May 2012
9 posts
I-Team: Priest Removed From Ministry Due To Sex... →
Who will guard the guards?
KYW in Philadelphia reports that a man removed from his ministry by the Catholic Church is now working for the TSA.
He was accused of molesting two young girls and is now the subject of a civil suit by a third woman claiming he molested her in her pre-teen years. No criminal charges were filed against the TSA employee, so on criminal background check would find out...
“[Freelance reporter Matthew] Cole said that nobody appeared even to recognize...”
– TSA Gropes Another Senior Citizen (Specifically, Henry Kissinger) - Lowering the Bar
Airport worker allegedly had man's ID before death... →
It’s worse than the headline sounds. The “airport worker” was actually the supervisor of about 30 security guards at Newark Liberty Airport.
Law enforcement authorities involved in the investigation say Nigerian Bimbo Oyewole began using the identity of Queens, N.Y., resident Jerry Thomas three weeks before Thomas was shot and killed in 1992.
Mr. Oyewole stole the identity to...
Baby, 18 months old, ordered off plane at Fort... →
Oh, great. After boarding with their daughter, to adults from New Jersey were told by a stewardess that the TSA requested their presence back in the terminal because of their daughter. After standing around for a half hour, the three were told they could re-board.
JetBlue says it was a TSA issue and that the daughter is on the no-fly list. TSA says nope. The little girl was issued a boarding...
Congress: The TSA Is Wasting Hundreds Of Millions... →
TechDirt summarizes this .pdf document:
Basically, it sounds like the TSA likes to go on giant spending sprees, buying up security equipment and then never, ever using it.
Fear-mongering by revolving-door government bureaucrats-cum-lobbyists seems to have resulting in purchases which are now unaccounted for. Of the pieces that have been accounted for, 85% has been in storage for over six...
Diabetic teen upset with TSA screeners at Salt... →
Savannah, who is a type one diabetic and wears an insulin pump 24 hours a day, says she ran into TSA agents who were not prepared to deal with her medical situation.
The TSA admins keep assuring us that the TSA employees are thoroughly trained, and the admins keep assuring us after every gaffe that they’ll train some more. But stuff like this keeps happening.
The teen, Savannah Barry...
Jump Lines at the Airport with US Airways' New... →
Jaunted points out that US Airways is selling “preferred access” to boarding for the starting price of $10 per leg per person. No, not your leg; each leg of the trip you’re on. So the price can run up.
You get preferred ticket counters, preferred screening, and Zone 1 boarding (but not first boarding).
United Airlines in 1962: Flashbulbs for Celebrity... →
Ah, yes, it days gone by (the early 60s if I’m reading this right), celebs _wanted_ to be photographed arriving at the airport. And this photographer could go right out on the tarmac and take the pictures as the star walked down the steps from the plane. Remember those days?
Spirit Airlines - cheap tickets, cheap flights,... →
You have to scroll way down to “All Customers - Airport Gate Purchase,” but there it is: As of November 6, 2012, carry on bags are a hundred bucks if you haven’t paid when you get to the gate. The basic price for a carry on is $40. Checked bags are $38. Do you think there’s a message here?
FlyRights app lets airline passengers file a... →
Sikhs think they are unfairly targeted as a group by the TSA because of their beards and turbans. So there’s an app to report religious profiling.
The TSA, of course, says it’s all about bulky clothes and scarves.
April 2012
18 posts
“I’m not embarrassed,” she said. “I just think they’re...”
– TSA to My Mother-in-Law: ‘There’s an Anomaly in the Crotch Area’ - Jeffrey Goldberg - National - The Atlantic
79-year-old woman responding to TSA’s stupidity when the X-ray machine found “an anomaly in her crotch area.”
There’s also link to another...
Has the TSA become the Stanford prisoner... →
Redditors have an interesting discussion going on comparing the TSA in real life to the Stanford Prison Experiment and the Milgram Experiment.
There’s little flaming going on so far — more a conversation about what is happening to employees of the TSA.
“The TSA is quickly becoming America’s most hated agency (you’re...”
– How Far Would You Be Willing to Drive If It Meant Avoiding Airport Security?
Read this article and contribute your thoughts on how far you go to avoid the TSA.
TSA agents harass 7-year-old girl with cerebral... →
Oh, great. After making a 4-year-old cry, the TSA now terrorizes a 7-year-old with cerebral palsy and threatens the girl’s mother.
According to the TSA, of course, proper procedures were followed and nothing is wrong.
The Associated Press: TSA defends pat-down of... →
The grandmother nails it: “There was no common sense.”
The TSA, of course, says their employees followed proper procedure. Which, of course, means there was no common sense.
TSA Screeners Watched Suitcases of Drugs Pass... →
And who will guard the guards.
Four TSA screeners are alleged to have allowed suitcases of drugs to pass through screening.
