Airport Security

A program that lets preapproved air travelers zip through faster security lines will be expanded this year to 35 of the nation's largest airports, Transportation Security Administration officials announced Wednesday. The pilot program, dubbed PreCheck, lets travelers who get TSA clearance avoid what have become the most annoying steps of post-9/11 screening: removing shoes, belt and coats. PreCheck has been tested for several months with frequent travelers who fly with several major airlines at seven airports, including Los Angeles International.

Those sultans of style at Al Qaeda have released their line of lingerie for spring and it's a blast. Tucked away in their secret atelier in Yemen, the fanatics of fashion have come up with an updated version of the exploding underwear that caused such a stir on Christmas Day 2009 when a hapless African lad tried to blow up an airliner over Detroit and only managed to severely singe his private parts. Al Qaeda bomb maker Ibrahim Hassan Asiri is reputed to be the designer of the new nasty knickers.

Nicholas George planned to brush up on his Arabic vocabulary during a flight in August from Philadelphia to California, where he was to start his senior year at Pomona College. So he carried some Arabic-English flashcards in his pocket to study on the plane. But those flashcards changed George's life far beyond the classroom. The 22-year-old from Pennsylvania is speaking out against what he contends are abuses by federal authorities in airport security measures. George, a physics major who is considering a career as a U.S. diplomat in the Middle East, is suing the Transportation Security Administration, the FBI and Philadelphia police for jailing him after his flashcards were found and confiscated in a Philadelphia airport screening.

If you're getting ready to take your kids on college visits or you're planning summer vacations with your  preteen, here's something you need to know about airport security checkpoints: Age matters. Children younger than 18 don't need to show ID to pass through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints ; they just need to show a valid boarding pass. (Airlines, however, have their own set of rules about children and IDs, so check beforehand. And passports are always required on international flights.)

U.S. air travelers already pay to check bags and buy onboard snacks, among other charges. But would they pay to avoid those long airport security lines? A sizable chunk of them would, according to a recent survey by the U.S. Travel Assn., the nationwide trade group that has been pushing the idea of a fee-based plan to unclog the gridlock at the country's airports. The survey of 1,007 Americans found that 45% of those questioned would be either "very" or "somewhat" likely to pay an annual fee of up to $150 to undergo a government background check to speed through a new, faster airport security line.

For airline passengers, the attempted Christmas Day attack and a directive by President Obama to pursue advanced screening technology will certainly mean added security procedures at airports. So for high-tech companies in Southern California and elsewhere, the increased focus on airport security means new opportunities to land hefty government contracts. Among those is Syagen Technology Inc., a Tustin company with 20 employees that has built an airport screening device that blows air on travelers and then analyzes the cast-off particles to detect explosives.

When an online video gets more than a million views, it's hard to ignore. That may be the reason the Transportation Security Administration took the unusual step last week to address an online video that claims to show how to circumvent the full-body scanners that the TSA has installed at 140 airports across the country. Jonathan Corbett, a blogger and TSA critic, posted a video this month on YouTube and his own Web page, www.tsaoutofourpants.wordpress.com , titled "How to Get Anything Through TSA Nude Body Scanners.

Bothered by select air travelers who get to move faster through airport security checkpoints? Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) is. He has introduced legislation that would bar airlines and airports from giving passengers, often first class and elite frequent fliers, preferential treatment on security lines.   “This bill is about fairness," Nelson said. "Regardless of whether you have a first-class ticket or have reached a certain frequent flier status, the purpose of the airport security screening line is to ensure traveler safety.

Virgin America Flight 415 from New York to Los Angeles was already two hours into its journey when some passengers in the upscale "Main Cabin Select" section complained that the man seated in 3E reeked of body odor. A flight attendant asked Olajide Oluwaseun Noibi for his boarding pass and was surprised to see it was from a different fight and in someone else's name. She alerted authorities, and Noibi went back to sleep in his black leather airline seat. When the plane landed, authorities chose not to arrest Noibi, allowing him to leave the airport.

Because of the stepped-up security after the 2001 terrorist attacks, several private companies collaborated with the federal government to offer pre-screening services so frequent travelers could speed through the airport. But in the last few months, all three of the major companies approved by the Transportation Security Administration to participate in the registered traveler program have folded or suspended operations.

