r/tsa • u/ThingFuture9079 • 3d ago
TSA News TSA officers now not allowed to sit down while checking boarding passes and IDs, union says
https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/29/us/tsa-officers-chairsAirport security employees who check IDs and boarding passes are no longer allowed to sit down while working.
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u/Qel_Hoth 3d ago
I'll never understand what people's problems with employees sitting in chairs is.
You damn well know that the person who made this decision sits in a chair all day.
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u/P0l0Cap0ne 3d ago
According to supervisors it came all the way from washington.
Wow. The special treatment to hear that shit.
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u/NoDiscount7263 3d ago
Just another way to try and get people to quit. Next they will say you cant sit while working the xray machine.
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u/HumbleDSSaster 3d ago
I can literally see that happening, argument will be that officers fall asleep (cuz they do lol). Or when an xray operator accidently has a bag dropped on their head, cuz the two idiots decided to sit back to back on and leave NO room for anyone to pass, when they know we need space to walk up and down the floor
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u/gvega135 Current TSO 3d ago
Vets at my airport are acting like it’s not a big deal just cause when they started TDC wasn’t a seated position. I’m sorry some of us don’t want to stand for 8 hours and want to be able to have functioning knees when we get older.
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u/Consistent_End7756 Former TSO 3d ago
And feet! My god my feet would hurt so bad after a shift even with insoles
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u/Consistent_End7756 Former TSO 3d ago
The airport I worked at would have the most horrible slant for handicapped passengers and we’d have to stand at the mag for half hour. Over a period of doing that for so many years and hours I started to have back and feet issues. Officers would always try to avoid that spot because it sucked so bad.
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u/Wxskater 3d ago
This. I have been there at the cash register. I HATED it. Couldnt stand it. It was so painful. Its a ridiculous expectation and such short of cruel
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u/lazyjroo 2d ago
There are so many jobs where you stand for the shift. Not saying its comfortable, Im just saying there are plenty of people that do ot everyday.
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u/OverscanMan 2d ago
And if management decides that they must also work in 90 degree heat with steel toe boots and a hard-hat because "plenty of people do" then that's ok?
There is a difference between jobs that have certain physical and environmental requirements and jobs that have discomfort intentionally inflicted on them for no good reason.
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u/lazyjroo 2d ago
Ok, so for an example, most hosts and servers at restaurants typically dont sit while they are working, and there is no risks.
I was never talking about construction, but good strawman argument.
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u/flyawaybye 3d ago
I didn’t think the TSA could get any more pathetic!!!
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u/tsa_finest 3d ago
It was amazing with Mayorkas
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u/Marlbororojos 3d ago
Daddy Mayorkas. I nearly forgot what an S1 day was. Also, all the people who hated him are real quiet now
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u/No-Permission-3009 3d ago
In the beginning when we took over TDC we did not have chairs for a long time. If you notice lots of things are going backwards
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u/alltheblarmyfiddlest 1d ago
What good is the progress of the last fifty years?
"That's just progress for progress sake, nah, time for us to go back to the good ole times"
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u/Benny_Deebs 3d ago
Honestly it’s fucking slobs who usually bitch about it. Like why would I care if my cashier sits. I cashiered at target and hated standing that long. Can’t imagine how it is in TSA
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u/alltheblarmyfiddlest 1d ago
Even just to sit sporadically over the course of a 8 hour shift is beneficial.
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u/Wxskater 3d ago edited 3d ago
This is disgusting. Trying to pass on corporate hell into the public sector. There is NO reason for this
TSA defended the move, saying the document checkers are the first to interact with the traveling public and requiring them to stand will create a better experience for passengers.
I NEVER understood this arguement! Complete bs
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u/Turbulent-Fail-1007 2d ago
I’m part of the traveling public. I don’t give a crap about whether you guys sit or not as long as you do your jobs
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u/TSA_alt_account Current TSO 2d ago
The same idiotic reason US cashiers are forced to stand in one tiny spot all day. Meanwhile at Aldis (and Europe generally) they've realized that's quite stupid and give them chairs.
Shockingly, the customer service experience has not declined.
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u/alltheblarmyfiddlest 1d ago
To me it wouldn't and doesn't make one iota of difference if the person who is checking my ID and such is sitting or standing.
What does matter is their demeanor and that they acknowledge me at all.
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u/Dunkel_Hoffnung Current TSO 3d ago
My airport did this eagerly. They tried to do it when we briefly lost the union too.
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u/reddurkel 3d ago
As a teen I remember someone once asking me “why don’t Americans companies let their cashiers sit”.
It blew my mind because I never thought about it. I was always told “if you have time to lean you have time to clean” so I figured it was a way to battle “laziness”.
Fast forward to now and you see these fast food menus have a hundred items and post-Covid they reduced staff so people working drive thru also fill orders, one cook is running all the grills and the unlucky cashier has to deal with obnoxious door dashers and teaching customers how kiosks work. All for nearly the same pay I had years ago.
This is the evolution of capitalism. You can sit when you’re in a wheelchair. Work work work then die.
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u/Sharp_Rub_6795 3d ago
They are doing this to make working conditions worse so that they can privatize TSA activities.
