Most airplane passengers don't like going through security checks at airports. At best, it's an inconvenience; at worst, a humiliation.

Passenger comments on federal security agents for Idaho's airports - including Idaho Falls Regional Airport - are nevertheless overwhelmingly positive, said Andrew Coose, federal security director for the Transportation Security Administration Idaho division.

Coose said passenger comments received at even the nation's most well-regarded airports are almost never more than 50 percent positive. In Idaho airports last year, however, some 75 percent of comments were positive.

Asked why the discrepancy between Idaho and the rest of the country is so pronounced, Coose said it may have to do with the fact that security officers in Idaho tend to make eye contact with passengers and smile at them. In short, they treat passengers like people.

""I think it has to do with the fact that, in Idaho, the people we have hired for TSA actually engage the passengers,"" Coose said. ""That's my guess.""

Coose credited positive feedback from passengers for contributing to the Idaho airport system's selection as TSA's Airport of the Year in 2009.