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TSA

A customer-friendly TSA comes to the aid of fliers on Twitter

Ben Mutzabaugh
USA TODAY
In this file photo from Nov. 18, 2010, passengers move through a TSA security checkpoint line at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

What do you get when you mix the Transportation Security Administration with the volatile world of social media? A popular new tool for fliers that comes just in time for the busy winter holiday travel period.

The TSA quietly began a customer-service channel on Twitter earlier this year, launching the @AskTSA handle in an effort to directly engage with fliers. From complaints to questions, the @AskTSA team says its mission is to engage the flying public by fielding all queries.

“We want to be better able to serve passengers so they are prepared when they’re traveling,” says Jennifer Plozai, the TSA’s Director of External Communications. “We want to be able to help them understand our policy and procedures. The reason why we’re on Twitter, we want to help them in real time; whether it’s before, during or after their travel experience.”

@AskTSA grew as an offshoot to handle requests that the agency’s Public Affairs team was increasingly handling anyway, ranging from searching for items forgotten at checkpoints to troubleshooting problems with fliers’ eligibility for TSA PreCheck security lines.

“We saw the audience was there for it. That’s when we decided to move forward,” adds Plozai, who helped spearhead the social media effort at the agency.

@AskTSA debuted in early September, but the agency is only now talking about it for the first time. While the effort is aimed at social media-savvy fliers, Plozai says it ultimately also helps TSA and the traveling public.

“Better-prepared passengers at the checkpoint will allow our TSA employees to better focus on their counterterrorism efforts,” she says.

Room for an image boost? 

Since its inception, TSA has been a lightning rod for complaints among the flying public. But the agency’s increasingly proactive Twitter team seems to be well-received by fliers and may even be helping to soften the agency’s image.

A scan of the @AskTSA comment stream on any given day does show complaints – it is still social media, after all. But there are also personalized answers to fliers' questions. And even praise.

Yevgeniy Pusin was so moved by his interaction with @AskTSA that he took to Facebook with an enthusiastic endorsement. The @AskTSA staff resolved an issue that was keeping the 28-year-old traveler from San Mateo, Calif., out of the PreCheck security queues that he should have been eligible to use.

“I just had the most amazing experience and needed to share it with the world,” Pusin posted after getting the troubleshooting help prior to a trip last month. “A government entity responded to a tweet. Did research. Worked with an airline. Solved a problem ... . And notified me about the change with a pleasant message. All this in under 3 hours, and using Twitter. The future is here.”

“I wasn't actually looking for help, I just wanted to know how the program worked in this particular case,” Pusin, on Twitter under the handle  @YevP, explained in a follow-up to USA TODAY about why he reached out to TSA prior to a trip to Spain. “I would not call myself a fan of the TSA, but in this instance they did pleasantly surprise me."

PreCheck-related questions like Pusin’s are common, and Plozai says @AskTSA is often able to help.  Typically, @AskTSA will ask the traveler to send their “known traveler number” – or KTN, in TSA parlance – via Twitter’s private “direct message” function. The @AskTSA team will then see whether it can resolve the issue without further action from the traveler. Issues typically involve minor errors with names or birth dates, things that @AskTSA staffers can fix – sometimes in coordination with a passenger’s airline.

Overall, @AskTSA has responded to nearly 3,000 requests from fliers since its launch. Popular topics involve lost items and questions about prohibited items.

One passenger heading home from Thanksgiving asked via Twitter whether Brussels sprouts would cause a problem at security. “Brussel sprouts are allowed in your carry-on. Hope you enjoy your delicious Thanksgiving leftovers,” @AskTSA responded to @lisleslivres.

Another flier worried whether he’d make through airport security after realizing his driver’s license was set to expire the day before his flight. “We advise that you bring secondary forms of ID bearing your full name,” @AskTSA replied to @B1GBenW as part of a detailed response on how to handle the situation.

Such interactions can alter how the TSA is perceived by the flying public, says travel analyst Henry Harteveldt, founder of the San Francisco-based Atmosphere Research Group.

"It absolutely can make a difference for TSA," Harteveldt says. "This helps make it a more approachable organization for consumers. It helps humanize the agency. And, at the same time, it recognizes the customer service component to what they do."

As for the negative comments, Harteveldt says that just comes with the territory.

"TSA is going to have to put up with a lot of impolite responses and with cynicism,” Harteveldt says. "That’s just the reality for organizations that want to interact with the public on social media.”

But even beyond the personal interaction that social media allows, Plozai says @AskTSA helps the agency become more nimble with its operations.

If the agency starts to receive a high number of tweets about a long line at a particular airport checkpoint, for example, it can both reassure fliers and reach out to staff there to make sure nothing is amiss.

“We cannot just make the line disappear all of a sudden at the airport, but we are in contact with the airport,” Plozai says. “We hear of a complaint, and we’re reaching out and we’re seeing if we can do something to resolve it.”

Now, with the busy Thanksgiving holiday over and the Christmas and New Year holidays still to come, the TSA is already anticipating a bigger role for @AskTSA in the year ahead.

“We know we’re going to have steady growth, that’s for sure. And we know we’re going to need to have options to bring more people in to be able to respond as the growth occurs,” Plozai says about possibly expanding the @AskTSA staff, currently at eight.

In the meantime, the @AskTSA staff will continue to emphasize timely service for fliers.

“If it improves a public perception of TSA that we’re there to assist customers, we’re happy about that,” Plozai says. “I think we can interact with the passengers on a more personal level and instantaneously. It’s a benefit to both the agency and the public understanding of TSA.”

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