Category Archives for Airports.
The story is a familiar one. Lower-wage employers aren’t able to find workers when they can make as much or more on pandemic unemployment, perhaps they still have stimulus money banked, and they need schools to re-open so they can work without childcare expenses.
Airports are having a difficult time because on-site businesses employ a lot of low wage workers. For instance go find someone to help a passenger in a wheelchair at major airports today.
When I renewed my Global Entry three years ago, the online request (and payment) was enough. I wasn’t required to do an in-erson interview. Not everyone is so lucky.
Somehow I missed the news earlier this month that Customs and Border Protection will now let you do Global Entry renewal interviews over Zoom.
A former Customs and Border Protection officer, now working with Immigration and Customers Enforcement, shared her recent experience having Global Entry taken away from her. It wasn’t because she committed a crime, or forgot to declare fruit she brought back into the country. Instead, she says it was because she complained about an officer who processed her at the border.
There are videos everywhere in the airport, yet some people think it’s a good place to steal. They’re not entirely wrong since in most airport thefts no one gets caught.
In Atlanta, though, a man caught on camera stealing bags off of a carousel at baggage claim has been identified and is now in custody. He was caught because Atlanta’s airport police were already familiar with him from previous run-ins. Everyone returns to the scene of the crime.
The people who run Priority Pass and The Club lounges also now provide Covid-19 testing at Dallas Fort-Worth airport. Collinson offers rapid tests and PCR tests, and for a premium will even turn around PCR tests same day (though it takes longer than just a layover). They tell me they have “applied to be a Trusted Partner with Hawaii and anticipates approval in June.”
The Lexington, Kentucky Blue Grass airport is the primary air travel embarkation point for central and eastern Kentucky. American, United, Delta and Allegiant all service the airport with service to 16 destinations frequented by more than 1.3 million passengers per year. And it’s decided to close and shut down to all air travel for 3 days.
Watch your stuff! Airports have more surveillance than just about any other place in the country. There are numerous law enforcement agencies on site, from the TSA to Customs and Border Patrol to the DEA. There are cameras everywhere. Yet passenger belongings are being stolen all the time, and almost no one gets caught.
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory – the same people who brought you millimeter wave scanners at TSA checkpoints – are developing a new scanner so you won’t have to take off your shoes at airport security.
This project blasts these same millimeter waves at your feet, cutting down on the shoe carnival for flyers who lack precheck and reducing the time in line for passengers that no longer have to take their shoes off and put them back on.
A fight broke out Friday morning around 8 a.m. London time that got so large seventeen people were arrested and three were snt to the hospital.
The melee occurred at London’s Luton airport, which is a center of low cost carrier operations like easyJet, Ryanair and Wizz Air.
A Fort Lauderdale woman was heading home from a weekend trip in Houston when she – and her wig – encountered the TSA. She was asked to remove her cap, but the cap was attached to the wing. And she dubbed the ensuing video “When TSA stops you from being fabulous.” Oh, and the cap says “Bad Hair Day” on it.
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 »
