A few days ago I wrote about the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) teams, addressing the effectiveness and legal questionability of the TSA VIPR Program, in this post TSA VIPR Teams – Increase A Legally Questionable Failing Program. This morning I received an email from a Department of Homeland…
Baggage questions, will they ever stop? No, probably not. Each week Flying With Fish probably receives more email regarding baggage issues than anything else. Checked baggage, carry on baggage, carry-on sizes, checked baggage weight … and frequently readers want to know who to complain to. Those seeking to complain to “the authorities” generally are…
In the spring of 2004, following the commuter rail bombings in Madrid, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began devising a plan to “protect the Nation’s transportation systems and ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce,” for the railroads and mass transit systems in the United States. The result of the TSA’s efforts to increase…
Fifty-three years ago today, on the evening of October 26th 1958, crowds gathered to witness history, the first Boeing 707-121 commercial passenger flight. Pan Am’s “Clipper America” (N709PA) flew from Pan Am’s Wordport, at New York’s Idlewild Airport to Paris’ Le Bourget Airport with 11 crewmembers and 111 passengers for eight-and-a-half hours. The Boeing 707’s…
The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Transportation Security Officers (TSO) have the difficult job of searching for contraband items passengers may pass through security with. Along with TSA TSOs searching for prohibited items, the agency’s Behavior Detection Officers (BDO) watch and interact with passengers to determine passengers that they determine to be a threat to aviation…
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is a neutral worldwide airline trade association, founded in 1945, representing more than 90% of the world’s scheduled international airlines flying from nearly 150 countries. Historically IATA has stayed out of politics as its members include airlines from every conceivable political background, including North Korea’s Air Koryo and Syria’s…
While many claim the romance of travel is dead and boarding a commercial airplane has become a painful chore for many … a lot of things can happen in flight. On a flight you may find your quiet time to catch up on a book, take a nap, spark up a conversation with a…
I have written about airline call signs before … but not in almost three years … so this reader mail caught my attention. Alberto Lopez, from Barcelona, Spain, writes “I was recently listening to air traffic control while waiting for a flight home from Chicago and noted many airlines do not use their name…
Airline carry on allowances change from time to time, new airlines start up and old ones fade away … so it is time for Flying With Fish to update the carry on baggage allowance guide created for 68 airlines back in June 2009. This updated guide to airline baggage allowance covers more than 100 airlines,…
Choosing a frequent flyer program can have many variables to choose from. In the scheme of things, with all programs being not being equal, what is the essential frequent flyer benefit for business travelers? Mohammed Akbar, from Kuwait, writes, “I am searching for the key benefits of joining a frequent flyer program as a…
