TSA Pre✓™ Begins at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) with US Airways

As of today, TSA Pre✓™ is now available for select US Airways frequent flyers and CBP Trusted Traveler members at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX). The TSA Pre✓™  line is located at the Terminal 4A security checkpoint.

Have you already opted into TSA Pre✓™ but rarely get selected for expedited screening? Here are some possible reasons why as well as some tips:

• First off, to keep things random and unpredictable for anyone with bad intentions, there are times where you may not be selected for expedited screening. 
• TSA Pre✓™ is currently only available for U.S. citizens traveling domestically on a participating airline, out of a participating airport. Click here for the most updated list.
• If you are a member of a CBP Trusted Traveler program, be sure you’re including your PASS ID – found in the top-left corner on the back of your membership card – in the ‘Known Traveler’ field every time you book a flight. If you’re not sure it’s in there, especially if you’re not booking it yourself, you can always call your airline to confirm that your number is on the reservation before you fly. 

Bonus Tip: Did you know that kids 12 and under can travel with you through the TSA Pre✓™ lane? If you didn't, now you know! That info might come in handy this summer.

In case you're wondering what TSA Pre✓™ is, you can go here to read all about it. Long story short, it's an initiative that allows passengers to keep their shoes and belts on, and keep their laptops in their bags. Also, it is free to many members who have been opted in by participating airlines. To see if you may qualify for TSA Pre✓™ benefits please click here.

Here are some other TSA Pre✓™ posts that might interest you:

• TSA Pre✓™ Through Global Entry: One Sweet Deal!
• The Scoop on TSA Pre✓™
• More Than 1 Million Passengers Screened by TSA Pre✓™
• TSA Pre✓™ Pilot to Expand to 28 of the Busiest US Airports  

Bob Burns

TSA Blog Team

If you have a travel related issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you can contact us by clicking here.

TSA Week in Review: BB Gun in a Book

BB Gun in a Book – While we regularly find BB and pellet guns, I don’t usually write about them, but this one was kind of interesting. Why? Well, first off, it has the appearance of a real firearm, and it was taped inside of a book! The book wasn’t hollowed out mind you, it was just taped there. This was discovered at Fargo (FAR). Realistic replica firearms are prohibited for the same reason that inert grenades are. They not only cause the checkpoint to come to a halt when we find them, but imagine if somebody waved one of these items around on a plane. There are many scenarios of what could happen, and not one of them is good.

Oops, I Forgot There Was a Pistol in My Pocket: A passenger traveling out of Oklahoma City (OKC) was removing items from his pocket prior to walking through a body scanner when he realized he had an unloaded .22 pistol in his pocket.

Items in the Strangest Places – It’s one thing to forget you had a prohibited item in your bag, but when you intentionally try to sneak it past us, you could be cited or even arrested by law enforcement. Here are a few examples from this week where passengers tried to sneak items past our Officers.

• Two knives were detected concealed between a metal sheet and the nylon sleeve of the bag frame at Seattle (SEA).
• A multi-tool was discovered concealed in a sock that was filled with change at Tucson (TUS).
• A knife was detected concealed under the lining attached to the pull handle of a bag at Harrisburg (MDT).
• A  belt buckle knife was discovered at Salt Lake City (SLC).
• A pocket knife (a pink one!) was attached to the back of a key with a rubber band in an attempt to conceal it at Wilmington (ILM).
• See “BB Gun in Book” above to read about the find in Fargo (FAR).

 

People Say the Darndest Things – Here is an example of what not to say at the airport. Statements like these not only delay the people who said them but can also inconvenience lots of other passengers if the checkpoint or terminal has to be evacuated:

• A passenger at Honolulu (HNL) told the ticket agent that he had a bomb in his bag. When the ticket agent reprimanded him for the comment, he told the gate agent that he had a nuclear bomb in his bag.  Law enforcement officers responded and arrested him on a state charge.
• While an Officer was conducting an explosive trace sample at Orlando (MCO), the passenger stated: “I hope the residue doesn’t show up on the test.”
• A passenger at Charlottesville (CHO) stated he had a bomb in his shoe after he was asked to place his shoes on the x-ray belt.

Inert Grenades Etc. – We continue to find hand grenades and other weaponry on weekly basis. Please keep in mind that if something looks like a bomb, grenade, mine, etc., it is prohibited - real or not. When these items are found at a checkpoint, they can cause significant delays to you and other passengers. I know they are cool novelty items, but again, please do not take them on planes!  Read here and here on why inert items cause problems.

