The TSA

Woman Gets Through Security At JFK With Dagger In Her Bag

By Esther Zuckerman Sun., Mar. 4 2012 at 3:00 PM
Categories: Air Safety, Air Travel, Airports, Esther Zuckerman, Scary Things, The TSA

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Well, this is heartening terrifying news for anyone who plans on traveling through JFK in the near future. A woman got through security in Terminal 5 with a dagger in her bag, the New York Post reported. Nope, TSA people, you weren't hallucinating à la Macbeth. It was an actual antique dagger, which the woman, 26-year-old Gabrielle Olsen of Washington Heights, told police was given to her by her father for protection.

And it's not like Olsen hadn't caught the TSA's eye. Before the TSA noticed the dagger they confiscated a bottle of liquid from Olsen. Then -- after she passed through the checkpoint -- they noticed the pointy thing on "a screening-machine X-ray."

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The TSA

Sen. Chuck Schumer Wants to Stop TSA's Inappropriate Behavior

By Sam Levin Mon., Feb. 13 2012 at 12:30 PM
Categories: "Politics", Air Travel, Airports, Safety, Sam Levin, The TSA

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You know how annoying it is when you have to take off your shoes and your belt at the airport and then security touches you, and you just feel kind of uncomfortable? Well, Sen. Chuck Schumer feels your pain, and he hopes to make it a lot easier for passengers to complain.

With a new legislation proposal, Schumer is responding to some incidents that were actually a bit more serious than an uncomfortable touch. In December, three elderly women came forward with claims that they were strip-searched by Transportation Security Administration officers at JFK airport -- and recent reports allege that TSA officials have inappropriately harassed women passing through security.

Let's take Lenore Zimmerman, for example. She's a tiny, 85-year-old Long Island grandmother who says she was brought into a private room and forced to take off her clothes on her way to a flight to Fort Lauderdale.

Or Ruth Sherman, 88, who said that TSA agents made her strip so they could inspect her colostomy bag.

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Airports

New York Airports Are Good At Making People Late

By Esther Zuckerman Sat., Jan. 28 2012 at 12:10 PM
Categories: Air Travel, Airports, Esther Zuckerman, Trains, Planes, and Automobiles

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It wasn't too long ago we brought you the latest report on how New York's airports suck. Well, today we have some more good news from the New York Times . The paper reports that the airspace that includes JFK, LaGuardia and Newark (as well as Jersey's Teterboro Airport and Philadelphia International Airport) "accounted for nearly half of all delays in the nation" in the first half of 2011. Meanwhile, those airports were only responsible for 12 percent of domestic flights. Yikes.

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New York City Airports Are the Best at Being the Worst

By Jen Doll Thu., Jan. 19 2012 at 6:05 PM
Categories: Air Travel, Airports, Jen Doll, Travel

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Cohitre.com
We win! Once again, you guys! New York City airports are liked by few but used by many, which makes them generally problematic to all. According to Frommer's, and they know from travel, JFK is the worst of the worst, with La Guardia and Newark (which is, apparently, "dull" -- isn't that actually sort of good in an airport?) not doing too much better. Why so much airport haterade? Well...

All three major New York City airports are on this list, in large part because they're run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a hideously mismanaged money sink that does a poor job of responding to air travelers' needs.
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$$$

The TSA Has $400,000 of America's Hard-Earned Spare Change in Its Clutches

By Jen Doll Thu., Jan. 12 2012 at 5:14 PM
Categories: $$$, Air Travel, America, Jen Doll, The TSA

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Have a bunch of spare change that you've left in your drawer or in a bag under your bed, waiting for that rainy day (or a clear, sunny day, because that would be better for transportation purposes) in which you are so bored that you decide to lug it to a CoinStar machine and get real, spendable dollars for it? Wait no longer. Instead of lugging it to the CoinStar, put it in your pockets and head out for JFK airport. (Wear a belt, coins are heavy.) When you arrive at security, along with taking off your shoes, turning over your snowglobe, uncasing your laptop and putting it in its individual bin, and all of the other things you do, put your spare change in a bin as well. Then, set it and forget it! Or, collect your items except for the change and go on your merry way to West Palm Beach, Florida.

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Animation

Alec Baldwin's Airplane Fiasco Gets Taiwanese Animation

By Nick Greene Sat., Dec. 10 2011 at 11:26 AM
Categories: Air Travel, Animation, Cartoons, Nick Greene, Twitter

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There were a few inevitable things that happened after Alec Baldwin got kicked off an American Airlines flight for playing Words with Friends. First, he angrily tweeted about it. Then came the ultimate in celebrity introspection, the deletion of his Twitter account followed by a Huffington Post editorial. Finally, this entire ordeal has reached its natural conclusion: Taiwanese CGI studio NMA has animated it. Video after the jump.

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Air Travel

American Airlines Responds to Alec Baldwin Situation on Facebook

By Rosie Gray Wed., Dec. 7 2011 at 1:13 PM
Categories: Air Travel, Celebrities, Facebook, Rosie Gray

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Alec Baldwin -- closer, formerly prolific tweeter, and fake future mayoral candidate -- had a little incident with American Airlines yesterday because of his refusal to stop playing Words With Friends. Baldwin wouldn't shut off his phone when the flight attendant asked him to and says he was kicked off his flight. Words were exchanged, and now American Airlines is trying to set the record straight on its Facebook page. They don't refer to Baldwin by name, though:

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Air Travel

TSA Meanies Will Unwrap Your Presents, Take Your Snowglobes, Ruin Everything

By Jen Doll Mon., Nov. 14 2011 at 5:41 PM
Categories: Air Safety, Air Travel, Airports, Holidaze, Jen Doll, TSA

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Even though it's the most wonderful time of the year does not mean that any of us should lose even an iota of vigilance and dedication to the cause at hand which is, of course, our safety, and any inconvenience dedicated to such. Thus, while you might be getting ahead of things and purchasing all your gifts and even wrapping them, obsessive-compulsively and perfectly, as you do, the TSA is under no obligation to just leave the presents be, and might actually have to unwrap them if they seem slightly or majorly sketchy. However...you knew this already, right? This is the year 2011?

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Air Travel

Ryanair Finally Adds Standard Porn Amenities

By Rosie Gray Tue., Nov. 8 2011 at 7:30 PM
Categories: Air Travel, Europe, Porn, Rosie Gray

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The Ryanair cabin, where you'll be watching porn.
Ryanair, "bus of the sky," preferred travel mode of student backpackers and tightfisted Europeans, is adding some new in-flight entertainment. Porn. Now, you can sit next to a skeevy old man and watch him watch porn while you fly. Another bonus to the scariest airline this blogger has ever flown with.

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Adorable Animals in Trouble

Bulldogs Don't Fly Commercial

By Jen Doll Fri., Oct. 7 2011 at 11:45 AM
Categories: Adorable Animals in Trouble, Air Travel, Jen Doll, Things We Are Seriously Invested In, Transportation

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You might think a bulldog has the best life ever, being adorable and frequently stopped on streets to be gazed at and pet by adoring masses, and also getting its poop picked up by its owner whenever necessary, and not even having to work a 9 to 5 or 8 to 10 job...a bulldog is in the business of simply being a bulldog, right? But before you brush off the life of a bulldog as easy, privileged, bourgeois, and not even a struggle at all, know this: Bulldogs are not allowed to fly on many planes. They have, in fact, been banned. This makes jet-setting difficult!

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