Flash Mob at Dubai International Airport

A group of dancers disguised as flight attendants surprised travelers at the Dubai International Airport last weekend. 
 

Crowds gathered as the group spontaneously burst into a synchronized dance in the Duty Free shopping area.

The Dubai airport organized the event to promote the new DXB Connect card, a pre-paid card aimed at airport passengers.

Video:

TSA to Expand Pre-Check Flyer Program

USA Today: The Transportation Security Administration plans to expand its pre-check program for airline passengers, who provide information about themselves in exchange for a faster trip through security lines, the agency chief announced Wednesday.

The experimental program began in October at airports in Miami, Dallas, Detroit and Atlanta.

John Pistole, the TSA administrator, told the Senate transportation committee Wednesday that the program will expand to Las Vegas in December, and to Los Angeles and Minneapolis-St. Paul in early 2012.

"This is an ongoing process," Pistole said, with expansions possible to other airlines and other locations. "The goal is to expand it as broadly as possible while maintaining the highest level of security, all on a voluntary basis."

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., welcomed the announcement.

"I've been calling for this for a long time," Boxer said. "No one who supports this ever wants to compromise security."

The pre-check program is part of Pistole's effort toward risk-based screening, to focus searches on passengers considered the largest potential threats. Other parts of this strategy include:

--An experimental program at Boston and Detroit airports, where TSA officers try to find wrongdoers through their behavior, by chatting with passengers while checking their identification and boarding passes.

--An experimental program for pilots to avoid screening lines at select airports.

--A move to significantly reduce the pat-downs conducted on children 12 years old or younger.

Eligible travelers for the pre-check program include frequent fliers with American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, as well as the U.S. Customers and Border Protection's trusted-traveler program.

Participants are able to use a different security line and take off fewer items, like keeping on their shoes and light jackets.

But TSA warns there could still be random security measures, and that nobody is guaranteed expedited screening.

About 45,000 passengers have gone through the program so far at the four existing airports, Pistole said.

The program applies only to domestic flights.

"We want to make sure we get it right domestically first," Pistole said.

The Busiest Airports for Thanksgiving

Los Angeles Times: Step aside, O'Hare. There’s a new winner in the busiest-airport derby and it's LAX, which is expected to be the nation's most crowded this Thanksgiving. Coming in next are O’Hare, Orlando International in Florida and San Francisco International, according to the annual Orbitz Insider Index. Among the least-busy airports? LAX’s little sister, John Wayne Airport in Orange County, San Jose International and Maui, Hawaii.

The travel company compiled its list of the busiest and least-busy airports based on flight reservations made via Orbitz between Nov. 23 and Nov. 27 at the top 50 airports in the nation.

So where's everyone going? Angelenos are flying from LAX to New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas/Fort Worth and Las Vegas to share turkey with loved ones or take a holiday vacation. Nationwide, Orbitz says, New York, Chicago and Orlando are the top three destinations for U.S. travelers, with Los Angeles coming in fifth.

Holiday travelers can expect full flights though fewer people are expected to fly this holiday season, the Air Transport Assn. of America reports. The organization estimates that 23.2 million air travelers -- about a 2% drop from last year -- will fly in a 12-day period.

While demand is down from last year and remains well below the 2006 peak, passengers still should expect full flights during the Thanksgiving holiday travel season as airlines have begun to reduce capacity and limit the number of seats available for sale due in part to rising cost pressures,” ATA Vice President and chief economist John Heimlich said in a statement. "Based on published airline schedules, these cuts are expected to continue through the winter."

As for traffic at LAX, the airport last year estimated that 1.53 million passengers would pass through the airport in a 10-day period bracketed by the Friday before and the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

The potential throng of holiday travelers at LAX this year may mean longer lines for everything, from airline luggage drop-offs to security screening.

The Bare Essentials of Air Travel

A man has been taken to a hospital for evaluation after he was spotted walking naked around Dulles International Airport. -- Associated Press

Washington Post: The Naked Man stood in the security line at Dulles Airport. People were staring at him. Since he’d arrived, he’d had to endure plenty of stares. And plenty of comments, too.

He’d heard, “Your landing gear is showing” and “It’s TSA, not T&A.” One guy had shouted, “Hey, buddy, please stow your tray table, and return your seat to its upright position.”

The Naked Man didn’t quite understand that one, but there was plenty he didn’t understand about air travel these days.

