Posts in the category "Safety":

Peanuts on a plane.

For a lot of people, that’s a more frightening scenario than snakes on a plane.

And a lot more likely.

And as I wrote in my msnbc.com column this week – Passengers peeved about peanuts on airplanes - a lot of travelers think the best way to enhance airline passenger protections is to ban peanuts on planes.

Through September 23^rd, the Department of Transportation (DOT) is taking public comment on a wide range of issues affecting airline passengers. Everything from peanuts on planes to involuntary bumping policies to surprise baggage fees.

Of the nearly 1,300 public comments submitted so far, the majority are focused on peanut allergies.

One problem though.

Technically, DOT doesn’t have the authority to change in-flight peanut policies. That’s because an appropriations law from 2000 prohibits the agency from passing peanut rules until a scientific study proves a rule change will actually benefit airline passengers with allergies. And no such study has been completed or commissioned.

Still, the agency is trying to gauge public opinion on ways to handle in-flight peanuts.

“We haven’t said we won’t do anything,” said DOT spokesperson Bill Mosely. “We haven’t ruled anything in or out. So we still do want to hear public comments about peanuts. We plan to read and review them all.”

The problem with flying peanuts

Peanut allergies among children have tripled between 1997 and 2008, and peanut allergies, tree-nut allergies, or both, are reported by 1 percent of the U.S. population, or about 3 million people, according to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN), a group that supports discontinuing serving peanuts on planes.

The fear of having a severe reaction from exposure to peanuts while locked inside an airplane keeps some allergy sufferers grounded. Under DOT’s rules, passengers with severe peanut allergies have a qualifying disability covered by the Air Carrier Access Act, which prohibits discrimination by U.S. and foreign carriers against individuals with disabilities.

As far back as 1988, DOT advised airlines to make reasonable accommodations for passengers disabled by their peanut allergies. Most airlines voluntarily comply, but no formal rules have been put in place.

Now, DOT is asking the public to comment on three alternatives to accommodate peanut-allergy sufferers on airplanes:

• Ban the serving of peanuts and all peanut products on all flights;
• Ban the serving of peanuts and all peanut products on all flights where a passenger with a peanut allergy requests it in advance, or;
• Require airlines to establish a peanut-free buffer zone for passengers with severe peanut allergies.

DOT is also asking the public to comment on how peanuts and peanut products carried on board by passengers should be handled.

Peanut protections for airline passengers

If you’ve got a problem with peanuts, here’s what you need to know:

AirTran, Alaska/Horizon, American, Continental, JetBlue and United are among the major domestic airlines that do not serve peanuts. However, most airlines also post notices saying they can’t promise that some items served on board won’t contain nut products or that other passengers won’t bring their own nut products on board.

Two domestic airlines continue to ladle out legumes.

In 2009, both Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines served about 92 million bags of peanuts. “That does sound like a lot of nuts,” said Patrick Archer, president of the American Peanut Council, “But the airline portion of the overall U.S. peanut business is really very small.”

If alerted, Delta Airlines will accommodate a passenger with a peanut allergy by creating a peanut-free buffer zone for three rows in front of and three rows behind their seat. The airline’s website also notes that when advised that a passenger with peanut allergies is flying, “Gate agents will be notified in case you’d like to pre-board and cleanse the immediate seating area.”

And while Southwest Airlines can’t guarantee a nut-free airplane, it will suspend peanut service on an entire flight if a passenger with an allergy requests it. See Southwest’s peanut dust allergy page for more information.

Want to share your thoughts about peanuts-on-planes? You can leave a comment below.

You can also file comments for the DOT to read (through September 23, 2010) here.

Categories: Advisories, Air Travel, Airplanes, Food, Legislation, Rules, Safety
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We’ve all become accustomed to checking in for our flights on-line and printing out our boarding passes at home or at an airport kiosk on our way to the security checkpoint.

Now the TSA is working with five airlines and 70 airports to test paperless boarding passes.

Here’s how it works: When a traveler checks in on-line the airline emails a boarding pass in the form of a 2-D barcode that can be downloaded to a smartphone. The barcode on the phone can be scanned at the security checkpoint and by the airline gate agent; just like a paper pass.

It’s sound great, doesn’t it?

. But as I wrote in my most recent msnbc.com column – Going paperless: Tech-savvy air travelers on board – it’s probably not a good idea to disconnect your printer just yet. Electronic passes aren’t accepted everywhere. And they’re not fool-proof. “One of the first times I used one, my phone browser refreshed and I lost the boarding pass 30 seconds before boarding,” recalls Walter Hopgood, a frequent business traveler from Damascus, Oregon.

Path to paperless

Some airlines in Europe, Canada and Asia have been using paperless boarding passes since early 2007, but the United States has been behind the curve on adopting the new technology.

Why?

“We were slower to get Internet access on cell phones, slower to get affordable data plans on cell phones and slower than Europeans to start using cell phones for accessing data,” said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst for Forrester Research.  But it’s also because the TSA has been very cautious, says Catherine Mayer, vice president of airport services at SITA, an information technology company serving the aviation industry. “The agency had additional security requirements it wanted airlines to meet before it would allow paperless boarding to be introduced here.”

