down between each.  It was then that I asked the agent if anyone went through the metal detectors.  It seemed to dawn on him, as the line behind me grew, that maybe they should divert some of us less-dangerous looking characters through the metal detectors.  I don't know if it occured to anyone that they weren't following TSA's own highly-publicized procedures and that they were not taking the "suspect" aside in a screened area for the full monty. In fact it was unclear that that guy's extra pat downs were instigated by the screen at all.

My companion asked me if he heard correctly about the priority passengers getting special treatment.  "Yup- because everyone knows that those terrorists use their frequent flier miles for upgrades."  Anyone else have experience in the Priority lines with extra scanning?

And, I hate to say this, but in Europe, frequent fliers can pass through security with a biometric pass: they look into the cornea scanner and get through.  This is especially helpful for the airline personnel.  But heck, what's a little extra radiation exposure, sexual assault, and inconvenience for the sake of utter mediocrity in security?

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According to a friend, the worst thing about the TSA fondle-fest is the post-frottage smoking ban in airports.