John Mica is sounding the alarm bells about “another TSA meltdown.” In a vaguely worded press release issued late Friday, the Florida congressman, who chairs the committee that oversees the airport screeners, warned of a “dramatic meltdown of TSA operations” at an unnamed Florida airport. [continue]
Where would we be without the TSA?
[continue]
Question: I participate in the Global Entry program, which allows you to go through U.S. customs faster. At least it did – until last summer.
I was returning from Europe when I tried to use one of the Global Entry kiosks at the airport. It stopped me halfway through the process and returned me to the start screen.
Since I’m accustomed to buggy software, I restarted the kiosk process. The second attempt was completed successfully and issued the normal receipt authorizing me to proceed to customs.
As I was walking to the baggage claim, a Customs and Border Protection officer intercepted me and asked why I completed the kiosk process twice. I told him the software suffered a glitch and had to be restarted.
The officer stated without any doubt that the kiosk software was error-free. He confiscated the kiosk receipt and escorted me to an immigration booth where my passport was stamped and I exited.
Several weeks later I received a letter from the Global Entry Enrollment Center, stating that my membership in Global Entry had been revoked for “attempting to evade inspection.” Not only was Global Entry privileges revoked and but my CBP file is now annotated with directions that I be sent to secondary inspection. On every reentry to the country, secondary inspection adds 30 minutes to my transit time.
I appealed to the CBP Ombudsman and received a reply that “the denial remains unchanged because you did not provide sufficient evidence that CBP used incorrect or erroneous information to make the original denial determination.” A second letter to the agency has gone unanswered. Can you help me clear this up? — George Percivall, Crofton, Md.
Answer: The government should have thanked you for pointing out the software glitch instead of punishing you.
[continue]
An airline pilot who posted a series of videos online that exposed shortcomings in airport security has been punished by the Transportation Security Administration, which included a visit to his home by federal agents and sheriff’s deputies.
Sound familiar? It does to me.
The videos, which have since been deleted, show that thousands of airport employees are allowed to skip security every day at San Francisco International Airport. Here’s the full report from the San Francisco ABC affiliate and the station that broke the story, News 10 in Sacramento.
The pilot, whose name was not given, had his gun confiscated and a deputy sheriff asked him to surrender his state-issued permit to carry a concealed weapon. The pilot’s status as a Federal Flight Deck Officer, a volunteer position, is being reviewed, he was told.
[continue]
Betcha Steve Jobs never thought his iPad would help retrieve baby food from a TSA checkpoint. But these are strange times.
So here’s what happened to Jill Iseri when she flew out of Eugene, Ore., with her husband and baby last weekend. (You remember last weekend, don’t you?)
A TSA agent confiscated my 6 oz. jar of store-bought baby food which was unopened. They insisted on opening it to test for explosives.
I said they can’t do that, because it will cause it to spoil within the hour and my baby needed to eat it 2 1/2 hours later, while in the air.
I was told I could check it in luggage, but obviously that wouldn’t help.
I also had a 4 oz. jar of fruit that they didn’t test, saying “We let those slide.” They did test my baby’s sippy cup water.
All my pleading fell on deaf ears, I was told next time I could bring four jars, that way when they open two of them, I’d still have two jars to keep.
The TSA body-scan/pat-down crisis isn’t over — yet.
Yes, National-Opt Out Day is history, with both sides incorrectly declaring victory. But this Sunday is just as busy as Wednesday, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. (By some estimates, it is the busiest travel day of the year.)
[continue]
Like most Americans, I was relieved that there were no major disruptions yesterday, which was one of the busiest air travel days of the year.
The day ended with a defiant TSA calling Nov. 24 Opt-In Day — a not-so-subtle dig at the activists who asked air travelers to opt out of the full-body scanners.
“What some protesters threatened as an opt out day has turned into a TSA appreciation day,” the agency said.
The mainstream news media followed in lockstep. “Travelers at area airports Wednesday appeared to be opting out of the much-hyped National Opt-Out protest against the see-all body scanners,” wrote the New York Daily News.
To read the coverage, you would think this was nothing more than a media-fueled nonevent. But a closer look at the facts suggests that’s not necessarily accurate.
[continue]
