If long lines at the airport haven’t been enough to deter you from flying, the Transportation Security Administration’s latest effort to keep you safe might do the trick. The agency has now extended its search for explosives to cars parked in airport parking lots.
But how, you ask, can they search a car that is locked? They can’t. The search is limited to cars parked by a valet.
Station WHEC in Rochester, N.Y., reports on one passenger’s experience with the new policy:
Laurie Iacuzza walked to her waiting car at the Greater Rochester International Airport after returning from a trip and that’s when she found it — a notice saying her car was inspected after she left for her flight. She said, ‘I was furious. They never mentioned it to me when I booked the valet or when I picked up the car or when I dropped it off.’
Iacuzza’s car was inspected by valet attendants on orders from the TSA. But why only valet parked cars? That’s what News10NBC wanted to ask the TSA director about. We reached him by phone.
Berkeley Brean asked, ‘Are the cars in the short term lots and long term lots getting searched as well?’
John McCaffery, TSA, said, ‘No, those vehicles that are in the garage, short term long term parking, even if they carry pretty large amounts of explosives, they would not cause damage to the front of the airport. But for those who use the valet, the car could be there for a half hour or an hour so there is a vulnerability.’
But as J.D. Tuccille, writing at Reason.com, observes, “If the TSA is truly worried about car bombs at the curb, all of those private vehicles and taxis making drop-offs and pickups would seem to be of equal concern to cars left with a valet.” The point holds true as well for short-term parking lots, which are generally closer in to the terminals. An explosive planted in a locked car in one of these lots could cause considerable death and destruction.
Tuccille goes on to hazard a guess that the valet-parked cars are fair game for searches because the TSA has nominal consent to search them.” According to the WHEC report “a large sign” at the Rochester airport “alerts customers that their vehicle will be inspected.”
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