department of transportation

Gov’t Wants To Fingerprint Travelers Leaving The U.S., Why It’s A Bad Idea

Yesterday the United States Senate Judiciary Committee voted 13-to-5 in favour of an amendment, as part of immigration reform, to require the finger printing of all foreign travelers departing the United States.  The bill, proposed by Senator Orin Hatch (R-UT), implements biometric tracking of foreign travelers under the Department of Transportation in three phases.  …

The 10th Anniversary Of The DHS As We Know It

While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was created on the 25th of November 2002 and officially began operations on the 24th of January 2003, with the appointment of Governor Tom Ridge (R-PA) as the first Secretary of Homeland Security, the Department of Homeland Security didn’t become the agency as we know it today until…

Should The Gov’t Get Involved In Baggage Fees?

The airline industry is one of the most heavily regulated industries in the world, despite the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 (Public Law 95-504).     Nearly every aspect of an airline’s operations are subject to regulation … but airlines are free to charge what they’d like for fares and services, provided they do not…

DOT Slaps Spirit Airlines With Fines For Tweets

For some time the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has been monitoring the social media activities of airlines to ensure that airlines fully disclose fares up front to travelers.  Under DOT regulations any far, including promotional fares, must disclose taxes and fees up front. While DOT fare disclosure eats into Twitter’s 140-character message, regulations for…

The Ninth Anniversary Of The TSA In Airports

Nine years ago today aviation security around the world changed … and not necessarily for the better. Nine years ago today the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) took over passenger screening in airports from private security contractors in the United States. On the 12th of February 2002 airport security in the United States was overseen by…

TSA’s Lack Of Answers – A Personal View Point

Disclosure : This post is a personal view point editorial Since I began covering aviation security on the 15th of September 2001 I have spent a considerable amount of time dealing with the federal agencies that were involved with protecting airports and commercial aviation. When the primary responsibility of aviation security in the United States…

US Airways, A Disabled Passenger Removed From A Flight & The Grey Areas

Last week a story broke that US Airways had removed Johnnie Tuitel from a flight for being “too disabled.”  Since the story broke there have been countless stories in the news and comments in various social media channels regarding the removal of Mr. Tuitel from the flight and speculation surrounding the circumstances of the incident….

The New United Is #1 : Up & Down Game Of On-Time Performance

Airlines will constantly juggle who is #1 in any given category. Nearly every month and every quarter airlines adjust statistics to promote their top ranked aspects … so … … the official on time performance numbers for August have been released by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the top on-time airlines in the United…

Airlines Earn Even More Money On Your Baggage In 2010’s First Quarter

The U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics has released the 2010 1st Quarter earnings for airlines in the United States. While earnings from checked baggage fees are in the stratosphere, the overall look at the ancillary revenue numbers show a surprising potential overall dip from last year’s annual totals. Back in the fourth quarter of 2008…

Ancillary Revenue Fees For U.S. Airlines Net US$7.8 Billion Last Year!

Back in May 2009 I wrote about how airlines were using ancillary revenue, primarily from checked baggage fees, as their financial salvation. At the time many travelers were astonished to find out that in the fourth-quarter of 2008 airlines in the United States had netted US$498,600,000. For those of you that thought US$498,600,000 in a…