The TSA is testing a new crowd management system at two airports in Denver and Salt Lake City that they hope will make the security process less troublesome. No, the new system isn’t less invasive or more security-sensible, but it does give families with kids/strollers/bags their own lane, both for their sanity and for ours. Early reports indicate families are happy with it but too many casual travelers think they’re experts and head to the black diamond lane, which is only for people who walk briskly and frown a lot.
airports
Suggestion: Don't Try To Smuggle A Box Cutter Through Airport Security
By 2.20.08
The TSA says a 21 year-old man was caught smuggling a box cutter onto an airplane by hiding it inside a secret compartment inside a book. The man says he forgot the box cutter was inside the book.
By 1.31.08
../../../..//2008/01/31/tsa-can-haz-blog-evolution/
TSA can haz blog. [Evolution of Security]
Stuck On The No Fly List? Use Your Middle Name Instead
By 1.30.08
If you find yourself mistakenly on the terrorism no-fly or government watch lists and always get hassled at the airport, there’s a simple way to avoid the trouble: use your middle name when you buy your tickets. It’s certainly a lot easier than trying to use the Homeland Security’s Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (TRIP), which was set up to help people get off the no fly lists if they’re on there by mistake. Passengers complain that TRIP is slow to respond to requests and it doesn’t stop them from still getting taken aside for secondary screenings much more than other passengers. It’s a good thing the terrorists will never figure out this amazing and advanced alternate name technique.
Top 10 Airports With Worst On-Time Departures
By 1.23.08
Rank / Airport / On-time departure percentage
Delta Steals Cremated Remains From Passenger's Luggage
By 1.21.08
A North Carolina man says that his son’s cremated remains are missing from his suitcase. When he got his luggage at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport after a trip to Orlando, he found his bag was unzipped. Inside, some gadgets items and a box with some of his son’s ashen remains was gone. The family says it has filed complaints with Delta Airlines, the Transportation Security Administration and Orlando International Airport. They should also file a police report, but more importantly, if they have the electronic item’s serial numbers, they should check to see if the gadgets have shown up on eBay. One guy did that, found a guy listing his camera stolen from his luggage, and the thief ended up getting caught and prosecuted.
JFK Airport Is Notoriously Corrupt: Baggage Handlers Caught Stealing $250,000 In Diamonds
By 1.17.08
Queens prosecutors said Monday that a 51-year-old worker and his 39-year-old supervisor are charged with grand larceny and possession of stolen property. They say the jewelry was stolen last week from a container marked “high value” that was being shipped from Switzerland to Brazil.
We won’t lie, corrupt baggage handlers piss us off. These two specimens broke open the container and stole the jewelry, hiding it in a locker at the American Airlines terminal.
Expect Airfare To Include Airport Congestion Fees
By 1.15.08
In a move meant to promote reducing congestion, the DOT yesterday announced that airports can now charge airlines landing fees based on time and overall airplane volume, rather than simply their weight. Critics charge the previous policy allowed airlines to schedule flights on smaller and more regional jets during busy times, when what were needed were fewer and larger jets.The move would allow airports to schedule their flights throughout the day. Most likely the fees will be passed on to consumers, as they should. A good way to increase in a system is to make those who want to use its resources when they’re in short supply pay a premium. Airlines are expected to lobby fiercely against the measure.
TSA Traveler Website Exposed Private Citizens To Risk Of ID Theft
By 1.15.08
The Transportation Security Administration’s traveler redress website—which was launched to give travelers a way to get their names removed from the government’s toddler-centric no fly list—operated for months without proper security in place, leaving citizens who submitted detailed personal information to it wide open to identity theft. Gee, we’re this close to thinking that the TSA is run by a bunch of grotesquely incompetent, slug-like bureaucrats.
New York's Passenger Bill Of Rights Goes Into Effect
By 1.2.08
Back in those lazy summer days of August, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer signed a “passenger bill of rights” into law—requiring airlines who keep passengers on a grounded airplane more than 3 hours to provide water, snacks, fresh air and a working toilet.
A Big List Of Foods That You Can Bring Through Airport Security
By 12.28.07 — Updated: 6.27.16
The Transportation Security Administration is very clear on what types of foods you can and can not bring onto an airplane, but most people think that the “liquid” ban extends to cheeseburgers. Not so.
The TSA’s only restrictions are that any food items brought through security must be either be whole, natural foods (like an orange), or be in placed in a container or otherwise wrapped up. All food must be x-rayed.
TSA Declares Victory, Achieves Same Vaunted Status As IRS
By 12.23.07
The IRS is celebrating the results of an AP poll that ranks the TSA as the most hated arm of the federal government. More than anything, Americans apparently hate being inconvenienced by seemingly pointless and arbitrary security checks.
The AP poll, conducted Monday through Wednesday, found that the more people travel, the less they like TSA.
Worst Times To Fly Into The Top 10 Most Delayed Airports
By 12.21.07
Here are the worst times to fly into the top ten most delayed airports in America. If your flight plans bring you through one of these airports at one of these times, you may want to consider changing your itinerary.
Government Will Limit Flights Per Hour At JFK
By 12.19.07
An argument can be made that the irresponsibly overworked New York City airports are causing a bottleneck in air travel that can be felt system-wide. The blame for the area’s poor performance gets passed around between the FAA, the airlines, the airports themselves, the weather and God.
By 12.11.07
../../../..//2007/12/11/cincinnati-is-the-most-expensive/
Cincinnati is the most expensive city to flight out of. [WSJ]
The Best Alternate Airports In America
By 12.9.07
Flying to one of America’s numerous satellite airports can be faster and easier than charging into a congestion clogged airport that suffers delays on the sunniest days. Travel guru Peter Greenberg and his staff compiled a list of unlikely airports that can save you from the long lines and endless waits that plague traveler’s nightmares.
Please Don't Hunt At The Pittsburgh International Airport
By 11.30.07
Important tip for aspiring sportsmen: Don’t “hunt” at Pittsburgh International Airport. It’s not legal to be creeping around airport property with loaded firearms. Shocking, we know.
11 Slowest Big-City Airport Security Lines
By 11.29.07
FareCompare’s Rick Seaney analyzed TSA’s data to find out which of the top 40 busiest airports have the longest security line waits. To get the results, they honed in on max times on Mondays from 2pm-6pm, Oct. 30 through Nov. 27.
