The system works?

In response to the December 25 attempted terror attack that occurred on an international flight, Janet Napolitano, head of the Dept. of Home Land Security, said that the system had worked. I'm not sure what system she was talking about because it couldn't have been the TSA. After all the check points and searches it was left up to the passengers on the plane to ensure their own security and had it not been that the bomb was a dud even the passengers would not have been able to prevent a tragedy.

Both of my sisters had horrible experiences with the airports during their holidays travels. One sister had her connecting flight cancelled because a pilot failed to show for work and they had no other fight available for 2 days resulting in her and her family renting a car and driving 8 hours to get to their destination. The kicker off the trip was when the lady working the counter at the gate said it wasn't her responsibility to help my sister and her family get to their destination. Whose responsibility is it? My sister and her husband had paid almost $1,000 dollars to an airline to fly them and their 3 children on Christmas day to be with the rest of our family. When one of their pilots decides not to show up for work they cancel their flight without another flight available for 2 days and the person at the counter says its not her responsibility to help them reach their destination. Another example of the people taking the responsibility on themselves because the people who were employed to do the job failed. Is that our system at work?

My other sister was told at the ticket counter on the way home from our family gathering that during her visit the airline's child car seats policy had changed and now cars seats counted toward the total number of check on baggage allowed. Instead of being flexible and understanding, the person at the ticket counter insisted on enforcing the policy even when my sister explained that she didn't know about the change and that the new policy hadn't existed when she left for the holidaysa week prior. Traveling by herself with an infant, this policy change make it extremely difficult for her to travel because she now had too much luggage to carry while caring for an infant. Was it not for a kind gentleman who observed her luggage carrying dilemma and helped her get to get on and off the plane, my sister wasn't sure what she would have done. Once again the people paid to be helpful weren't and it was left up to the people to resolve the situation. Is that the system at work? In conversation with my sister about her trip home she summed it up when she said, " I'm tired of paying people for services, government or otherwise and having to do it myself." Is that a comment from a person who thinks our system is working. To me it sound like someone who is frustrated with the system. I have a feeling my sister isn't the only one who feels this way. I think the nation as a whole is fed up. More taxes for less freedom, higher fees for less service, who wouldn't be fed up.