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

Yesterday Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) was stopped by a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Transportation Security Officer (TSO) at Nashville International Airport after he alarmed passing through the walk through metal detector, while on his way to Washington DC for a Senate vote. Like all passengers who alarm walking through the TSA checkpoint metal detector, the [...]

A seemingly consistent stream of headlines catches travelers’ attention regarding Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Transportation Security Officers (TSO) being arrested for theft from checked baggage.   While statistically very few thefts occur, the ones that do and get those who get caught make headlines.   Since the TSA moved to 100% screening of checked baggage the [...]

As the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) continues to expand the deployment of its Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) Teams, it is also increasingly mentioning Federal Air Marshals (FAM) as part of the agency’s ground based, non-airport focused, and security operation.   Looking past the legally questionable aspects of the TSA’s deployment of VIPR Teams, [...]

The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) ban on liquids over 100ml has been in place in the United States, and by aviation and security authorities around the world, since the 9th of August 2006 … and has been a thorn in the side of travelers since it has been instituted.   As travelers continually wait for [...]

Over the past ten years the changes in commercial air travel have been extensive, airlines have disappeared, mainline flights have been down gauged to regional jets, airline meals are hard to come by … and of course airport security has become an irritating process, with one of the top complaints being the forced removal of [...]

Recently Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced House Resolution 3608, the Stop TSA’s Reach In Policy Act … also known as the STRIP Act, which would “strip” Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Transportation Security Officers (TSO) of their “police like” badges and “law enforcement” uniforms.   Before we can go forward in discussing Rep. Blackburn’s STRIP Act, [...]

The airline industry is one of the most heavily regulated industries in the world, despite the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 (Public Law 95-504).     Nearly every aspect of an airline’s operations are subject to regulation … but airlines are free to charge what they’d like for fares and services, provided they do not [...]

Security is a fact of life for airline travel and screening procedures vary from country to country … which leads to this reader mail from Gene R., from Pittsburgh, PA.  Gene writes “I just flew home to Pittsburgh from Paris with US Airways, as I have done a few times through Philadelphia.  When connecting through [...]

On the 19th of November 2001 Public Law 107-71 (PL 107-71), the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA), was enacted any the 107th Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush. With the flick of George W. Bush’s pen, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was created and airport security through the United States [...]

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) frequently issues similar warnings. Over the agency’s nearly ten years in existence a pattern has emerged of not only the unsubstantiated travel security warnings the agency issues, but the timing of these warnings … with near Swiss precision.   With the busy winter holiday travel season set to begin in [...]