Category Archives for Airports.
Private staffed security isn’t ‘returning to pre-9/11’ it’s how things work at some major U.S. airports in the U.S. already. TSA sets screening standards, and employees of private companies carry out the screenings following those procedures. It’s also how things work in much of the world that’s considered safe today.
A former TSA screener took to TikTok with some rich security screening fanfic. An Algerian, the ex-screener from Ohio shared some Intifadaporn where she says she told an Israeli passenger, “Safe travels to Palestine.”
He responded “It’s Israel,” and that’s when she says she called over a manager and claimed he was harassing her (which she admits wasn’t true).
Approximately 1,300 arrivals and departures were cancelled with flights enroute to Heathrow turned back around or diverting elsewhere because the airport couldn’t accept them. According to data from aviation analytics company Cirium, as many as 145,000 passengers could be affected based on scheduled seats and flights.
A violent brawl at Chicago O’Hare’s Terminal 2 escalated into a shootout around 12:54 a.m. Wednesday morning, leaving a 25‑year‑old man wounded and disrupting airport operations for several hours.
The fight started at baggage claim and spilled out onto the street. Heated words escalated to violent blows, one assailant grabbed a weapon from their car and returned to open fire before returning to the vehicle.
A 52-year old retired boxer, Musa Abdraim became a hero on Friday at the Almaty International Airport in Kazakhstan when he disarmed a knife-wielding attacker who was holding a young female security officer hostage and threatening to detonate a bomb.
The Department of Homeland Security announced plans to end unionization of TSA screeners. Unionization of the screening workforce was forbidden when the agency was set up after 9/11. This was added in the Obama administration.
The Department of Transportation violated federal law by improperly awarding Washington National Airport’s new long-haul flight slots exclusively to major airlines, ignoring the legal eligibility of Spirit Airlines—improperly treating Alaska Airlines as a small carrier and excluding Spirit Airlines from the competition.
Austin airport is currently tendering a request for proposal for a financial institution lounge project. Their goal is to open an American Express Centurion lounge, Chase Sapphire lounge, or Capital One lounge as part of the “West Infill” project that’s currently under construction.
There’s now ‘Uber for a security detail with motorcade’ that appears to have launched in New York and Los Angeles. You pick the number of vehicles and the uniform your mercenaries will wear.
Transexual TSA screeners are no longer permitted to perform pat-downs on passengers and are instead being limited to other duties. Individual airport security screeners report receiving a memo about this change, and a TSA spokesperson confirms the shift in policy to me.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
