http://www.usatoday.com/…

The group that created Smokey Bear and McGruff the Crime Dog has a new potential icon: Stephanie the airport screener.

A $1.3 million ad campaign launched this month teams the Ad Council and the Transportation Security Administration trying to change behavior of passengers who no longer automatically accept post-Sept. 11 airport security procedures. The public relations push explains the terrorist threat and the reasons behind annoyances at checkpoints.

A passenger focus group conducted for TSA by New York City business consulting firm Blue Lime found that “unquestioning compliance has diminished.” Passengers say they are more afraid of missing their flight than they are of an airplane being attacked, the 73-page Blue Lime report found.

In a 97-second video, Washington National Airport screener Stephanie Naar gently explains that homemade bombs “are the No. 1 threat to aircraft, and we know terrorists have concealed these items in shoes.” The TSA hopes to make passengers more accepting of removing footwear at checkpoints.

I think the fact that Blue Lime used language like “unquestioning compliance” says it all. These people want obediance. They don’t care about performing a good job as made obvious by the greater then 50% miss rate they have in their own tests. They don’t care about customer service made obvious by the huge amount of complains, the ridiculousness and randomness of their search policies, and at a fundamental level the fact they don’t perform their job as a result of customer demand but the dictate of politicians who have little accountability to anyone. They provide a “service” at the barrel of a gun. Who would expect professionalism in that case?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/us/01midway.html?_r=1&em&oref=slogin

Midway Airport is poised to become the first large privately run hub airport in the country, officials said Tuesday, after an investment group bid $2.52 billion to win rights to a long-term lease.

Almost all commercial airports in the United States are owned and operated by local or state governments, and Midway is no exception. But Midway is eligible for leasing because the city applied to the F.A.A. to take part in an experimental program begun about 12 years ago to explore privatization as a means to generate capital for improvements.

Congress has allowed the agency to permit up to five airports to take part in the program, and if the Midway deal is approved, it will be the first.

Airports in the program are subject to the same federal oversight as public-use airports.

“As the first privatization of a major American airport, this transaction will provide unprecedented benefits for the traveling public, the airlines and the taxpayers of Chicago,” Mayor Richard M. Daley said Tuesday at a news conference here. “For the traveling public, the lease will mean the benefits of a world-class airport operator whose airports have been acclaimed for the range and quality of their amenities and service.”

This isn’t a priviatization as in a capitalist private institution is “priviate.” This is corporatism. The lease is owned by a company which now has a monopoly on that service an a particular area. They are also under the thumb of the federal government so they’ve just privitized the gains. In this case this priviatization may lead to a better result if completely cut from local interference or money. If they are being paid by the government in any way they will likely ripoff the taxpayer.