Tag Archives for tsa.
Newly released video shows a man charging through the main TSA checkpoint at Atlanta’s airport, knocking people down and injuring three screeners as officers yell “Breach!” and “Everybody freeze!” A former professional baseball player in the line grabs him and slams him to the floor — and when the man tries to surge forward again, he’s subdued and hauled off in a wheelchair, later charged with interfering with security measures and simple battery.
A federal judge blocked DHS from trying—again—to void the TSA’s union contract, ruling the agency can’t sidestep a prior injunction by issuing a “new” justification for the same outcome. The decision keeps the 2024 collective bargaining agreement in force and preserves workers’ grievance and arbitration rights while the case continues.
A Fifth Circuit judge openly laughed when the TSA argued it isn’t set up to refund millions of passengers—while defending a $48 million penalty against Southwest for allegedly failing to return the same security fees. The case tests whether an airline has to cut cash refunds for government fees when travel credits expire unused.
A viral video shows a passenger collecting and stacking TSA bins after screening — and it’s reignited an airport etiquette fight. Some checkpoints expect you to bus your own tray, others tell passengers to leave them alone, and the germ factor makes the “helpful” move less appealing than it sounds.
A full-time TSA officer at Boston Logan is accused of collecting $47,526 in pandemic unemployment over 16 months while still working at the airport. Prosecutors say he repeatedly filed weekly certifications claiming he had no income, and he’s now charged with wire fraud.
Cases like this have surfaced repeatedly among TSA screeners, highlighting how pandemic programs prioritized speed and access—and made fraud easier to attempt and slower to catch.
TSA is sending ICE airline passenger lists multiple times a week, running everyone who flies through an immigration-enforcement match using the Secure Flight pipeline that was built for aviation security. It turns airports into chokepoints for law enforcement: broad roster surveillance first, detain-and-sort-out-later in the terminal, and a structure that invites mission creep beyond immigration.
TSA caught a man at the Las Vegas airport trying to clear security with a woman boarding pass for a Southwest flight – and that is when everything went sideways. According to federal prosecutors he hit a TSA officer, flipped a responding cop over his back, then grabbed an officer pen and allegedly tried to stab police with it at the checkpoint. Now he is facing a five count federal indictment for interfering with security screening and entering the secure area on false pretenses.
TSA is rolling out a new “alternative identity verification” system for travelers who show up without acceptable ID — and it comes with an $18 non-refundable biometric fee. The agency says it can impose the charge without congressional approval by invoking authority meant for registered-traveler programs, a stretch far beyond what Congress intended.
A Delta passenger boarded a flight carrying a meat cleaver at Portland Airport, undetected by TSA screeners—who now blame inadequate training as staff still await paycheck backlogs from the recent government shutdown. Here’s exactly how the security lapse happened and what TSA says it plans to do next.
Travelers at New York’s LaGuardia Airport spotted a tip box sitting on a TSA checkpoint table — something federal employees are strictly prohibited from soliciting or accepting. Cash tips violate federal ethics rules, TSA’s own code of conduct, and even criminal statutes governing gifts to government workers, making the setup flatly illegal.
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 »
