travel

Passenger Security Explosives Detection … It’s For The Dogs

Airport passenger security has evolved at a blistering pace over the past decade, but like many mad-scrambles in any industry there are false starts, long journeys down the wrong road and conflicting opinions. One thing we can all agree on is this … the very serious threat of an explosive being brought on board an…

Southwest Airlines & Lessons In Social Media Crisis Communications

Media relations and corporate communications are a 24/7/365 cycle. No one knows when an incident will occur, but when one does occur companies must be ready to react, especially an airline.   On the 6th of July 2013 Asiana Flight 214 landed short at San Francisco International Airport, breaking the tail off of the Boeing…

Travel Etiquette : Don’t Put Your Feet In The Air & Wave ’em Like You Just Don’t Care

It has been a few months since I last wrote about passenger etiquette, but my flight home from London this past week reminded me that some passengers lack any sense of etiquette regardless of the class of service they are seated in.   This past Tuesday as I got settled into seat 10J, in business…

A Man In A Wheelchair Enters An Airport With A Bomb … And No One Cared

Travelers can seem indifferent to the world around them when in an airport. Odd things happen in airports and train stations every day all over the world, however it is the job of law enforcement and security personnel the world over to spot these odd moments and prevent odd things from turning into something else….

The Travelers’ Night In #TNI #Travel Chat … Big News!

For those of you who follow @flyingwithfish on Twitter, you have probably noticed that every Thursday my Twitterstream is filled with tweets tagged with the #TNI hashtag. For those of you who do not know what #TNI is, it stands for Travelers’ Night In, the original travel chat on Twitter, established by ZipSetGo in 2009….

TSA Stops Chewbacca’s Light Saber, Despite TSA’s Policy on Carry On Light Sabers

Last Monday, the 3rd of June, Star Wars star Peter Mayhew, better known as everyone’s favourite Wookiee, Chewbacca, was briefly stopped by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at Denver International Airport with his chest-high light saber. Standing 7-feet 2-inches tall, the light saber double’s as the 69 year old actor’s cane.   While the TSA…

The TSA Rereverses Its Already Reversed Decision On Knives As Carry On

This afternoon at 14:42hrs EST the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Administrator John S. Pistole sent an email to all agency employees regarding a “Prohibited Items List Update.”   The email, one which was expected by many, rereversed an already reversed decision by Administrator Pistole to withdraw the March 5 2013 announcement that passengers would be…

Reader Mail : “TSA VIPR Teams, What Exactly Are They Doing?”

Today’s reader mail comes from Vincent R., from Springfield, Massachusetts. Vincent writes “I have noticed the TSA in my local Amtrak station during the past few months. Amtrak Police refer to these uniformed TSA officers as TSA VIPR Teams. What exactly are they doing?”   Well Vincent, over the past few years there has been…