Always remain CALM and be prepared to undergo a bag search, hand-wand and a pat-down.  Do the following to make the screening process easy for you:

1.  Wear clothes that have no metal, including underwire bras.  Underwire bras will alarm when the screener uses the hand-held metal-detector.

2.  Don’t wear baggy pants, dresses or skirts.  There is an additional required procedure when screeners are wanding you called, “the step forward method” for those who wear skirts or dresses.  This is to assure that a passenger is not hiding a weapon or prohibited item.

3.  Wear slip-on shoes.  It is required for all passengers to take off their shoes.  Ask the screener to check your feet and return your shoes after walking through the walk-through metal detector. 

4.  Place underwear and lingerie in plastic zip-top bags to avoid contamination from screener’s gloves when they riffle through your bag.  This applies to both checked and carry-on baggage.

5.  Pack your carry-on as light as possible.  The fewer items for the screener to check; the faster you get out of secondary screening.  Remember your 3-1-1 rule- 3 ounces of liquids, gels or creams, 1 zip-top plastic bag and 1 bag per person.  Place your plastic 3-1-1 bag at the top so you can take it out and declare it at security checkpoint.

6.  Pack ALL personal bedroom toys in your checked baggage.  In my book, I tell a story about how a vibrator shutdown an airport checkpoint for 45 minutes.

7.  Know your prohibited items for carry-on baggage.  Go to http://www.airportbook.com and download my Special Report, “The Ultimate Packing List” for FREE!  

8.  Use TSA approved luggage locks for your checked baggage.  This way you can drop and go and TSA will be able to unlock and relock your bag without you being there.  You can buy the locks at http://www.divineislandbooks.com/Travelstuff3.htm.

9.  Always carry the proper identification for you and any child traveling with you.  A birth certificate or social security card would be proper identification for minors.  This also applies to your child’s friend when traveling with you.  You may always refer to the airlines for changes for identification.

10.  Arrive 2 hours early.  This will allow ample time for you to get through secondary screening.  Remember that power outages, security breaches, weapons scare and long lines, even for secondary screening is a reality. 

Be prepared and be armed with valuable information I have in I Might As Well Be Naked: How To Survive Airport Screening With Your Clothes On!  Buy this must have reference book at http://www.airportbook.com.

A bonus tip is don’t dress in overalls and this applies to children too.  Overalls will automatically put you in secondary screening.

Happy and Safe Travels!

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One month after implementing a fee for a second checked bag, American Airlines and regional subsidiary American Eagle on June 15 will start charging coach passengers $15 each way for the first checked bag.

The charge will apply to passengers flying to destinations in the U.S., the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Canada.

Customers traveling on government or military fares; customers paying for full-fare economy, business or first-class tickets; flyers who are executive platinum, platinum or gold members of American’s frequent-flyer program; military passengers on active duty; and passengers flying on codeshare flights not operated by American will be exempt from paying the $15 fee.

American’s carry-on policy of one personal item, such as a purse or laptop bag, plus one bag will remain in place.

American will continue charging passengers $25 for a second checked bag, as are all the U.S. network carriers.

Article by: http://www.travelweekly.com/Article.aspx?id=174158&rbp=1

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Shemeka Greaves, a TSA officer at O’Hare International Airport, read a newspaper account about Janisia Grant, 8, who had disappeared with her mother a week ago Thursday, the TSA said in a news release.

Greaves checked the security tapes and confirmed that Janisia had been through an airport security checkpoint and boarded a plane to Atlanta with a companion, the TSA said.

Police were able to narrow the search for Janisia to Atlanta, and ultimately bring her home, the TSA said. A comment from police was not immediately available.

Janisia and her mother, Felicia Lomax, 39, had been seen walking in the 6100 block of North Fairfield Avenue in the West Rogers Park neighborhood, near DeWitt Clinton Elementary School.

Lomax is Grant’s mother, but does not have custody of the child.

The TSA release did not mention whether Lomax had been found.

For Travel Safety Tips: http://www.divineislandbooks.com/articles.htm#Criminals%20And%20Petty%20Thieves%20Travle%20Too!

The STNG Wire contributed to this report.

http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/missing.girl.atlanta.2.726494.html

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1. Book your tickets as far in advanced as possible. This will lower the chance of you being chosen for secondary screening, since last minute bookings seem to increase your chances.

2. Pack light. Nothing delays the security lines more than when the x-ray operator has to ask for a rerun on a passenger’s bag because they cannot determine if the contents contain a prohibited item or not. Remember that liquid medications, breast milk and baby formula are exempt from the 3-1-1 rule for liquids, gels and creams. Pack your exempt items separate from your regular 3-1-1 carry-on items and declare them to the screener at the divesting table at x-ray.

3. Know what items are permitted and prohibited in your carry-on and checked baggage. Download the Ultimate Packing List on my contact page. 40 million prohibited items have been confiscated to date, including explosives, guns, knives and weapons. Do not be only of those passengers who delay the line by bringing a prohibited item to security checkpoint.

4. Use online check-in. The airlines will allow you to check-in no more than 24 hours in advance. This is a BIG stress reducer. If you can print out your boarding pass from home, this alone tells you that you are not scheduled for secondary screening.

5. Use curb-side check-in. The porters have to pay for their carts in some cases, so give them a little and save BIG TIME. I saved 2 to 3 hours of waiting in line when I tipped a porter $20 to check me in curb-side in Orlando.

