For the vast majority of travelers the single most stressful portion of air travel is the airport experience. Airport terminals are crowded, noisy, security lines can move at a snails pace, security screeners may be less than polite, the benches aren’t comfortable and the food selection options are dismal. For the privileged, Lufthansa has a…
Airline passengers complain about all sorts of things. You name it, they complain about it … bad food, cramped seats, jet lag, boring movies, passengers passing gas next to them and odd odors in the air. While passengers will always have something to complain about … passengers flying with Air Malawi may no longer be…
It is hard to believe I have been traveling with an iPad for well over half-a-year now and an 11″ MacBook Air for more than a month. Both of these travel tools have changed how I work on the road and how I pack … but both tools present a consistent problem at the start…
If you like commercial airliners there is one journalist you should be reading on a daily basis … Jon Ostrower. Jon, the brilliant author behind Flightglobal’s FlightBlogger, covers Boeing like no one else. Not only does Jon get into every nook-and-cranny of what is going on with Boeing’s commercial airplanes, but he does it a…
A few days ago while reading a media release from the Syrian Civil Aviation Authority I found myself stumped, wondering if the opening lines were a typo. But upon further reflection, the media release started to make sense. Last week in Damascus, Syria, the Iranian Government hosted the Iran Hi-Tech Expo … this event in-and-of…
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…
In 2005 the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began a pilot program in conjunction with the Registered Traveler Interoperability Consortium, where travelers could undergo a background check, and provide a biometric sample to the TSA’s Office of Transportation Threat Assessment and Credentialing and become a “Registered Traveler.” On paper the Registered Traveler program made sense. The…
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…
When John Pistole was tapped to become the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Administrator, while serving at the Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), many had high hopes for his leadership of the controversial and poorly guided agency. Prior to joining the TSA, on the 25th of June 2010 Pistole was highly respected…
A week ago Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Administrator John Pistole made a bold public statement regarding his decision to not review further airport applications to participate in the Screening Partnership Program, a decision that is a potential conflict with an Act of Congress. As of today it appears that a number of the TSA’s upper…
