Airport security

Travel Tidbits: Firearms, Kosher meals & CPR Training

Food, Safety, , ,

A couple of travel tidbits for you:

TSA SEPT GUN

From theTSA Blog’s Week in Review:

This past week we marked the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy and, during the week, TSA officers found 31 firearms in carry-on luggage at airport checkpoints.

Of those firearms, 27 were loaded and eight had rounds chambered. Officers also found stun guns (14), some big knives, airsoft guns and assorted other items most definitely on the prohibited items list.

Keep Kosher?

Travelers seeking Kosher meals when at the airport now have a new option at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Starting the week of September 24th, Chef Allen’s 2 GO in Terminal 3 will be offering a line Kosher packaged to-go items.

CPR-Training at the airport

On Thursday, September 19, some Southwest Airlines travelers at Mineta San Jose International Airport will be able to get training – in English or Spanish – in hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) from 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

This is a one-time event, but if you’re interested in learning this valuable life-saving technique (which does require rescue breaths) keep in mind there’s an automated kiosk at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport where you can learn and practice on a dummy.

The kiosk was installed in July as a six-month pilot project, but the American Heart Association hopes to bring the concept to other airports.

TSA to extend PreCheck to 100 airports

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TSA PINK 2

 

Good news for travelers who hate taking off their shoes at airport security checkpoints: the TSA plans to extend its PreCheck program to an additional 60 airports and add extra PreCheck lanes to some of the 40 airports that already offer the expedited screening program.

This means that by the end of 2013, 100 airports will have some lanes set aside for pre-approved travelers who will not have to remove their shoes, light jackets and belts at the security checkpoints and who will be able to leave their laptops and little baggies of lotions and gels in their carry-on bags during screening.

The program currently applies to eligible passengers traveling on these airlines:

Alaska Airlines

American Airlines

Delta Air Lines

Hawaiian Airlines

United Airlines,

US Airways

Virgin America.

 

Two other airlines – JetBlue and Southwest – are still working out the details to join the program.

In addition to expanding the number of TSA PreCheck lanes, the TSA has been steadily expanding the type of passengers eligible to use the lanes.

Right now, eligible passengers include U.S. citizens in frequent traveler programs who get invited by their airline, U.S. citizens in a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Trusted Traveler program and Canadian citizens who are members of CBP’s NEXUS program. The TSA is also rolling out an application program that allows U.S. citizens to apply for the TSA PreCheck program – for an $85 fee.

Here’s a link to the airports that currently participate in the TSA PreCheck Program and here’s a link to the 60 airports the TSA is planning to add by the end of the year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TSA Week in Review – bonus edition

Guns, ,

Everyone needs a break or an actual vacation in the summer time.

Even Bob Burns, the TSA employee who puts together the weekly round-up on the TSA blog of all the firearms, stun guns, knives and miscellaneous other items on the prohibited items list that are discovered on passengers and in their carry-on at airport security checkpoints.

I don’t know for sure if Blogger Bob was at the beach last week, but I do know that last week there was no Week in Review on the TSA blog.

And I missed it. The blog is a bit terrifying because so many people either try to sneak loaded guns and other pretty dangerous items onto airplanes or they carry those things around with them everyday and just forget that they have those things with them. I’m not sure what’s worse.

The report is back now with two week’s worth of ‘findings,’ including 77 firearms, of which 69 were loaded and 21 had rounds chambered.

MCO firearm

Courtesy TSA

Also found: 27 stun guns, a cane sword, knives, brass knuckles and a bunch of cocaine hidden inside candles.

You can see all the details – and some photos – on the TSA Blog

 

What’s with all those guns at airports?

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Guns

Courtesy TSA

 

 

On its blog each week, the TSA posts a round-up of some of the unusual and prohibited items the agency’s officers finds in carry-on bags and checked luggage at airports.

The list usually includes a wide array of guns, stuns guns, ammunition, potentially explosive items and many items that are safe – but which look dangerous, such as perfume bottles shaped like grenades.

The list-within-a-list that always grabs my attention is the number of guns and firearms found in carry-on bags at airports.

