Security

Wild animals at airports

Airports, Animals, Security,

I’m having a great time learning about the wide variety of wild animals that airports around the country have encountered and the creative ways they have come up with to keep them away from airplanes.

My research and all the photos airports have been sending along will end up in my At the Airport column on USA Today  later this month but sharing a few snaps with you today.

Above – a Great Horned Owl that was caught in a trap meant for smaller birds at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and below, a nine-foot alligator wrangled by the USDA at a military base in Georgia.

TSA’s travel tips for getting souvenirs home from Comic-Con

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TSA’s blog has some helpful information for anyone heading home through San Diego International Airport after attending Comic-Con International this week – and for those traveling with collectibles and souvenirs from this or any other special event.

TSA suggests that if you’re traveling with a collectible item that has an original seal on it that you don’t want broken, that you ship it home instead of taking the chance that the seal will broken during a TSA search.

Getting dressed up in a costume to attend an event? TSA reminds travelers that neither replica weapons nor real weapons should be placed in carry-on bags and that while both replica weapons and real weapons can be packed in checked bags, actual firearms must meet packing guidelines and be declared.

And, TSA s suggests that if you’re traveling with a lot of brochures, comic books or other books that you put them in your carry-on bag and then place them in a bin prior before sending them through the x-ray machines.

Those items can show up as dense blocks and “Packing these items in checked bags may cause alarms leading to bag searches that can cause a significant slowdown in the screening process leading to delays and bags possibly missing their flights,” says TSA.

TSA’s Week in Review is dynamite

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Each week the Transporation Security Administration shares a tally of the firearms its officers find at airport checkpoints.

I find that list both fasciniating and frightening.

From June 4 through 10, for example, 78 firearms were found in carry-on bags at airport checkpoints around the country.

Of those 78 firearms, 61 were loaded and 25 had a round chambered.

Alarming? Yes. A record? Not at all.

The guns are scary, but so too are the other prohibited items that TSA tells us travelers try to take on board with them.

For example, last week’s ‘catch’ included the replica Improvised Explosive Device (IED) pictured above that was found in a traveler’s carry-on bag at the Chicago O’Hare International Airport.

It looks like it could be real and TSA reports that after finding this item, the checkpoint was closed down for almost 20 minutes before the Chicago Police Bomb Squad was able to respond and clear the item.

Most people found with firearms in their carryon bags tells the authorities that they just ‘forgot’ they had their guns in the bags they grabbed on the way to the airport. But that replica IED? What were they thinking???

101 firearms found last week at airport checkpoints

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Each week the Trasnportation Security Administration reports on the number of firearms its officers find at airport checkpoints.

And each week I get alarmed.

This week is no different.

TSA reports that between May 14 and 20 a total of 101 firearms were found at airport security checkpoints.

Of those 101 firearms, 85 were loaded and 28 had a load chambered.

101 firearms is a lot. But it’s not a record for the TSA, although it is close.

Between February 5 and 11 of this year, TSA found a record 104 firearms at airport checkpoints.

Why do people bring firearms – and loaded firearms- with them to the airport?

TSA says most people caught with a firearm at an airport simply say they ‘forgot’ their firearm was in the bag they’d packed for their trip…

 

TSA cleans up with three Webby Awards

Security,

 

Judging by the negative emails I get everytime I share what I find to be an alarming tally of guns found by the Transportation Security Administration at airport security checkpoints each week, not everyone is a fan of the agency’s work.

But the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS) evidently loves TSA’s work on the internet.

Last week the group awarded the TSA Instagram account three coveted Webby Awards, which honor excellence on the Internet.  “We’re not in the entertainment business,” Bob Burns, TSA’s social media lead and caption writer for the agency’s Instagram account said in a statement,  “But mixing humor with our messaging has been a very successful formula for us.”

“TSA’s Instagram Account won these three awards:

Webby Award: Social Content – Marketing / Corporate Communications 
Webby Award: Social Content Marketing – / Weird 
People’s Voice Award: Social Content Marketing – / Weird 

I'm very excited to announce that the TSA Instagram account has won the internet!  We won two Webbys and one People's Voice award in the 22nd Annual Webby Awards! … Social Media/Marketing: Corporate Communications Webby Award — Decided by the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences (IADAS) … Social Media/Marketing: Weird Webby Award — Decided by the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences (IADAS) … Social Media/Marketing: Weird People's Voice Award — Decided by online votes. Huge thanks to all who voted!!! … Hailed as the "Internet's highest honor" by The New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international awards organization honoring excellence on the Internet. Established in 1996, The Webby Awards received more than 13,000 entries from all 50 states and 70 countries worldwide this year. The Webby Awards is presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS). … Thanks to all of our followers. Not only for liking our posts and spreading the word about the account, but for providing amazing comments that are every bit as amazing as the content we post. #Webbys

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