TSA on new laptop screening procedures

The TSA has announced the new laptop screening procedures which will allow the following laptop bags through without removal of the laptop as we've had to do for some time:





However, backpacks and trifold packs will still require that you REMOVE the laptop so it can be properly x-rayed for irregularities by TSA screeners.

Laptop Bag Security May Improve

The TSA has issued guidelines to laptop carrying cases that may allow travelers to place the laptop bag directly through X ray machines without having to remove the computer inside, helping tech travelers avoid an inconvenience that used to be greater before everyboy learned the routine.

USA Today Reports:
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2008-05-21-laptops_N.htm

New Laptop battery rules for flights - do not put them in checked luggage!

Yes, it's true - there are even more new complicated rules from the TSA. It's not even clear this relates to any terror issues but they are restricting lithium batteries in carry on luggage:

New Laptop Battery Rules from TSA

If you'll be travelling by air in 2008 be sure to review the new rules for carrying batteries on airplanes. The new battery rules are here at TSA's websiteOn new rule is that you are NOT allowed to pack lithium batteries in your *checked* luggage, though you *are* allowed to have them in carry on baggage in clear plastic bags.It's also a good idea to review the 3-1-1 rule here at TSA:3-1-1 for carry-ons = 3 ounce bottle or less (by volume) ; 1 quart-sized, clear, plastic, zip-top bag; 1 bag per passenger placed in screening bin.

Cell phone as boarding pass in Houston Airport

Barbara La Dollis writes about an experiment using cell phones as boarding passes at George Bush Airport in Houston, Texas USA. I think only Continental Airlines is using this right now, but I bet this will catch on fast.

This is a good idea because a cell phone is a very secure, info rich, "intelligent" environment. Most of us guard our phones carefully and report them when missing. The phone could easily contain an extensive amount of additional important information to expedite security and boarding, and ideally the airline could even more easily keep us informed of changes or issues.

Why not extend this to security? I'm sure my phone number and ID are already tagged in some TSA database, so why not pre-screen those who choose to participate as follows?

* Phone company is given permission to give TSA my data.
* I upload a set of photos for the master database. This data is also on the phone.
* At flight check in, internet or bluetooth or even a physical inspection of the phone is matched to the master database, pinpointing me as the travel guy who has been profiled already as "safe".
* Only those who opt in are profiled, and anyone can opt out of the system once in, and items like credit card data are strictly off limits.

Transportation Security Administration TSA

The TSA here in the USA has a very big job. They are charged with protecting the millions of travelers who travel daily in, out, and around the country.

All travelers should spend at least a few minutes getting familiar with security basics here at the TSA "for travelers" web page here. Most important is managing your liquids, toothpaste and other gels using the 3-1-1 rule.

Overall the TSA website suffers from the typical bureaucratic challenges of telling people much more than they need or want to know about the organization while leaving key details about travel too thinly discussed. TSA is a place where it would be very advantageous to have a blog team with access to up to the minute information about delays, lines, airport and airline security information and then post up to the minute on their blog to help travelers with access get around.

An example of "travel inefficiencies" that create lose-lose situations came up Thursday on our trip home from PHL Philadelphia. We wanted to visit the shopping/dining section of PHL because we had several hours to kill, but because of the odd setup at PHL this would have required us to either stand in a HUGE line for D concourse and then find a way to C concourse vs walking in to E (with no line!) which was where we needed to be to leave. I'm sure if I knew the place inside out I could have used the bus system more effectively, but given that PHL so heavily promotes the shopping and dining area you'd think they'd arrange things such that you could easily hang out there without worrying about missing a flight. The discrepancy in line length was odd as well and I've seen this very often. TSA seems to use humans where machines would be better and perhaps vica versa. As Thomas Edison pointed out -- there is a better way - find it (please...!).

July 4th Flyers should prepare for delays, waits

US Air Travel this coming Wednesday may bring delays and increased security in light of heightened concerns after UK Airport terrorism last week at GLA GlasgowAirport in Scotland.

CNN Reports that about 5 million flyers are expected to travel on July 4th and about 35 million will travel by car over the holiday.

Summer Delays Expected

Many are predicting airline delays this summer as travel heats up and airports are crowded.
The News Observer observes that increasing use of discount airlines for business travel and leisure travel is putting an added strain on existing airport facilities. I think this is a taste of how air travel will change in the future - basically we'll continue to have relatively cheap cross country and international flights but we'll see sacrifices in service, quality, on-time flights, and perhaps even safety.

In my opinion flying is actually *way too safe* right now because we spend *way too much* on airline safety and ineffective TSA measures while foregoing cheap life saving tools like more clever enforcements of smoke detector and seatbelt rules, drunk driving rules, etc. Each year only a few thousand people die from air crashes *world wide* while over 35,000 are usually killed on US Highways alone. US Air crashes are extremely rare despite the huge traffic from US air travel.

It's ironic but true that lower safety standards ... will save more lives.

Airport Security - cost effective?

A new "invisible fencing" system will help protect JFK and other New York Airports from Terror Attacks. USA Today has a report on Airport Security.

Here's the Transportation Security Administration website which today is featuring more about the JFK Terror plot.

My view on the subject is different from most in that I'd argue we spend far too much on expensive measures trying to counter terrorism while failing to utilize many basic, cheaper approaches. Whenever the Government spends huge sums - in the case of TSA it will be *hundreds of billions* of dollars in the coming years, you must rationally look at alternatives to that spending to see what you could accomplish elsewhere. As with expensive military programs security is often a bad investment because even if it counters problems it does not add to existing infrastructure or enhance lives directly. Rather this money *protects* lives and infrastructure. Protection is important, but should be balanced against alternatives that would add to the life, liberty, and health equation. How many *extra* lives do you save with an extra $100,000,000,000 for TSA? The answer is unclear due to the potentially catastrophic nature of terror attacks, but it seems to me that we'll break the bank with current approaches, so we should be finding ways to leverage cheap, automated surveillance, people databases, and other cost effective methods rather than hiring huge numbers of TSA screeners.