Flying used to be glamorous. People dressed up for it, as if they might be photographed by paparazzi. Flying on a jet was like visiting the Playboy Mansion. Now, though, passengers looked like slobs. Young men wore tank tops and shorts. Young women dressed as if they were going to a slumber party. They shuffled aboard in pajamas, with inflatable neck pillows hanging off their backpacks like wine-filled goat’s bladders.

Well, if that’s the way they were going to be, he’d show them. He’d really dress down.

And it used to be you could arrive at the gate mere minutes before your plane took off. Now you had to be there hours in advance. These days, the trip to the airport and the waiting at the airport were often longer than the flight itself.

Then the questions: Did you pack this bag yourself? Did anyone ask you to carry anything? Did you ever let your suitcase out of your sight?

That was only the beginning. Next came the ritual disemboweling of the carry-on luggage: the removal of liquids and gels, the pulling out the laptop and putting it in a tray.

And then the promenade through the magnetometer. Bzzzip! Sir, do you have any metal on you? Just my keys. Put them in the bin, sir. Bzzzip! Is there anything else? My watch? It has a leather band. I thought it would be fine. Please remove it, sir. Bzzzip! Is there any change in your pocket, sir? Any pens, pencils, cuff links, pocket knives, scissors, thimbles, snuffboxes, slide rules, ball bearings, sterling silver inkwells, ferrous meteorites, stainless steel curtain rod finials?

Today, there would be nothing in his pockets. He had no pockets.

No one saw the Naked Man off at the airport — he’d driven by himself — but he thought back with fondness to the way departures used to be. You could accompany your loved ones right to the gate, hug them goodbye, kiss them passionately, as if they were flying off to Casablanca, then watch as their airplane pulled back from the accordioned jetway and taxied away. If you had the patience and the vantage point, you could watch the plane actually take off and become a smaller and smaller dot in the sky, until it was lost among the clouds.

Now, though, the signs said “Ticketed Passengers Only Beyond This Point.” You made your distracted farewells in a clot near the security line, then stood awkwardly as your loved ones joined the zigzagging queue. Did you slip away now? Or did you wait till they were through to the “airside”?

Taking loved ones to the airport these days was as romantic as hurling them aboard a freight elevator. And as for the act of flying itself, the less said the better. You’d be better off fashioning wings from feathers and wax.

The Naked Man was snapped out of his reverie by shouts and the sound of pounding feet. He was knocked to the floor by a blue and black phalanx. The floor, he noticed, was cold against his skin and for the first time he began to question his decision to travel nude.

“Sir,” a uniformed officer said as he lifted the Naked Man rudely to his feet, “you have to come with me. Passengers must wear clothes.”

“You don’t understand,” the Naked Man said. “I’m not a passenger. I’m a pilot.”

Plans Unveiled for World's Largest Airport in England

Proposed airport in the Thames Estuary

Wired: Architect Lord Norman Foster has proposed an ambitious £50 billion ($80 billion) transport hub on the Thames Estuary, which would host the world's biggest airport and create a series of high-speed rail links that run up the spine of central England.

The imaginative design sees a massive airport with four 25-mile-long runways, attached to the river estuary on reclaimed marshland on the Isle of Grain, in Kent. It would be capable of handling 150 million passengers a year -- ultra-popular Heathrow manages about 60 million.

Deep underground is a four-track railway line for passengers and cargo, which links to an orbital rail route around London, stations in the North and even tracks into mainland Europe. Those trains are flanked by utilities and internet cables to service the UK.

There's also a new barrier crossing that not only extends the flood protection to London and the Thames Gateway, but tidal-turbines along the barrier generate carbon-free energy.

Foster, who designed the new Wembley Stadium and the "Gherkin" skyscraper, said, "if we are to establish a modern transport and energy infrastructure in Britain for this century and beyond, we need to recapture the foresight and political courage of our 19th century forebears and draw on our traditions of engineering, design and landscape.

"If we don't then we are denying future generations to come. We are rolling over and saying we are no longer competitive -- and this is a competitive world. So I do not believe we have a choice."

However, not everyone is overjoyed. Medway Council in Kent said the Hoo Peninsula on the Isle of Grain was one of the worst places for anyone to build a new airport.

