Get ready for crew members to be cutting in front of you everywhere ! H\Pn >t7i4)v} 'CZ rf ,s6^`D\5u`NzVq"p?E __C] As for the flight attendant vs. pilot issue, the justification for including flight attendants was always that there simply was not enough volume to maintain KCM checkpoints just for pilots. 0000056810 00000 n If you arrive at the busiest times, youll see dozens of airport staff coming thru the PreCheck positions. It's not about logistics. Failure to submit to screening at the passenger screening checkpoint (e.g., using a SIDA badge to avoid screening) is considered circumvention of screening, and TSA may take enforcement action in accordance with the KCM Disqualification Protocols (KCMDP). Who cares if a pilot brings a gun onto a plane. If you disagree, go get your Airline Pilot Certificate and 1500 hours of flight time and compare that with the job requirements to become a flight attendant, and then tell me who is more likely to risk their career at a KCM checkpoint. Flight attendants are worthless. You guys walk right up to the front of the queue. Look, your job could be replaced by a cardboard sign with a red arrow painted on it and a vending machine. If a crewmember does not present an active KCM barcode card and is referred for screening, they must follow the TSOs instructions and complete the screening process at the passenger screening checkpoint. #3 is DEN - they do a secondary screening where they swipe the crew member's hands and test the swab in a machine. Nevertheless, we know it takes man power and probably effects First, crew members appreciate having a KCM check point. "TSA PRE-CHECK" line where most do not have to remove their shoes or take laptops out of bags - yay. Known Crewmember (KCM) - It's a Privilege, Not a Right! You also clearly dont know what youre talking about if youre suggesting to not screen pilots. In May 2007, the TSA approved the first version of an alternate screening method called the Crew Personnel Advanced Screening System (CrewPASS). Nope, AFA, was also involved in the lobbying for KCM, all crew members or none. The KCM program was initially developed by ALPA, FOR PILOTS. 0000001146 00000 n I WILL share my information when the time is right - IF things do not get better for us working crew who - HAVE ALREADY - been put through multiple screening processes to ensure we were safe enough to serve the public on an aircraft. Special use airspace (SUA) consists of that airspace wherein activities must be confined because of their nature, or wherein limitations are imposed upon aircraft operations that are not a part of those activities, or both. It would make better sense to just have a baggage scanner at each KCM checkpoint but eliminate the need to X-ray scan our bodies. May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your armpits! Everyone arriving at a port of entry to the U.S. is subject to inspection by Customs and Border Protection officers for compliance with immigration, customs and agriculture regulations. KCM should be 100% allowed for pilots there is a MASSIVE difference in career terms and pay between pilots and FAs. Not pilots. xref When you are selected for random, at Denver for instance, you are told to go to random screening. Flight attendants never should have been included. There is no rolling back what the TSA currently does - like it or not. A: No. The crew may have to deal with several emergencies such as cabin fires or first aid situations. Pilots are not more trustworthy than flight attendants and should not be given more special privileges than their fellow crew members. Contact Us. Nevertheless, we know it takes man power and probably effects their bottom-line, to manage the check point. Yeah, like pilots dont smuggle things in either smh! Just because you hate your life and job doesnt mean everybody else does. This could help to discourage any would-be smugglers. They are dropped off @ the secure side of the terminal. (I hear at home On the one hand, I've spent the last 16 years+ working for TSA. That is exactly what Flight Attendants do-every single day! Actually, I've seen the pre- check line longer than the general boarding line! Containers of liquid that violate the 3.4-ounce (100 milliliter) rule are the number one offender. The TSAs job is not to look for drugs or identify other illegal activity. 0000060977 00000 n The SF system randomly selects individuals to undergo selectee screening and will identify the printed boarding pass or seat request card with a SSSS. You're about as much of a "first responder" as the senior citizen who greets people at Walmart. Instead of addressing their mess, they are looking to SHOW how they are making changes to "Protect the public" by using us crew as an example. Prohibited items: Firearms & Ammunition, including realistic replicas. On the one hand, I've spent the last 16 years+ working for TSA. Do not go through KCM. If Will is a pilot, it only reinforces the often primadonma, elitist egos of many pilots. Wasting TSA time and resources that should be used with someone else. : ). That's right. When it was expanded to include flight attendants, we almost immediately saw issues developing. TSA doesn't screen for drugs. So to clarify, a flight attendant like a pilot is required to do a strenuous background check. Pilots were the ones most often caught with a firearm in their bag. all while putting up with ATTITUDES & MINDSETS from people like you! - you would really