A short time ago, we reported that the TSA had detained Senator Rand Paul this morning. The Hill is now reportingthat the TSA is denying that Senator Paul was detained, saying rather that he was escorted from the secure area and not allowed to board his flight. “When an irregularity is found during the TSA…
We don’t agree with most of what Senator Rand Paul stands for, but we agree wholeheartedly with his stand for liberty and personal freedom this morning in Nashville. It is being reported that Paul, the son of Texas congressman and Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, refused an “enhanced pat-down” by TSA agents after setting off…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Image by Getty Images via @daylife"][/caption] Brad Hall “designs systems for improving workforce performance”. Brad Hall has a PhD industrial-organizational psychology. Brad Hall knows that U.S airlines have awful customer service. And Brad Hall knows why- unions. It is a foregone conclusion for Dr. Hall; one he is unwilling to let…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by wolfstad via Flickr"][/caption] Nine endangered whooping cranes, migrating from Wisconsin to Florida, recently spent a month grounded in Alabama, after the FAA decided that their “pilot guides” were operating in violation of a regulation which prohibits them from receiving pay for their services. The pilots, who work for Operation…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by matt.hintsa via Flickr"][/caption] Out with the new, in with the old. After years of seemingly inevitable decline in the face of competition from jets, turboprops are making a comeback as oil prices remain high. ATR, a turboprop manufacturer partly owned by Airbus parent EADS, received firm orders for 157…
At 3am last night on British Airways Flight 206 from Miami to London’s Heathrow Airport, we imagine most passengers were comfortably sleeping. That changed in a hurry when flight crew inadvertently twice triggered a recorded message declaring that the plane could be about to crash. Passengers began crying and screaming, and were still on edge…
While most airlines have been adding new fees, no American carrier has been more aggressive about doing so than Spirit Airways. Spirit ‘s strategy has been to tease outrageously low fares with obnoxious and vulgar advertisements, but charge exorbitant fees for normal services. Perhaps the most egregious of these is their charge for carry on…
It was a shocking experience for 26 year old Edwin Barton at a TSA checkpoint in Sacramento last week. After disembarking his flight from Connecticut and leaving the secure area, Barton realized he had left a bus ticket on the plane. He was given a pass to enter back into the secure area but became…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="180" caption="Image by Martin Deutsch via Flickr"][/caption] There’s no health risk from the invasive scanners that the TSA has installed at airports around the country, the TSA has maintained. If you don’t like it, you can be searched in an inappropriately intimate way, or not allowed to fly. Now, the agency plans…
Much has been made of Alec Baldwin’s run-in with a flight crew last month resulting in his being removed from a plane for failing to comply with the instructions of the flight crew. Mr. Baldwin, it seems suffers from a powerful addiction: Words With Friends.  Now, we have finally discovered who it was that introduced…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by oenvoyage via Flickr"][/caption] Peter and Gabriele Strohmaier of Dusseldorf, Germany were traveling in first class on Delta Flight 414 from Atlanta to Costa Rica this evening. Early in the flight, they demanded food and champagne and refused to sit down, disregarding instructions from the flight attendants. As a result…
It turns out that Rebecca, the TSA Cupcake Lady is, of all things, a Media Studies Professor. In a letter to The Consumerist, she makes an excellent point that we’ve been trying to make, probably less eloquently. After refuting the TSA claims that the cupcake was a gel or mostly icing, she says Anyway, the…
The TSA, recently best known as the government agency that thinks cupcakes are liquid(the strangest government food classification since the school lunch program declared ketchup a vegetable), has kept a lot more than just one cupcake. Last year, the agency kept $409,085.56 in change left behind at checkpoints by passengers. Under current regulations, the agency…
We’ve often been critical of TSA policies, but feel it’s important as well to recognize when they take positive steps. One such step is the launch last month of TSA Cares. Passengers with disabilities or medical needs may now call TSA Cares, toll free, at 1-855-787-2227 M-F 9am-9pm,excluding Federal Holidays ,with questions about screening procedures. …
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by Jack Zalium via Flickr"][/caption] Everyone seems to want the perfect seat on a plane. Assigned seating is very important to travellers. But airlines have never guaranteed seating. At times it seems we are lucky if they successfully transport us from point A to point B. A few years ago,…
OnlineMBA.com has put together a handy infographic(below) with information from various sources into a helpful guide for travelers who crave connectivity. Which airports do you most enjoy traveling through?
Rebecca Hains has shot back at the TSA’s characterization of her cupcake. The TSA finally decided to finally comment on the situation, which they are calling [caption id="" align="alignright" width="153" caption="Image by openfly via Flickr"][/caption] Cupcakegate. Not even addressing the stupidity of calling any mildly scandalous issue blank-gate, Blogger Bob refers to it as a…
Apparently, the TSA is so embattled and the reputation of its employees in such low regard, that when a TSA agent behaves in a normal, responsible manner, as anyone would be expected to do, it becomes news and he is heaped with lavish praise. We don’t mean to take away from TSA supervisor John Deschamp. …
Strong headwinds have led to sharp increase in the number of transatlantic Continental Airlines flights forced to make unscheduled stops to refuel, the Wall Street Journal reports. The airline, owned by United Continental Holdings, has pushed the envelope by aggressively using the Boeing 757 on transatlantic flights. The plane is smaller and cheaper to operate…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="183"] Cover via Amazon[/caption] Where’s Ted Striker when you need him? A British Airways flight from London to Glasgow was forced to make an emergency landing on December 20 after both pilots reported feeling unwell and lightheaded. “Approximately 20 minutes into the flight, a very abrupt and panicked message came over the…
We usually agree with Bruce Schneier. The man coined the term security theater and he takes an approach to the TSA that mirrors ours. Writing in response to the TSA Blog’s Top Ten Catches of 2011, he pointed out that there is not a single terrorist on the list…or in fact anyone with actual malicious…
Earlier today, we opened up a blog entry by noted travel writer Christopher Elliott, titled “Airline tells hospitalized passenger people pretend to be sick all the time” [caption id="" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Image by Getty Images via @daylife"][/caption] This is a horrible thing for any business to suggest to its customers, airline or not. But people…