You can’t make this up: A TSA worker abuses his authority and scares the crap out of an innocent woman by planting phony contraband… as a joke. From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

After pulling her laptop out of her carry-on bag, sliding the items through the scanning machines, and walking through a detector, [Rebecca Solomon] went to collect her things.

A TSA worker was staring at her. He motioned her toward him.

Then he pulled a small, clear plastic bag from her carry-on – the sort of baggie that a pair of earrings might come in. Inside the bag was fine, white powder.

The innocent passenger understandably freaked out, realizing she had been framed. And when drugs are involved, it’s not just a missed flight that’s of concern. But wait:

Just kidding, he said. He waved the baggie. It was his.

Kidding? Kidding??? Unbelievable. Not only is this offensive, but so stupid. On what planet did this agent reside, that he thought this was even remotely okay? And what kind of power trip must he have been on, to do this in front of other passengers and fellow agents?

According to the Inquirer, the agent in question no longer works for TSA, but you have to wonder how someone with such miserable judgment was ever hired in the first place.

So, how would you have handled being framed by TSA?…

Downgraded: Teamwork, Wine, and Cost-Savings on British Airways
Management vs. labor (or labour, if you will) on British Airways is getting nastier. Take this quote, for example: “No-one is doing anything to help save costs any more. Whereas we used to keep unfinished bottles of wine in first-class to save money, now they’re routinely poured down the sink.” Pouring good wine down the sink? That’s a sin!

Downgraded: Traveling Value, Thanks to Fees
Delta upped its checked baggage fee again. $8 more for the first bag (now $23), and $7 for the second bag (now $32). And that’s if you pay your fees online. If you wait until you show up at the airport, add another $2 ($25 total) for the first bag and another $3 ($35 total) for the second. What I don’t understand is this: The policy is effective today, January 12, for anyone who purchased tickets on or after January 5. But the policy was only announced on the 11th. How is this legal, especially in light of the DOT “crackdown” on post-purchase changes to the contract of carriage? I smell a rat.

Upgraded: Travel for People with Nut Allergies
Travelers with nut allergies may soon find a nut-free-zone on Canadian airlines. Complaints filed against Air Canada yielded the ruling, which requires the airline to create a buffer zone within 30 days of the early-January ruling. What other cordoned-off areas will we see on planes now?…

Downgraded: The One-Way Ticket Myth
Mythbusting on the details: Umar Abdulmutallab, the crotch bomber, did not travel to Detroit on Christmas Day on a one-way ticket, despite nearly every major news organization’s reports to the contrary. He might have set off a thousand other warning flags if the data mining and information sharing within the US security community were up to full speed, but a one-way ticket was not one of those flags.

Upgraded: Jokes about TSA drug use
Jimmy Fallon: “Four TSA workers at LAX were videotaped snorting drugs. It was the first time people had ever seen lines go that fast at the airport.” Hey-ohhhh…

(image)

Who is more to blame for the recent shutdown of Newark Airport: The 28-year old graduate student who jumped a rope and entered the secure area of the airport, or the TSA agent who left his post unguarded?

Some politicians have been quick to choose sides. And friend of the blog, Robert P. — he of the world-famous “You have chunks in your beer” letter to the CEO of Midwest Airlines — calls out one particularly-vocal US Senator for playing the blame game.

The text of the letter to Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) follows in its entirety:

Dear Senator Lautenberg,

I’m not one of your constituents, but still wanted to write a note of disappointment regarding what appears to me to be your desire to publicly hang, draw and quarter Haisong Jiang, the schmuck who shut down Newark Liberty International Airport last week. While it is clear that what he did was wrong, it is wrong in the same sense that speeding or jaywalking is wrong. The terrible ramifications — shutting down the airport — speak much more to the incompetence of TSA staff and absurdity of the rules drafted by TSA leadership than to the actual violation itself.

Think about it just for a second; if Al Qaeda terrorists knew they could shut down an entire airport (and delay air traffic around the world) by skipping through a velvet rope to kiss a girl, they could save a lot of money on explosives and weapons training. Granted, they might have to spring for a dozen roses or a box of chocolates, but I suspect these might still be cheaper (and less painful) than setting ones underwear on fire.

