These days, when the TSA announces a new security measure, we are ready to be confused and inconvenienced by it. Their "Secure Flight" program began in much this way as well, with the TSA frustrating travelers with demands for complete names on tickets and a disclosure of birthdate and gender.

But as Secure Flight progresses, we've barely noticed the changes as we fly about the country, and nothing has tripped us up quit yet. Nonetheless, it's important to know what airport security is doing when they scrutinize your ticket and how to handle any possible issues as Secure Flight zeros in on whether or not you are possibly terrorist.

After the jump, the basics of what you need to know about Secure Flight. ]]> JetSetCD 2009-10-14T11:23:37-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/8/14/12531/2582

We sure hope there's going to be an "all of the above" choice come tomorrow's new institution of TSA "Secure Flight" procedures, which involve disclosing your full name, birthdate, and gender when booking airline tickets.

It's all a part of the TSA's campaign to further root out the terrorists from the average Joes just trying to get to business meeting in Dubuque. Once the new information requirements go into effect tomorrow—August 15—you're full name on your ID will need to match up that that printed on the ticket, along with birth date and gender. Say so long to the mistaken identity stripsearch!

For those fretting about how closely the TSA will police the spelling of your middle name, thankfully the New York Time has an excellent article full of possible passenger questions and TSA responses. Just remember that the whole reason for giving the TSA this information is to keep you in the skies and off the No-Fly List. And if this doesn't work? Maybe they ask us our mother's maiden names or our Catholic confirmation names? What about our Kabbalah names? Madonna could then board her flights with tickets sold to "Esther." We suppose we'll have to wait and see.

Related Stories:
· TSA's Secure Flight Program [TSA]
· New Vigilance Over Traveler IDs [NYT]
· The TSA Asks 'How Do You Spell That Again?' [Jaunted]
· TSA Watch Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: TSA]]]> JetSetCD 2009-08-14T14:09:34-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/8/10/44953/2910

Full-body airport security scanning: apparently great for the TSA but not for your self-image. Debunking the idea that the nearly-nude pictures that the scanner produces of you somehow are like porn, the TSA Blog links to a Cleveland Plain Dealer article that tells the sad truth regarding this new technology: it's not porn because the resulting images aren't appealing.

In fact, full-body scans at Cleveland airport, where the machines are being tested, are apparently the opposite of porn because—and we aren't making this up—American travelers are ugly. Now for an obnoxious argument to what should have always been a non-issue:]]> Omri 2009-08-10T09:14:32-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/7/29/211652/091

Today In stupid TSA happenings, the TSA Blog answers a question which, we're sure, is on the mind of most travelers: "can I take my hand grenade on the plane?" Way to be irrelevant again, TSA.

Now being the TSA blogger is probably not the most creative of jobs, and we don't even want to imagine some of the idiotic questions that get asked of TSA agents, but anyone who can't figure out for themselves why a hand grenade shouldn't be on a plane—filled as it is with innocent people and fuel—needs to be rocketed straight to the top of the "No Fly" list.

To answer the question at hand, the TSA "Blogger Bob" states that no, hand grenades are most certainly not allowed, but neither is anything that even resembles a grenade: ]]> JetSetCD 2009-07-30T08:59:26-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/5/17/23455/6519

Big Brother is watching you, and he is in league with the TSA to discover your real first name, or that middle name you've been hiding since middle school; we're talking to you Blandinas and Michael Adolfs out there.

On Friday, the TSA instituted a part of its "Secure Flight passenger vetting program," whereby people purchasing tickets must use the exact names found on their form of identification. Already the first commenter on Today in the Sky voices our thoughts on the effectiveness of this extra wall: "Yet any kid with MS Paint can continue to change the name on the boarding pass after an online checkin - go TSA!" ]]> JetSetCD 2009-05-18T09:16:56-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/4/29/10448/0792

In deference to this week's thing that will kill us all, the TSA added a nifty little box to its Website about H1N1, aka swine flu, to let travelers know what they should do to stay safe. (Short summary: Wash your hands, stay away from sick people.)

One would think this would be the perfect place for the TSA blog to step in and reassure readers how careful workers will be and how the utmost precautions are being taken -- but there is no mention of the flu anywhere. In effect, the "Evolution of Security" exists in a pre-Monday world in which the swine flu does not kill us all. Ah, those were the days! ]]> egw 2009-04-29T10:21:05-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/4/21/221856/451

Boy, are y'all feeling punchy this week, or what? Two episodes just this week of passengers with major weaponry -- one the TSA caught pre-flight, one they didn't -- have us wondering if all of America doesn't need a little ice cream, lollipops and sunshine.

A US Marine was arrested Monday for, as we mentioned earlier this week, checking explosive-filled bags from Las Vegas to Boston. The funny part of this story, if by funny you mean horrifying: 22-year-old Justin Reed wasn't even supposed to get his bags re-screened in Boston because he was just on a layover en route to Charlotte, except a baggage handling error sent them to baggage claim. No wonder our bags keep getting lost.

Reed also had an undeclared checked semi-automatic as well as bullets and model rockets, and was charged with "possession of an infernal machine," a phrase we plan to appropriate for those danged kids on their cell phones. ]]> egw 2009-04-22T09:26:42-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/