• An inert grenade was discovered in the carry-on bag of a passenger at Indianapolis (IND).

Stun Guns – Zzzzzzap! 6 stun guns were discovered in carry-on bags at checkpoints around the nation: 2 at Denver (DEN), Atlanta (ATL), Tucson (TUS), Los Angeles (LAX), and Kansas City (MCI)

Miscellaneous Prohibited Items - In addition to all of the other prohibited items we find weekly, our Officers also regularly find firearm components, realistic replica firearms, brass knuckles, ammunition, batons, and a lot of sharp pointy things. Just to mention a few…

Firearms - Here are the firearms our Officers found in carry-on baggage since I posted last Friday.

You can travel with your firearms in checked baggage, but they must first be declared to the airline. You can go here for more details on how to properly travel with your firearms. Firearm possession laws vary by state and locality. Travelers should familiarize themselves with state and local firearm laws for each point of travel prior to departure.

Bob Burns

TSA Blog Team

If you have a travel related issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you can contact us by clicking here.

TSA Week in Review: Comb Dagger Discovered With Body Scanner, 28 Loaded Guns, and More

Non-metallic Comb Dagger Discovered With Body Scanner – A passenger at Portland (PDX) alarmed the body scanner and during the pat-down, a simple everyday ordinary black plastic comb was found in his pocket. No big deal, right? People forget to take things out of their pocket all the time… Wrong. After closer inspection, it was learned that the comb pulled apart to reveal a dagger. (See picture)

Items in the Strangest Places – It’s one thing to forget you had a prohibited item in your bag, but when you intentionally try to sneak it past us, you could be cited or even arrested by law enforcement. Here are a few examples from this week where passengers tried to sneak items past our Officers.

• Three-7” throwing knives were discovered concealed in the lining of a bag under the handle at Lihue-Honolulu (LIH).
• A pocket knife was found concealed inside a pill bottle at Huntsville (HSV).
• An 18” sword was discovered concealed in a walking cane at Las Vegas (LAS).
• Four belt buckle knives were discovered this week at Portland (PDX), San Jose (SJC), Seattle (SEA), and Las Vegas (LAS).

Inert Grenades Etc. – In addition to a spike in the number of guns found each day at checkpoints, we continue to find hand grenades and other weaponry on weekly basis.  Please keep in mind that if something looks like a bomb, grenade, mine, etc., it is prohibited - real or not. When these items are found at a checkpoint, they can cause significant delays to you and other passengers. I know they are cool novelty items, but again, please do not take them on planes!  Read here and here on why inert items cause problems.

• An inert grenade was discovered at Huntsville (HSV) in a passenger’s carry-on bag. The grenade belonged to a minor who had packed the grenade without his parent’s knowledge. It might be a good plan to check your children’s luggage before getting to the airport.
• An inert M60 grenade was turned over to an Officer prior to screening at Las Vegas (LAS).
• A hollowed out detonator was discovered at Denver (DEN).

 

Ammo! – If properly packed, ammunition can be placed in your checked luggage, but it’s always a no-go in your carry on. 258 rounds of .22 caliber ammunition were detected in a carry-on bag at Long Beach (LGB), and 50 rounds of .25 caliber ammunition were discovered in a carry-on bag at LaGuardia (LGA). From TSA.gov – “Travelers must securely pack any ammunition in fiber (such as cardboard), wood or metal boxes or other packaging specifically designed to carry small amounts of ammunition. Firearm magazines and ammunition clips must be securely boxed or included within a hard-sided case containing an unloaded firearm. Small arms ammunition, including ammunition not exceeding .75 caliber for a rifle or pistol and shotgun shells of any gauge, may be carried in the same hard-sided case as the firearm, as long as it follows the packing guidelines described above. TSA prohibits black powder or percussion caps used with black-powder.”

Stun Guns – Zzzzzzap! 13 stun guns were discovered in carry-on bags at checkpoints around the nation at: 2 at  Jacksonville (JAX), 2 at Sacramento (SMF), Akron (CAK), Atlanta (ATL), Baltimore (BWI), Denver (DEN), Lubbock (LBB) , San Diego (SAN), New York Kennedy (JFK), Nashville (BNA), and Fort Lauderdale (FLL).

