Tag Archives for tsa.
A doctor shares his travel hacks to bring liquid and meals past TSA security at airports, so he doesn’t have to buy water and gets to eat what he wants. The government won’t let you bring a bottle of water into the airport (unless you freeze it first). He brings a whole bag of coconuts so that he can drink coconut water on the plane. And he brings burgers.
At the beginning of February, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced legislation that would exempt many Members of Congress, Cabinet Secretaries, and federal judges from airport security checkpoints. They would, instead, receive dedicated airport escorts and private security screening. It’s now closer to passing.
Departing Washington’s National airport on Friday, I passed by a family saying goodbye to each other at security. They hadn’t walked one family member into the airport for one last kiss. The family was simply parting ways at PreCheck. The dad had expedited security. His wife and kids did not. He made sure they had their boarding passes, and sent them along to the longer line.
I’d never seen this in person so dramatically before. He was right in front of me, and got out of my way at the PreCheck entrance so I could go through. But apparently it’s more common than I realized.
Major U.S. airlines ran to the government to try to quash competition and a better inflight product option for passengers. Their first attempt, with the Department of Transportation, may not be working. But their next play with TSA can be done in secret and stands a better chance.
A woman skipped the TSA ID checker at the Nashville airport, since she didn’t have a boarding pass to fly that day. She went through regular screening, and proceeded to an American Airlines gate – where she got on a flight to Los Angeles without a boarding pass.
Congressman Matt Gaetz was stopped at a Dallas – Fort Worth airport TSA checkpoint, where he was found to be carrying a taser. He said he forgot he had it on him, and it was taken and thrown away.
According to the Congressman, he “thanked the TSA agent who found it” and then he gratuitously (and perhaps rather creatively) adds that the TSA screener gave him a “first bump” and told him “to secure the border.” and that he was carrying the TSA because he “can’t afford to hire Cori Bush’s husband.”
On Monday a naked man strolled through the Fort Lauderdale airport and proceeded up to TSA security screening.
This should be the easiest security screening of the week: no shoes to remove, no pockets to empty, and he’s obviously not concealing hidden water anywhere. I’m not sure though if he just wants to avoid a pat down, or he’s actually hoping for one?
TSA has often failed to catch over 90% of contraband going through checkpoints, there have been tens of thousands of misconduct complaints against the agency’s staff, and yet we haven’t seen repeats in the U.S. of 9/11 largely because there aren’t as many threats as we think, they’re harder to carry out than we imagine, and because we’ve reinforced cockpit doors and passengers would no longer sit docilely by as an attack was carried out.
TSA is working on three new security systems that reimagine airport checkpoints, investing in technology to screen more passengers effectively using self-service rather than scaling up the number of screeners the government employs. Passengers will start using the first one beginning next month.
The blog post challenges the claim that the U.S. has the best airport security and immigration, highlighting the convenience of paid services like Global Entry, PreCheck, and CLEAR but also emphasizing TSA’s inefficiencies, flawed procedures, and lack of external regulation. It contrasts U.S. practices with more lenient yet effective measures in countries like Australia, the U.K., and Hong Kong, questioning the true efficacy and purpose of the U.S. security system.
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 »