Councillor Rodney Chambers, said: "This plan is, quite possibly, the daftest in a long list of pie-in-the-sky schemes that have been put forward for an airport. The Isle of Grain is home to one of the world's largest Liquefied Natural Gas terminals, with a fifth of the UK's gas supply offloaded by container ships and stored there. It is plainly obvious that aircraft and huge gas containers are a potentially lethal mix."

"In addition to this, the sunken American warship the SS Richard Montgomery is submerged just a few miles from the location and laden with high explosives, the London Array wind farm is being built nearby and the airport cuts through an area that is home to hundreds of thousands of migrating birds."

"I can only assume he has not actually left his offices and traveled from London to Medway to have a look before releasing this."

London mayor Boris Johnson previously had a similar idea, and proposed building a floating airport island in the same estuary. Johnson is all for Foster's plan, with a spokesperson for the mayor saying, "The mayor is delighted that a distinguished figure like Lord Foster agrees that the answer to Britain's aviation needs lie in the estuary. This idea is taking off and rightly so because Britain's economic future relies on strengthening our ability to connect with the great growth economies of the globe."

Woman Stuck at SFO Airport for 8 Days & Nights

eTurboNews: Various airline fees can be a pricey annoyance for many passengers, but one caused a whole lot of trouble in the life of a Sonoma County woman.

This woman's story sounds like a movie plot. In fact, she compared her plight to the Tom Hanks movie, "The Terminal," when an unforeseen problem left her stranded in the last place she would ever expect.

Teri Weissinger thought she was flying out of San Francisco International Airport, she couldn't believe she wound up living there.

"I found a little stairway and I lay on the floor and slept there," said Weissinger.

She was stranded in a terminal for eight days and eight nights. It wasn't because of bad weather, it was because of baggage fees.

"That's ridiculous, I couldn't believe it sometimes, you know, it's just incredibly ridiculous situation to be in," said Weissinger.

Weissinger was broke and leaving California to start a new life in Idaho. She had nothing but an airline ticket and $30 in her pocket.

"$30 would get me there, so I thought," said Weissinger.

However, the last time she flew, five years ago, checking a bag was still free. Most travelers are aware of the fees, but so she was shocked when she got up to the ticket counter. U.S. Airways said she had to pay an extra $60.

"$25 for one bag, $35 or another bag," said Weissinger.

She explained she didn't have enough money and asked couldn't she pay when she got there? The airline said no. She offered to leave one bag behind. That was against security rules.

"I started making phone calls to everybody I knew," said Weissinger.

She wound up missing her flight. Now she'd have to pay the bag fees plus $150 in change fees. She couldn't fly out, but had no home to return to either.

"I thought it looks like I might have to stay there tonight," said Weissinger.

At first she didn't panic. She even treated herself to dinner that night, but the next morning her problems grew bigger. U.S. Airways told her she now had to book a new flight -- about $1,000.

"They just claimed we can't do anything, they couldn't help me," said Weissinger.

She spent days wandering the airport, but her cash quickly ran out.

"I was tired, hungry, dirty," said Weissinger.

Weissinger was treated for anxiety at the airport medical clinic. She even asked police for help, but was nearly hauled in for vagrancy.

"The last time she flew, there were no charges. I fly every few weeks and I don't know what the new charges are," said travel attorney Al Anolik.

Consumers have complained about many hidden fees, so federal rules require carriers to disclose them prominently on their websites. But Weissinger was flying in April, before the rules took effect and she says she didn't notice any bag fees when the flight was booked on Orbitz, and the fee does not appear on her itinerary.

Her ordeal finally did end however, when she found the "The Airport Church of Christ." Parishioners paid $210 in fees and Weissinger flew to Idaho.

We asked U.S. Airways about this. It said: "We have apologized to Ms. Weissinger for her experience, but unfortunately are unable to offer a refund. When you purchase a non-refundable ticket, you accept the terms and conditions. If a passenger cannot travel with their bags, they need to make other arrangements."

Orbitz tells us, "For several years, Orbitz has provided details on baggage fees on our site as a resource to our customers."

Weissinger said it was a lot of trouble over a small fee.

"Finally, I was out of there. I was just elated," said Weissinger.

Those new federal rules require fees to be listed within one click away from a homepage on an airline website. Come January, the rules will also require airlines to include government taxes and fees in their advertised fares.

