TSA

The furor over the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) sequester budget cuts has receded from the fever pitch it reached during flight delays at the end of April. But the agency’s plan will continue to hit bumps  as lawmakers turn their attention to air traffic control towers.

Forty-one senators have written the FAA to push the agency to use money that was included in the bill that was passed two weeks ago to end the flight delays to keep 149 air towers were the FAA contracts with private companies to monitor airplane traffic open.

The FAA had planned to begin closing the contracted towers on April 7, but the agency pushed the date back until June 15 after airports and lawmakers whose districts they are in strongly objected.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is notifying some airline passengers of their eligibility for its ‘Pre-Check’ known traveler program on their board passes.

The TSA said it has approved icons for its Pre-Check program being placed on boarding passes for passengers on Delta, U.S. Airways and United Airlines.  The agency said the notifications will help streamline the airport security process because previously cleared passengers will go to correct lines.

The Pre-Check program allows passengers who to volunteer information about themselves in exchange for the possibility of reduced screening at airports. TSA currently offers the program at 40 U.S. airports.  

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Two House Democrats have proposed legislation that would require the government to set up an appeals process for people who are delayed at airports by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) after being "wrongly identified as a threat."

The Fair, Accurate, Secure and Timely (FAST) Redress Act, H.R. 1583, would give people an avenue for contesting TSA decisions to screen them against the terrorist watch list. Misidentification by the TSA against the terrorist watch list can lead to delays or even banning people from boarding a flight.

Lawmakers praised the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on Tuesday for delaying a new policy that would allow knives onto airplanes even as they pushed the agency to drop the idea completely. 

The TSA had been scheduled to begin allowing airline passengers to carry knives with blades smaller than 2.36 inches onto airplanes on Thursday.

After facing intense opposition from lawmakers and airline workers, the agency said on Monday evening that it was pushing back the change in policy.

The policy to allow knives with blades shorter than 2.36 inches in airplane cabins was strongly opposed by most lawmakers and law enforcement.

GOP lawmakers said the TSA was bluffing when it warned of longer lines.

A letter from the widow of a flight attendant who was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks is being used by airline unions to protest the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) decision to allow knives onto airplanes.

The letter to TSA Administrator John Pistole was written by the wife of a flight attendant who was working on United Flight 175, which crashed into the World Trade Center’s South Tower on Sept. 11 after being hijacked by terrorists who were reportedly using knives and box cutters.  

The letter was released this week by the Flight Attendants’ Union Coalition, which includes the Association of Flight Attendants – Communications Workers of America (AFA-CWA) and Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA).

“In the wake of (Monday's) unsolved terror attacks in Boston, I am writing to beg you to maintain the current TSA prohibited-items list and not allow knives on U.S. airline flights,” Rebecca Marchand wrote to Pistole. Read more...

Frontline employees of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) were not consulted about the agency's decision to begin allowing knives onto airplanes, the union that represents TSA workers said Thursday.

American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) General Counsel David Borer told a committee of lawmakers in the House that the TSA union supported the agency’s “risk-based” security initiatives, but thought that it was too risky to begin allowing knives onto planes.

“Operational experience and common sense tell us that allowing knives through the checkpoint and onto the aircraft increases the safety and security risk to [Transportation Security Officers], crew members and passengers,” Borer said in testimony submitted to the House Homeland Security on Thursday. 

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