TSA Officers Fired After Stealing From Passengers

by McLean Robbins on




Have you ever arrived at your destination to find items missing from your suitcase and thought, “I wonder how that happened?” It turns out, you may have been a victim of TSA theft.

ABC News, as seen in the clip above, conducted an investigation into the security of airport screening stations. New figures show that 381 TSA officers have been fired after stealing from passengers and their luggage. The investigation tracked checked bags with iPads and cash, and also went through security checkpoints with these items in carry-on luggage.

In nine of ten cases, the items made it to their destination safely. But in Orlando, an iPad left behind ended up in the hands of a security officer. Using a device-tracking app on the iPad, investigators traced the iPad to the home of the security officer last seen with the device. After denying that he stole the item, the officer was caught red-handed when the alert for the device was heard from inside his home.

Thankfully, the officer has been terminated. We’re sure this will lead to further TSA investigations, but for now, we’d suggest putting valuable items in the safety of your well-guarded carry-on bag.

Travel Warning Issued: For Canada?

by Chris Owen on

Previously voted the world’s most recommended country to visit just days ago, Canada’s popularity took a turn for the worse this week as Iran’s foreign ministry said Iranians should avoid travel to Canada.

The move was in response to Canadian diplomats walking out of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday before Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke about his vision for a “new world order,” reports CBC news.

Beating out Australia, Sweden and Switzerland for the second year in a row, the annual RepTrak study rated Canada number one after polling a panel of 36,000 people representing the G8 countries.

But earlier this month, the Canadian government announced the closing of its embassy in Tehran and expulsion of Iranian diplomats. After the boycott this week, Iran responded, saying criminals and “anti-Iranian groups” bent on revenge could now target Iranians visiting Canada, knowing they no longer have an embassy.

“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous,” Canada Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said when asked about the travel advisory, speaking to reporters in the foyer of the House of Commons as reported by CBC. “And I think 99 percent of Canadians would share that view.”

Probably a lot of Americans too.


Flickr photo by SeattleRay

How to Buy Flight Cancellation Insurance

by Chris Owen on

As American Airlines canceled hundreds of flights through October, passengers were left scrambling for alternate flights or airlines to handle their travel plans. Those actually flying experienced more flight delays than normal too. Savvy passengers with travel insurance came out on top though, thanks to a normally unused feature common to many policies.

Blame it on American Airlines bankruptcy issues, labor problems, maintenance problems or layoffs, in a week’s time the troubled airline had canceled about 300 flights, mostly in and out of Dallas/Fort Worth International (DFW) airport.

“Prior to the recent issues, American had been running a good operation, with on-time performance and reliability measures at their best levels in many years,” American Airlines spokesman Bruce Hicks said in an LA Times story. “The recent disruptions are primarily due to the significant increase in maintenance write-ups by our pilots, many right at the time of departure.”

It’s a situation totally out of the control of passengers but one that can be made a bit easier to swallow with some basic travel insurance that covers flight delays or cancellations and, most importantly right now, offers traveler assistance.Travel Guard, for example, has a single trip plan and an annual plan for frequent travelers.

Their Savvy Traveler plan covers trip cancellation, interruption and delay, emergency medical treatment or evacuation, lost, stolen or damaged baggage or personal effects and baggage delay on any one given trip. The cost? About $25 for a $500 flight in October.

Frequent fliers can get Annual Travel Insurance for personal or business travel that covers trips or vacations throughout the year. This one includes everything from trip cancellation and interruption to unannounced strikes, weather delays and more – plus it comes with coverage for medical expenses that might be incurred away from home. That’s especially important when traveling internationally.

I bought one of their annual plans last year for about $200. It paid off when some medical expenses I incurred sailing on a cruise in international waters added up to over $2000, little of which was paid by my primary health insurance. The travel insurance paid the rest.

Say a flight booked on American Airlines was cancelled. The airline would do its best to reschedule. Frequent flyers know the drill too: flight canceled, stand in long line at airline customer service counter and hope to get to destination at a reasonable time.

But what would my travel insurance have done for me? We asked Travel Guard to find out.

“In addition to the 24-hour assistance Travel Guard provides customers in rebooking their flights, accommodations and other pre-planned travel arrangements, in the event that their trip is delayed five or more hours, travel insurance can reimburse for expenses incurred until travel becomes possible,” Carol Mueller, VP of Travel Guard North America told Gadling.

That could come in handy when a late, weather-delayed flight causes a missed connection and the next flight out is tomorrow. Weather-related flight delays? Technically, not the airline’s problem. The travel insurance company, much like a travel agent, is on your side and ready to help when needed.