More Hotels Opening in Airports

Yotel Rooms at Heathrow Airport

MSNBC: The days of snoozing upright in an airport terminal chair during that long layover may soon be over. At some of the world’s busiest airports, travelers can book a hotel room to catch a nap or take a warm shower — all just minutes from the runway.
 

“We sell our cabins literally by the hour. You book only what you need,” said Jo Berrington, marketing manager for Yotel, a no-frills hotel chain now in London’s Heathrow airport, London’s Gatwick airport and Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. Yotel’s rooms are a mere 75 square feet, with just enough room for a bed, desk and shower.

Travelers can check in and out of the capsule-like rooms at any time of the day. A four-hour block of time costs about $45, and an overnight stay costs about $90. The U.K.-based Yotel expects to have five more in-airport hotels in the works within the next year, including a proposal for New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Airport lodging has been around for years, offering a bed to travelers with late-night arrivals or early departures — or stranded due to bad weather. There’s the Hyatt Regency inside the Orlando airport, the Marriott in the Tampa airport and The Sheraton in the Bradley airport in Windsor Locks, Conn.

But things are starting to change, as airports continue to evolve into centers of commerce with bars, restaurants and shopping, said Scott Berman, the U.S. leader of hospitality and leisure at PricewaterhouseCoopers. “There has been a rapid expansion of hotel development in and around the busiest airports,” said Berman.

It’s not limited to no-frills. New luxury hotels are popping up at airports, complete with spa services, cigar bars and exercise rooms.

Last year, Hilton Hotels & Resorts opened a 320-room hotel inside Terminal 3 of the Beijing Capital Airport in China. The hotel has seven restaurants and bars, two ballrooms, 21 meeting rooms and spa services, a cigar bar and fitness center.

The Hilton chain expects to open hotels at JFK airport in New York and the Frankfurt airport in Germany in December and three more hotels inside airports in Nigeria, in Ghana and in Alberta, Canada, by 2014.

Last spring, Sheraton Hotels & Resorts opened a hotel inside the Milan Malpensa Airport in Italy and by the end of next year, Sheraton will add more hotels adjacent to airports internationally in Azerbaijan and Moscow and domestically in Detroit and Pittsburgh. Meeting and conference rooms will be included. “You will have business travelers fly in, do business and never venture into the city,” said Hoyt Harper, Sheraton’s global brand leader. “Convenience is very important.”

The Best & Worst Airports to Catch Some Zs

Terminal U: You wouldn’t usually expect airports to provide a great night’s sleep, but when your flight is delayed and the nearest hotel is fully booked, you’re left with very few options.

It begs the question: where are the best and worst airports to sleep in? As it so happens, a recent study has shed some new light on the subject.

Ninoy Aquino International in Manila has been singled out as the world’s worst airport to sleep in, according to sleepinginairports.net – a travel website which invites travellers to review their sleeping experiences at airports. Travellers looking to catch 40 winks at the airport’s Terminal 1 complained about theft, bribery, the absence of toilet seats and running water in the toilets.

The published findings are the latest in The Guide to Sleeping in Airports’ annual list of the best and worst airports for shut-eye.

A lack of adequate or uncomfortable seating, noisy terminals, poor facilities, rude security staff and dirty toilets were among the biggest complaints made by the thousands of travellers who took part in the poll.

The website said the facilities were better at Manila’s Terminal 3, which it described as “clean, spacious and with an internet connection.”

Paris Beauvais was voted the second worst airport, with travellers complaining that the airport closes overnight – forcing passengers to crash out in awkward places.

In third place was Keflavik International in Iceland, which the website claims doesn’t allow passengers to sleep in the terminal.

Worst airports to sleep in:

   - Manila (T1)
   - Paris Beauvais (France)
   - Keflavik (Iceland)
   - Bergamo (Italy)
   - Kiev (Ukraine)
   - Frankfurt Hahn (Germany)
   - London Luton (UK)
   - Pisa (Italy)
   - Paris Charles De Gaulle (France) (T3 & T2A, B, C, D)
   - Los Angeles (US)

The Guide to Sleeping in Airports said the results are skewed towards the larger share of passengers sleeping over at European airports: “The list this year is very heavily European, simply because that’s where the most airport-sleeping adventures are to be had.

“We base our list on user reviews and poll votes and we just happen to receive more reviews for overnight sleepovers for European airports.”