Miscellaneous Prohibited Items - In addition to all of the other prohibited items we find weekly, our Officers also regularly find firearm components, realistic replica firearms, brass knuckles, ammunition, batons, and a lot of sharp pointy things. Just to mention a few…

Firearms - Here are the firearms our Officers found in carry-on baggage since I posted last Friday.

You can travel with your firearms in checked baggage, but they must first be declared to the airline. You can go here for more details on how to properly travel with your firearms. Firearm possession laws vary by state and locality. Travelers should familiarize themselves with state and local firearm laws for each point of travel prior to departure.

 

Bob Burns

TSA Blog Team

If you have a travel related issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you can contact us by clicking here.

TSA Year to Date Report: A Look at the Year So Far

It’s been a busy year so far with 375,432,402 passengers traveling through TSA checkpoints since January! That is approximately 1.8 million passengers screened per day!

It has also been a busy seven months beyond the checkpoint for TSA. Teams of experts have been working hard to expand the rollout of risk-based security initiatives that are aimed at enhancing security while improving the passenger experience. In that short amount of time we have changed the travel experience for all passengers 12 and younger, all passengers 75 and older, flight crews, military members and the millions of passengers who have opt into the TSA Pre✓™ expedited screening program.

TSA Pre✓™ has expanded to 5 airlines and 20 airports, and has processed more than 2 million passengers. By the end of year we plan to have TSA Pre✓™ available at 35 of the busiest U.S. airports.

Out of the 375,432,402 passengers who have traveled through our checkpoints so far this year, 30,204 have submitted a complaint. While that might sound like a lot on the surface, that equates to 0.008% of the total number of passengers. By the way, did you see the latest Gallup poll that American’s views of TSA are more positive than negative? Check it out!

We have also taken steps to expand the availability of our award winning My TSA mobile application. As of last month it is now available at the Google play store. It’s also available on iTunes and the mobile web. The My TSA App provides passengers with 24/7 access to the most commonly requested TSA information.

We kicked off the year on the blog talking about cupcakes, and moved on to other things like otters, getting to the gate early, the Federal Air Marshal Service’s 50th Anniversary, traveling with wedding dresses, traveling with scuba gear, why laptops have to be removed from bags, and many, many more posts you can find in our archives at blog.tsa.gov.

There were several high profile stories about alleged checkpoint experiences that turned out to be false. Yes, nail clipper confiscation was one of them. Also, there were claims that our Officers mistreated a passenger who was deaf and also mistreated a passenger with a feeding tube. There were other claims such as a woman who said there were no female Officers to screen her, parents who said we accused her four year old child of having a firearm, a woman who claimed she was screened because of her looks, and lastly, a parent accused TSA of having their child on the no fly list when in fact it was an airline travel glitch that caused the problem. If you read our TSA Week in Review posts, you are no stranger to some of the frightening items our officers have found this year. Some travelers may forget a small knife in their bag, but others bring some rather shocking items with them to the airport.

From January to July, there have been 821 firearms discovered in carry-on bags at checkpoints across the country. That’s almost four firearms per day! Of those, 691 were loaded, and 210 were locked and loaded with a round chambered. The most popular caliber so far has been the compact .380 with 197 found this year. Firearms have been found at a total of 160 airports with Atlanta (ATL) TSO’s finding the most firearms – 56 found so far this year. A couple of the more notable incidents this year were when a Portland passenger put a pistol in potted plant in an effort to sneak it past us,  and also  when another passenger had a disassembled gun and ammo concealed in three stuffed animals. Follow the links to read more about these incidents, and you can check out our TSA Week in Review posts to see pictures and spreadsheets of firearms found.

If the number of firearms we’ve discovered so far this year didn’t shock you, these examples might: a live 40mm high explosive grenade; a bottle wrapped in black electrical tape and filled with flash powder, and three M-80 fireworks; a black powder flask filled with 5oz. of black powder; even an explosively-viable cannonball; and last but not least, a live blasting cap.  

In addition to the live explosives items mentioned above, we also find a lot of inert items that look like the real deal. The problem with these types of items is that we don’t know if they are the real deal until we call out the bomb experts, and sometimes even they have a hard time figuring it out. Inert items can lead to closed terminals and checkpoints, which usually result in canceled or delayed flights. Here are some of the more interesting  inert items we’ve found so far this year: simulated detonating cord with simulated sheet explosives, M147 firing device with blasting cap taped to it, inert detonator, simulated Semtex-H, training claymore mines, IED training aids, two replica Claymore mines, warheads, 60mm mortar round, a bazooka round, and more grenades than we’ve seen in years past.

