Poll: TSA among least-liked agencies

WASHINGTON – Hand sanitizer makes it through security in one airport, then it’s confiscated at another. Screening lines back up because only two of six lanes are open. And then there’s the occasional all-too-intimate pat down.

Those complaints and other frustrations make the nation’s airport security agency about as popular as the IRS.

Indeed, only the Federal Emergency Management Agency, still suffering from its mishandling of Hurricane Katrina, ranks below the Transportation Security Administration among the least-liked federal agencies, according to a new Associated Press-Ipsos poll.

TSA tied with the perennially unpopular tax collectors in a favorability ranking of a dozen executive branch agencies.

The AP poll, conducted Monday through Wednesday, found that the more people travel, the less they like TSA.

But it also found that 53 percent of air travelers think TSA does a “very” or “somewhat” good job.

The inconvenience of security was the top complaint of air travelers, mentioned by 31 percent of those who had taken at least one trip in the past year. That figure rose to 40 percent for those who have taken five to 10 trips.

The authoritative American Customer Satisfaction Index questioned 10,000 people about their experiences with the federal government.

TSA officials said they are working to minimize hassles. They said while it can be annoying, airport screening is essential because intelligence reports show aviation remains a top target for terrorists.

A review of complaints the traveling public lodged with TSA in September helps explain the low standing. While passengers generally understand TSA’s mission, they could do without certain parts of the preboarding experience.

Screeners are “just rigid, intransigent, inflexible, unpleasant, and they always have the fact that they’ve got the security of the nation that they’re falling back on,” said David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association. Stempler said he has no way of telling whether TSA has addressed any of the hundreds of complaints it receives each month.

Another frequent complaint is that security restrictions seem pointless and arbitrary.

“The security is a joke, it’s an absolute joke,” said James Atkinson, a Massachusetts businessman.

Atkinson said he has sent dozens of complaints to TSA and the Federal Aviation Administration over the past 10 years, and has never heard back.