The rules are very clear on this: no guns on airplanes.  Yet each week travelers show up at security checkpoints packing guns. And, often they are loaded (The guns, not the people; though sometimes, probably both.)

The TSA says most of the people caught with guns in carry-on bags are not terrorists – ‘merely’ people who forgot they had a gun in their bag.  But, to me,  that’s still alarming.

Here’s this week’s tally: of the 57 firearms found at airports, 47 were loaded and 14 had rounds chambered.

That’s not quite the record number of  firearms – 65 – reported a few weeks back.  But it’s darn close. And summer has just started…

Gun Numbers 6-21

Chart courtesy TSA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TSA & airlines pre-notify travelers about PreCheck eligibility

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TSAS PRECHECK

What good is privilege if you don’t know you have it or don’t know how to use it?

Passengers eligible for TSA’s PreCheck program offering expedited security screening at 40 airports are sometimes unaware of their status and unsure of which checkpoint line to join.

So Delta, United and US Airways are now alerting qualified passengers to their PreCheck status with a “TSA PreCheck” alert on mobile and paper boarding passes.

“All TSA PreCheck participants are vetted for eligibility each time they fly,” said TSA spokesman David Castelveter. And knowing their status prior to arriving at airport “helps passengers effectively route themselves to available TSA PreCheck lanes,” he said.

While much appreciated by eligible travelers who can leave shoes and light jackets on and 3-1-1 compliant liquids in their bags, the system still has a few wrinkles.

Only some airlines in the PreCheck program currently add the alerts to boarding passes and not all boarding pass systems support the PreCheck notification feature.

Delta and US Airways passengers will see “TSA PreCheck” on printed boarding passes and, by the end of this week, the TSA PreCheck logo will be on those airlines’ mobile boarding passes. On United, the TSA PreCheck logo is currently only on printed boarding passes.

Another issue: because neither TSA nor the airlines filter by airport, “the TSA PreCheck pre-notification indicator will continue to appear on those selected customers’ boarding passes whether the airport has a TSA PreCheck screening lane or not,” Delta Air Lines spokesperson Michael Thomas told NBC News.

To solve that problem, TSA encourages passengers to bookmark and check the list of participating airports and checkpoint locations on the PreCheck chart and the TSA mobile application.

More details on the PreCheck program and eligibility are on the TSA website.

(My story about the TSA PreCheck program first appeared in NBC News.com)

 

 

TSA sticking to its guns about knives

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TSA DISPLAY

 

On Thursday, Transportation Security Administration Chief John Pistole went before lawmakers on Thursday and re-confirmed the agency’s decision to allow some knives and other items on airplanes for the first time since they were banned following the 9/11 terror attacks.

“I think the decision is solid and it stands and we plan to move forward,” Pistole testified before the House Homeland Security Committee, The Associated Press reported. It’s unlikely in these days of hardened cockpit doors and other preventative measures that the small folding knives could be used by terrorists to take over a plane, Pistole said.

On March 5, TSA announced that some knives under two and a half inches and some previously banned sports equipment, including hockey sticks, will be allowed back on airplanes.

TSA says the change to the prohibited items list is “part of an overall risk-based security approach” allowing employees to better focus on “finding higher threat items such as explosives.”

But groups representing airline industry workers, including many flight attendants, pilots, TSA officers and federal air marshals, have come out against what they characterizes as a dangerous and “ill-advised” move.

This will “put law enforcement officers and the flying public at greater risk,” said Jon Adler, president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association.

Several members of the House committee share those concerns and urged Pistole to reconsider his position, AP reported.

The Teamsters, as well as the United Steelworkers and some passengers rights groups have also stated their opposition to the new TSA rules and executives at American Airlines, US Airways and Delta Air Lines have written letters directly to the TSA chief.

“We object to the agency decision to allow small knives back in the airplane cabin,” Richard Anderson, Delta’s chief executive officer, wrote in a letter dated March 8th. In a letter dated March 12, American Airlines senior vice president William Ris encouraged TSA “to reassess its proposed revisions to the prohibited items list.”