“Cancellation would be covered when due to mechanical/equipment failure of the carrier, or when inclement weather causes delay or cancellation of travel,” added Mueller. “We recommend customers contact us at our toll-free number as soon as they know their trip is going to be delayed, interrupted or cancelled and we can help with alternate solutions to their travel plans.”

Regardless of which travel insurance company we choose, having that protection along for the ride when traveling can pay off. Liability-limiting reasons for airlines to cancel or delay flights due to weather events and “maintenance” issues seem to be on the rise. That takes travel insurance from an optional extra not likely to be used to something that may be seriously considered.

 


[Flickr photos by Scott Ableman]

Costa Concordia Grounding Brings More Safety Rules, Awareness

by Chris Owen on

When the Costa Concordia was grounded off the coast of Italy last January, a call went out to take a focused look at cruise ship safety. Since then, a number of in-depth television specials have been aired, several accounts of the tragic event have been published and maritime experts have come up with specific suggestions. While there can be no guarantee of another event of such magnitude happening ever again, what looks to be a unified cruise industry has taken steps to minimize the chance.

“The cruise industry continues to work on a global level to improve the safety of passengers and crew, which is our number one priority,” said Christine Duffy, president and CEO of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) in Travel Pulse.

Quick reality check: nice thought but no real meat there.

CLIA is a trade organization, not a governing body with legal authority granted by a nation or group of nations to impose or enforce anything. Most of their time is spent lobbying on behalf of the cruise industry, developing and implementing training and certification programs for travel agents and generally promoting the cruise industry.

There is nothing wrong with that. In fact, they do a good job doing what they do. But while new cruise industry policies address safety concerns brought up by the Costa Concordia grounding, travelers would do well to keep their eyes and ears open and be alert when traveling via cruise ship with the same diligence they might apply when traveling in the air or on land.

Still, the cruise industry has adopted every bit of the renewed sense of urgency about safety that we might expect.

“Since January of this year, and in keeping with our efforts to continuously improve operational excellence, the global cruise industry has voluntarily adopted seven wide-ranging safety policies,” added Duffy. “We remain fully committed to exploring further enhancements in a number of areas that will add to the industry’s excellent safety record.”

Previously, implemented policies for increased safety included a passage plan, much like an aircraft flight plan, to address the notion that the captain of Costa Concordia had gone off course on a whim. Access to a ship’s bridge was to be tightened up too, believing unauthorized people may have been hanging around the command center of Costa Concordia at the time of the tragic event. Cruise lines also decided to carry extra life jackets because some passengers on Costa Concordia were in the wrong place at the wrong time when they were needed.

Recently, a rule was added to actually fill lifeboats with people on a periodic basis, just to be sure the crew knew what to expect and do in case of a real emergency.

The meat of the new cruise ship policy:

“To facilitate training for lifeboat operations, CLIA oceangoing members have adopted a policy that at least one lifeboat on each ship is to be filled with crew members equal in number to its certified number of occupants at least every six months. Under this policy, for safety considerations, the loading of lifeboats for training purposes is to be performed only while the boat is waterborne and the boat should be lowered and raised with only the lifeboat crew on board.”

Standardization of operational cruise industry policies among cruise lines is surely a good idea. Lessons learned from the Costa Concordia grounding are producing rules like these from CLIA that will probably save lives in the long run too. Still, smart travelers stay alert, know safety rules and protocols in place for any mode of travel they engage and act responsibly in case of emergency.

See the CLIA website for the full text of their Life Boat Loading for Training Purposes Policy.




[Flickr photo by darkroom productions]

Travel Troubles: How To Break Up With Your Travel Companion

by Rachel Friedman on

Our options for ending romances are plentiful, ranging from face to face meetings to changing a Facebook status knowing your soon-to-be-ex will stumble across the unhappy message you are sharing with him and 500 other “friends.” Depending on your perspective, we live either in a golden age of communications or a social media hell of our own making.

Travel breakups are a bit trickier. Maybe you’ve planned a trip with a mate then realized a week in that your idea of bliss is a day at the spa while hers is climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Or you’re losing sanity because the jackhammer snoring your buddy characterized as “light wheezing” is keeping you up nights. Whatever the reasons, sometimes we need to part ways with a travel companion. Here’s how.

Honesty
You can plan your itinerary, your route and your meals. But as far as I know there is no fool-proof way to calculate how you and your friends will interact after, say, getting lost for the 300th time or when forced to make nice with the frat boy, who always smells like cheese, your friend has fallen for. Be honest about needing some space. Here’s a script to help you practice.

