Airports

Category Archives for Airports.

TSA Screeners Caught On Camera Stealing From Passengers At Security Checkpoint

by Gary Leff

Sep 12 2023

Three TSA agents were arrested a few months ago for stealing money and other belongings from passengers as they went through the checkpoint. Here’s the thing: there’s video footage of airport security checkpoints. So now video is out showing some of the thefts at the Miami E concourse checkpoint.

Here, one screener reaches in and grabs a passenger wallet to take cash from it back on June 29. In total there’s more than 20 minutes of video showing three screeners pilfering from passengers.

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CLEAR Leaves Passenger Details Visible At Airport Security For All To See

by Gary Leff

Sep 10 2023

CLEAR may have greater employee accountability than TSA – they say they fired the people responsible for last year’s lapses and their managers – but you’re still handing over your biometrics to a company and trusting them to manage those well, just as you’re trusting the federal government when you join PreCheck or Global Entry.

So how well are they managing them?

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There’s Nothing Irresponsible About Missing A Flight

by Gary Leff

Sep 03 2023

If you’ve never missed a flight you’re spending too much time in airports, although admittedly there are flights where arriving late has real consequences – either because of the importance of a meeting on arrival, or because of limited connecting options. Contra this fast-spreading claim on social media, there’s nothing inherently irresponsible about missing a flight.

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OTG Is Dropping iPads, Passengers In Airports To Order Food Using Their Phones

by Gary Leff

Aug 14 2023

In airports food preparation and food delivery all needs to be done quickly, because people are under a time crunch, at the mercy of airline schedules – often with short connections that airlines engineer in order to maximize the time their planes are in the air and to minimize total travel time on connecting itineraries which drives up ticket sales relative to competitor schedules. Self-service is a part of that, but so driving down costs and pushing sales is as well.

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Oakland Airport Considers Name Change Because Americans Can’t Find City On A Map

by Gary Leff

Aug 11 2023

It doesn’t seem like the major challenge with transcon and long haul international flights from the airport is the airport’s name as port officials seem to suggest. And “East Bay Oakland International Airport” doesn’t seem like it would do much to change that. For political reasons it doesn’t seem like they’d consider “San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport.” But why not? European low cost carriers have long promoted Bratislava as Vienna even though it’s literally in another country!

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Government Defends FBI Agents Placing Innocent People On No Fly List

by Gary Leff

Aug 11 2023

Using unreviewable, secret and often arbitrary Minority Report-style pre-crime profiling as a basis for denying any kind of right is a huge departure for our system of justice. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is considering whether someone placed on a No Fly List as retaliation for not becoming an FBI informant, when there’s no suggestion they’ve done anything wrong, is a clearly-enough established violation of rights to justify damages. The Biden administration Justice Department says it is not.

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