Category Archives for Airports.
United Airlines is quietly routing its top customers around Houston’s four hour TSA lines through a hidden checkpoint, even as the airport tells passengers there is no screening in Terminal C. The lane is normally used for disabled passengers and special assistance.
ICE agents deployed to airports during the government shutdown are now expected to get access behind checkpoints without the SIDA badges normally required for unescorted entry into secure areas. That means bypassing the fingerprinting, background checks, and training airport workers usually need — a move that could weaken the challenge-and-report culture airports rely on to keep secure areas secure.
President Trump has rejected Elon Musk’s offer to cover TSA screener pay during the partial government shutdown, even after the administration reportedly considered the idea. That leaves travelers facing the same worsening airport security lines, with no outside fix coming as absenteeism and political leverage keep the pressure on.
As long airport security lines continue to frustrate travelers, one man has turned the chaos into a business by standing in line for you and selling the spot. His asking price runs from $600 to $1,200, essentially creating a black-market version of paid airport fast-track services.
ICE agents are now at 13 airports, but the deployment looks far more symbolic than operational: they cannot legally perform screening, and in many cases they appear to be standing near checkpoints while TSA lines still run for hours.
A woman was detained by immigration authorities at San Francisco International Airport late Sunday night, and video of the scene is now being widely miscast as part of the new ICE deployment to airport checkpoints. It was not
ICE agents are now showing up at airport checkpoints, but they are not the same as TSA screeners — ICE agents are law enforcement officers, while TSA checkpoint staff generally are not. That changes your rights.
There is one food airports should probably never be serving right before passengers board a plane, and somehow it keeps spreading: chili. Beans, sulfur, and changes in cabin pressure are already a bad combination at 30,000 feet, which makes airport chili counters and giant lounge bowls feel less like comfort food and more like a threat to everyone trapped in the cabin.
A single overheated circuit board was enough to ground flights across five Washington-area airports, forcing controllers to evacuate Potomac TRACON and exposing just how fragile the FAA’s aging infrastructure has become. The deeper problem, though, is not one smoking board — it is an air traffic control system where routine maintenance on old equipment was reportedly allowed to slide, making breakdowns like this far more likely.
President Trump says ICE can fix shutdown-driven TSA lines starting Monday by moving agents into airports, but federal law does not allow ICE to simply take over checkpoint screening. Even if he tried, pulling immigration agents into TSA roles would weaken airport security while doing little to solve the staffing and training problem that caused the lines in the first place.
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 »