Clearly, the problem here isn’t with Mr. Jiang but with the TSA. And your public statements that the man should face federal charges over the incident are ridiculous. Please direct your attention to the actual problem, rather than a misbehaving graduate student. Instead of absurdly saying that the man committed a “terrible terrible offense” and should turn himself in, why not ask why the TSA has a “no-fly” list that creates hassles for everyone named “John Smith” because some criminal, somewhere, used that as an alias, but nonetheless allows real, identified, terrorists with no luggage, no return ticket, and no winter coat to get on trans-Atlantic flights to Detroit in the middle of winter.

Thank you and Happy New Year.
Robert P……

Got a side to take in this debate? Hit the comments.

Upgraded: Some clarity for travelers
Downgraded: 14 countries’ citizens
The TSA has issued new rules (and an accompanying statement) regarding international travel to the United States. The centerpiece: If you are from — or traveled through — Afghanistan, Algeria, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Somalia, or Yemen, you will be subject to pat-downs and carry-on bag checks. But we didn’t hear the actual policy or the list of affected countries from the TSA. Oh no. The official line only specifies that security will be higher for passengers who come from (or through) “nations that are state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest.” The details of who that affects were provided (leaked?) by an unnamed TSA official to the media.

Downgraded, again: TSA’s mad Adobe Acrobat skillz
Seth at Wandering Aramean has uncovered yet another TSA redaction error, with the agency this time exposing explosives detection procedures because they can’t properly edit a PDF.

Downgraded: The next generation of airport scanners, before they’re even installed
Full-body scans would not have detected the Christmas Day crotch-bomber, because the explosive powder packets in his underwear weren’t dense enough. In the UK, the Independent on Sunday labeled the push for more full-body scanners “a scam.” And al Qaeda has reportedly already been practicing ways of beating the body scanners, allegedly on scanners they’ve purchased.
Update: And now the Guardian reports that these scanners could be in violation of British child pornography laws, as they create “indecent images” of children. The hits just keep on a-comin’!

Enough with airport security and the TSA! On to lighter fare:

Upgraded: Argentine tit-for-tat
If you are a citizen of a country that charges Argentines an entry fee or visa charge, then prepare to pay that same exact fee when you enter Argentina. For Americans, that means paying US$131. Only Buenos Aires (EZE) is charging the fee for now, but that will expand to other locations.

Downgraded: Hotel descriptions and accompanying photos
This hotel’s five-star description doesn’t match the imagery. WhereToStay.com’s description of the Hotel Nikko Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands takes the reader to a tropical paradise… until you look at the photo. First, here’s the description — painful in its own right, thanks to a misguided obsession with capitalization:

Set Amidst Crystal Clear Pacific Waters Surrounded By Lush Palm Trees, White Sand Beaches, And Alive With Outdoor Fun And Activities Such As Snorkeling, Diving And Water craft Rides, The Hotel Nikko Saipan With Its 14 Floors And 313 Guest Rooms And Suites Provide A Truly Relaxing Ambience For An Unforgettable Experience. Combined With State of The art Facilities And Gracious Hospitality In A Truly 5 Star Deluxe Setting, The Hotel Nikko Saipan Guarantees All Of Their Guests An Ideal Stay. And With Golf Courses Near By As Well As Racketball, Tennis, Scuba Diving And A Host Of Other Outdoor Activities, Saipan Proves To Be A Truly Memorable And Brilliant Destination.

And here’s the photo they put with it:

I’ve heard of hotels changing hands and rebranding, but this isn’t quite what the Nikko is expecting…

The hotel page is here. A screenshot, in case they take it down to make corrections, is here.

Happy New Year!

Just days ago, in the aftermath of the Delta terrorist attempt, Christopher Elliott and Steven Frischling posted the full text of the TSA’s security directive. Now both men have been visited by federal agents and served with subpoenas, demanding the name(s) of the person(s) who provided them with the text of the policy.

Is this really necessary? Several components of the changes were posted on airline websites, including Air Canada. News outlets covered the details over and over again. And travelers figured out the content of the directives really quickly, as security procedures changed around the globe.

