Politicians in the Texas state legislature have authored a pair of bills they hope would keep the TSA from using full-body scanners and enhanced pat-downs at airports in the Lone Star State. [More]
TSA
10 Ways To Make The TSA Crotch Grabbers Profitable
By 3.7.11
Last week, the the Director of Homeland Security suggested to Congress that the TSA get a cut of airline baggage fees. The fees encourage travelers to carry on their bags, and this in turn leads to more bags that have to be inspected by hand at security checkpoints. Should taxpayers keep picking up the tab, or should airlines give the TSA a piece of the baggage fees? How about neither? What if instead the TSA looked for more creative ways to offset costs and even increase revenue? Here are 10 modest proposals: [More]
TSA Wants To Increase Airport Fees Because You're Not Checking Your Bags
By 3.4.11
To avoid bag check fees, travelers are routinely opting to carry on their bags, but the TSA says that the cost is just getting shifted to tax payers, to the tune of $260 million a year. That’s because the more bags that don’t get checked, the more bags the TSA has to inspect by hand at security checkpoints. Now the TSA is looking to get a cut of some of the checked baggage fees the airlines collect. [More]
Could Backscatter Scanners Be Coming To City Streets?
By 3.3.11
The TSA’s rollout of full-body backscatter scanners at airports hasn’t pleased too many people (other than the manufacturers of said scanners). Now a handful of newly uncovered documents show that the Dept. of Homeland Security has been considering bringing that invasive technology out of the airport and out to the public realm. [More]
Feds Investigating TSA Agents For Allegedly Failing To Screen Luggage
By 3.3.11
According to a federal probe, at least 27 TSA agents in Honolulu took it easy on the job, routinely letting un-screened baggage through on early-morning flights. [More]
Passenger Goes Through JFK Security With 3 Boxcutters In His Bag
By 3.2.11
A JetBlue flight from JFK Airport to the Dominican Republic was grounded for three hours over the weekend after a flight attendant discovered three boxcutters in the carry-on bag of a passenger — three boxcutters that no one at the security checkpoint seemed to notice. [More]
Undercover TSA Agent Makes It Through Full-Body Scanners With Gun In Her Undies
By 2.23.11
Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at Security Theatre: An undercover TSA agent was able to slip through the full-body scanners at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport with a handgun stashed in her undies… And not just once, but five times. [More]
Seattle-Area Restaurant Refuses To Serve TSA Agents
By 2.22.11
Fed up with what he views as crappy treatment from the TSA, the owner of a restaurant near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has decided to put all TSA agents on his No-Eat List. [More]
TSA Screeners At JFK Admit To Stealing $160K From Passengers
By 2.16.11
It must be tempting to be a TSA screener, seeing bags full of expensive goodies going through your scanner and knowing how easy it would be to make those bags disappear. Two TSA agents at JFK Airport in NYC gave into that temptation, swiping at least $160,000 from travelers. [More]
TSA Testing Less-Revealing Full-Body Scanner Software
By 2.2.11
If you’re one of the many travelers who aren’t exactly thrilled at the idea of having the intimate details of your anatomy displayed on a monitor at the airport security checkpoint, here’s some promising news. The TSA is testing out an upgrade to some of its full-body scanners that could put an end to incidents like this or this. [More]
$100 Bribe Gets Mysterious Package On JetBlue Plane
By 1.18.11
Here’s a deal you won’t see JetBlue advertising on its website. All you need to get a mysterious package unaccompanied onto a JetBlue flight is a $100 bill in the hands of a JetBlue ticket agent. [More]
TSA: Trying To Fool Scanners With Clever Clothes Will Just Lead To A Pat-Down
By 1.11.11
You might remember our story from July on Flying Pasties, the stickers that purported to hide your private bits from airport scanners. Those are just one of many products released in recent months attempting to cash in on travelers’ anti-scanner attitudes. However, the TSA has made it pretty clear that all you’re really doing when you walk through security carrying or wearing one of these products is asking for a pat-down. [More]
Getting To Know You: All About The New Friends We Made In 2010
By 12.31.10
Behind every buzzworthy headline of the past year has been someone in charge, someone to blame, or just someone to laugh at and talk about. From the debacle of Toyota’s millions of recalled automobiles, to a fed-up flight attendant with a flair for drama, we’ve become familiar with a few new faces in 2010, for better or for worse. [More]
Terrorists Beware: Toledo Express Airport Gets A Full-Body Scanner
By 12.20.10
‘Tis the season to give, and it seems Toledo Express Airport in Ohio is the newest recipient of some fancy holiday largess: This week it was announced that the regional airport, boasting five departing flights per day, will receive a full-body scanner. Our tax dollars at work! [More]
Eagle-Eyed TSA Screeners Don't Notice Loaded Handgun In Man's Carry-On
By 12.17.10
If you thought the TSA’s inability to notice a 6-inch hunting knife was a sign that airport screeners might as well be watching Spongebob instead of X-raying you and your stuff, here’s further proof. [More]
Oops! I Made It Past The TSA Screeners With A 6-Inch Hunting Knife
By 12.8.10
While the TSA is busy rolling out full-body scanners and grope-y pat-down procedures, the agency still hasn’t managed to actually stop people from slipping onto airplanes with deadly weapons. [More]
Sen. Schumer Proposes Law Against Saving Full-Body Scans
By 12.6.10
While the Transportation Safety Administration and the makers of the controversial full-body scanners swear up and down that the machines don’t save the rather revealing images they snap of screened travelers, New York Senator Chuck Schumer wants to go one step further and make it a crime to distribute or save the images. [More]
Woman In Wheelchair Strips To Lingerie, Still Gets TSA Patdown
By 12.2.10
In protest of the enhanced TSA pat-down, a woman arrived at the airport this week wearing only lacy black lingerie and holding her white poodle. She had hoped that if she “had nothing to hide” then she could avoid a pat-down. She failed in this endeavor. Naturally, it was captured by a fellow passenger and uploaded to YouTube. [More]
