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

On a recent flight from Texas’s San Antonio International Airport Congressman Francisco Canseco (R-TX) claims a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Transportation Security Office (TSO) assaulted him during a random pat down.   During the screening process Rep. Canseco claims the TSO’s screening process became too uncomfortable causing him to move the screener’s hand to the [...]

The United States Government, like all organizations with operational expenses, is seeking to reduce its costs while creating a more effective workflow.  As the Government seeks to reduce its debt, trim excess spending and bring its operational costs down, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) would appear among the most resistant to change.   While the [...]

Last week President Barack Obama proposed a US$317,000,000 increase in the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) budget, to strengthen aviation security in the United States. While President Obama’s proposal to raise aviation taxes in the coming year to find the budget increase is likely to be defeated by both Democrats and Republicans in The House, the [...]

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has repeatedly made headlines and caught the ire of travelers for their invasive “enhanced pat downs” for those who refuse Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) security scanners or who set off an alarm passing through a metal detector.   Since the TSA implemented its enhanced pat down TSA Transportation Security Officers [...]

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, [...]

In the spring of 2004, following the commuter rail bombings in Madrid, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began devising a plan to “protect the Nation’s transportation systems and ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce,” for the railroads and mass transit systems in the United States.  The result of the TSA’s efforts to increase [...]

The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Transportation Security Officers (TSO) have the difficult job of searching for contraband items passengers may pass through security with. Along with TSA TSOs searching for prohibited items, the agency’s Behavior Detection Officers (BDO) watch and interact with passengers to determine passengers that they determine to be a threat to aviation [...]

Since the inception of the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Behavior Detection Officers (BDO) program in 2003, it has been less than effective by design and deployment.   Currently, TSA BDOs seek out potential security threats through Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques (SPOT). SPOT focuses on involuntary physical and physiological reactions, such as micro facial expressions, [...]

I don’t tend to post one-liner jokes on Flying With Fish, but sometimes something’s are to good to pass up …   The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) policy and procedures covers a vast range of topics to address passenger security, including outlining the procedure for screening service animals. Among the animals directly addressed in the [...]

POST EDITED ON 10-MARCH-2011 : CORRECT AN ERROR IN THE FINANCIAL NUMBERS CAUSED BY A SPELL CHECKER The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) budget is enormous, but is the agency prioritizing and allocating its funds in the most effective manner? At present the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) lists the TSA’s budget at US$8,164,780,000 with US$7,910,780,000 [...]