CelticWhisper
Service Attendant
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2012
- Messages
- 130
I'm very glad I swore off flying when I heard the news of coerced body scans being introduced in 2010 (coercion, in my opinion, being supplied by the totally-unacceptable alternative of full-body molestation). I have to say I scratch my head a bit at the fact that after 6 years of horror stories regarding TSA groping traumatizing children and sexual-assault victims, kids having nightmares and crying that they don't want to go to Disneyland anymore after "security", and criminal arrests of TSA clerks, long lines are what make people say "enough is enough."
Then again, the KGW hasn't really bothered me in my 4 years of riding the rails so maybe lines just don't get under my skin the way they do with some people. Could also be that the KGW is just a quick A-to-B and not standing around for hours.
Still, I echo fairviewroad's sentiment that this could be good for Amtrak if it forces people to take another look at rail and see how great it can be. True, it might not be our own little best-kept-secret club anymore but if it means better funding for infrastructure upgrades and HSR, I can live with that as long as there's no more security at train stations than we already have (namely APD working behind the scenes and the occasional dog wandering around).
If the masses flee the airports to Amtrak and the TSA tries to follow, however...I fear I may have to bid the rails adieu as I did the sky.
Then again, the KGW hasn't really bothered me in my 4 years of riding the rails so maybe lines just don't get under my skin the way they do with some people. Could also be that the KGW is just a quick A-to-B and not standing around for hours.
Still, I echo fairviewroad's sentiment that this could be good for Amtrak if it forces people to take another look at rail and see how great it can be. True, it might not be our own little best-kept-secret club anymore but if it means better funding for infrastructure upgrades and HSR, I can live with that as long as there's no more security at train stations than we already have (namely APD working behind the scenes and the occasional dog wandering around).
If the masses flee the airports to Amtrak and the TSA tries to follow, however...I fear I may have to bid the rails adieu as I did the sky.