Asian airports top the list of best airports to sleep in

Those looking for a decent kip are suggested to venture East. Asia’s airports fared the best when it came to the most comfortable terminals for sleeping.

Singapore Changi was voted the cleanest and most comfortable airport to sleep in, which the website said travellers also loved for its range of amenities and entertainment.

Hong Kong and Seoul Incheon were voted as the second and third best airports respectively to sleep in.

Best Airports to sleep in:

   - Singapore Changi
   - Seoul Incheon (South Korea)
   - Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
   - Amsterdam
   - Munich (Germany)
   - Vancouver (Canada)
   - Zurich (Switzerland)
   - Frankfurt (Germany)
   - Toronto (Canada)

Data sourced from sleepinginairports.net

Worst Airport Layover Ever

Jaunted: Watching the movie "The Terminal" or reading the Alain de Botton book A Week at the Airport can make you have crazy ideas, like perhaps that living in an airport for a period of time would be awesome. Tom Hanks kind of finds romance, de Botton eats a ton of room service and listens to the melodramatic life stories of travelers passing through Heathrow's Terminal 5; it all seems so nice and easy.

This week however, those daydreaming about living at an airport got a wakeup call when a Japanese man was found to be doing just that in Taipei International Airport, after running out of money and overstaying his visa. Masaaki Tanaka subsisted on soy sauce and wasabi packets while searching the airport floor for loose change. Hmm—not so glamorous.

Naturally he blogged about his experiences at TPE and gained the attention of the public, who have now donated enough cash for him to pay his visa fine and fly home to Japan. CNNGo has more on Tanaka's ordeal, but they note that he's not due to leave until October 26. If your travels take you through Taipei anytime in the next week, keep an eye open for the glum, 42-year-old man making a meal of condiments.

He claims he wouldn't have survived had he been stuck at any other airport than Taipei International, but umm...we've been there and it's nothing to write home about.

Air Traffic Control Errors Double in Three Years

Business Week: U.S. air-traffic safety errors involving flights near airports more than doubled over the past three years, the Government Accountability Office said.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees air- traffic and regulates airports, needs to better track safety lapses at airports, from jets that veer off runways to controllers who allow aircraft to get too close together, the GAO said today in a report examining data from fiscal 2008 to 2011.

The rates of safety hazards on or near airports continue to rise, the GAO said, while crediting the FAA with taking steps to reduce hazards.

Air-traffic error rates at facilities directing traffic within 40 miles of large airports increased to 22.6 per million flights from 8.5 over the period studied, the GAO said. The rate of similar errors at airport towers increased by 53 percent, it said.

These errors occur when controllers direct aircraft to fly too close to each other.

Most of the increases resulted from the FAA’s efforts to encourage employees to report errors, rather than an increase in the number of incidents taking place, the aviation agency said in a statement.

“More information will help us find problems and take action before an accident happens, which will help us build an even safer aviation system,” the statement said.

Following a series of incidents in which controller errors were covered up, the FAA created a non-punitive reporting system to encourage employees to come forward and stopped paying managers for keeping errors down.

’Incentive’ to Hide
“Everybody had an incentive to not report before,” Steve Hansen, safety chairman at the National Air Traffic Controllers Association union, said in an interview.

The FAA’s efforts “have likely contributed to the increased number of incidents reported,” the GAO report said.

Some of the higher numbers may have reflected actual increases in incidents, the GAO said. Controller errors at FAA facilities with systems that automatically record mistakes were 38 percent higher in fiscal 2010 than the previous year, the GAO said.

These automated systems are located at FAA facilities overseeing high-altitude traffic.

A one-time misunderstanding of rules led to about 150 reported errors in Southern California, the GAO said. That represented about one-third of all errors in the U.S. from January through March of 2010, it said.

Runway Collision Risks
The FAA needs to do a better job of tracking incidents in which aircraft roll off runways, the report said.

Near-collisions on runways rose from 11.4 per million flights in 2004 to 17.8 in 2010. The vast majority of those cases were minor, the GAO said.

The most severe incidents, those that nearly caused a collision, fell to 6 in 2010 from 53 in 2001, GAO said.

New Airport Security System Unveiled

Fox News: The airline industry presented a model of its vision for the future of check-in security on Tuesday, including high-tech color-coded scanning corridors and what they said was the use of risk assessment techniques to ease the burden of airport security for the common traveler.
Airline passengers will get to keep their shoes on and their bags in their hand -- toothpaste, nail clippers, laptops and all -- as they pass through the "checkpoint of the future."