The screening devices have been criticized, as noted in this article, but the main weak point is the TSA employees who can be bought off. My question is, if they can be corrupted to allow drugs through, how are we to know that it’s not explosives going through...
How to Blow Through Airport Security for Only $100... →
By Choire Sicha. If you don’t follow Choire on twitter, you might want to after reading his take on the new TSA PreCheck program.
(Choire gives it a D- for “Constitutional and Human Fairness Issues,” but I think that’s too generous.)
The Latest Travel Threat is from Overheard Bin... →
Jaunted is a great travel blog, and they claim the latest threat to travelers is theft from overheard bins — and they say it twice! At least that’s what I eavesdropped.
Ryanair makes musicians buy seats for their... →
Ryanair has discovered a new way to raise fees: charge musicians for their instruments.
Violinists, for example, are now being required to buy a separate ticket for the instruments they used to bring on board as carry-ons. Ryanair gave as their option to buying another ticket checking the instruments. These particular musicians’ violins were worth about a million dollars each and were made...
TSA to test CAT-BPSS document verification... →
The TSA says it’s rolling out a system to detect fake IDs and fake boarding passes. You know how you could print out a fake boarding pass to match your ID or get a fake ID to match your boarding pass? Well, the TSA is testing a system to match them with real passes, passengers, and IDs.
Why Airport Security Is Broken—And How to Fix It -... →
Kip Hawley was head of the TSA for a few years. Here’s what he has to say about it:
More than a decade after 9/11, it is a national embarrassment that our airport security system remains so hopelessly bureaucratic and disconnected from the people whom it is meant to protect.
***
approach to risk. In attempting to eliminate all risk from flying, we have made air travel an unending...
TSA Security Theater Described In One Simple... →
A poster breaking down the costs of TSA per gun found, terrorist with bomb on board not found, etc.
TSA Admits $1B Nude Body Scanner Fleet Worthless!... →
“Jennifer,” an ill-disguised person claiming to be a TSA employee, says that the back-scatter X-ray machines don’t work. I have no clue who she is, and the interviewer is known to be against the machines, so we have to rely on his integrity to believe this person is an actual employee who is telling the truth.
Malaysia Airlines declares kid-free zone on new... →
An advisory issued to travel agents reveals that children under 12 will not be allowed to sit in the upstairs economy section of MAS’ superjumbo, which will make its debutbetween Kuala Lumpur and London on July 1 with Sydney-KL to follow on September 25.
The Mystery of the Flying Laptop - NYTimes.com →
Why are laptops required to be in a separate bin for TSA perusal but iPads are not?
Until I happened upon a security expert who asked that he not be identified because he has worked on related issues with the Department of Homeland Security. He said that the laptop rule is about appearances, giving people a sense that something is being done to protect them. “Security theater,” he called it.
TSA screener at JFK 'hurled hot coffee at American... →
Another in the ongoing series of “who will guard the guards” posts.
An off-duty pilot overheard a conversation between TSA employees and suggested that the agents conduct themselves more professionally while in uniform, not use profanity, and not use what’s referred to in this article as “the n-word.”
The pilot was told to mind his own business and got a cup of hot...
Tornadoes thrash Dallas area; airport closed –... →
DFW has been closed, so expect delays. CNN says thousands of passengers will be affected because of missed connections. Of course, there’ll be a ripple affect as the connecting flights fail to make connections.
March 2012
11 posts
How The TSA's Security Theater Harms Us All |... →
This is a summary of Bruce Schneier’s positions on the TSA, and it’s worth reading. He points out some confiscations that are ludicrous, but makes the point that the worst harm is our loss of freedoms when we try to become passengers.
TSA agents arrested at Dulles Airport →
Who will guard the guards?
Sommer Gentry writes that after she refused both the backscatter X-ray and enhanced patdown, she was refused entry to an airport by a TSA supervisor later arrested for running a prostitution ring. Another TSA employee at that airport was arrested for a number of sex crimes including “object sexual penetration” and forcible sodomy.
Ms. Gentry objects to...
JetBlue Flight Forced to Land After Deranged... →
This is scary. The plane’s captain seems to have gone screaming through the cabin and had to be restrained by the passengers. The videos don’t show anything I can make out to confirm the story, but clearly something triggered some nerves.
Luxury cruise liner involved in collision off... →
Well, at least it wasn’t a sister ship of the “Costa Concordia.” This time. Again.
No reported injuries on the lightly damaged cruise ship, but the cargo vessel it struck sustained heavy damage. Neither ship sank, and there were no reports of injuries on the cargo vessel, although it seems likely there were injuries.
FAA to take 'fresh look' at gadget restrictions on... →
The issue has been that someone would have to test every single model of every single device for interference on every single model of aircraft. I have sympathy for that.
The FAA seems to be looking into a better way.
“I am writing this at an airport. A slight Asian woman has checked in with, I...”