have more "professionals" and those are less likely to abuse the system. This includes: one open liter of alcoholic beverage and 300 cigarettes, or 50 cigars, or 2 kilograms of smoking tobacco, or a proportionate amount of each; merchandise not exceeding $200 in value, which may include gifts the crew member has purchased for persons in the United States, free of duty. @ Alan -- I mean, I think the people who are actually caught with serious things (like kilos of cocaine) are facing worse punishment than just being banned from KCM Full disclosure- Im a flight attendant, and its frustrating to lose this privilege because of crew members who dont follow the rules. Stop worrying about pilots in flight, attendants and worry about every other employee. KCM is a risk-based security program and the use of the KCM program is a privilege and not a right. Instead it should focus on how TSA has become more relaxed and lazy at doing their jobs and are short staffed and dont have officers to man the KCM station so everytime someone Blame it on the flight attendants, but oh the pilots wouldn't try to smuggle anything. Then to say the flight attendants can make a few runs and make their salary. And not using the KCM line. Crewmembers traveling with pets will be directed to the passenger-screening checkpoint and screened in accordance with TSA screening procedures. Cops, firefighters and paramedics are first responders. I need to hurry up to get to the plane all while not getting paid for it until that boarding door closes. An automated enhancement to random screening/USP has been enabled in the KCM system. My favorite is from all these so called pilots . /5FR_+`aj` H xX Yeah - I have been strip searched after a hand swipe - just because I made the mistake of applying a hand moisturizer prior to going through screening.). Flight attendants have 2 months of training. Q. So, what is even closer scrutiny of crew trying to accomplish? Yesterday when I went through TSA pre-check, i beeped walking through the detector even though I had nothing in my pockets or that I was wearing that should have beeped I asked the TSA what was beeping she said and I quote its not you its the system its chosen you as random Really??? Airline pilot here. Q:Can a crewmember individually join KCM if their airline does not participate in the program? Stay mad, everyone. Prohibited Items Week 2021. Get ready for crew members to be cutting in front of you everywhere ! These include cultural goods, wild fauna and flora and products derived from these, vegetables and plant products, weapons and ammunition, medicines, tobacco and alcoholic beverages. Thank you Jennifer for the info. The real issue is if you wanted to smuggle something, you would just throw it away if you got random or give it to someone else to try to take it through. in order to get funding for another 10 years, whenin fact, they are not. Once you arrive at the boarding gate and your pass has not been properly marked by the TSA, you will be sent back to the passenger screening checkpoint for proper screening. Special Use Airspace. Maximum penalties. All airline employees are subject to TSA screening practices conducted within sterile areas, which include roving screening teams, random gate screening and questioning by TSA officers. Work closely with your union or become a rep to improve work rules and pay at your airline to make respecting your job more appealing. On the other, my spouse is a F/A for Southwest. Secondly, its rather disturbing that TSA agents have very little oversight in regards to entering secure areas with bags, purses, etc. Cops, firefighters and paramedics are first responders. The outdated machines are looking for glycerine - a primary agent in bombs of the past. The sense of entitlement from flight attendants and especially pilots is wild. We should not take a step backward. Most of these tsa agents are regular people, lower paid, not highly educated. They are the problem, not pilots. If the pilots on a flight become incapacitated, the lives of everyone on board are jeopardized; if the flight attendants become incapacitated, it is a relatively minor inconvenience unlikely to result in any sort of injury to anyone. Random screening or Unpredictable Screening Procedures (USP) is built into the system as a check and balance to ensure the integrity of the KCM program. Seemingly every airline is telling you to arrive 2-3 hours ahead of time because you never know how many TSA employees showed up that day. If you make it through quickly, then suddenly you have to kill 2 hours in a lounge. Are allowed Liquids, Aerosols and Gels (LAGs) and other exemptions applicable to uniformed flight crewmembers atTSA PreCheck. Life boats are located on Deck 8. Should be required to use clear backpacks or purses to pass security/ metal detectors should be used and nothing else should be allowed on premises. AFA worked with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to ensure that Flight Attendants would be included in this vital program, which allows participating crew members to access sterile areas of the airport through a separate crew portal. I would love to see the upcoming changes on the program since I'm currently a flight attendant. You don't and that's ok because the flight attendants do. Unfortunately, due to the dubious actions and agendas of a few, here we are. We do get front of the line access. There are 24,000 flight attendants just at my