A program that lets preapproved air travelers zip through security lines will be expanded later this month to Delta Air Lines passengers at Los Angeles International Airport. The program, dubbed PreCheck and operated by the Transportation Security Administration, has been available for several months at LAX but only for passengers who fly American Airlines, one of the largest carriers at the airport. Starting April 24, it will be offered to Delta passengers as well, the TSA announced Friday.

Some days, the terminals at L.A./Ontario International Airport can be as quiet as a ghost town. The number of passengers using the airport - about 40 miles east of downtown Los Angeles - has dropped from 6.8 million passengers in 2007 to about 4.4 million in 2011, according to federal statistics. In January, passenger traffic dropped 7.4% compared with the same month in 2011. Passenger numbers have also dropped, although less dramatically, at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank and John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana. In contrast, Long Beach International Airport - about 20 miles south of L.A. - continues to grow, serving more than 3 million passengers last year, a 7% increase over 2007, with growth continuing in 2012.

One night in Atlanta, my telephone rang. It was the novelist Harry Crews. He'd gotten into an altercation with airport security. Could I come and fetch him? Although Harry was a big, rugged ex-Marine who could hold his own with his fists, he was a mess when my friend Frazier and I collected him from the curb at Hartsfield International. His face was scratched, and his clothes were filthy. After he collapsed onto the back seat of my car, he said his problems had started a day or two earlier in New York, where he'd been researching a story for Esquire about homeless people living in the subway system.

Bothered by select air travelers who get to move faster through airport security checkpoints? Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) is. He has introduced legislation that would bar airlines and airports from giving passengers, often first class and elite frequent fliers, preferential treatment on security lines.   “This bill is about fairness," Nelson said. "Regardless of whether you have a first-class ticket or have reached a certain frequent flier status, the purpose of the airport security screening line is to ensure traveler safety.

Airline overhead bins, increasingly stuffed to capacity, are getting bigger. But the big surprise may be that the airlines offering larger bins are not sticking passengers with new fees for the extra space. At least not yet. Oversized bins can be found on many of American Airlines' new Boeing 737-800s, which were deployed starting in May with a new interior design. The new overhead bins pivot down and out and can hold as many as 48 more bags per flight than standard bins. Starting in April, United Airlines plans to replace the bin doors on 152 planes with new ones that curve out, providing more interior space.

When an online video gets more than a million views, it's hard to ignore. That may be the reason the Transportation Security Administration took the unusual step last week to address an online video that claims to show how to circumvent the full-body scanners that the TSA has installed at 140 airports across the country. Jonathan Corbett, a blogger and TSA critic, posted a video this month on YouTube and his own Web page, www.tsaoutofourpants.wordpress.com , titled "How to Get Anything Through TSA Nude Body Scanners.

Amid furor and frustration over increased airport security measures, a trade group for the world's airline industry has unveiled a plan that it believes would improve security and speed passengers through checkpoints. The plan offered by the International Air Travel Assn. would eliminate the "one size fits all" security screening process and instead impose different levels of screening for different types of travelers, with frequent travelers undergoing a less intrusive security search than other passengers.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration, changing a policy that has unleashed widespread controversy and viral videos , says it will perform fewer pat-downs on young children at airport security checkpoints. The decision, made by TSA Administrator John S. Pistole, was announced Wednesday during testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the Associated Press reported. In a change expected to be rolled out nationwide, Pistole said checkpoint workers will now be told to make repeated attempts to screen children without resorting to pat-downs, according to the report.

In a effort to speed airport security lines, a Transportation Security Administration program to pre-screen some passengers is being expanded to include 35 airports nationwide by year-end. The program, called TSA PreCheck, is already being tested at seven airports, including some American Airlines gates at Los Angeles International Airport. How does it work? ** U.S. citizens approved for pre-screening will have information embedded in their ticket bar codes. ** If preapproved, passengers undergo expedited screening, which could include no longer removing shoes, laptops from bags, light outerwear or jackets, and belts.

A program that lets preapproved air travelers zip through faster security lines will be expanded this year to 35 of the nation's largest airports, Transportation Security Administration officials announced Wednesday. The pilot program, dubbed PreCheck, lets travelers who get TSA clearance avoid what have become the most annoying steps of post-9/11 screening: removing shoes, belt and coats. PreCheck has been tested for several months with frequent travelers who fly with several major airlines at seven airports, including Los Angeles International.