Category Archives for Airports.
After all the scare stories, Customs and Border Protection acknowledged “most of the fake IDs were for college-age students.” Isn’t the biggest risk then that someone could be tasked with buying booze for a non-socially distanced rager as colleges open this fall?
Over $2 billion has been seized from travelers at U.S. airports by the federal government between 2000 and 2016. 70% of 30,500 people whose money was seized were never charged with any crime. 25% of money is seized at Washington Dulles airport.
Airlines say if the government turns someone away for a fever, they’ll refund the customer’s ticket. Making someone with a fever show up at the airport potentially infecting others in order to qualify for a refund seems like a really dumb idea.
Some scientists say smell tests could be a better approach..
House Homeland Security Chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS) wrote to the TSA Administrator this week demanding the agency require people wear masks when going through security checkpoints.
The letter concludes that “a mask requirement is extremely important,” and it’s hard to disagree. The appropriate measure for members of Congress to take then is to pass such a requirement – there are four reasons why the TSA doing it on their own today would be illegal.
When you see a novel warning sign, it’s almost always in response to something a person actually did. No one thought to warn anyone before some idiot came along. Occasionally these sorts of signs make you really wonder about people, like “this motorcycle contains no edible parts” and cartons of eggs that warn “this product may contain eggs” (or jars of peanut butter that flag, “may contain nuts or nut products”). Who are the people who need to be told “this electric drill is not intended for dental use” anyway? Austin’s South Terminal is a separate structure from the main terminal, less than three quarters of a mile away but a 7 mile drive. It currently serves Frontier and Allegiant. This sign was just spotted in the men’s room there: What in gods name was…
A Cathay Pacific passenger boarded a flight from Canada to Hong Kong back in March, intending to connect to Vietnam. Hong Kong transit was shut down March 25. Vietnam closed its border to arrivals. He lived inside the airport for three months.
Then he walked out.
Video shows a Miami airport police officer punching a black woman. She had just yelled at him, “You black, you acting like you’re white but you’re really black. What’re you gonna do?” He claims “she headbutted me” but the video does not appear to support that.
There are several surprising side effects of the coronavirus pandemic, that make a lot of sense once they’re pointed out. For instance one of the prime drivers in reduced GDP during the first quarter was drop in health care spending. How can that be with all the investment in treating COVID-19? Elective treatments were put off, nobody was going to the dentist either.
When restaurants closed down, rats had to go scurrying elsewhere in search of food….
Temperature checks are health security theater. It’s one thing for airlines to require it themselves, another thing to make it an extra-legal government mandate that’s hard to turn back.
The solution is to make it easier for passengers who get sick not to fly, not to make passengers show up sick and infect others in order to get a refund.
With the opening of the new New York LaGuardia Central Terminal building to replace the old terminal C, United, American, Air Canada and Southwest have a new home at one of the most important airports in the country.
I’ve been overall pretty negative on the renovation project because my fear has been that it would slow down travel, not make it better. A reader shares a report that confirms my fears. He concludes, “LaGuardia now requires an additional 30 minutes to get to the gate.”
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 »
