• Smart phone app sheds light on airport screening procedures

    New iPhone app allows users to share their experiences at airport security checkpoints; the app, released by Elguji Software, is called TSAzr — Share Your TSA Experience; users can rate, review, and comment on every U.S TSA-staffed airport

  • Israel slow on aviation reform

    The vaunted Israeli airport security has come under criticism lately; the U.S. government has ranked Israel’s air safety among the world’s worst, lumping it with countries like Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, and Zimbabwe; the reason: although Israel has never experienced an airport crash, experts say civil aviation in the country was neglected for decades, with authorities slow to renovate runways and introduce state-of-the-art instrument landing and radar technology; crowded airspace shared by civil and military flights further complicates matters

  • Family of dead wheel-well stow-away to sue TSA

    Delvonte Tisdale, 16, snuck into the wheel well of a U.S. Airways flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Boston; when the plane landed at Logan, his mutilated body fell onto the tarmac; law enforcement officials say they do not know how Tisdale was able to evade airport security; Tisdale’s family is moving to sue the TSA for negligence

  • Private security screeners an alternative to TSA at airports?

    Representative John Mica (R-Florida) believes that using private security screeners at airport checkpoints is more efficient and cheaper; last November Mica sent letters to roughly 200 airports urging them to switch from the TSA to private screeners; seventeen airports in the United States currently use private screeners, including San Francisco International, Kansas City International, and Jackson Hole; advocates believe that private security firms offer better customer service and perform better because they are more easily held accountable; others are more skeptical, citing the fact that private screeners must follow the same procedures as TSA screeners and that it is uncertain whether using them actually saves money

  • Woman wins payout after screener exposed her breasts

    U.S. woman was awarded a nominal sum from the government after a TSA pat down exposed her breasts; in May 2008, Lynsie Murley was singled out for an extended search during which agents pulled down her shirt and exposed her breasts; the agents then laughed and joked about the incident