TSA directives are categorized as “sensitive security information,” regardless of specific content, according to the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations title 49, section B, chapter xii, subchapter B, part 1520 (“current as of December 28, 2009,” which seems like it was updated after this incident…) And “covered persons” (such as airlines, airport managers, etc.) who have access to this information have a legal duty to protect the contents of sensitive security information. Notably, journalists and bloggers are not covered persons, so presumably cannot be guilty of any crime here by disclosing information — TSA employees, airlines, and airports might be. Thus, the subpoenas to find those who CAN be punished.

There are several questions at hand: First, should these security directives necessarily be considered secret? After all, they directly affect thousands of travelers daily, and govern the behavior of passengers in airports.

Second, is it necessary to use intimidation tactics and to violate the tradition of journalistic privilege, in order to conduct an internal investigation? I understand that TSA is concerned that they’re not following protocol, given the debacle of the improperly-redacted documents. But is this the way to do it?

And what the heck is going on with this tweet:

Frischling’s subsequent tweets state that he spent “two hours or so” with federal agents. In that case, the pictured tweet, sent minutes earlier, suggests a) the source of the leak was anonymous, and b) the feds are pressuring him to help them on a fishing expedition.

The biggest danger here is that bloggers and journalists will shy away from publishing information that they are legally entitled to do, for fear that the federal government will harass them. This can have a chilling effect on the dissemination of information in a democracy.

The logical inconsistency of the TSA policy was bad enough. Publicly going after bloggers who posted the policy — and criticized it — only makes the agency look worse.

Update late 12/31/09: The TSA has withdrawn the subpoenas, saying they were “no longer necessary.” Have they found the leak, or did they just recoil because of bad PR ? Stay tuned…

The TSA has backed off of some of the silliest policies implemented in the breathless reaction to the “crotch bomber” on Christmas Day. That’s a smidgen of good news. But that’s hardly the final word. A rundown of some of the latest questions, concerns, complaints, and updates:

Upgraded: The final hour of travel to the United States
The ban on movement in the last hour, and the ban on holding or doing anything, is over. Mostly. The choice is now in the hands of the captain of the plane. A pleasant change from the universal ban, but you are likely to see some variation out there.

Downgraded: Travel from Canada to the United States
Transport Canada has banned carry-on bags on flights to the US. It’s a short-term ban (through 9pm EST today, Dec 29), but it’s brutal. No carry-ons except those that are often called “personal items”:

Passengers may carry with them the following items: medication or medical devices, small purses, cameras, coats, items for care of infants, laptop computers, crutches, canes, walkers, containers carrying life sustaining items, a special needs item, musical instruments, or diplomatic or consular bags.

We’ll see how long this lasts.

Upgraded: Alaska Airlines
Nice move: Because this qualifies as “irregular operations,” Alaska Airlines is waiving the checked baggage fees for those who could otherwise have carried onboard. The full text: “To minimize boarding delays, passengers are encouraged to check all their luggage. Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air will waive baggage fees for items checked as baggage that the passenger otherwise would have taken aboard as carry-on baggage from Mexico or Canada.” Classy. Will any others follow suit?

Upgraded, slightly: Inflight entertainment systems
Onboard entertainment systems, which were sporadically shut down completely, should be back up and running. The map feature is expected to be turned off, because we all know that terrorists can’t look out a window or whip out a GPS unit…

Downgraded: Channel 9
United Airlines fliers who appreciate Channel 9 (the audio channel allowing passengers to hear the cockpit communication with air traffic control) will be sad to hear that the airline is shutting the channel off on international flights headed to the United States.

Downgraded: Patdowns
So passengers are being patted down at the gate. But Abdulmutallab had the explosives stitched into his underwear. Would that really have been captured with a frisking? How frisky?

Downgraded: Scanners
As mentioned in yesterday’s post, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport noted that they had a number of millimeter-wave scanners that were not being used on flights to the US. But even if these are put to use, it is a delusion to think that this will stop all terrorist attacks. Schiphol’s scanners are “not as powerful as the full-body X-ray machines used by border control agencies, which can detect items such as drugs concealed inside the body.” (A rundown of different scanners is here.) Committed terrorists will innovate, and that can easily mean bombs implanted inside the body. An attempt to kill the Saudi Arabia’s chief of counterterrorism, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, was originally reported as having been carried out using a rectum bomb. That report was later discredited. But some version of such an attack, in the future, is potentially plausible.

