US Immigration Wants To Collect DNA Samples, Iris Scans, And Voice Prints From 50% More People

by Gary Leff

Sep 12 2020

A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking has been published by the Department of Homeland Security authorizing a significant increase in biometric information that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement would be able to collect.

The government redefines biometric to include behavioral characteristics along with biological characteristic that can be used to identify someone. And it outlines new types of biometrics that they plan to authorize themselves to collect.

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Will Airlines Ending Change Fees Mean More Overbookings – And Involuntary Denied Boardings?

by Gary Leff

Sep 12 2020

With U.S. airlines eliminating change fees on domestic trips (excluding basic economy fares), will that least to more cancellations? And will higher cancellation rates mean that airlines need to overbook flights more than before?

If more people can change plans without penalty, will we have more people changing plans – so more people not taking the seats they’ve booked? Will that mean airlines need to sell even more seats for each flight to make up for it?

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American Airlines Appears To Trade Air Service For Political Support In Oklahoma

by Gary Leff

Sep 12 2020

American Airlines announced they were going to stop serving 15 cities once government payroll subsidies ran out, and they were no longer required to fly to all of their pre-existing markets.

They’ve backtracked on several of those changes. The latest is Stillwater, Oklahoma where the airport put out a press release basically announcing that their Senators traded political support for air service.

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Iran Air Auctions Off Part Of Its Fleet

by Gary Leff

airplane taking off
Sep 11 2020

Coronavirus hit Iran early and hard, and the virus has continued to rage there. Two months ago Iran estimated they’d had 25 million Covid-19 cases, despite still having fewer than half a million cases lab-confirmed.

Unsurprisingly there’s been little demand for air travel. The nation’s flag carrier Iran Air is auctioning off 12 of its planes, a veritable grab bag of aviation history.

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The Most Germ-Laden Spot In Any Airport Is The TSA Checkpoint, And Delta Has A Solution

by Gary Leff

Sep 11 2020

This month Delta Air Lines is rolling out anti-microbial bins at security checkpoints in their terminals at Atlanta, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Los Angeles, New York-LaGuardia and New York-JFK.

TSA screening bins have more germs than the monkey in outbreak. Your fellow sick passengers touch the bins, they even put their dirty tissues and handkerchiefs in them before going through the nude-o-scope pockets empty.

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