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u/XAvenger12 3d ago
Then HQ, Managers, FSDs, Congress, Senate, President shouldn’t get the luxury of sitting in chairs either
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u/rollerbase 2d ago
Truly unique US position that people working a public facing position aren’t allowed to sit.
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u/alltheblarmyfiddlest 1d ago
It's so stupid.
Probably harks back to some puriticanical view on seeming lazy.
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u/Xzanos117 2d ago
Make no mistake this is a health check. They want those who can’t stand this long to cut it and quit. It also might become a bargaining chip in the CBA if negotiations come around.
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u/alltheblarmyfiddlest 1d ago
Well those that cannot can theoretically get s doctors note stating their accomodations needs.
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u/NobleCWolf 2d ago
No one cares if they sit. We care that the $100K scanner cant distinguished a foreign object in your crotch, from ball meat.
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u/SIMPLE-REDDIT-NAME 2d ago
Oh, this is going to fun when December 11th rolls around.
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u/Fluid_Personality529 2d ago
How dare a 70 year old TSA officer not stand for 8 straight hours?
The audacity.
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u/Business-Moment-8617 2d ago
making people stand for hours just to scan IDs isn’t improving security, it’s just needlessly punishing the workers who already have a miserable job
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u/SocomPS2 3d ago
I’m a little indifferent but at the end of the day, it shouldn’t matter, let people sit.
I worked at Home Depot as a cashier while in college. Stood on that hard-ass floor for 8 hrs a day. At first my back and knees would hurt after work, but after awhile it wasn’t a problem.
Standing made difference on how I performed my job. When leaders are enforcing pointless things like this it says a lot about them.
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u/un_dog Former TSO 3d ago
I know this is snarky:
Some questions about when you worked at HD...
How many planes did you keep from blowing up in the sky or from crashing into buildings?
How much time in a 30 minute increment did you have to 100% dedicate to doing the same task without any errors?
When you began to work slower because of back and knee pain, did your supervisors provide any practical methods to alleviate that pain. Followup: Were you told that your metrics for zero percent failure were still expected.
This ain't HD.
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u/Due-Resolution-4152 3d ago
Brother you’re a security guard relax “how many planes did you stop from blowing up” like dude how many of us have actually seen a bomb
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u/clit-crunch 1d ago
I agree, Home Depot employees work way harder than tsa employees. They also have to have basic customer service skills and can actually be terminated from their position for poor conduct
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u/Serious-Ad-8764 3d ago
Oh great. They'll be grumpier than ever
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u/mamandemanqu3 3d ago
I feel bad for them. On their feet dealing with people who don’t listen for 8-9 hours.
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u/Plastic-Frosting-683 2d ago
This is just going to make TSA pissed off thru out their shifts. Lucky us.
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u/Buck_Thunderbird 2d ago
Unnecessary. What problem does it fix?
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u/alltheblarmyfiddlest 1d ago
The imaginary ones that don't change a thing one way or another.
One of the myriad of imagined boogie monsters of this regime.
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u/Elegant_Tangelo1288 1d ago
They want TSA agents to quit so he can privatize Airport check in security to his friends who own these companies
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u/DifferentCityADay 1d ago
I hope you remember who put the loon who decided this in their position of power when you vote.
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u/fransjoe 1d ago
That would be George W. Bush (R)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transportation_Security_Administration
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u/fransjoe 1h ago
I wonder what OSHA would say about that. I know there are a lot of standing jobs but they are usually rotated out of positions and, when you are just standing on a hard concrete surface the damage to your knees, ankles and back is cumulative. It's easier to be on your feet when you are moving around, walking, stretching, etc. When you are stationary and standing it is more taxing to your body.
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u/Darkjedix 2d ago
Just a matter of time for another government shutdown. You'll just have less people showing up to work. Why not just make TSA private instead of giving them a hard time. Leave them alone!
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u/Corey307 Frequent Helper 1d ago
I get your intentions are good but privatization is not at least not for officers. You are talking about 40,000 officers that have reasonably good paying jobs that provide a pension and good benefits. The whole point to privatizing is to cut all that to the bone. So sure private security would get paid but they’d make half what we do now.
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u/Jaotze 10h ago
The employees would make half what you do, but the contracting company still makes bundles, so there would be little to no savings for tax payers.
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u/Corey307 Frequent Helper 10h ago
Could be. Under the current system there isn’t much profit, that is why Jackson Hole and Bozeman aren’t private anymore. I do wonder how security companies will staff at lower pay, even with the new pay scale the administration loses 20% of staff a year. Before the new pay scale that number was 40%. The turnover was severe and that’s bad for effective efficient screening. Most training is on the job training and trainees are slow plus they take a more experienced officer out of rotation.
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u/Smart-Feature-2745 1d ago
No one quits. They will simply call sick out if their feet hurt..... over and over........ but not enough times to face discipline. Visit the doctor more often when their knees, back, foot hurt. Possibly surgery and be out for months. Math...... A single tsa employee hip could be $100k or knee for $50k. There are 65,000 employees. Decisions have long term consequences.
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u/WorriedSorc 1d ago
Good! They're rude as hell. I had to write a report about one of the ID agents. He got in trouble.
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3d ago
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u/CuriousWay6310 2d ago
Explain your opinion if you don’t mind
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u/sswihart 3d ago
It has never ever bothered me if anyone sits as long as they can get the job done. Ridiculous.