Southwest Airlines “is engaged with TSA in discussions,” said spokesman Chris Mainz. United has also expressed concerns to the TSA about the policy, but on Thursday a spokesperson declined to offer specifics.

The airline trade group Airlines for America was originally in support of TSA’s approach to “combining its vast experience with billions of passenger screenings with thorough risk-based assessments,” but it has softened its stance.

“We believe additional discussion is warranted before items that have been banned for more than 11 years are allowed back on aircraft,” said A4A spokeswoman Katie Connell.

A petition asking the White House to stop the TSA changes now has over 30,000 signatures. Earlier this week, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) introduced legislation with Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) aimed at blocking the changes as well.

(My story about pushback to the TSA plan to allow knives back on airplanes first appeared on NBC NEWS.com)

Wrinkles in TSA’s rules on knives and sports equipment

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What could go wrong with the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) plan to allow small knives and some sports equipment back on airplanes for the first time since 9/11?

A lot.

TSA_Sports items Permitted

Carry-on Confusion

TSA has decided small knives less than 2.36 inches long and no wider than half an inch as well as sports equipment such as hockey and lacrosse sticks, billiard cues, ski poles, souvenir-sized bats and up to two golf clubs per person “are unlikely to result in catastrophic destruction of an aircraft.”

But some larger items, such as hockey sticks, may still not make it onto airplanes because “airline policy dictates what can or cannot be stored in the overhead bins and under the seats,” said TSA spokesperson David Castelveter.

United Airlines and Southwest Airlines spokespeople told me that their current carry-on policies will apply after April 25, when the new rules are set to go into effect. But American Airlines Matt Miller said that airline is reviewing their policies and may update them, “as necessary.”

Bottom line: After April 25, be sure to check your airline’s carry-on rules before you fly.

State vs. Federal Rules

The new TSA rules will allow small knives to pass through the security checkpoint as a carry-on item, but Michigan put a law on its books after 9/11 prohibiting all knives (as well as firearms, explosives, razors and box cutters) in secure areas of airports.

The Michigan attorney general insists that this law will remain in place.

The TSA agrees. “It remains the responsibility of passengers to comply with state and local laws for each point of travel and be aware that origination and destination cities may have local laws prohibiting the possession of these items,” said TSA’s Castelveter.

Detroit Metropolitan Airport spokesperson Scott Wintner said Airport Authority Police officers will enforce the Michigan law “when violations come to their attention,” but aviation attorney Adam Wasch, with Wicker Smith in Fort Lauderdale, FL said “the courts may eventually decide that TSA rules pre-empt state rules on these matters.”

In the meantime, “allowing two sets of conflicting policies on whether pocket knives are prohibited muddies the water for passengers and creates a logistical nightmare for TSA workers.”

Piles of petitions

Unions and associations representing many flight attendants, federal air marshals and pilots are actively opposing the impending TSA rule changes.

The Flight Attendants Union Coalition has begun a campaign to reverse the TSA rules and on Saturday morning had about 15,000 signatures on a White House petition

The White House is required to respond if a petition gets at least 100,000 signatures.

The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA), which represents air marshals has issued its own statement opposing what it calls “TSA’s reckless knife carry-on policy.”

At least one airline has officially come out against the TSA’s new rules.

On Friday, Delta Air Lines chief executive officer Richard Anderson sent a letter to TSA chief John Pistole voicing objection “to the agency decision to allow small knives back in the aircraft cabin.”

Anderson said the airline shared the flight attendant group’s “legitimate concerns” about the decision and said “If the purpose is to increase security checkpoint flow, there are much more effective steps we can take together to streamline the security checkpoints with risk-based screening mechanisms.”

29 year-old Ian Funderburg, who has been a flight attendant with a major domestic airline for the past two years, is also speaking out against TSA’s new rules.

“Baffled” to learn that knives would soon be allowed back on-board airplanes, Funderburg started his own campaign on the popular petition platform Change.org.

On Saturday morning Funderburg’s petition currently has more than 8,000 signatures.
“It’s not just a fear for flight attendants. The rules will probably renew fear in passengers,” said Funderburg. “We have to stop it.”

