We all know there aren’t enough power outlets in airports, so pack a power cord splitter for long layover.
For roughly $5, you can purchase a cord that allows two or more plugs to access the same outlet. You won’t hog an outlet yourself, or — even better — it might work to your advantage if all outlets are otherwise occupied: you can share someone else’s power.
In what appears to be a daily report of the “dumbest TSA agent”, a story from Philadelphia airport will really have you fuming.
22 year old Rebecca Soloman was heading back to Detroit on January 5th, when she passed through the airport checkpoint. As her bag came out of the X-ray machine, a TSA agent motioned for her to come towards him. As she approached, he held up a small plastic bag containing white powder, and asked “where did you get it”?
Rebecca describes the next 20 seconds as the longest in her life. As she went through all the various terror scenarios in her mind, she held back her tears. It was then, that the TSA agent smiled and told her that he was “just kidding”.
Just kidding – a TSA agent makes you think he found drugs or explosives in your bag, and he was just kidding. Before you get as mad as I did reading the story, you’ll be happy to know that this guy is no longer employed by the TSA, though the agency would not say whether he was fired, or quit on his own.
Look – I understand that every organization in the world is going to be staffed by a small percentage of incompetent fools. But I just don’t get how so many of them ended up in charge of protecting our skies. From missing loaded guns to robbing us blind, the organization always manages to attract the worst of the worst.
A TSA spokesperson issued the following statement to Philly.com:
“The TSA views this employee’s behavior to be highly inappropriate and unprofessional. We can assure travelers this employee has been disciplined by TSA management at Philadelphia International Airport, and he has expressed remorse for his actions.”
Kudos to the agency for taking swift action against this employee. The quicker they get rid of people like this, the better.
Boston’s Logan airport has voted to continue to offer free Wi-Fi. The service had been free since Google sponsored it during the Holiday season.
Now, the addition of free Wi-Fi is certainly nice, but not really newsworthy. What makes this piece of news more interesting is that it puts an end to a long battle the airport operator had with others that offered Wi-Fi at “their” airport.
Back in 2005, Massport got rather upset when they realized that Continental Airlines was offering complimentary Wi-Fi in their club lounge. Of course, the airport claimed that the Continental system could interfere with the airport wide system.
What they really meant, was that they were annoyed that Continental offered free Wi-Fi, taking away revenue from the overpriced Airport system (at $7.95 per day).
In the end, Continental told the airport operator to take a hike, and got the FCC involved. Since Wi-Fi is in open unlicensed spectrum, the FCC agreed that Massport could not demand anything from Continental.
We are now five years past that incident, and the airport has probably made its multi-million Dollar investment back, which means anyone at Logan can finally enjoy free Wi-Fi without having to pay a penny. Fingers crossed other airports in the country pay attention.
The discovery of a pocket knife on an American Eagle plane at Dallas Fort Worth airport triggered an aircraft evacuation, passenger rescreening and a two hour delay.
The knife was found by a passenger between two seats, and while common sense tells us that someone probably found it in their pocket after simply forgetting to remove it, the TSA treats these incidents as a major breach of security.
Of course, the stupid knife should never have made it through the checkpoint in the first place, but items making it past the checkpoint is barely news any longer.
I fully understand asking the TSA to come pick up the knife, but to force everyone off the plane is just stupid – and reinforces the idea that they are not doing their job correctly. If the TSA had faith in what it does to protect us, they should have taken the knife, apologized to all the passengers, and let the plane depart on time.
Travel would be great if it weren’t for airports, right? Even if you fly first class, there are still plenty of ways for the experience to go sour — from the morons in line at front of you at the security checkpoint to the long wait for your bags at the carousel. And on the plane, you have to cope with flight attendants and first class seating that falls short of the luxury you’ll experience at your destination. The solution, of course, is exclusive jet travel, and Linear Air has just what you need.
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[Photo courtesy of Linear Air]