Miami’s NBC News affiliate reports: A man carrying a fully loaded gun boarded a commercial flight in Barbados and flew to Miami with the firearm in the plane’s cabin, the NBC 6 Investigators exclusively learned — a hair-raising incident that triggered an immediate investigation by the TSA into the security lapse that aviation experts say could have caused a disaster. …
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New COVID Testing Rules For US Visitors Start Monday
Reuters reports: New rules requiring international air travelers arriving in the United States to obtain a negative COVID-19 test within one day of travel will take effect Monday at 12:01 a.m. ET (0501 GMT), according to an order issued late Thursday. Under current rules, vaccinated international air travelers can present a negative test result obtained within three days of their …
Read More »TSA To Extend Mask Rule For Travelers Through March
Reuters reports: President Joe Biden’s administration will extend requirements for travelers to wear masks on airplanes, trains and buses and at airports and train stations through mid-March to address ongoing COVID-19 risks, sources briefed on the matter told Reuters. A formal announcement extending the requirements through March 18 is expected on Thursday, the sources said. The White House and Transportation …
Read More »Woman Charged With Assaulting Southwest Employee
ABC News reports: A woman has been arrested after punching a Southwest Airlines employee in the head during boarding for a flight out of a Dallas airport, police said. Arielle Jean Jackson, 32, was arrested Saturday afternoon at Love Field, Dallas police said. Police said Jackson has been charged with aggravated assault. Police said that Jackson first had a verbal …
Read More »TSA Doubles Fines For Face Mask Violations [VIDEO]
Reuters reports: The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is doubling fines for first-time offenders who fail to wear masks, effective Friday, and said repeat offenders could face fines as high as $3,000. The White House said President Joe Biden was directing the higher fines to “ensure that masking requirements remain in place on the other modes of transportation as we continue …
Read More »TSA To Extend Transport Mask Mandate Thru Jan. 18th
Reuters reports: President Joe Biden’s administration plans to extend requirements for travelers to wear masks on airplanes, trains and buses and at airports and train stations through Jan. 18 to address ongoing COVID-19 risks, three sources told Reuters. Major U.S. airlines were informed of the planned extension on a call with the TSA and CDC on Tuesday, the three people …
Read More »TSA Orders Pipeline Operators To Report Cyberattacks
NPR reports: The Transportation Security Administration, in the wake of the ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline that caused widespread gasoline disruptions earlier this month, has announced new reporting requirements for pipeline operators. In a security directive, the TSA, which oversees pipeline cybersecurity, said it will now require that pipeline operators report any cyberattacks on their systems to the federal …
Read More »TSA: Weekend Air Travel Breaks Pandemic-Era Record
The Associated Press reports: Americans set a record for pandemic-era air travel, then broke it again over the Mother’s Day holiday weekend. The Transportation Security Administration said that slightly more than 1.7 million people were screened at airport checkpoints on Sunday, the highest number since March 2020, when travel was collapsing because of the coronavirus outbreak. However, those crowds were …
Read More »Mask Mandate For All Travel Extended Until Sept 13th
The Hill reports: The federal mask mandate for all transportation networks will be extended through September, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced Friday. The mask requirement is for travel on airplanes, in airports, on buses and on rail systems. It went into effect in February with an expiration date of May 11, which has now been moved to Sept. 13. …
Read More »TSA Authorized To Fine Mask Refusers At Airports
Via press release from the TSA: Whether beginning the security screening process at the airport Travel Document Checker (TDC) or submitting checked baggage for screening, all passengers who appear to be over the age of 2 must properly wear a face mask throughout the security screening process. The officer at the TDC will request that travelers temporarily lower the mask …
Read More »DHS Preps To Siphon $232M From TSA For Border Ops
NBC News reports: The Department of Homeland Security is requesting $232 million from the Transportation Security Administration to fund border operations in the event that Congress does not agree to fund $1.1 billion of its funding request, according to documents of a contingency plan obtained by NBC News. Other components of DHS, which includes the Federal Emergency Management Administration, have …
Read More »TSA Agent’s Suicide Temporarily Closes Orlando Airport After Panicked Travelers Rush Past Security Screening
Orlando’s ABC affiliate reports: A Transportation Security Administration agent was killed Saturday morning after jumping from a hotel balcony into the atrium of Orlando International Airport, authorities said. The incident caused the Federal Aviation Administration to briefly ground all flights, causing delays and massive lines at security checkpoints, which were closed because of the suicide. Sgt. Eduardo Bernal, a spokesman …
Read More »Donations Pour In For Unpaid TSA Security Workers
The Associated Press reports: The shutdown has brought an outpouring of generosity to TSA agents and other federal employees who are working without pay. Food, financial help, haircuts and toiletries are among the donated goods and services. On Wednesday, donations of diapers, juice, garbage bags, canned soup and boxes of Ramen noodles were being unloaded onto luggage carts at the …
Read More »Atlanta Airport: Plan For Three Hours To Clear Security
The Associated Press reports: Passengers at the nation’s busiest airport are feeling the pinch of the government shutdown and it’s coming in the forms of long security lines. Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is warning passengers to give themselves at least three hours to clear security. Issues with screenings have prompted several airports – including Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Miami …
Read More »Delta Passenger Flies To Japan With Gun In Carry-On
CNN reports: A traveler carrying a firearm boarded a Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and flew to Tokyo Narita International Airport on January 3, according to a statement from the Transportation Security Administration. “TSA has determined standard procedures were not followed and a passenger did in fact pass through a standard screening TSA checkpoint with a …
Read More »TSA Official: Some Airport Screeners Have Already Quit
The Daily Beast reports: Airport security screeners forced to work without pay during the government shutdown have been calling out sick. But now the mad-as-hell workers are actually quitting their jobs. “Some of them have already quit and many are considering quitting the federal workforce because of this shutdown,” Hydrick Thomas, head of the American Federation of Government Employees’ TSA …
Read More »Airport Security Lines Grow As TSA “Sickout” Continues
Forbes reports: Security lines at airports across the country are starting to grow long as nationwide action from TSA workers starts to take its toll. On Friday, CNN reported that the agency, which is responsible for operating security checkpoints at airports across the country, was suffering from staffing shortages as a function of the government shutdown. Starting on Sunday, the …
Read More »Hundreds Of Unpaid TSA Workers Are Calling In “Sick”
CNN reports: Hundreds of Transportation Security Administration officers, who are required to work without paychecks through the partial government shutdown, have called out from work this week from at least four major airports, according to two senior agency officials and three TSA employee union officials. The mass call outs could inevitably mean air travel is less secure, especially as the …
Read More »Dulles Launches Facial Recognition Boarding [VIDEO]
Next Gov reports: Some international travelers can leave their boarding passes and passports in their pockets when flying out of Dulles International Airport thanks to a new facial recognition boarding technology that went into operation Thursday. The new veriScan system developed by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority—with guidance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection—scans the faces of travelers approaching the …
Read More »Christie Booted From Airport Security VIP Line
CBS News reports: Being governor is so yesterday. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie learned the hard way that his special treatment is over. Christie tried to circumvent a TSA checkpoint at Newark Liberty International Airport Terminal C Thursday morning. Christie was with his State Police detail and attempted to enter through a special access area, located near the exit …
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