Of course a challenge Rick is not addressing is that the irrationality many of us apply to this topic means that if we DO have terror incidents it will discourage many from flying at all.   This irrational result means that it might actually be good policy to provide more anti-terror measures than you would apply in a more rational world, because people’s fear might wind up creating large scale problems with the global transportation system.   Thus we might need to spend billions more than is rational in order to prevent losing tens of billions from irrational economic decisions.

Still, the moral of the TSA story is that our safety is coming at a cost that may not be sustainable.   Therefore we should start educating the public to be more rational in how they assign risk and reward, and start working towards sustainable safety spending rather than excessive and irrational political spending programs.

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Rick Steves on Facebook:
I’ve been through a lot of airports lately, and I have to say, when people joke about TSA meaning “thousands standing around,” it has a ring of truth. In November, Bloomberg Businessweek reported that we spend about $8 billion a year on scanning machines, all that time-consuming checking, and employing those people who stand between us and our departure gate. And that cost doesn’t even consider the valuable time wasted by travelers who need to allot extra time to cover surprise delays at airport security.

 Sure, we need to spend some money and time on security. But does anyone in government have the nerve to raise their hand and ask, “Could we lighten up here a bit?” or even “Aren’t we going a bit overboard there?” Bloomberg Businessweek reports that entire years go by (such as 2011) when TSA doesn’t spot a single terrorist trying to board an airplane. And then there’s s this staggering statistic: “In fact, extremist Islamic terrorism resulted in just 200 to 400 annual deaths worldwide, outside the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq — the same number…that occur in bathtubs in the US each year.”

Following 9/11, there was, understandably, a push to strengthen our airport security measures. But these efforts may be costing us even more lives. According to Cornell University researchers cited in Bloomberg Businessweek, after 9/11, frightened travelers switching from flights to drives resulted in over 200 more traffic fatalities every month. In the long term, due to security hassles, about 5 percent fewer people fly than used to, resulting in even more road fatalities. In other words, far more people have died on the road as an indirect result of 9/11 than actually died on 9/11.

Maybe it’s time to come to grips with the risk of terrorism and finally put it in a rational perspective. Many will say, “If TSA and all the security saves just one life, it will be worth it.” The way I see it, wasting money wastes lives. Intimidating people into driving instead of flying wastes lives. A nation can reach a point where its passion for showboat security designed to make people feel safe actually kills them. Security is good, but a cost-benefit awareness is simply smart. What do you think?

In any case, be SURE to check your miles expiration if you have more than about 5000 miles in your account.   Fewer than that and it may not be worth the time to mess with miles now that tickets have become hard to get using these programs.    For those short on time and long on money I’d say under 10,000 miles may not be worth your hassle time, but obviously if you have over 25000 miles – basically a free round trip in the USA on many airlines – you’ll want to preserve those miles.

As always, the secretary disavows any knowledge of your mission.    Good Luck.

As a reminder come to QuickAid.com for Airport News,  Airport City Codes.com for Airport and Airline data,  and TravelandHistory.com for a freewheeling blog about travel.    But wait, there’s MORE…..

I just used a nice offer by American Airlines to extend my wife’s miles for 18 months.   She gave away 1000 miles to the “Miles for Kids in Need” program at AA, and this kept her from losing the rest of them.  Here’s the link to AA’s charity miles giveaways:  http://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/redeemMiles/charities.jsp

Another way to preserve your miles is simply to buy 1000 miles for about $30 from AA.     http://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/purchasingMiles/main.jsp

One of the WORST things you can do is let them expire and then pay over a penny per mile to have them reinstated – unless you have a very specific use of your miles, in my opinion it’s not worth, say $200 to keep 20,000 miles.   Some would (wrongly) suggest that the calculation would be along these lines:    ”You can get a $400-500 ticket for 25,000 miles so they are worth about .02 each”.    The problem, however, is that you usually CANNOT get a ticket easily with miles and also you won’t tend to have exactly the right number for a tickets, leaving some unused or you unable to use some.    So my rule of thumb is that miles are worth about 1-2 cents per mile assuming you travel and lot are will use them.

FYI “selling and buying miles” is a risky proposition.   I’ve not done this and the laws seem fairly complicated, but I think you risk losing miles if you try that game.

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TSA’s  Prohibited Items  NOT all-inclusive but helpful.