This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@xxxxxxxxx /-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\ THE DREAMERS - NOW PLAYING Set against the turbulent political backdrop of 1968 France when the voice of youth was reverberating around Europe, THE DREAMERS is a story of self-discovery as three students test each other to see just how far they will go. THE DREAMERS is released uncut with an NC-17 rating. Watch The Dreamers trailer at: http://www.thedreamers.com \----------------------------------------------------------/ On the Road: Airport Hurdles and the Nonflying Nuns March 2, 2004 By JOE SHARKEY Several readers responded to an item on these pages last week, wanting to know more about the new policy of the Transportation Security Administration, which has tightened penalties for those caught at airport security screening stations with prohibited items - or an offensive attitude. "Who defines attitude?" one caller asked, wondering if a chance comment that a screener doesn't like could lead to a hefty fine. That's not a bad question. I'm thinking back to a couple of months ago at a security station at the Nashville airport, where a screener barked orders at me like a guard in a maximum security prison. "You! Get your hands out of your pocket! Stand over there! Right now!" she commanded. "Sure thing," I replied. "But when you speak to me, I expect you to be courteous and to say please and thank you, O.K.?" I passed through unimpeded and made a complaint to a supervisor, who shrugged. "Oh, that's Pam," he said, "and she's probably just having a bad day." As I have said here many times, it has been my strong impression in the last two years that the T.S.A. has brilliantly replaced a work force of sullen, underpaid screeners from private guard companies with a work force of courteous, well-trained and decently paid employees who do a generally terrific job running those checkpoints and keeping people moving efficiently. But give people authority and you always get a few Pams in the mix. And the next time a Pam has a bad day and provokes a stern but justifiable rebuke from a passenger, what's to stop Pam from resorting to those new fines and other sanctions? The T.S.A. says it will impose them not only for inadvertent contraband in a carry-on bag but for offenses such as "nonphysical" interference with screening, as it is called in the Enforcement Sanction Guideline Policy published last month by the agency. A T.S.A. spokeswoman, Ann Davis, checked around last week and gamely sought to define the "nonphysical interference" charge for me, but it's a pretty subjective matter. "Nonphysical interference? That is any conduct that interferes with a screener's ability to do his or her job,'' she said. "An example is a passenger directed to secondary screening and they're verbally abusive, and the screener has to shut down the checkpoint." Fair enough. But it includes, she added, "any nonphysical situation that in any way would interfere with the screener and his or her ability to continue to work, or interfere with their ability to do their jobs." This is not to criticize Ms. Davis, who checked with supervisors and tried to give me an honest explanation. It's just to point out to business travelers slogging through those airports that screeners suddenly have more authority to bust you. I'd like to hear from readers on this one. Has the airport security experience been changing for the worse? Or do you think security is well run, from a customer service perspective? Four Roman Catholic Carmelite nuns born in India might have strong views on that, if they were uncharitable enough to express them strongly, which they are not. Their experience involved airline security, not the T.S.A. "That was a not-so-pleasant experience of our trip. Hope no one will have to go through what we went through," is basically as far as Sister Tessy Pius would go, in a letter she sent to parents of pupils at Mary Immaculate Queen School in Lemoore, Calif., where she is the principal. The letter explained why she and three nuns she was traveling with on Jan. 2 were tossed off an American Airlines flight awaiting departure to Fresno., Calif., from Dallas after someone on board reported smelling - I kid you not - sulfur. (Sister Tessy's school faxed the letter to me but she didn't respond to a request for comment.) All passengers were taken off the plane while it was inspected. No problem was discovered and passengers were allowed back on except for the four nuns, who were dressed in their Carmelite habits: dark robes and the sort of modern veils that many nuns adopted after Vatican 2. An American Airlines representative "took our boarding passes and made us wait in a corner," Sister Tessy wrote. Asked why they were prohibited from boarding the plane, the airline representative replied that "the crew members and the pilot were uncomfortable taking us in and they did not want us on the plane." The representative "looked at our picture ID's and realized that we were not just newcomers to the United States," Sister Tessy wrote. But still the nuns were not allowed on the plane, which took off without them. The nuns, who were recruited from a convent in India to teach and provide social services at the small Catholic school, eventually found another flight and got home six hours later than expected, Sister Tessy said. The nuns were returning from a Christmas visit to a convent in Kansas. Lemoore is a town of about 20,000 in the San Joaquin Valley near Fresno, Calif. The incident was reported on Feb. 13 in The Fresno Bee. According to an American Airlines spokesman, Carlo Bertolini, the four nuns and two other passengers were singled out for extra security inspection because they were seated in the area where the sulfur smell was reported. "Our policies prohibit discrimination of any kind," Mr. Bertolini said. "This was not a discriminatory situation. It was basically a miscommunication over the screening process." "Our customer relations department has sent them a letter," he said, "and apologized for the inconvenience they experienced and for the miscommunication." Last month, an American Airlines pilot created a media ruckus when he addressed a plane full of passengers on a flight bound for New York from Los Angeles. On the public address system, the pilot asked those passengers who were Christians to raise their hands, and suggested to those who were not that they might want to discuss Christianity with their fellow passengers. American Airlines apologized for that incident. On the Road appears each Tuesday. E-mail: jsharkey@xxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/02/business/02road.html?ex=1079237699&ei=1&en=db3f49c91e316e9f --------------------------------- Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like! Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy now for 50% off Home Delivery! 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