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New TSA Restrictions To Damage Airline Industry Throughout 2010
A new survey indicates that, attempted terrorist attempt and new rules or not, travelers were already going to cut back on 2010 travel. The business travel sector—the bread and butter of the airline industry—was specifically picked out as unlikely to bounce back. The poll means that the cheery projections from two weeks ago, where the industry was going to "rebound" with an $11 billion loss, were probably too optimistic.
On the plus side, TSA's new totally useless restrictions are going to undermine whatever business travel was left. Business travelers will just stay home if the choice is between not flying or enduring four-hour security lines, humiliating full pat-downs and miserable flights. But let's allow the experts to better to give you a sense for how damaging these new restrictions are:
Tags: Security / TSA / Delta / Airport Security / Northwest Airlines / Northwest Flight 253 / → All Tags
TSA Takes A Chill Pill, Lets Pilots Make Call On In-Flight Security
Last night, after a full three days of enhanced security measures and new rules, the TSA relaxed slightly and announced that they'll leave it up to the pilots to decide "whether to allow passengers to keep items in their laps or require them to be seated during portions of the flight." Hopefully this means that we'll still be able to get up and re-stow our items, use the bathroom, and keep our pillows during that final hour, but the heightened airport security and personal bag checks are still very much in place.
Keep in mind that domestic flights are not affected by these rules, unless the pilot is super cautious and decides that blankets are the enemy. All of these new security measures, resulting from the failed terrorist attempt on Christmas Day onboard Northwest Flight 253, are for USA-bound international flights, with a huge emphasis on flights leaving London and Amsterdam.
So although the worst of the new rules have been pulled back and left to pilot discretion, you'll still be contending with limited carry-on allowances, 3-1-1 liquid rules, the occasional pat-down, baggage searches, and the possibility of having the LiveMap channel disabled. Perhaps in another week, the knee-jerk reaction of the TSA will relax even more.
Related Stories:
· 'Keep Your Hands Where We Can See Them,' Demands New TSA Flight Rules [Jaunted]
· TSA updates US airline in-flight security rules [Reuters]
· Travel Security [Jaunted]
[Photo: caribb]
Tags: Carry-On Baggage / Security / Canada Travel / Northwest Flight 253 / Baggage / → All Tags
Carry-Ons Banned Through Tonight On USA-Bound Canada Flights
The effects of the attempted terrorist attack on Northwest Flight 253 are definitely still being felt by air travelers today, but perhaps those most stuck by heightened security measures are passengers flying into the USA from Canada.
USA-bound flights from Canada are banning most carry-on luggage through 7pm today, in an effort to alleviate long lines and delayed flights thanks to longer security screenings. Hand-inspecting each passenger's personal items does take some time, after all. If you, or someone you know, is making the border jump today, you'd better take note of the 13 things that are allowed through security, which don't include magazines!
Everything but these 13 things are banned through today...
Tags: Security / TSA / Delta / Airport Security / Northwest Airlines / Northwest Flight 253 / → All Tags
The New Pillow-Hating TSA Rules: A Response
After a few days of "because shut up, that's why" updates from TSA, they've finally released their new security directives. For us this is kind of a good news/bad news thing. The bad news is that the regulations treat normal passengers like criminals, do nothing to increase security, wring the last drop of bearability from air travel, and threaten to bankrupt the American airline industry by deterring tourists and grinding airports to a halt. But on the plus side we finally have a theory about what's wrong with TSA.
Our security officials seem unable to separate the essentials in a situation from the incidentals. They look at Flight 253 and they see a blur of unrelated but very shiny colors: "suspect attempted detonation during the last hour," "suspect wore a blanket on his lap," "suspect focused on the plane's location." So they ban passengers from moving around in the last hour, ban passengers from wearing blankets also during the last hour, and ban passengers from knowing where the plane is. They're defending us tomorrow from yesterday's attacks.
Tags: Obama-Around-The-World / Presidential Travel / Barack Obama / Hawaii Travel / Northwest Flight 253 / → All Tags
Obama Says 'Mele Kalikimaka' From His Holidays In Hawaii
You know what we love most about Christmastime? The fact that most of the country gets to enjoy a long weekend, including the president and his family. On Christmas Even, President Obama, Michelle, and his two daughters hopped Air Force One to Hawaii for their traditional holiday family vacation.
Since they come to Hawaii every year, they don't go about doing the touristy sightseeing anymore, but instead hole up in a rented vacation home in Kailua on Oahu, conveniently neighboring an Air Force base. He plays golf, he plays basketball, and he swims at one of Hawaii's highest rated beaches.
But he is not to be completely envied, since he is the President of the United States after all, and duty calls even when he's on a much-needed island vacation. The news of the attempted terrorist incident onboard Northwest Flight 253 kept Obama chained to his desk for most of Christmas day as he upped the security threat level to orange and issued reviews of security procedure and of the terrorist watch list. We hope, for everyone's sake, that the rest of his vacation will be uneventful.
Related Stories:
· Obamas in Hawaii: First Family Arrives In Oahu for Vacation [HuffPost]
· News interrupts Obama's Hawaii vacation [CBS News]
· Presidential Travel [Jaunted]
[Photo: Huffington Post]
Tags: Security / TSA / Delta / Airport Security / WestJet / Virgin Atlantic / Baggage Fees / Air Canada / British Airways / Northwest Airlines / Northwest Flight 253 / → All Tags
'Keep Your Hands Where We Can See Them,' Demands New TSA Flight Rules
Has this been the worst holiday travel weekend or what? Hopefully most Christmas flyers made it home last night safe and sound, but for those who fly today or later on this week, the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) has a few new rules to keep you on your toes at the security checkpoint.
In what is being called a "knee-jerk reaction" to the attempted terrorist act onboard Northwest Flight 253 on Christmas Day, the TSA introduced new rules. And, at the request of American authorities, international airports are stepping up their screenings for USA-bound flights. How long these new rules will last is unknown, but we're hoping the more ridiculous ones will fizzle soon.
So are electronics allowed on flights anymore, how many carry-ons can you have, and what's the deal with airplane pillows? Find out, after the jump.
Tags: Terrorism / Delta / Northwest Airlines / Northwest Flight 253 / Emergency Landings / DTW / Breaking News / → All Tags
What Exactly Happened on Northwest Flight 253?
The usually uneventful stream of news over the long Christmas holiday took a sharp turn this year with one security breach after another. Just when we had heard enough about the crazy lady who knocked down the Pope during mass at the Vatican, BreakingNews tweeted this at 2:30pm on Christmas Day:
Passenger on flight from Detroit to Amsterdam reportedly sets off firecrackers, then subdued. Minor injuries. -- CNN
First we thought okay, this is some extremely stupid person taking the traditional applause-at-landing a bit too far, but then the real news began to roll in, marking it as a terrorist attempt with explosive materials and possible al Qaeda links. And yet nothing concrete was known; many rumors were thrown around and still are, but we've attempted to sort them out and present the factual events that happened on December 25th, 2009, on Northwest/Delta Flight 253.
See the truth, after the jump.
