APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – Things are quite a bit different at airports now than they were before, and even immediately following, the 9-11 attacks nearly 20 years ago.
“We could talk for hours about how airports have evolved over the last 20 years,” said Appleton International Airport Marketing Manager, Patrick Tracey. “Travelers take the whole system for granted.”
The most noticeable change was the introduction of the TSA. While things started slow with hand-screening of every checked bag in 2002, the security systems have vastly improved with things like CT scanners.
“Luggage screening at the checkpoints for your carry-on bags was just upgraded, literally, in the last 12 months. The TSA has been installing it at airports around the country, including Appleton,” Tracey told WTAQ News.
Some scans were a bit controversial when they were introduced in the 2000s, but people seem to have mostly gotten over it.
“Now that kind of screening is so commonplace and it moves so fast because it’s just gotten so accurate at seeing anomalies on that travelers body,” Tracey said.
The scans also allow TSA agents to slice and dice the contents of luggage in fractions of a second, and allows them to rotate and check bags in 3D space without having to touch it.
Tracey says he sees TSA agents as co-workers and friends at ATW, and calls the agency a major part of their customer service experience.
“So many of our TSA officers have been here for years he retired from other positions so they bring to us a wealth of life experience and the ability to handle all of the diversity that we see at the checkpoint,” Tracey said. “When I think about how safe TSA has made our country for travel, I think about the commitment and the passion that our TSA officers showed to us even when they weren’t getting a paycheck.”
That lack of a paycheck came during the federal government shutdown in 2019.
“Most people don’t even think about all of the things that are going on behind the scenes when they’re traveling and certainly TSA is a big part of that,” Tracey said. “I think about it all the time. As complex as this system is, I’m always amazed at how efficiently and smoothly it works on most days.”
That includes communication between the TSA, airport officials, airlines, ground handling crews, and other vendors on-site.
The biggest impact the TSA has had, other than actual safety precautions, is perception. That perception has also helped build the travel industry to something that even Tracey didn’t picture at the turn of the millenium.
“Giving customers the peace of mind that they’re gonna be able to have a safe flight has propelled the airline and travel industry into the biggest growth cycle ever,” Tracey said. “Giving Americans the ability to feel safe when they travel has really provided a foundation for the entire travel industry to grow as much as as it has grown.”
Simply looking back those years, Tracey says tickets were significantly more expensive, which made travel more of a luxury and a privilege than an essential piece of life. But even in the past year and a half, the pandemic has made it clear just how essential the industry has become for many people.
“We see it every day at the Appleton airport. The family reunions, grandma and grandpa coming up to see the kids, travel was not like that 20 years ago,” Tracey said.
You can hear our full conversation here:
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