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http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2011/03/pro_tips?fsrc=nlw|gul|03-22-11|gulliver
THIS is a fun one: on Wednesday, a passenger on a Delta flight allegedly started telling people that he was an air marshal. Sometimes, you might be able to get away with this—air marshals aren't on every flight. But Wednesday was not this impostor's lucky day. There was a real air marshal on Delta Flight 1922, and when the real air marshal got wind of the fake one's claims, he detained the man in question.
The Transportation Security Administration and local law enforcement arrested the impostor when the flight, which had originated in Detroit, landed in Boston. No one was hurt, the plane was not diverted from its path, and no one was significantly inconvenienced. I'm going to mark this one down as a win for the good guys.
In other news, Wired's Danger Room blog reports that the TSA has been testing prototype shoe-scanning devices that will "eliminate the need for passengers to remove their shoes at the checkpoint," according to a TSA spokeswoman.
Anything that will speed up security lines would be good news, so I'm glad TSA is looking in to this. But so far, attempts to build working "shoe scanner" technology haven't succeeded. (Wired has more on that.) I just hope that we don't end up with an alternative to removing our shoes that takes just as long or longer than the current procedure. "Of course it’s not going to make anyone safer," security guru Bruce Schneier told Danger Room, "but it will make the security theater go faster, and that’s a good thing." We can hope.
Finally, Southwest Airlines has apologised to a head-scarf-wearing Muslim woman it booted from a flight after a crew member thought the woman said something like "It's a go" into her cell phone before the plane doors closed. The passenger says she said "I've got to go," because she was hanging up because cell phones aren't allowed during takeoff. Southwest offered the passenger a flight voucher, but she says she gave it away and won't fly Southwest again. I don't blame her. What do you think?
THIS is a fun one: on Wednesday, a passenger on a Delta flight allegedly started telling people that he was an air marshal. Sometimes, you might be able to get away with this—air marshals aren't on every flight. But Wednesday was not this impostor's lucky day. There was a real air marshal on Delta Flight 1922, and when the real air marshal got wind of the fake one's claims, he detained the man in question.
The Transportation Security Administration and local law enforcement arrested the impostor when the flight, which had originated in Detroit, landed in Boston. No one was hurt, the plane was not diverted from its path, and no one was significantly inconvenienced. I'm going to mark this one down as a win for the good guys.
In other news, Wired's Danger Room blog reports that the TSA has been testing prototype shoe-scanning devices that will "eliminate the need for passengers to remove their shoes at the checkpoint," according to a TSA spokeswoman.
Anything that will speed up security lines would be good news, so I'm glad TSA is looking in to this. But so far, attempts to build working "shoe scanner" technology haven't succeeded. (Wired has more on that.) I just hope that we don't end up with an alternative to removing our shoes that takes just as long or longer than the current procedure. "Of course it’s not going to make anyone safer," security guru Bruce Schneier told Danger Room, "but it will make the security theater go faster, and that’s a good thing." We can hope.
Finally, Southwest Airlines has apologised to a head-scarf-wearing Muslim woman it booted from a flight after a crew member thought the woman said something like "It's a go" into her cell phone before the plane doors closed. The passenger says she said "I've got to go," because she was hanging up because cell phones aren't allowed during takeoff. Southwest offered the passenger a flight voucher, but she says she gave it away and won't fly Southwest again. I don't blame her. What do you think?
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