Airport Screening To Be Faster Thanks To New TSA Program

by Chris Owen on

It’s taken a long time but a quicker, more efficient screening process at the nation’s airports looks to be coming into focus. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is planning a new three-tier system for passenger and baggage screening that taps features of ongoing programs to streamline the process.

Based on elements of the best parts of the existing Secure Flight and TSA PreCheck programs, the new system is “designed to increase the number of airline passengers who may be eligible for expedited screening,” says a report in Travel Weekly.

Using that information, air travelers will be classified into three tiers — expedited, standard or enhanced — with each level requiring different procedures and qualifiers. The current system treats all travelers the same.

Under the new system, low risk travelers would be directed to the lanes now used for TSA’s PreCheck program. Shoes and belts stay on. Laptops remain in cases.

Passengers would be screened at the time of booking, and the level of required screening would be embedded in the barcode of the traveler’s boarding pass.
PreCheck expands this year to 100 U.S. airports. This Fall, anyone can join by going through a background check. Participants allow their fingerprints to be file. The anticipated fee is $85.

Heathrow Is Now Tracking How Late You Are

by Anna Brones on

Is your flight in 30 minutes or 45? You don’t have time to look at your boarding pass, so you hustle as fast as you can, awkwardly managing your oversized carry-on which you know that you are going to get scolded for. When you get to security, instead of being waved through you are turned right back around and sent off to the check-in gate. You won’t be making your plane, and the pilot of your flight knows it.

Creepy or helpful?

While it might feel Big Brotherish, Heathrow Airport’s new “positive boarding” initiative is intended to help not only keep flights on time, but also ensure that passengers have up to date information to know how much they need to hustle or not.

When a passenger passes through a security checkpoint now, individual information about that passenger will pop up on the screen, showing which flight they are on and whether or not they are going to be able to make it. Passengers who are too late will be turned around, and the information will be passed along to the airline so that they can immediately begin removing the passenger’s bag.Although Heathrow claims it’s the first technology of its kind, tracking passengers is nothing new. In Italy, a couple of airports track Bluetooth signals, and SITA is a known service that provides real-time tracking software and line management.

This all might sound like an excessive use of technology, but Heathrow claims that in the first week of using its new service, 35,000 passengers used the positive boarding technology as part of their trip. Data shows that of the airlines using the technology, 44% of the flights had passengers who could have delayed the final departure. 10 passengers who were running very late were turned around and told they didn’t have the time to make it through security. Those 10 passengers probably weren’t too happy, but I’m sure that the passengers on the flights that departed promptly were satisfied. All the more reason to give yourself ample time to get to the airport and board your plane.

How Do Dogs Find Explosives At Airports?

by Libby Zay on

Behind every bomb-sniffing dog at the airport is hours and hours of repetition and reward. For many, their training starts with a canine kindergarten and continues until they graduate from an elite academy run by MSA Security. Around 160 teams work with these dogs, usually in tandem with the same handler for eight or nine years, until the dog is retired. Smithsonian magazine looks into what goes into training these dogs and how, exactly, dogs detect bombs. Here’s an excerpt:

Merry and Zane Roberts, MSA’s lead canine trainer, work their way along the line of luggage pieces, checking for the chemical vapors-or “volatiles”-that come off their undersides and metal frames. Strictly speaking, the dog doesn’t smell the bomb. It deconstructs an odor into its components, picking out just the culprit chemicals it has been trained to detect. Roberts likes to use the spaghetti sauce analogy. “When you walk into a kitchen where someone is cooking spaghetti sauce, your nose says aha, spaghetti sauce. A dog’s nose doesn’t say that. Instinctively, it says tomatoes, garlic, rosemary, onion, oregano.” It’s the handler who says tomato sauce, or, as it happens, bomb.

Thanks, Smithsonian magazine. I will never smell spaghetti sauce the same way again.

[via Gizmodo]

5 Reasons Why Living In An Airport Might Be Kinda Nice

by Libby Zay on

Taking cues from Tom Hanks’ role in “The Terminal,” a 45-year-old woman has been living inside Mexico’s Cancún International Airport (pictured) for the past week. While we can think of a few reasons this would not be a good idea — no comfortable place to lay down, soaring food prices, etc. — it got us thinking that living in an airport wouldn’t really be all that bad.

1. It’s Secure
Once you make it past security, an airport is probably one of the safest places you can find yourself. There’s not even a pocket knife in sight.2. Free Amenities
If you play your cards right, you could end up at an airport with free Wi-Fi, power outlets, filtered water stations and more. But that’s just at run-of-the-mill airports. Some of the best airports have exercise classes, art exhibitions, libraries, movie theaters, pools and golf courses to stay entertained. Some also have comfy recliners, sleeping pods and even showers. If all else fails, at least you’ll always have access to a bathroom.

3. Unmatched People Watching
Anyone who’s spent a long layover at an airport can tell you sometimes you don’t even need a gadget to stay entertained. Airports — especially international ones — are like a microcosm of the entire human race (and all its eccentricities). Who knows, you might even end up finding a date while you camp out.

4. Options, Options, Options
One of the reasons we love airports is because many of them provide a gastronomical free-for-all. It’s possible to sample a wide range of restaurants, including national chains and local eateries. Plus, where else can you get a beer at 6 a.m. and coffee at midnight?

5. Duty Free Shopping
Essentially, living in an airport is kind of like living in a shopping mall. (And if you have an international ticket, it’s a tax free shopping mall.) From travel-size toothbrushes to Jimmy Choo shoes, pretty much everything you could ever need (or want) is up for sale.

Developing Story: Airline Crash in San Francisco

by Jess Moss on


A plane reportedly crashed upon landing at San Francisco International Airport today. CNN reports the plane was a Boeing 777 operated by Asiana Airlines.

A YouTube video showed the smoking plane at the crash site.

This has been a busy week for airline collision news, with a close-call near-collision above Michigan and a call for air traffic control changes after a number of near collisions in recent months.

Passengers on the plane tweeted about the crash:

Update: 3:59 PM EST

Initial reports from passengers indicate most people on board did not suffer major injuries.

Update 4:07 PM EST

Local news outlet KTVU is reporting that all flights into SFO are cancelled and roads around the airport have been shut down.

Update 4:11 PM EST

Passengers from Asiana flight 214 are being taken to local hospitals. The flight as en route to San Francisco from Seoul. Initial reports from passengers claim that the nearly 300 people on board the plane are accounted for. David Eun, a Samsung executive, was on the plane and posted updates via Twitter. Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer was scheduled to be on the flight but switched to a United flight to use miles:

Update: 4:34 PM EST

Local news outlet KTVU now reports at least two people were killed in today’s plane crash.

Photos and video of the plane show a large, charred hole in the top of the cabin, and the tail is detached from the body of the plane. Details are still coming in about the crash, while some people speculated its cause on Twitter:

Others reacted to landing at SFO in general:

Update: 5:11 PM EST

Read a transcript or listen to the audio of the communication between the plane and air traffic control when the incident occurred here.

Update: 7:20 PM EST

San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hays-White: “The scene is now secure.”

Hays-White reports 291 passengers and 16 crew on board the plane. There were 48 initial transports from the scene to area hospitals, with additional passengers waiting to be transferred to hospitals. There were two confirmed fatalities. Some passengers are unaccounted for.

Two of SFO’s four runways are back in operation.

The FBI says the crash does not appear to be caused by terrorism.