Upgraded: Reality checks
For once, I have some praise for Kip Hawley, the former director of the TSA. Quoted in today’s New York Times, he says: “It is a fool’s errand to try to make the aviation system terrorist proof. The only way to do that is ground the airplanes.” True words, indeed.

So air travel to the United States has gotten exponentially worse in the past few days. It’s not news to anyone with regular access to the internet or a TV that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to blow up a Delta (Northwest, technically) flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. Worse than the fact that there remain people who insist on trying to kill innocent civilians, the TSA has taken a bad situation and made it worse.

As you’re likely well-aware, the TSA has imposed strict new rules on air travel from abroad to the U.S. At-gate pat-downs of passengers and reinspection of their carry-on luggage will slow things down, but is no surprise. But the in-flight restrictions — detailed in security directive 1544-09-06 — are simply asinine, and take the notion of “security theater” to new heights.

During flight, the aircraft operator must ensure that the following procedures are followed:

1. Passengers must remain in seats beginning 1 hour prior to arrival at destination.
2. Passenger access to carry-on baggage is prohibited beginning 1 hour prior to arrival at destination.
3. Disable aircraft-integrated passenger communications systems and services (phone, internet access services, live television programming, global positioning systems) prior to boarding and during all phases of flight.
4. While over U.S. airspace, flight crew may not make any announcement to passengers concerning flight path or position over cities or landmarks.
5. Passengers may not have any blankets, pillows, or personal belongings on the lap beginning 1 hour prior to arrival at destination.

Bruce Schneier has the winning quip: “I wish that, just once, some terrorist would try something that you can only foil by upgrading the passengers to first class and giving them free drinks.”

The TSA’s new rules confirm several points, which were already well-known to longtime watchers:

• TSA is always fighting the last war.
  Every time someone tries to blow up a plane or otherwise harm travelers, the TSA jumps into action to close the loophole that that would-be terrorist was hoping to exploit. The bad guys will just change their tactics and find a new way to do it. It’s like we’re the 2009 equivalent of the French military, building a Maginot Line in response to the last attack. First, it was the box-cutters. Then, shoes. Then liquids. Now it’s explosives concealed under a blanket? The next attacker (and yes, sadly, there will be a next attempt at some point, I’m sure) just avoids the past prohibitions and attacks from another angle.
• TSA is focused on placing limits on things that are tangential to an actual attack.
  Abdulmutallab had attempted to blow things up in the last hour of the flight, so TSA’s response is to ban any activity during the last hour. It’s as time were the weapon, rather than the bomb. The ban on getting up in the last hour of the flight is similarly misguided. The ban is so huge, the umbrella so wide, that it fails to distinguish between activity necessary for an attack and activity coincidental to an attack. It’s as one were to state that the attacker wore pants, so no pants should be permitted.
• TSA assumes that threats will always be from abroad.
  The new restrictions are only applicable to international flights headed to the United States. So domestic travel is spared further restrictions, which is a relief, but international travelers are subject to dumb rules. If these rules were truly effective, and not just for show, they would be in effect for all travel, foreign and domestic.
• TSA assumes that terrorists lack deductive reasoning.
  The new rules specify that the inflight entertainment system’s live-updating map cannot be visible, and that the crew is prohibited from announcing the location of the plane en route. But if the “strict” rules kick in 60 minutes before estimated landing time, then any would-be terrorist with a modicum of logic would know that he’s close to his destination once the crew starts alerting passengers that they can no longer get up.
• TSA assumes that by doing anything — no matter how stupid — it makes Americans feel safer.
  “The boss is coming, look busy!” For some time, TSA has justified some of its rules (like the nonsense regarding liquids) by hiding behind a sham of national security, even when procedures don’t stand up to logic in the light of day. And it’s all done in the name of safety and security. But hopefully people are wising up. The logical fallacies in the current security directive are plain for all to see. If the public protests, then and only then will TSA be held to account. If the public argues that it doesn’t feel safer because of these rules, then we might get somewhere.

So what’s next?

There has already been some pushback against these rules, and there are reports that some of these bans are already being diluted, with discretion being granted to the pilots to decide whether or not to turn off the inflight entertainment system, for example. But most of the restrictions aren’t negotiable. (Though they do apparently expire at 2am GMT on December 30, 2009, aka 8pm EST on December 29. Go figure.)

