Jaunted - Tag: tsa

Bad News for Aussie Airports: No Body Scan, No Fly

jetflyboy — 2012-02-07T09:16:52-05:00

It seems so long ago that American airports began introducing full-body scanners for passengers to be randomly selected before passing into the secure gate area. What also seems from long ago is the issue of privacy the machines posed with the revealing images. Well, after our outright concern, abhorrence, acceptance, and return to the concern, another continent joins the scanner controversy: Australia.

Down Under follows the US and Europe, and will adopt the same "gingerbread ~~man~~ person" technology, which displays an outline of a gender-less person only highlighting areas of risk. Parliament also promises that all images are discarded after each passenger. We have heard this all before.

So. About That Whole Rand Paul Versus the TSA Thing...

Omri — 2012-01-24T14:35:02-05:00

First the raw news, such as it is. Yesterday Senator Rand Paul was flying from BNA to DCA and, while walking through a scanner, triggered the alarm. Per TSA regulations he was put in the waiting area—which at BNA is a glass "cubicle"—until an agent could be found to pat him down. Sen. Paul demanded the right to be allowed to walk through the scanner a second time but, again per TSA protocol, he was told he'd have to submit to get patted down. He refused and instead tried to walk out of the cubicle, and eventually had to be escorted out of the airport.

We want to pause here to emphasize the absolutely explicit explanation that Paul gave for his behavior. He says that he thinks TSA should allow people to walk through scanners twice, so he acted as if TSA does allow people to walk through scanners twice. In other words he acted as if the reality he wishes was true was actually true. We're going to blockquote this so you can tell we're not making this up:

Wait. The TSA Intercepts How Many Guns Per Day in Airports?

Omri — 2012-01-18T14:02:35-05:00

Ideally we'd like to spend this post criticizing TSA for various inadequacies implicit and explicit. There's something not quite right about the agency's new "we'll retest for radiation levels but not really" announcement on full-body scanners, especially given its extensive and well-documented past dissembling on the issue. There are still issues to discuss from last year about the contradictions in pushing for private TSA baggage screeners. We'd like to know why it was necessary to tase a traveler to the point of hospitalization at the Sacramento International Airport. Someone should ask what steps are being taken to prevent a repeat of the $40,000-stealing TSA agent. And isn't there something wrong with airport security when $400,000 worth of coins are getting left at security every year by flustered travelers?

But we can't talk about any of that, because people won't stop trying to bring weapons on airplanes. Especially guns. Lots and lots of guns. So instead of this post being about the many ways TSA makes traveling worse, it's about one very specific way that travelers make traveling worse.

TSA Expanding Its Trusted Traveler 'PreCheck' Program

Omri — 2012-01-11T13:47:44-05:00

Last October we told you about the nascent PreCheck program that TSA was in the process of soft-launching. The airport security pilot program was designed to provide "expedited screening" for some passengers—specifically, those who were willing to provide personal information beforehand—while still ensuring "random and unpredictable security measures" for everyone. The idea was that, on the whole and all things being equal, frequent passengers would be able to get pre-screened and then avail themselves of faster lines at the airport. A little privacy for a lot of convenience.

Now PreCheck is expanding. Originally the program was only available to Delta and American fliers at a limited number of airports, with the eligibility list culled from the rolls of those airlines' frequent fliers. In 2012 you can expect to see the program at more airports—including, finally, LAX and JFK. There will also be new airlines involved, with travelers from US Airways and United joining the program.

The TSA Shares Their Top 10 'Catches' of 2011

kjb — 2012-01-10T09:37:55-05:00

Just one of their finds, a flare gun with flares...

Another year means another gem from the folks at the TSA and their official blog. They’re always quick to point out wacky stuff that travelers attempt to sneak through security, and now they’ve compiled some of the oddest things confiscated and captured at security checkpoints in 2011.

They’re calling the list the “10 Good Catches of 2011,” but since we’re a little cynical when it comes to the TSA we’re still waiting for their list of 10 Good Misses of 2011—hmm, maybe we’ll do that next week on their behalf.

Some of the highlights include birds, turtles, and other critters discovered at airports like LAX and MIA. There were even a couple snakes before boarding—we’ll save you from another snakes-on-a-plane reference. The agency did show a little humility when mentioning the bomb-like-device that was discovered in Nebraska, because, as we pointed out it, was actually just some kid’s science project.

TSA's VIPR Teams Now Conducting 'Suspicionless Searches' at Train Stations

Omri — 2012-01-06T14:22:18-05:00

Since the rest of this post is going to be a mix of straight news and borderline paranoia revolving around the increasing creepiness of TSA VIPR teams, let's start with some balance. Here are the TSA's top 10 good catches of 2011 and here is how they tried to help holiday travelers with medical conditions. Fair's fair. We also want it noted that we decline to create separate posts for each and every negative TSA story that crosses our desk (e.g. this annual holiday nonsense about hostility to pastries or this brutal Vanity Fair article on the uselessness of security theater). That would be obsessive.

Now that that's out of the way, let's proceed with the unpleasantness. Last November we told you about the increased tempo with which TSA has been deploying its so-called VIPR teams, which conduct anti-terror monitoring outside of airports. The program's actual scope is vague and arguably designed to expand, with different government sources and politicians having "differing descriptions of VIPR's exact mission." Critics ranging from mainstream civil liberties groups to batshit crazy conspiracy theorists have specifically picked out VIPR teams—which do their work at highways, ports, bus stations, tunnels, rest areas, etc—for violating the Constitution's Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches.

The Wackiest TSA Tale of 2011 Is...

Jaunted11 — 2011-12-30T13:51:16-05:00

It's that time of the year again, the time when the year just plain ends. Alas, we can't just let 2011 go that easily, especially since travelers spent it both up in the air and up in arms over a crazy range of topics, encompassing everything from nudie scans to tarmac delays. Needless to say, we're ready for 2012, but first we're taking a brief look back at the best of 2011 with the Jaunted Travel Awards,—or as we fondly refer to them—The Jauntys.

We let the TSA off the hook as 2011's Biggest Travel Villain—the agency finished as a runner-up after dominating the category in 2009 and 2010—but obviously they were going to make at least a couple more appearances this year.

TSA's airport security officers are, after all, responsible for the vast majority of airport hell stories (especially when you take out first-world complaints like "the plane was stuck on the tarmac for 25 extra minutes and it was the worst. thing. ever").

But as much as there are genuine concerns about TSA and civil liberties; and TSA and individual privacy; and TSA and private property; and TSA and outright criminal behavior; and TSA and surreal douchebaggery—as much as there are genuine problems in all of those areas, the vast majority of TSA officials and officers and even politicians aren't bad. It's just that so many of them are kind of bumbling and incompetent, and unfortunately they've been put in charge of a task that requires precision and competence.

So when we were choosing 2011's Worst TSA Tale, we looked for something that accurately represented the essence of TSA. Which is to say, borderline-comic incompetence.