“Hey, Dave.”
“What’s up bro?”
“Well, I’ve got some things on my mind, Dave.”
“Cool, cool.”
“I’d like to strike out on my own for a bit, maybe meet up with you in a few weeks in Uzbekistan. How’s that sound?”
“Right on.”
“Awesome. Great talk, Dave.”

Okay, it might not be as painless a conversation as it is with surfer Dave but the premise still holds. Be direct. Be kind. Be strong, grasshopper.

Pros: This strategy is your best bet for remaining friends after your trip and, let’s be real, the healthiest suggestion on this list.
Cons: Honesty is tough. Just ask any politician, anywhere.Avoidance
My friend Christina went on a three-week tour of Europe with her two best friends. At the end of the trip, one friendship was firmly intact but after saying goodbye at baggage claim, she never spoke to the other girl again. She describes her former BFF’s travel personality as miserly, rude and condescending. A triple threat! Christina practiced one type of avoidance, dodging confrontation during the trip itself. But this strategy can also be used on the mate himself. Do you notice your companion is already dressed and out the door before your alarm has even gone off? If you get more than one hastily scrawled “gone exploring for the day” note stapled to your backpack (not that I recommend stapling things to your backpack, who even brings a stapler on a trip?), you might be the recipient of the avoidance strategy.

Pros: Great for those who loathe confrontation.
Cons: Your silence might unintentionally cause more suffering, not less. Instead of ripping off the bandage, you’ve chosen to bleed out.

The Bad Hotel
Recently in Sydney, Australia, some folks decided that the 5000 grey-headed foxes making their home in the Royal Botanical Gardens needed to be evicted because they were destroying the batch of trees that house them. The relocation strategy was dubbed “the bad hotel” and it involved blasting the creatures with noises described as “glass smashing, fast hum, and whipper snapper” – imitating the type of unending renovations that might cause you to book accommodation elsewhere. My friend Jenna offers a disturbing example of how the bad hotel strategy could work with a travel companion. On a road trip, for instance, tell a buddy who is bugging you that you need to drive from now on because you’re getting carsick. Then drive like a maniac, Jenna counsels. Text, go too fast then too slow, stop all the time, eat messily in the car, smoke if she hates it, etc. Bonus points if your mate screams: “Stop this car right now I’m getting out!”

Pros: You get to practice your acting (you are acting, right?).
Cons: Texting while driving is dangerous. Seriously. Don’t do that sh*t.

The Switch
The Switch and the Ditch, although I have rhymed them adorably, are not for amateurs. Both strategies involve a good deal of planning and mental fortitude. Consider yourselves warned.

I’ve never successfully pulled off a switch but I’ve seen it done and it was a thing of beauty. In Ireland, I once shared a dorm room with two guys (let’s call them Tom and Jerry) who had been traveling together for a few weeks after meeting abroad. One night I was out with a group of backpackers from the hostel when Tom confessed to me over a cold Guinness that he was a bit sick of Jerry. However, his new friend was a timid traveler and he didn’t want to leave him in the lurch, despite being ready to hit the road on his own. But Tom had a plan, he said, nodding in the direction of Jerry, seated a few chairs over, and deep in conversation with a guy named Aaron. Tom had met Aaron that morning and thought he seemed like a worthy replacement. So he ferreted out some details about Aaron’s upcoming travel plans and dropped delicate hints about how much Jerry, too, was keen on heading to Dublin soon. Then he introduced the future bros at drinks that night, a matchmaker on a mission. Sure enough, a day later Jerry announced he was going to take off with Aaron. Switch accomplished.

Pros: You get to exercise concern and cleverness.
Cons: It’s a delicate dance, the switch, and many of us have two left feet.

The Ditch
It is not nice to ditch someone. Truly, it is a last resort. But some situations call for extreme measures and I want you to be prepared. This last strategy requires little in the way of explanation. You simply, well, you abandon someone. You should be aware, though, that there is a strain of traveler immune to the ditch, often the same clingy folk who need to be left behind in the first place. My friend Carly once told a love-struck guy she was traveling with to meet her in the hostel kitchen for breakfast. She said she was just going to pack up and would be down in a few minutes. Then Carly slipped out the back door and disappeared into the frenetic Sao Paulo streets. Only she didn’t vanish quite well enough. Two days later she was hanging out on the balcony of her new room when a familiar voice called up to her. “Carly! Carly! There you are!” her suitor shouted, convinced their parting had been an accident and not an intentional ditch.

Pros: No muss, no fuss (usually).
Cons: You might have to stop once and for all using the adjective “nice” to describe yourself.