Here are a few preliminary thoughts on what this incident, and the TSA’s reaction, hath wrought:

• Airlines will have to recalibrate their connection times for flights headed to the US.
  The 35-minute connection time in Munich that Lufthansa was offering me on an Istanbul-Munich-Charlotte itinerary last week? That should no longer be for sale. There’s no way you can handle at-gate searches and patdowns with that little time. Two hour connections should be considered a bare minimum.
• Inflight wifi rollouts on trans-continental routes may be stymied.
  If TSA assumes that terrorists will use information from the inflight Airshow map to plot their moment of attack, then imagine how they view internet access? There will be pushback, but expect TSA to set up roadblocks.
• Pack even lighter.
  Checked baggage fees are going to be harder to avoid. If you’re limited to one carry-on item, and you’ve been used to taking one rollaboard and a small bag with electronics, snacks, etc., then you’re going to have to pack even lighter, and/or get used to checking the bags.
• Dress warmer.
  If you’re a person who gets cold easily, wear layers during your flight. Since pillows and blankets are now threats to security, but sweaters and scarves are still okay, plan on bundling up.
• A better puffer machine should be on the drawing board.
  Since the would-be bomber might have been caught if he had passed through a “puffer” machine — a security screening machine that sent jets of air at you, in order to detect explosive residue — these machines might make a comeback. They weren’t very effective when tested, in large part because of the many false positives. But they might come back, if the technology improves.
• Backscatter x-ray machines will become more widespread, despite privacy objections.
  The NYT starts us on this path:

  To date, only 40 of these machines have been installed at 19 airports across the United States — meaning only a tiny fraction of passengers pass through them. Amsterdam’s airport has 15 of these machines — more than just about any airport in the world — but an official there said Sunday that they were prohibited from using them on passengers bound for the United States, for a reason she did not explain.

  I’m going to let that last item go … but this incident will likely push forward the rollout of backscatter.

• International travel to the United States will decrease.
  This is a no-brainer, but it deserves mention: Air travel was bad enough. International travel to the United States was bad enough. And now, it’s worse. The US should expect a decline in tourist dollars. And as long as the citizenry fails to object to their elected officials about dumb, arbitrary, do-nothing rules, then this decline is deserved.

If you’ve flown internationally over the last few days, you’re invited to post your tales from the front in the comments.

Downgraded: Upper Class, upstairs, on Virgin Atlantic
Upgraded: Economy Class, upstairs, on Virgin Atlantic
Like many airlines, Virgin Atlantic has been cutting seats in business class, in response to the economy’s woes. But the upstairs section of the 747 has always been sacred space for the premium-cabin travelers. Until now. The airline will slowly roll out “configuration 4,” which moves some regular economy seats to the back of the upstairs cabin. Virgin Atlantic Upper Class loyalists will object to the lack of exclusivity. Which, in turn, should be an improvement for economy customers who get the service boost of a small cabin.

Upgraded: Consumer rights for “mistake” fares
As I’ve argued in the past, it’s sometimes impossible to know if a low fare is an error, or just a deal. (1 cent fares, anyone?) So I’m pleased to read that, in the U.S., the federal government is warning airlines that they’re (at least partially) on the hook for mistake fares. The DOT ruled: “We believe that all airlines should accept some responsibility for even the erroneous fares they publish.” Customers with canceled tickets must now be “made whole,” though this doesn’t mean that tickets will be honored. Still, a good move.

Downgraded: TSA’s mad redacting skillz
Seth, over at the Wandering Aramean has been digging through a document detailing the TSA’s standard operating procedures. The document was redacted, but Adobe Acrobat doesn’t delete the text hidden behind the black boxes. Oops. Now the TSA says the policies were never implemented, after all. (Then why were they posted, and redacted?) Seth has links to the original documents on his site.

Upgraded: Continental systemwide upgrades for top-level elites
In a further alignment of Continental OnePass with United MileagePlus, Continental is systemwide upgrades and a double-secret invitation-only ultra-elite level for high-spend elite frequent fliers.

Upgraded: United’s long-range aircraft… eventually
After slicing and dicing their fleet over the years, and recently killing off their 737s, it’s finally time for United to look at renewing their fleet. They’re ordering 25 Boeing 787s and 25 Airbus A350s, which will replace their 767s and 747s, respectively. …in 6 to 9 years.