If you’re new to the blog and want to see more of the things we’ve caught this year, check out all of our TSA Week in Review posts. There you can review photos of the items and read about all of the other items we’ve found such as: bear mace in a sock, a knife mounted on a walker, a spear gun, a gun in a hollowed out book, eels, dead venomous snakes, a gassed up chainsaw, a grenade launcher, a chastity belt, and much more!

We hope you have a great remainder of 2012. For more TSA news and info, be sure to read blog.tsa.gov and tsa.gov! 

Bob Burns

TSA Blog Team

If you have a travel related issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you can contact us by clicking here.

TSA Week in Review: Passengers Continue to Pack Guns & Grenades

Inert Grenades – In addition to a spike in the number of guns found each day at checkpoints recently, we continue to find hand grenades and other ordnance on weekly basis.  Please keep in mind that if something looks like a bomb, grenade, mine, etc., it is prohibited - real or not. And when these items are found at the checkpoint, they can cause significant delays to you and other passengers. I know they are cool novelty items; I use to own a few. But again, please don’t take them on planes!  Read here and here on why inert items cause problems.

• An inert grenade was discovered in a checked bag at Seattle (SEA) which resulted in a baggage screening room evacuation.
• An inert grenade was discovered at Seattle (STL).
• An inert grenade was discovered in a carry-on bag at LaGuardia (LGA) which resulted in a checkpoint closure.
• An inert grenade was discovered in a carry-on bag at Milwaukee (MKE).
• An Airsoft grenade (used by war game enthusiasts) was discovered in a checked bag at Phoenix (PHX) which resulted in an evacuation of the checked baggage area.

Gallup Survey Gives TSA Good Grades - Did you see the latest Gallup poll that Americans’ views of TSA are more positive than negative? Check it out!

Firearm Parts –I want to point out that firearm parts are prohibited from being carried in your carry-on bags. Why, you might ask? Because while one passenger may have just the barrel, another passenger may have the rest of the parts to assemble a fully functioning firearm.

Items in the Strangest Places – It’s one thing to forget you had a prohibited item in your bag, but when you intentionally try to sneak it past us, you could be cited or even arrested by law enforcement. Here are a few examples from this week where passengers tried to sneak items past our Officers.

• A dagger concealed in the handle of a hairbrush was discovered at Minneapolis (MSP).
• A knife was found concealed in a shoe at Bethel (BET).
• Officers in Philadelphia (PHL) found a toiletry kit with undeclared liquids over 3.4 concealed under the clothing of a passenger in a wheelchair during the screening process.
• A knife was discovered taped to the underside of a bag handle under the lining at St. Louis (STL).
• A knife was found concealed in a binder at Rapid City (RAP).
• A bottle of lotion was discovered in a passenger’s slacks at Phoenix (PHX). The first time she brought it through, it was in her bag.
• A pocketknife was discovered sewn into the lining of a carry-on bag at Albuquerque (ABQ).

Stun Guns – 5 stun guns were discovered in carry-on bags at checkpoints around the nation at: Lynchburg (LYH), Reno (RNO), Denver (DEN), Detroit (DTW), Burbank (BUR)

Miscellaneous Prohibited Items - In addition to all of the other prohibited items we find weekly, our Officers also regularly find firearm components, realistic replica firearms, brass knuckles, ammunition, batons, and a lot of sharp pointy things. Just to mention a few…

Firearms - Here are the firearms our Officers found in carry-on baggage since I posted last Friday.

You can travel with your firearms in checked baggage, but they must first be declared to the airline. You can go here for more details on how to properly travel with your firearms. Firearm possession laws vary by state and locality. Travelers should familiarize themselves with state and local firearm laws for each point of travel prior to departure. 

Unfortunately these sorts of occurrences are all too frequent which is why we talk about these finds. Sure, it’s great to share the things that our officers are finding, but at the same time, each time we find a dangerous item, the throughput is slowed down and a passenger that likely had no ill intent ends up with a citation or in some cases is even arrested. This is a friendly reminder to please leave these items at home. Just because we find a prohibited item on an individual does not mean they had bad intentions, that's for the law enforcement officer to decide. In many cases, people simply forgot they had these items.

Bob Burns

TSA Blog Team

If you have a travel related issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you can contact us by clicking here.