– Weigh More, Pay More - Peter Singer - Project Syndicate
The author is among those who suggest that airlines charge for tickets based on total weight of passenger and luggage. Get on the scales with all your luggage and pay per mile flown. Skinny people with no luggage will pay less than skinny...
TSA Pooh-Poohs Video Purporting to Defeat Airport... →
The TSA says we should not be concerned about the video purporting to show that we can smuggle stuff on a plane by putting it on our sides.
In its blog, the TSA says it can’t discuss its technology, but it does extensive testing and the scanner is just one of 20 layers of security.
“A mom with a screaming child wanted a quick getaway from a plane on the tarmac...”
– Flier near crying child opens emergency exit for mom - USATODAY.com
We all dream this, right, when we’re on a plane with a screaming kid? It’ll cost about ten grand US to replace the slide. Don’t do this yourself.
$1B of TSA Nude Body Scanners Made Worthless By... →
This guy is suing the government to have backscatter x-ray machines removed. Here’s a video showing how he thinks the machines can be defeated: put a metal object in a pocket on the side of your shirt. Metal objects show up as black and won’t be visible against the black background when they’re on your side.
It sounds logical, and he says he’s gone through scanners twice...
“It really confuses me as to how an empty breast pump and cooler pack are a...”
– Mom With Breast Pump ‘Humiliated’ by TSA - ABC News
The TSA says the agent was wrong, but that didn’t solve the problem at the time. It’s really depressing that agents can be that wrong.
The agent told her she couldn’t clear security with her breast milk ice pack...
“TSA has never, (and I invite them to prove me wrong), foiled a terrorist plot or...”
– gmancasefile: TSA: Fail
I think he’s got a point. Read the rest of the article for tales about his run-ins with the TSA (they let him on with a gun, but take his knife, e.g.).
February 2012
10 posts
TSA discovery prompts New York bomb scare - six... →
When I ask who will guard the guards, this is what I mean:
Some guy was carrying two small lengths of pipe in his carry-on bag. The screener found them, determined them to be exactly what they appeared to be, confiscated them for whatever reason (shrug - they could’ve been used to hit someone, I suppose), and let the former carrier go on his merry way.
Because the pipes were harmless, the...
Female Passengers Say They Were Targeted for TSA... →
DFW TSA screeners seem to prefer women to men when it comes to the X-ray scanners. A local TV station filed a request for all complaints, and 500 were from women who accused screeners of targeting them for being female. One woman was sent through three times before she heard the TSA’er sending her through say on the radio, “Come on, guys, she’s not blurry.” The female...
TSA's PreCheck Security Program Gains New Airport... →
Jaunted has a collection of TSA stories, some successes, some failures, along with a brief mention of TSA’s low-risk passenger program. You’ll find more details here.
U.S. travel warning on Mexico is more precise on... →
The headline says it. If you’re planning a spring break or other vacation in Mexico, read the new, detailed warning from the State Department.
Court Revives Challenge to No-Fly List | Threat... →
Back to “who will guard the guards”
In 2005, a woman in the US on a student visa tried to fly out of San Francisco to present a paper at a conference in Malaysia. She was handcuffed and “detained” at the airport long enough to miss her flight, which meant she missed her opportunity to make her presentation.
She did catch a later flight. However, the government revoked her...
CCTV police officer 'chased himself' after being... →
One of my complaints about TSA and other such agencies is that no one guards the guards. Here’s a story about English surveillance cameras being used to track a man suspected of being a burglar, with the camera operator being in radio contact with a plain clothes officer trying to catch the suspicious man. Of course, it turns out the burglar was actually the cop. Twenty minutes of chasing...
“The fee, which Spirit calls the “Department of Transportation Unintended...”
– Spirit Airlines adding ‘unintended consequences fee’ - CNN.com
Ya gotta love the chutzpah. Spirit adds to your ticket price $40 for a carry-on bag, $38 for the first checked bag, $5 for a printed boarding pass, plus some other add-ons to your basic transportation price. Now a $2 fee for...
AMR Aims for $2 Billion in Cost Savings - WSJ.com →
The Wall Street Journal’s summary of the proposed plan: Cut 13,000 jobs and terminate employee pension plans. Hope you’re not flying American soon.
“As you are, we’re waiting to see what AMR/American Airlines is going to...”
– Airline Biz Blog | dallasnews.com
The rumors I’m hearing on news reports is layoffs of 10,000 to 15,000 and freezing of pensions.
Look for less cheerful employees if you’re flying American.
January 2012
10 posts
'Premium Coach' Gets Popular - WSJ.com →
The Jan 26 Wall Street Journal has this article on a new way for airlines to get more from economy passengers: charge extra for better seats, food, and service. Unfortunately, it hasn’t hit America yet. It’s mostly overseas.
The premium over basic coach fares ranges from $400 to $1,500 depending on the airline and the route. Passenger comment range from “no need for business...
