Flying With Fish The Blog for Those Who Fly & Those Who Want to Fly Smarter

Texan State Representative David Simpson (R-Longview) has taken an interesting stance on the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) ‘enhanced pat downs’ and has recently introduced Texas House Bill 1937 that would make it a criminal offense for TSA Transportation Security Officers (TSO), or anyone for that matter, to touch a person’s genitals, or breasts, during a [...]

[EDIT FOR CORRECTION: 28-DECEMEMBER-2010 - 2:46PM EST - Original report stated Ms. Hirschkind refused the TSA AIT scanners, however AUS does not presently have AIT scanners] Last Wednesday, the 22nd of December, a disturbing news story about a woman with a pace maker, who is a rape survivor, being knocked to the ground, handcuffed, dragged [...]

Just in time for Christmas, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has added a new directive to its front line playbook. This morning, the 23rd of December, the TSA began mandatory explosive trace detection (ETD) on all thermoses and insulated children’s’ sippy cups. While thermoses and sippy cups must be empty when passing through an airport [...]

Since the inception of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the agency has faced some mathematical discrepancies … with a few major math discrepancies showing up in public statements by the past two weeks, I decided to try and find out why these issues occur.  I sought explanations to two math discrepancies … with the TSA [...]

The Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) have at times taken a beating in the media, in the House and in the Senate for having not prevented a hijacking in progress … however despite the political posturing between the United States and Iran … the Federal Air Marshal Service may be able to cite an incident [...]

As I have been digging deeper into the ineffectiveness of the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) current security procedures in the face of the current threat assessments for a likely terrorist attack on a commercial airliner I have received quite few opinions on the situation at hand. It seems each assessment is more grim than the [...]

The Registered Traveler Program began with grand ideas of streamlining the passenger airport security experience when it debuted back in 2005, under the direction of the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Office of Transportation Threat Assessment and Credentialing … but the program never developed as expected. Frequent flyers joined Registered Traveler programs around the nation, offered [...]

The uproar surrounding the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) use of whole body image scanners has dominated the travel news at the start of this holiday season.   With all the anger and animosity being brought to the forefront of public attention, one aspect has been largely overlooked … how few passengers will encounter the TSA whole [...]

Tomorrow, Tuesday, the 23rd of November, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is expected to publicly announce its clarified policy for those who refuse a pat down. This clarification comes in time for National Opt Out Day and Thanksgiving. The new clarified policy for those who refuse pat downs by a TSA Transportation Security Officer (TSO), [...]

Over the course of the past few years, as travelers have experienced changes in the evolution of airport security procedures, the first layer everyone now experiences is the presentation of their valid government identification with their boarding pass. While other countries have begun to implement boarding pass verification at the point a passenger begins the [...]