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Posted May 3, 2010
“I’ll have a half double decaffeinated half-caf, with a twist of lemon.” And, I want to sip it as I get to first base with my favorite TSA agent. It’s funny how the rules can be stretched for big business. That’s right, check out the picture below. I captured it in the Puerto Vallarta airport on a recent trip to Mexico. I wonder how many grande Pike Place Roasts Starbucks offered up for this preferential treatment.
Posted Apr 28, 2010
We hosted two panel discussions last week related to traveler safety and security. Please find below some of the highlights of last Thursday's get together:
Posted Mar 31, 2010
Last week I was heading home after speaking at the CASMA 2010 Spring Conference in Montreal, Canada (more on that later). As the co-founder and CBO (Chief Bowling Officer) of Carrying On, I always travel with a bag that is small enough to fit in the overhead bin. I’ve owned this bad boy for 5+ years. It has flown more than 1 million miles with me, and I have never checked it in (I have a bigger bag that I use when I will be checking a bag). On top of that, I tested it for size in one of those bin devices at the check-in counter that morning, and carried it on when I traveled to Canada two days earlier. I also carried it on during my flights to and from London a month ago, but today, for some unknown reason, my government deemed it too big to carry on.
Posted Jul 22, 2009
Beginning August 15, all domestic airline carriers will collect additional traveler information, during the booking process, and provide it to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) prior to travel.
Posted May 18, 2009
The Transportation Security Administration last summer essentially washed its hands of the Registered Traveler program, saying it offered no real security benefit. If travelers wanted to pay for the benefit of getting to the front of security queues, fine, but other than the potential to provide a legitimate passenger identification process, RT wouldn't help secure the nation's aviation system, TSA insisted. That development frustrated many RT proponents, including the National Business Travel Association, but largely validated my views of the program. It was, I figured, the end of the debate as to whether RT would be used as a security tool. Hence my confusion as to why the folks at NBTA in the following months continued to press for a greater role for RT. Turns out NBTA's hope is not without reason.
Posted Apr 15, 2009
We have talked about the new TSA Secure Flight program for several months now. The program was to begin in May and will require you to provide us with your full name as it appears on your government ID you use to board airplanes. In addition, you will also need to provide us with your date of birth and gender.
We now understand that this program will begin August 15, 2009.
Posted Jan 20, 2009
Outgoing TSA administrator Kip Hawley this week published his final post to the Transportation Security Administration's blog. In it, he requested that the public continue to provide feedback through the online channel. While he acknowledged that some public comments "are painful to read and/or based on something that is factually wrong," Hawley wrote, "We have learned a great deal from those of you who have posted and I am grateful for your engagement with us."
Posted Aug 6, 2008
After an unencrypted Verified Identity Pass laptop containing pre-enrollment records of "approximately 33,000 customers" was "discovered to be missing from San Francisco International Airport on July 26," the Transportation Security Administration prohibited Verified from enrolling new participants in its Clear registered traveler program. Verified has since found the laptop and said "a preliminary investigation" found that it "was not accessed from the time it went missing." The episode created a lot of chatter on the huge Slashdot community of "nerds," which slammed Verified and threw in a whole bunch of great points about airline security and the registered traveler program, including:
Posted Jul 24, 2008
TSA Administrator Kip Hawley this week said the Secure Flight airline security program would be "operational sometime next year." According to Federal Computer Week, Hawley also said the program's final rule would be published "by January 2009," before the end of the Bush Administration.
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