Continental, the first airline to work up software to meet TSA’s authentication standards, kicked off the TSA’s pilot program for paperless boarding in December, 2007. Now the test program includes five U.S. airlines (Alaska, American, Continental, Delta and United), 71 domestic airports and Frankfurt Airport in Germany.

“Airlines are able to streamline the airport experience for passengers,” said Justin Taubman, the program manager for TSA’s mobile boarding pass program. “And the TSA is able to enhance the security of the boarding passes.”

Good to go?

While electronic boarding passes do save paper and time while heightening the TSA’s ability to detect fraudulent boarding passes, the pilot program is not glitch-free.

Some passengers encounter scanners with spent batteries or security-checkpoint staffers untrained or uninterested in the mobile pass pilot program.  When Justin Meyer of Kansas City showed up at 5 a.m. at a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., security checkpoint armed with his electronic boarding pass, a TSA employee pressed him for paper. “I didn’t have it,” Meyer recalled, “so I had to wait about 10 minutes while they found the scanner and plugged it in.”

Other travelers have stored a paperless pass on a smartphone that has lost its charge. Or they’ve sailed through the TSA checkpoint paper-free, only to discover that an airline is using a gate without a scanner. Or they’ve discovered some airlines only deliver one paperless pass per smartphone — and that won’t work if you’re traveling with a family of four.

“Like any new technology or service, there needs to be a transition period when everyone is learning the way to proceed,” said Steve Lott of International Air Transport Association, an industry trade group.  And so for now, notes Shashank Nigam of the airline consulting firm, Simpliflying, “Paperless boarding may very well remain an early adopter thing until all airlines and airports fall in line.”

That may not be too far off. TSA’s Justin Taubman says the agency is currently working with vendors to develop equipment for a new boarding pass scanning system. “Once the new Credential Authenticating Boarding Pass Scanning System, or CAT/BPSS, is in place,” he said, “the pilot project will become an official TSA program.”

And we’ll have to learn a new acronym.

You can read my original column – Going paperless: Tech-savvy air travelers on board – and see some reader comments – on msnbc.com.

Categories: Air Travel, Airline policies, Airports, Cell Phones, Rules, Safety, Security, TSA
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Last week’s fizzled Christmas Day terrorist attack on Delta/NW Flight #253 from Amsterdam to Detroit ignited a wave of new security measures at airports and on airplanes.

Airport and airline spokespeople and TSA officials say domestic passengers will likely notice some heightened security procedures, such as explosive-sniffing dogs and added law enforcement presence at many domestic airports.

Travelers on US-bound flights, though, will be notice significant changes.

Under rules rushed out over the weekend, passengers boarding flights heading to the United States will be subject to pat-downs and bag searches at the gate.  During their flight, passengers will be required to put away personal items and stay in their seats for the final hour of flight.

The TSA posted a very general description of the new rules.  More specifics were posted on various airport and airline Web sites and detailed in a memo that some airlines shared with bloggers over the weekend.

Bottom line:

While everyone gets used to the new regulations, get to the airport early. Really early.

If you’re flying internationally to the United States, be prepared for an extra pat down and bag check at the gate.  And pack carefully:  you’ll only be allowed one small – very small – carry-on bag.

It’s a good bet that airlines, airports and the TSA will make some changes to rules and procedures starting today, so keep an eye on the news, airline and airport Web sites, and the TSA.gov site.

Rules are already changing:

Last night Canada’s WestJet announced that it would no longer accept roller bags or larger backpacks as carry-on luggage. And this morning American Airlines announced that, due to the long lines and confusion over the new rules, for the next few days the airline will waive change fees for passengers traveling from Canada to the United States.  Other airlines will probably do the same.

Here’s a link to the story on the new rules I wrote for MSNBC.com.

Please share your stories about your travel experiences this past weekend and let us know what you see happening if you end up stuck at the airport.

Categories: Air Travel, Alerts, Baggage, Bathrooms, Safety, Security, TSA
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According this New York Post article,  last Friday, on the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Port Authority officials at New York’s La Guardia airport arrested a 40-year old man who was catching a Delta flight to Atlanta while packing a fully loaded 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun in his carry-on bag.

Security officials reported that the man said he “simply forgot” the weapon was in his bag.

Scary? Yes. Surprising? Probably not for the folks who work security at those airports. The article includes a description of some of the other stuff snagged at the security checkpoints at New York’s LaGuardia and JFK airports,  and at the Newark Liberty International Airport.

“The tonnage at Newark this year has included 12,302 flammable objects; and 43 travelers were stopped for trying to carry explosives.

At JFK, 1,328 tools were intercepted, and at La Guardia, 9,365 knives and blades were discovered in clothing and in carry-on bags.

Since January, 122 passengers at all three airports were stopped for carrying ammunition and gunpowder as they tried to board planes; 338 passengers were armed with bats, clubs and bludgeons; and travelers carried 1,602 knives and blades longer than three inches.”

Categories: Events, Guns, Safety, Security
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If you’re traveling to or through Pittsburgh International Airport on Wednesday, August 26, don’t be too alarmed if you see what looks like an emergency out on the tarmac.

It won’t be a real emergency, but a test of the airport’s emergency plan.

Every three years, the FAA requires the airport to do a full scale training exercise  and to make it as real as can be they use real aircraft, volunteer casualties, and simulated smoke.

Scary, but good to know.

Categories: Safety
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