Transportation Security Administration

Senate Bill Seeks To Ban Frequent Flyer Security Lane

Airline frequent flyers expect a number of perks for their loyalty from the airlines they fly on, one of these perks at many airports is an ‘elite line’ at security check points allowing frequent flyers and first class passengers to skip the long queues of waiting passengers … but a new bill introduced on the…

Why The Video Of The TSA Screening Child In A Wheel Chair Is Misleading

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is an easy target for the public, pundits and “TSA Nabs Suspected Al Queda Terrorist At Chicago Airport, A toddler in a wheelchair” is an easy headline for blogs and news outlets … especially when relevant facts are left out.   Yesterday a video uploaded by Matt Dubiel, of Naperville,…

Costs Of Private vs Gov’t Passenger Screening In The U.S.

The United States Government, like all organizations with operational expenses, is seeking to reduce its costs while creating a more effective workflow.  As the Government seeks to reduce its debt, trim excess spending and bring its operational costs down, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) would appear among the most resistant to change.   While the…

Why You Can’t Smuggle ‘Anything’ Through TSA Scanners

Earlier this week Jonathan Corbett, creator of the TSA Out Of Our Pants blog, posted a video entitled How To Get Anything Through TSA Nude Body Scanners. In Mr. Corbett’s video he show images from Rapiscan Secure 1000 Backscatter scanners and then describes how items placed along the side of a person would appear dark,…

Unattended TSA Checkpoint Lets People Walk On Through

Sacramento International Airport, an airport expected to move roughly 8.9-million passengers in 2012, ranking it among the top 25 busiest airports in the United States, screened an average of 24,245.78 passengers per day in 2011, flying to more than 30 destinations daily. With the busy pace at Sacramento International Airport, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)…

TSA Claims It Needs More Money To Screen Less Bags

Last week President Barack Obama proposed a US$317,000,000 increase in the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) budget, to strengthen aviation security in the United States. While President Obama’s proposal to raise aviation taxes in the coming year to find the budget increase is likely to be defeated by both Democrats and Republicans in The House, the…

Some TSA Screeners Quietly Ease Up On Pat Downs

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has repeatedly made headlines and caught the ire of travelers for their invasive “enhanced pat downs” for those who refuse Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) security scanners or who set off an alarm passing through a metal detector.   Since the TSA implemented its enhanced pat down TSA Transportation Security Officers…

Rand Paul vs The TSA … grandstanding vs action

Yesterday Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) was stopped by a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Transportation Security Officer (TSO) at Nashville International Airport after he alarmed passing through the walk through metal detector, while on his way to Washington DC for a Senate vote. Like all passengers who alarm walking through the TSA checkpoint metal detector, the…

TSA Checked Baggage Theft Prevention & Reality

A seemingly consistent stream of headlines catches travelers’ attention regarding Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Transportation Security Officers (TSO) being arrested for theft from checked baggage.   While statistically very few thefts occur, the ones that do and get those who get caught make headlines.   Since the TSA moved to 100% screening of checked baggage the…