The TSA has reacted to the burgeoning backlash against airport oppression with a glib response that does nothing to address the multitude of complaints put forward by some of the most prominent travel and pilots associations in the world.



As the New York Times reports today, no less than four major travel organizations have strongly criticized the TSA in recent weeks over increasingly stifling airport security measures that do little to assure safety yet are causing many people to refuse to travel to the United States, costing the industry millions of dollars a year.

"In recent weeks, representatives from the International Air Transport Association, the U.S. Travel Association, the Allied Pilots Association and British Airways have criticized the T.S.A., saying it adds intrusive and time-consuming layers of scrutiny at airport checkpoints, without effectively addressing legitimate security concerns," states the report.

The U.S. Travel Association is warning that onerous and "absurd" security procedures, which are only getting worse with the TSA’s recent move to institute outright groping of passengers that would be considered sexual assault in any other context, are discouraging people from air travel.

Giovanni Bisignani, chief executive of the International Air Transport Association, said that the notion of passengers as guilty until proven innocent was also a complete misnomer.

"Discouraging travelers with queues into the parking lot is not a solution," Mr. Bisignani said during a speech last week. "And it is not acceptable to treat passengers as terrorists until they prove themselves innocent."

As we reported yesterday, the largest independent union of airline pilots in the world is also urging its members to boycott body imaging machines currently being rolled out in airports all over the globe, citing dangers of excessive exposure to harmful levels of radiation durin...