( This is a slightly updated version of my story about the TSA’s new rules that appeared on NBC NEWS.)

More on TSA’s move to allow small knives, sports sticks on airplanes

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TSA_Permitted Items one

Not everyone is happy about the TSA’s decision to take small knives and sports equipment – including golf clubs (2 per person), pool cues, lacrosse sticks, hockey sticks, ski poles – and small novelty/souvenir bats off the list of items that passengers are prohibited to take on planes as part of their allowable carry-on items.

The new rules go into effect on April 25, but many flight attendants and their unions aren’t happy. The Flight Attendants Union Coalition released a statement blasting the TSA’s decision. and Ian Funderburg, who identifies himself as a flight attendant, has started an on-line petition asking the President of the United States to reverse the TSA’s Decision.

A TSA spokesperson told me on Wednesday that the agency worked closely with airlines on this latest revision of the prohibited items list and that airlines were comfortable with the action.

I was also reminded that while the TSA has said it’s OK for hockey sticks and other sports equipment to go through the security checkpoint and taken onto planes, that doesn’t mean that an airline must allow that stick or that equipment onto the plane. If an item is deemed too big for the overhead bin, or if the item exceeds the number of carry-on items a passengers is allowed, an airline still has the right to ask a passenger to check an item that will not fit an overhead bin.

And if passengers are asked to check – and pay baggage fees for – sports equipment that TSA says is allowable past the security checkpoint, you can bet there are going to be dust ups and debate.

I had the pleasure of talking about this topic on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered on Wednesday evening. You can hear that four minute story here.

 

 

 

TSA: OK to fly with small knives, golf clubs, other items.

Air Travel, Security, , , , ,

Zurich chocolate knife

For the first time since the 9/11 terror attacks, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will allow small knives and some previously prohibited sports equipment onto airplanes as carry-on items.

TSA_Permitted Items one

According to the TSA, passengers will be able to carry-on knives that are less than 2.36 inches long and less than one-half inch wide. Larger knives, and those with locking blades, will continue to be prohibited, as will razor blades and box cutters, guns, firearms, and the dozens of other things listed on the published list of prohibited items.

TSA_NOT Permitted KNIVES

TSA will also soon permit sports equipment such as billiard cues, ski poles, hockey sticks, lacrosse sticks up to two golf clubs to be carried onto airplanes. Souvenir, novelty and toy baseball bats — such as wiffle-ball bats — will also be allowed.

The relaxed rules take effect April 25.

TSA_Sports items Permitted

TSA_BATS Permitted

TSA said the new regulations will allow its officers to better focus efforts on finding “higher threat items such as explosives,” and was made as part of the agency’s overall risk-based security approach.

But the Flight Attendants Union Coalition issued a statement saying they are unhappy with this move, calling it a “poor and shortsighted decision” by the TSA.

“As the last line of defense in the cabin and key aviation partners, we believe that these proposed changes will further endanger the lives of all Flight Attendants and the passengers we work so hard to keep safe and secure,” the statement said.

TSA believes the items it will now allow in airline cabins are “unlikely to result in catastrophic destruction of an aircraft,” and that policies already put in place — hardened cockpit doors, federal air marshals, crewmembers with self-defense training — reduce the likelihood of passengers breaching the cockpit.

“All TSA is doing is catching up with the rest of the world,” said Douglas R. Laird, president of aviation consulting firm Laird & Associates and former head of security for Northwest Airlines. After 9/11 the TSA “overreacted,” said Laird, and put restrictions in place “in the heat of the moment” that exceeded those in other countries.

Removing small knives and some sports equipment from the list prohibited items “will help align TSA’s list with international standards and help decrease the time spent rescreening or searching bags for these once prohibited items,” said TSA spokesperson Nico Melendez. The changes also enable officers to focus on “the greatest threats … which increase security for passengers and improves efficiency, improving the checkpoint screening experience.”

(Images courtesy TSA)

(A slightly different version of my story about the TSA’s decision to take small knives and sports equipment off the prohibited items list is on NBC News.com.)