"We spend too much time on the 99.9999999 percent who mean us no harm, when threat detection surely should be focused on those with greater potential to do damage," International Air Transport Association chief Tony Tyler said at a conference in Amsterdam.

"By making our checkpoints smarter, and using 'known traveler' programs, we can give everybody a baseline level of security ... and in the end get everybody through security much faster," he said.

The concept faces technical and financial hurdles, and likely will be opposed by people who object to profiling or believe passing through body scanners violates their privacy. But it indicates the direction the industry hopes to go, Tyler said. He added that many elements of the plan are already in place, and others on the way.

He argued the "risk-based approach" is not the same as profiling, since it doesn't use ethnic or religious data. It relies partly on preflight information submitted by passengers, partly on biometric scans and data stored in passports, and partly on human observers who would have the discretion to choose a more rigorous scan for someone acting suspiciously.

Under a mock-up checkpoint on display at the Aviation Security World Conference, passengers are guided into one of three corridors upon presenting their passports: blue for frequent travelers, purple for normal passengers and orange for those deemed to require enhanced vetting.

People don't have to empty their pockets, remove any of their clothing or subject themselves to pat-downs before walking through a 20-foot tunnel that scans metals, liquids, laptops and other potential dangers one by one. Security guards don't need to waste any time on small children or wheelchair-bound grandmothers unless they trigger an alarm. U.S. Transport Security Authority chief John Pistole said the checkpoint of the future idea parallels the TSA's own new emphasis on "risk-based security."

"It's an idea clearly worth consideration as technology develops," said TSA chief John Pistole. "Segmenting the passenger population for different levels of security screening is exactly what we're pursuing."

He cited an ongoing TSA trial where frequent fliers "who are willing to voluntarily share information with us before they travel" are allowed to pass security more swiftly at Dallas/Ft. Worth and Miami International airports, as well as domestic airports in Atlanta and Detroit.

Peter Hartman, CEO of Dutch airline KLM, a subsidiary of Air France, said he didn't think profiling on some grounds was objectionable. Separately, he called on governments to contribute to costs for rolling out the technology used in new checkpoints. He said at present airlines pay around $7.4 billion per year for security, which they pass on to customers, while security costs for events such as football matches are often borne by the police.

Tyler said elements of the 'checkpoint of the future' plan will be introduced first on most highly traveled routes, and will gradually expand to smaller airports over a period of three to seven years.

Pre-screened Flyers to Move in the Fast Lane

Miami Herald: Flying within the United States just became slightly easier for select American and Delta fliers at four airports, including Miami, who can now skip through security without — gasp — taking off their shoes or belt or removing their laptop from its carrier.

These privileged few even get their very own fast lane. But, don’t bother trying to sign-up: those who are eligible will be notified.

The pilot program, which kicked off Tuesday, is part of a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) effort to focus more specifically on fliers who may pose a danger, while scaling down security measures for a small pool of pre-approved passengers.

More than 500 million travelers fly domestically each year, officials said, noting the “vast majority” aren’t a security risk. Now, under TSA’s PreCheck, an estimated 70,000 travelers have signed up to skip some of the flying annoyances in Miami, Dallas/Fort Worth, Atlanta, and Detroit — the largest hubs for American and Delta, respectively. Hundreds of thousands more fliers are eligible, officials said.

“This will strengthen our security while significantly enhancing the travel experience,” said Robin Kane, TSA’s assistant administrator. The agency, the largest federal startup since World War II, was created after 9/11. Often, it has found itself bashed by angry travelers who feel officials go too far, invading their privacy. How to balance security interests while reducing the hassle for risk-free fliers is an ongoing debate.

TSA’s latest effort is a sort of compromise, and if successful, officials say they hope to expand the program across the country and to other airlines. The fliers — mostly business travelers — who are eligible for this program will pass through security about twice as fast as regular passengers. Shoes and laptops stay put, and travelers can keep on a light jacket. Liquids remain restricted to no more than 3.4 ounces for carry-on luggage. And participants will still be subject to random security checks.

Beyond the limited American and Delta frequent fliers invited to join, U.S. citizens who are members of the Customs and Border Protection’s Trusted Traveler programs are also eligible. Those passengers already pass more quickly through U.S. immigration after paying a $100 fee and going through the agency’s extensive background check.

