ALPA Takes Action on AIT and Crewpass

[waveflyer]

Why can't the CASS database be used...It's good enough to get us in the cockpit..Why isn't it good enough to get us through security?

More excuses....

Joe- this is a good post- the other political TPs don't really fit this thread- you want to bash the lib ideology or the bush era hypocrisy I suggestthe non aviation chat section.

I don't want your good point above to be lost in blatant partisanship

 

[PeanuckleCRJ]

His administration CREATED the homeland security department and wrote the REGULATIONS governing the TSA. He and Tom Ridge created this massive monster with the help of a REPUBLICAN congress. Who else is there to blame here? What revisionism are you operating under?

I lean significantly right in my voting (can't remember ever voting for a dem), but citation has it right here.

Bush created the camel that is DHS and then let it stick its nose in the tent. The rest is history.

 

[tomgoodman]

The real reason?

Why can't the CASS database be used...It's good enough to get us in the cockpit..Why isn't it good enough to get us through security?

Good question. The answer may have more to do with public relations than with public safety. Long ago, when crewmembers were first required to go through security, a senior FAA official was asked (off the record) how long this was going to continue. He said: "Indefinitely. We know that properly-identified crewmembers are not a security threat, but we found that having them screened greatly increases passenger compliance with the program."

If this is the case, then passenger squawks about the new screening procedures could make it even less likely that crewmembers will be allowed to bypass them.

 

[PeanuckleCRJ]

Why can't the CASS database be used...It's good enough to get us in the cockpit..Why isn't it good enough to get us through security?

More excuses....

Spot on.

 

[IBNAV8R]

Passenger screening cost for current method - about $2.50 (hence the 9/11 fee per segment)

Stands to reason pilot screening costs the same EXCEPT, TSA doesn't collect a fee from pilots (yet).

I go through security about 150 times per year.

$50 (annual cost for CrewPass) divided by 150 = 33 cents per screening.

How again is this NOT a huge savings for the taxpayers?

 

[Jonny Sacko]

There!

That ought to keep those ungrateful sons of b!tches quiet for awile. Now let's get to the Ponderosa. My dime, boys!

 

[ACL65PILOT]

The "stand" gets taken tomorrow, Friday 12 Nov. A committee has been looking at it this week and Prater's letter says they'll come out with info tomorrow. The usual bureacratic nonsense because it will likely just agree with what APA had the courage enough to say first, then followed by USAPA--decline the machine and request the pat down in private.

But at least then there will be a unified front getting CrewPass done, and fast, please!!

That is simple, it takes time to 1) build a consensus of all of the MEC's and then two go talk to the power people to garner support. Remember that all of this work was done during a midterm election campaign and election when most of these ppl were on the other side of the country.

As I have said on another board, the fact that ALPA got any face time speaks volumes of their pull in DC.

 

[ACL65PILOT]

Why can't the CASS database be used...It's good enough to get us in the cockpit..Why isn't it good enough to get us through security?

More excuses....

Joe, it could be there needs to be more than picture verification done for bypassing security, as one stipulation of JSing is that you are on official company business or you have been screened.

Ergo, the database is a good first step, but other safeguards are required to be put in to place, and that is where the initial cost is.

For a company like ASA you are probably looking at 90K dollars. Not a ton of money but money that the company is not willing to spend unless there is an ROI on the investment.

 

[ACL65PILOT]

Ya know most majors where the money would come from, have not made a profit and were in CH11 just a few short years ago. CREWPASS may have been important for a lot of people, but most were looking at how to save their jobs and airlines. Now that this era has passed, and the focus is back on it, we may see a resolution.

To date the only airline with a CREWPASS type of deal is ALK, and the fact is that theirs is not really crewpass.

 

[JoeMerchant]

Joe, it could be there needs to be more than picture verification done for bypassing security, as one stipulation of JSing is that you are on official company business or you have been screened.

Ergo, the database is a good first step, but other safeguards are required to be put in to place, and that is where the initial cost is.

For a company like ASA you are probably looking at 90K dollars. Not a ton of money but money that the company is not willing to spend unless there is an ROI on the investment.

So CASS is good enough to let me into the cockpit, where I have access to the controls and to a crash axe, but not go around security. Sorry, but that kind of logic only makes sense to a beaurocrat in a large federal agency.