Letters: Nature’s healing power, paying twice for TSA and a rental car idea

The June 12 Travel section featuring the story “Bask in the Starshine” by Michael Mello made me cry tears of joy because I too share the memory of a childhood where the outdoors was resplendent and healing, always a reminder that nothing of the world is too great to bear.

As time rolled on I too became immersed in city life as a West Los Angeles resident, where the cement world, noise and access to such beauty is drowned and obstructed.

But as I age I am finding the need to remember how important it still is to take time, like prayer in a temple, to listen to the silence of our world in the elements of nature and time.

Maureen Kris Halikis, Los Angeles

Listen up, TSA: I’m not paying twice

I must take issue with both the Transportation Security Administration/Homeland Security and the travel journalism industry, including Catharine Hamm’s On the Spot [“There’s Confusion in the PreCheck Line,” June 19].

Currently, all passengers pay a fee when flying to pay for TSA and security. The fact that Congress, in its infinite dysfunction, has used that fee for deficit reduction rather than what it was intended for is irrelevant.

The TSA reduced staffing based on its erroneous projection of increased sign-ups for PreCheck. What they and Hamm don’t seem to understand is that many of us do not want to pay extra for a service we are already paying for.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has said more than once that TSA would not apologize for doing a good job. It is not a good job when waits for screening can be three hours or more for a domestic flight. If I were a reporter, I would use the Freedom of Information Act to research whether the reduced staffing and excessive lines were a method to get more of us to pay extra for services we are already paying for each time we buy a ticket.

Today, due to the TSA and congressional failures, I now drive to L.A. rather than fly. I just wish the travel advice industry would better understand that most of us do not want to pay twice, especially when it appears the whole situation has been “managed.”

John Minker, Davis, Calif.

Re: rental car second keys

Regarding rental car keys [“The Key to Rental Car Mystery,” On the Spot by Catharine Hamm, May 15]: I think there is a simple solution. Tape the second key inside the dashboard or trunk of the car. If the car key is lost, the renter will not have to pay for the second key. Also if the car is returned to another location or if it is sold the second key will always be with the car.

Mara Martin, Sherman Oaks