Marine Brings Ammunition Through Checkpoint at LAX, TSA Doesn’t Notice

by Gary Leff

bullets in a plastic bag
Jan 05 2016

An active duty marine flew Los Angeles to Taipei and was connecting on China Airlines flight CI120 to Okinawa when he was found with 40 rounds of ammunition while going through transit security. The marine explained that he had ‘forgotten to take them out’ of his bag, but he wasn’t carrying a gun to use them with in any case.

The bullets were immediately visible to screeners in Taipei using a standard x-ray machine. To screeners at LAX, not so much. They’re too busy manipulating advanced imaging machines so they could fondle attractive passengers.

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Malaysia Airlines Refuses to Transport Checked Bags on Europe Flights, Already Partly Rolls Back Policy

by Gary Leff

Jan 05 2016

oneworld member Malaysia Airlines had posted a notice that they weren’t going to accept checked bags on European flights due to unusual headwinds.

It’s hard to imagine taking a European flight with only carry ons, let alone with an economy allowance of ~ 15 pounds. And it’s unclear what it means for checked baggage to “only arrive later” (perhaps in a few days when the headwinds die down?).

The temporary change, though, is also related to how Malaysia Airlines is responding to the 2014 shooting down of one of their jets.

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Will This Be One of the Biggest Stories of the Year: The End of Europe’s Passport-Free Travel?

by Gary Leff

Jan 04 2016

The free movement of people and goods is a fundamental idea of the European Union, and one that’s driven tremendous economic benefit to the region (not to mention the individual benefit from unburdening travel). It’s embodied in the Schengen Agreement and in other agreements.

When you enter a European country you go through passport control. If you connect at an airport to elsewhere in Europe you’re generally taking what amounts to a domestic flight. Travel within Europe, for the 400 million people inside the Schengen Area, is like travel inside the U.S.

Sweden has now imposed border controls with Denmark and Denmark with Germany.

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2 Quirks About British Airways Upgrades: I Steal Premium Cabin Space From Elites

by Gary Leff

Jan 03 2016

Yesterday I wrote about snagging a first class upgrade on British Airways. I have an upcoming paid business class roundtrip from the ‘deal of the year’ airfare sale. And British Airways even lets discount business class tickets upgrade with miles (and most discount economy and premium economy tickets as well). There are no cash co-pays.

British Airways may be hesitant to release first class upgrades, when it would make sense for other airlines to do so, since they don’t have separate upgrade and award buckets. But if they do, I’m likely to score the upgrade even with a full business class cabin of folks who would have a higher priority than me on another airline.

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