If the rest of my family was taking off for a vacation to Disney World and I wasn’t allowed to go, I’d be terribly put out. But I am not a cat, and so unlike one Bob-bob of Ohio, I can’t climb inside my owner’s suitcase and show up in Florida anyway. Bob-bob’s recent journey took 10 hours, at the end of which his owner was a bit surprised to see him pop out of the luggage. [More]
Cat's Plan To Rid The World Of Mickey Mouse Leads Him To Stow Away In Suitcase For 10 Hours
By September 14, 2012
Maybe The Average Traveler Is Okay With The TSA, But Frequent Fliers? Not So Much
By September 11, 2012
We’re up, we’re down, we approve of the job the Transportation Security Administration is doing (or, if you took our poll, 82.5% of our readers who responded actually don’t think so) and now someone else is saying the TSA is mucking it up at our nation’s airports. That’s according to frequent fliers who were asked about the topic in a new survey released today. [More]
If One Woman Flies On An Expired Passport With No One Noticing, How Many Others Are Doing The Same?
By August 31, 2012
Anyone who’s ever flown internationally has had that heartbeat-skipping moment: “Wait, is my passport expired?” I had it a few months before flying to England, and my heart didn’t rest until my newly-issued passport was in my hands. But one woman who flew to Europe from the U.S. says she didn’t have that moment until it was too late, when she realized her passport was a year expired. Turns out a bunch of security agents missed it, too. Oops. [More]
TSA Calls Out 6 Boston Bag Screeners For Being Too Distracted By Cellphones To Actually Screen Bags
By August 28, 2012
The Transportation Security Administration is gearing up to fire six bag-screening officers at Logan International Airport because they were a bit too distracted on the job to actually perform their duties of carefully checking to make sure said bags weren’t filled with bad stuff like explosives. An additional 14 will be suspended for inattention to duty. [More]
TSA Can't Get Fancy Footwear Scanners To Work So We'll Keep Shuffling Around Barefoot
By August 24, 2012
If there’s nothing you hate more than doffing your shoes to walk barefooted or shuffle in your socks through security screenings at the airport, well, we hate to be the ones to tell you, but that’s going to be your reality for awhile. The Transportation Security Administration has been shelling out millions to test not one but four different scanners that would let us keep our shoes on at security checkpoints, and none of them are doing well enough to be used. [More]
Southwest Airlines Pilot's Tiff With TSA Agent Escalates Until Cops Make Everyone Chill Out
By August 13, 2012
No, you aren’t the only one who gets annoyed with the Transportation Security Administration (in fact, 81% of those who responded to our recent poll aren’t fans) — even pilots get fed up from time to time, including one of Southwest Airlines’ very own who was so peeved at a “condescending” agent at New Hampshire’s Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, cops had to be called to cool the whole situation down. [More]
We Complain A Lot But Survey Says Most Americans Think The TSA Is Doing A Good Job
By August 10, 2012
Maybe we just hear all the worst things about the Transportation Security Administration, rendering us dubious, but for most Americans the agency seems to be doing a pretty good job running airport security. That’s according to a new survey that found 54% of the country feel the TSA’s work is either good or excellent, and about 30% grading it as just fair. [More]
Court To TSA: It's About Time You Held Those Hearings On Nude Body Scanners, Don't Ya Think?
By August 2, 2012
Just last month we reported on a petition from Jim Cato of the Harper Institute, urging the White House to put the heat on the Transportation Security Administration for its delay in holding hearings on nude body scanners, and now it seems the courts have listened. [More]
Good To Know: Stripping In The Airport Security Line Is Totally Cool With The Constitution
By July 19, 2012
Do you ever get so angry that you just start tearing off your clothing in public? No? Us either, but one Oregon man was upset enough by Transportation Security Administration measures he found invasive, he stripped down to his birthday suit while in line at Portland’s airport. Luckily for him, a judge thinks that’s just fine. [More]
Passenger Says TSA Handled Her Feeding Tube During Strip Search
By July 19, 2012
A woman with a 4″ feeding tube surgically implanted in her abdomen says she makes frequent trips between her home in Texas and the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. And while the tube always draws some extra attention at airport security checkpoints, TSA screeners at Dallas Love Field recently went too far in investigating the issue. [More]
TSA Flags Man With World’s Largest Penis For Additional Crotch Screening
By July 17, 2012
Jonah Falcon of New York City is an actor and hosts a public-access show about the Yankees, but he isn’t famous for that. He’s famous for a quirk of nature: he has the largest recorded penis in the world. He’s appeared on lots of talk shows and even in a documentary, but evidently his fame hasn’t reached the TSA workers at San Francisco International Airport. There, the large bulge in his pants caught the notice of a guard, who presumed it was some kind of weapon. He was subjected to a (brisk and professional) extra patdown and tested for explosive residue. [More]
Petition Calls On White House To Require TSA To Seek Public Comment On Full-Body Scanners
By July 11, 2012
Almost exactly a year ago, a U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the Transportation Security Administration had, in its rush to roll out full-body scanners at airports, broken its own rules by not publishing the policy in the Federal Register and allowing the public to comment on it before putting it into action. At the time, the court expected the TSA to “act promptly” and seek public comment. It hasn’t done so, and now a new petition seeks to have the White House require the TSA to do so. [More]
TSA Firings Continue With Termination Of 8 Air Marshals Suspected Of Boozing While Training
By June 29, 2012
On the heels of yesterday’s news that the Transportation Security Administration would be firing eight security screeners for allegedly sleeping while on duty in Newark, it seems the agency is doing a thorough housecleaning job with the termination of eight U.S. Air Marshals. Investigators say they were drinking alcohol on a training day. [More]
8 TSA Security Screeners Fired For Allegedly Sleeping On The Job At Newark Airport
By June 28, 2012
The Transportation Security Administration has fired eight security screeners working at Newark Liberty International Airport, accusing them of sleeping while on the job and other violations. The workers were nabbed as part of an ongoing investigation of security operations at the airport. [More]
Man Claims TSA Agent Spilled His Grandfather’s Ashes During Security Screening
By June 26, 2012
A man trying to bring his grandfather’s ashes home says a Transportation Security Administration agent not only opened the jar containing the remains, but then proceeded to root around in them and spill some on the floor. He was even more shocked when she laughed at him as he tried to scoop up what had spilled. [More]
TSA’s Plans Mean Maybe The Security Screening Process Won’t Be So Darn Annoying
By June 25, 2012
If you’re the kind of person who likes to imagine a Jetsons-esque future where everything is made easier at the press of a button, you’re not alone. The Transportation Security Administration says it’s been dreaming up new ways to finally make airport security screening less annoying — but not for seven to 10 more years. [More]
Woman Accused Of Groping TSA Agent Claims Turnabout Is Fair Play
By June 20, 2012
A woman accused of groping a female Transportation Security Administration agent is claiming that she was just showing the agent the kind of aggressive treatment she herself was subject to during a security screening. And she should know, she says –Â she’s a former TSA agent herself. [More]
7 TSA Agents Fired For Paying Bribes To Pass Proficiency Tests
By June 15, 2012
Pop quiz: What’s the best way to pass a proficiency test when you work for a highly scrutinized federal agency already under fire for ineptitude? If you answered “pay $200 to the instructor,” then maybe you are among those TSA agents getting the boot from Philadelphia International Airport. [More]
