TSA

For those of you who enjoyed the first brief, here's the second one. If you want to subscribe to the brief in your podcatcher, our podcast only RSS feed is here.
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This is not the first time this has happened, and that is sad. Today, a US Airways regional flight, flight 3079 operated by Chautaqua Airlines, from New York's LaGuardia Airport to Louisville, Kentucky was diverted to Philadelphia over a religious issue.
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President Obama said today that the December 25th attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound flight was not a failure of the U.S. Intelligence gathering system, but a failure to analyze that information and respond to it. Instead of focusing solely on defending the performance of his government, which his predecessor might have done, he came...
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("Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither." - Benjamin Franklin). Last night, agents of the Transportation Security Administration visited the homes of two aviation bloggers: Steven Frischling, of the popular Flying with Fish blog, and Christopher Elliott, syndicated travel journalist and blogger.
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We've maintained consistently that the most effective anti-terrorist tool in intelligence. Good intelligence can stop a potential terror suspect before he gets anywhere near the airport. Beyond that, we have screenings. The New York Times reports that the U.S. Government's response to a warning from the man's father that he developed radical views, had...
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As my name(the Infrequent Flier) suggests, I don't often have a chance to get up in the air. As a result, my trips form a time-lapse portrait of the flying experience as it has changed. Each time I fly, I am amazed at the new rules, regulations and procedures that have been put...
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On Friday, a passenger on a Northwest flight set off a small explosive device shortly before landing in Detroit. The man, Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, was subdued. He had connected in Amsterdam to the flight from a KLM flight inbound from Lagos, Nigeria. He had been rescreened in Amsterdam, as is standard procedure there. The...
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Image by Getty Images via Daylife Holiday seasons are usually times when many of us take to the air to see relatives and enjoy a little time away. It is also a time when thoughts turn to security. The government is always warning us to be vigilant, especially during the holiday season. But why? Bruce Schneier...
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And that is the question. Do TSA Agents even know the rules their department has enacted? Or do they make them up as they go along? Or perhaps local supervisors impose rules on top of department-wide policy?
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The TSA is truly amazing in its involvement with social media. A lot of things they post on their blog are ones we find a bit hard to swallow, but when they respond to the latest internet anti-TSA story, they go at it full force.
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In response to accusations made by a blogging mother that the TSA had separated her and her young child, the TSA released edited CCTV video, showing that the child was not in fact, separated from his mother. She issued a response on her own blog.
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Nic, from My Bottles Up, recounted a story of her recent experience at the airport in Atlanta where she claims the TSA separated her from her young son. The story is very details and emotional, and you can read the full text.. We will try to summarize the important facts.
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Saying something about 9/11 is almost obligatory, especially for a commercial aviation blogger. The scope of the tragedy was nearly unimaginable at the time...that such a thing could happen. Our hearts continue to go out to those who lost loved ones that day and we will never forget the sacrifice of those who rushed...
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Image by Kevin Boydston via Flickr Passengers on a Continental Express flight from Houston to Minneapolis spent the night on a regional jet parked at Rochester MN Airport. The plane was operated by Expressjet, and Chris Elliott rightly asked who was in charge. The plane is branded Continental, it was sold by Continental, yet operated...
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Image via Wikipedia On Saturday morning, an emotionally disturbed man named Scott McGann showed up at LaGuardia Airport with a ticket on United to Chicago and onward to Oakland, purchased by family. He also showed up with a duffel bag contained an item that was not, but appeared to be a bomb. The Central Terminal, where...
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Image via Wikipedia Two years ago, we wrote about one Raed Jarrar, who was told to remove his shirt, which stated “We will not be silent” in both Arabic and English. Here is our synopsis of the time. It is reported that on August 12, Raed Jarrar was about to board a Jetblue flight from New...
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Kip Hawley, head of the Transportation Security Administration, said in an interview last week that in a year, the organization and its foreign counterparts would be in a position to relax the restrictions on liquids. The X-ray machines capable of detecting liquids used in bomb making are already in widespread use, but the software for...
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One of our affiliate blogs, Gadget Wisdom, posted an article today on taking your laptop on the airplane. We checked out Targus, one of the best known creators of laptop bags. They are advertising for pre-order a Zip-Thru 15.4″ Corporate Traveler Laptop Case for $99.99. It splits down the middle, isolating the laptop part for...
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Effective today, September 11th, 2008, transportation security officers at airport checkpoints all over the country will be wearing new uniforms and badges. The new uniform will be blue, and a gold badge will replace the patch. Plans for this were announced over a year ago, and have finally been implemented. At the time, it was...
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American Airlines is being sued by a man for allegedly misplacing his wife’s body for four days. According to the lawsuit, the body was so badly decomposed when it finally arrived that they had to forego a traditional open-casket funeral. Shares of United Airlines stock tanked on Monday(Forbes reports) when a six-year-old Chicago Tribune story...
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2008 is Here, and we’ll only be able to use it as an opening thought for a few more posts. Many exciting things have happened to our luggage in recent weeks. Let’s talk about the security screening process a bit. The picture is from the TSA’s SimpliFLY page. The idea, and certainly better than some...
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One can be shocked by the repeated stories of woe and disaster…here are some that are not to be believed. Airline complaints in the United States overall are up this year, increasing 47.2% in the first six months of 2007, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. In order…the top five complained about U.S....
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The Labor Day weekend is upon us…our spin-off blog, The Infrequent Flier, has its travel tips for the holiday season. For us here at Flight Wisdom, we wish you happy travels. Operators of some CRJ-100, 200, and 440 jets have until Friday to comply with new restrictions issued by the Canadian and US governments. ...
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Today in the Sky reports that, unannounced, Delta raised fees on August 1st. Same-day confirmed standby has doubled to $50, the direct booking fee has doubled to $20, their $50 change fee is now a $75 change fee. $75 is now also the charge for redepositing unused frequent-flier miles and for booking frequent flier...
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Frontier Airlines is expanding its service to Puerto Vallarta with flights from San Jose and Sacramento, beginning December 15th. Service will be operated three times weekly from San Jose, and four from Sacramento, with 76-seat Embraer 170 aircraft, operated by Republic Airlines. One of the San Jose flights will be operated by Frontier’s own...
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