airline. We are not law enforcement. It would make better sense to just have a baggage scanner at each KCM checkpoint but eliminate the need to X-ray scan our bodies. Unaccompanied Baggage. I fly for an international freight airline. axes, hatchets or similar. A pilot with bad intentions could more easily overpower his crewmate with a weapon. I am not trying to disparage flight attendants, of course they are important but they are not the same as pilots and there are multiple rational grounds for distinguishing between them. I am sorry to say but sometimes FA and Pilot take advantage of the KCM and sorry to say these but sometimes you also show up late to flights when getting coffee. As a paying subscriber of CLEAR & TSAPre, I would welcome a dedicated crew/employee line for those employees that are working. Users can change airlines, barcodes, and view history all from the same account. If your crew-member record is SPOTLESS, your random screening should be much much less. I don't know if a single checkpoint which excorts you directly to screening. Items Prohibited from Federal Facilities: 4 An Interagency Security Committee Standard List of Prohibited Items 4.0 Lists of Prohibited Items The items that are prohibited in Federal facilities include any item prohibited by any applicable Federal, State, local, and tribal law and/or ordinance, as well as firearms, dangerous weapons, Three common soft skills for a mcdonalds . You walk on your own to TSA Pre and wait in line with everyone else. Report: TSA Ending Known Crewmember Program In 2023, My take on TSA Known Crewmember Program changes, How To Check TSA PreCheck Hours & Availability, Yuck: TSA Finds Gun Hidden In Raw Chicken, Please view our advertising policy page for additional details about our partners, On the one hand, I do think its time that some changes are made to the Known Crewmember Program, purely based on the number of people who have abused it, On the other hand, fully screening pilots and flight attendants will take up more TSA resources and could lead to longer lines at security; furthermore, the TSA isnt actually very good at finding hidden objects, At least in the case of pilots, I think screening is kind of unnecessary, since theyre flying the plane, and if they wanted to do something, Ultimately I also get the argument that the TSA isnt there to stop drugs, but rather to stop weapons; that being said, if someone is smuggling kilos of cocaine and fentanyl, getting that off the streets (or out of the skies) doesnt seem like a bad thing. The smuggling will just end up moving to the SIDA badge holders. If they think after 4 years of school, $100k in training, another 4 years of grinding time as a CFI, after finally becoming a airline pilot that I would even know where to score these drugs then they must think I'm way cooler than I actually am. BTW! A crewmember will be issued a KCM barcode card from their participating airline management staff. The folks who say TSA isn't here for drug smuggling interdiction are absolutely correct. Cabin Readiness Safety & Compliance Reminder! So easy to tell some of you are not actually pilots because you know nothing about the crew procedures. TSOs are directed toadvisecrewmembers utilizing the KCM access points of the following procedures that arenotallowed. I hate skipping customers in line at general, CLEAR or precheck. While you have no idea what its like going through security as many times as we do with our heavy bag, etc, as many times as we do, it is actually quite frustrating to walk up to kcm and be randomed 2/3 of the time. Report: TSA Ending Known Crewmember Program In 2023 Ben Schlappig Published: November 30, 2022 Updated: December 4, 2022 201 While exact details remain to be seen, it would appear that airline pilots and flight attendants may have to consistently start going through airport security as of next year In this post: If they want to look in my bag, no problem. As if trucks and other merchandise dont come through to be sold at airport property. Plus I would love to see you pilots sitting in the cockpit waiting for 2 hours without being able to board. MNM8[@w1\J2t_ig VIgM]0%b"fM Zero??? Also a lot of airports, like Ohare, dont require ground crew to go through security check points. For all these keyboard cowboys, do you actually know how to Google? Some times 10 or 15 TSA screeners at the same time. According to Aero Crew News, in 2023 the Known Crewmember Program (KCM) will be replaced by a new program branded as Expedited Crew Access (ECA). All Crewmembers transiting a KCM portal are subject to random screening. Q: I am a crewmember that works for a KCM participating airline. I stopped using it entirely for about 2 months now. after being told you got a random. The vast majority of flight attendants are dedicated professionals, but unfortunately there have been too many examples in the news of flight attendants trying to smuggle drugs through KCM. This includes items such as lawn darts and several baby products (for example certain seats and cribs). Crew members know the rules - the bad apples just are overly confident they wont be held accountable. 2023 PlanePeople. I got secondary screening and they did it right there at the crew line (which they do in other countries) they just wipe your hands and suitcase and test it. I just assumed thats how it works pretty much everywhere. The vast majority of crew use KCM exactly as they should and are law abiding.