6. Keep your cool! TSA could charge you up to $5,000 for interfering with the screening process for unruly behavior or threatening comments. This means NO joking around. Do not say any of these words: terrorist, bomb, IED, IID, George Bush and Osama bin Laden.

7. Dress for airport security. No body piercings, no thick bracelets or jewelry. No baggy pants and avoid wearing skirts or dresses. You will increase your chances of secondary screening if your clothing can easily conceal a weapon. Wear slip-on shoes! This alone will save you time.

8. Place your personal bedroom toys in checked baggage. You could shutdown an airport by mistake if they are carried in your carry-on luggage. They have similar components as an IED.

9. Arrive at least 2 hours early for domestic and 3 hours for international flights. You don’t know if the person in front of you will do something stupid and delay the line. Power outages, weapon scares, bomb threats are just a few reasons airports will shutdown for hours.

10. Normally you can get cheaper ticket prices on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. During the holidays, avoid traveling that holiday week if possible. Fly early than 10am and later than 3pm if possible. That is peak travel time for security lines.

Tell me your horror stories of going through airport security screening during the holidays.

Happy and Safe Travels!

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A government program called Global Entry will enable U.S. citizens and permanent residents to avoid the long lines that often greet them when they get off airplanes arriving from international destinations.

People who pass a background check and pay $100 to enroll will enter a separate Customs line at certain airports. They will swipe their passport at a kiosk instead of having it read by a Customs officer and electronically answer questions similar to those on a Customs declaration form. If no problems arise, they will be cleared through Customs.

The program will start operating June 10 at three airports — Washington Dulles, Houston Intercontinental and New York’s Kennedy. Customs and Border Protection expects it will expand to 17 other major U.S. airports, program director John Wagner says. There is no timeline for expansion.

Tourism and travel groups hail the program, saying it will speed up Customs lines and could boost a similar program for domestic airline passengers.

“This is a good first step,” says Roger Dow, CEO of the Travel Industry Association, a trade group that has pushed the federal government to promote international travel to the USA and to make arrivals easier. Dow says Customs lines at some major airports reached three hours last summer and could be as long this summer.

Global Entry might ease the lines by putting participants through a separate checkpoint and reducing the number of passengers in the regular line, Dow says. “It’s got to get to more airports than the three” that will start in June, Dow says.

Global Entry could heighten interest in Registered Traveler, a program overseen by the Transportation Security Administration that creates a separate line at airport checkpoints for fee-paying passengers.

“The whole idea of voluntary credentialing gets helped the more you have programs like (Global Entry),” says Steven Brill, CEO of Verified Identity Pass, a New York company that manages Registered Traveler programs at 16 airports.

Wagner of Customs and Border Protection says Global Entry is aimed at people who take at least four international trips a year. Applicants will be barred if they have a criminal conviction, a penalty related to customs or immigration issues or are on a government watch list of people linked to terrorism, Wagner says. Applications can be submitted online at www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/.

By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY- http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2008-05-06-travelers_N.htm

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The exercise is simple.  Check-in and print out your boarding pass the night before, no more than 24 hours in advance for most airlines.  This alone will tell you a lot.  If you are successful in printing out your boarding pass, you will not be selected for secondary screening by the airlines.  If you cannot print it out, then it’s a high probability that you have been selected for secondary screening. 

The airlines have an override button and can select you for secondary screening depending on the circumstance.  One reason is that there are some passengers who don’t have identification.  These passengers are bound by federal law to go through secondary screening in order to fly and the airline wouldn’t know this until the passengers check in.

Be careful when you decide to get angry at the airline ticket agent, because you just might find yourself in secondary screening.

Remember it’s still a possibility to be randomly selected for secondary screening by TSA’s walk-through metal detector agent.  My advice is not to wear loose clothing.  You don’t want to look like you are carrying a weapon of mass destruction.

Go to: http://www.airportbook.com/bookstore.htm and download all 369 valuable tips! 

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Under a pilot program by the airline and the Transportation Security Administration, Continental customers making flight reservations can receive their boarding passes electronically on cell phones or PDAs that have e-mail capabilities.

The paperless boarding passes will display an encrypted, two-dimensional bar code on the devices, along with passenger and flight information. TSA security officers at checkpoints will request passenger IDs and use handheld scanners to validate the boarding passes’ authenticity before passengers can enter the secure areas of the airport.

TSA came up with the concept of scanning a paperless boarding pass, and Continental developed the encryption and implementation plan.

“Intelligence continues to indicate that terrorists might attempt to use fake boarding passes to get around the security system,” said Ann Davis, spokeswoman for the TSA’s Northeast region. “But the paperless boarding passes also give us the opportunity to test some new technology in partnership with the airlines and potentially create a system that would reduce the amount of paper used.”

The paperless boarding passes are restricted to single-traveler itineraries for domestic Continental flights leaving Logan; George Bush International Airport in Houston, which launched the program in December; Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Va., which started using them last week; and Newark (N.J.) Liberty International Airport beginning next week. Paper boarding passes must still be used for connecting flights leaving other airports.

Between 500 and 600 passengers a day are using the paperless boarding passes in Houston, Continental spokeswoman Mary Clark said. “They like the convenience of having all their data on their PDA,” she said.

Continental handled more than 1.2 million customers last year at Logan, 4.4 percent of the airport’s passengers.

http://bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1091113

 

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