Government officials already pre-screen each U.S. passenger, checking their names and birth dates against a terrorist watch list. But frequent flier and expedited immigration programs collect more detailed personal data on its members.

“It doesn’t mean the other people are a bigger threat,” said Mark Hatfield, TSA’s federal security director. “We just have more information on them. The more people we move from the ‘unknown’ category to the ‘known’ category, the better.”

Sari Koshetz, a spokeswoman for TSA in Miami, said as a frequent flier on American herself, she received an invitation to join the program a month ago. Not only faster, it is also more convenient, she said, especially being able to keep on your shoes.

Of all the gripes people have, Kane said, “that’s one of the biggest.”

Leave Those Guns, Knives and Grenades at Home

MSNBC: Should you pack your gun, your grenade or your carving knife in a carry-on bag when you go to the airport? Definitely not, but apparently a number of people do.

According to a recent post on the Transportation Security Administration’s blog, TSA officers have found more than 800 firearms in carry-on bags this year. And that number doesn’t include the countless knives that still show up at airport security checkpoints daily — it’s so many that the TSA doesn’t even keep count — or the many inert grenades that passengers try to take home as souvenirs.

Last week, for example, a passenger at the Orlando International Airport showed up with three pistols — a .25-caliber, a .40-caliber semiautomatic and a .357-caliber revolver — in a bag that also contained loose ammunition and a loaded magazine. In Baltimore, the TSA recently found three throwing knives in the carry-on bag of a Mexico-bound traveler. And on Monday, TSA officers at New York’s Albany International Airport discovered a loaded gun in the purse of a woman heading to Detroit.

The two passengers with guns were arrested; the traveler with the knives was cited, and his weapons were confiscated.

It’s unlikely that passengers plan to use their weapons during flight, but it's difficult to know for sure since people often respond to TSA questioning by saying, “I forgot that it was in my bag.”

Given how frequently illicit weapons are discovered, Overhead Bin asked TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein for advice on the proper way to fly with firearms. Farbstein said fliers may transport firearms, ammunition and firearm parts in their checked baggage even though those items are prohibited from carry-on baggage.

“Basically, travelers must declare all firearms, ammunition, and parts to the airline during the ticket counter check-in process,” Farbstein said. “The firearm must be unloaded and it must be in a hard-sided container [and] the container must be locked.”

You can read more about traveling on airplanes with guns, firearms, knives and other weapons on the TSA's website, but Farbstein adds that “airlines may have additional requirements for traveling with firearms and ammunition. Therefore, travelers should also contact the airline regarding firearm and ammunition carriage policies.”

TSA Demands to Search Woman's Afro

Isis Brantley

Daily Mail: An airline passenger who had already been through airport security was left in tears after TSA officers insisted on checking her Afro-style hair in case she was concealing explosives.

Hairdresser Isis Brantley was stopped at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, after she had passed a scanning device.

As she traveled down an escalator, she claims she heard someone yell: 'Hey you, hey you, ma'am, stop. Stop - the lady with the hair, you.’

Two TSA agents told her she could not go any further until they checked her hair for explosives, said Miss Brantley, of Dallas, Texas.

Reluctantly she allowed them to do it and the TSA staff patted her hair down right there instead of asking to return to a private area for screening.

‘And so she started patting my hair, and I was in tears at that point,’ Miss Brantley told NBC News. ‘And she was digging in my scalp.’

I was outraged,’ Brantley said. ‘I was humiliated. I was confused.’

After the pat-down, Brantley complained to a TSA supervisor at Hartsfield-Jackson who then apologized to her.

‘She said, "Ma'am, please, I promise you, I'm going to take care of it. I'm so sorry that happened to you,"' Miss Brantley said. ‘And I'm like, "OK, that's weird."'

Miss Brantley, who frequently travels across the U.S. to see clients, said has worn her hair naturally for 20 years and has never had her hair checked until Monday's incident. She said she is scared she will be harassed again the next time she flies.

The TSA said: ‘Our screening procedures are designed to ensure the security of the traveling public,’ TSA said in a statement. Additional screening may be required for clothing, headwear or hair where prohibited items could be hidden.

‘This passenger left the checkpoint prior to the completion of the screening process. She was offered but refused private screening.’