Not too long ago I took a flight through
the Tampa International Airport and
obviously there have been many changes
to air travel from having to wear masks
to social distancing between the seats.
But there's one change that I noticed at TSA.
You know how when you get up to that
checkpoint and they check your boarding
pass along with your license just to
make sure you are who you say you are?
Well, that didn't exactly happen for me.
They didn't check my boarding pass,
only my license,
and I was kind of confused wondering how
did they know where I was flying that day?
If they weren't going to check
my boarding pass, well,
I forgot about the incident.
Went on my way,
but a few weeks later a coworker
came up to me with the same story.
No checking of the boarding pass,
only his license and TPA has quite the
reputation they've been known to make.
TSE's annual lists for most firearms
intercepted at airports nationwide,
so we wondered if not checking
boarding passes could be an
increased security concern.
So I headed out to TPA to meet
with TSA to see what exactly.
Was going on about 30,000 travelers
passed through TPA every day?
Of course
we're still. Recovering from 2020
COVID and our numbers actually
fell by right about 50% from 2019.
Right now we're about 95%
of where we were in 2019.
We expect that the holidays
could be big numbers for us,
but with the resurgence of
COVID with the Delta variant,
it's difficult for us to
project the average wait time
at those security checkpoints
is only about 10 minutes.
And TSA actually says that they
haven't seen a wait time longer than 30
minutes at TPA in the last three years,
and new technology could improve
on those wait times and cut
down some extra steps.
We have the credentialing authentication
technology called the CAT machine,
which is a step up from our
boarding pass scanner when cat
looks at the identification.
It of course brings up the picture
and it validates for the officer
that that's who they're talking to.
And of course,
part of the process is the officer will
ask a passenger to remove their masks
for just a moment so that they can
actually validate that face matching the ID.
Now you can use your identification
to reeltime verify that you are
who you say you are,
and it also verifies that
you actually have a flight.
In other words, no
need to show your boarding pass.
Of course, you'll still have
to show it at the gate or
at the terminal entrance,
but not to the TSA agent.
At the initial checkpoint,
but if you have kids,
they're covered minors
with their parents aren't required to
have an ID, but there were their family.
So what we do in that case is we just
use the boarding pass scanner to make
sure that their boarding pass is
valid. The new tech removes human
error almost entirely when you
take the human being out of the process,
there's less of a chance that
there's going to be a mistake made.
You're going to miss somebody
with a different name,
or the picture is not going to
match safe from a passport,
you know the the name looks the same.
But the picture is different.
Catching a fraudulent identification
is actually pretty difficult.
Thorough
security is an absolute must, and in 2019,
TSA at TPA intercepted 87 firearms
and that actually landed the airport.
The number 10 spot on the list for
the most firearms found at security
checkpoints nationwide and numbers
this year could put the airport on
track to make the list again to date
this year we've had 78,
we've still got six weeks.
To go so well we we may have
as many firearms this year
as we've had in the past.
Having a firearm
at an airport means getting
law enforcement involved,
and depending on the state of the
firearm, if it's loaded means
you could be going to jail.
Law enforcement takes
over the the weapon and they take over the
process of discussing it with the passenger.
If they have a concealed carry,
they're usually given the opportunity
to put it in their vehicle or give it
to a companion that's not traveling.
If they don't have a concealed carry.
They usually leave here accompanied
by law enforcement and end up with an
arrest. Not to mention the fines you'll
be facing even if you don't get arrested
when you bring a firearm to the checkpoint.
We do investigate every case or the
civil action for regulatory compliance.
The fines for those events can
get upwards of $13,000. TSA says
these incidents are usually just accidents.
People often forget to take
them out of their bags.
Before traveling, but it shows the need
for continuously updated security.
Starting at that initial checkpoint,
the CAT machines are being phased in,
so you may still have to
scan your boarding pass,
but you can expect to see them
at all checkpoints across TPA.
By December we're doing this
for you for your protection,
and that process requires a partnership
between my officers and the passengers.
So bring your patience and leave
your temper at home. So yes,
the TSA is still verifying who you are,
and if you're flying. That day,
even without looking at your boarding pass,
if you have any random questions
that you'd like us to look into,
you can email me at m.jones@10tampabay.com
or find me on Twitter at Katie Jones TV.