Business Travel Tips

TSA took the time to comment on news stories appeared this week claiming that TSA was buying equipment to test for radiation exposure.

Truth is, according to TSA, they put out an Requests for Information (RFI) to gather information on available tools to continue to monitor their technologies. This is simply designed to ask industry what new technology might be available.

TSA adds:

“TSA routinely monitors radiation levels to ensure the safety of both passengers and our workforce. We’ve never found any radiation concerns and the safety reports can be accessed publicly at TSA.gov. [...] Based on all of our previous testing, as well as monitoring from independent sources, we’re confident that all of our equipment meets national safety standards, and is safe for all passengers and our workforce. [...] All tests so far, have shown they are well within the national safety standards and each scan is equivalent to the exposure one receives during approximately 2 min of flight”.

Salt Lake City (SLC) and New York JFK have been added to the TSA Pre™ pilot program.

SLC will offer TSA Pre Pilot to participants traveling on Delta, as JFK will offer the program to pilot participants traveling on American.

Also two more airports, Minneapolis St. Paul (for Delta passengers) and Los Angeles LAX (for American Airline passengers) will begin offering TSA Pre™ pilot.

TSA says it received positive feedback from the overwhelming majority of the nearly 200,000 passengers who have experienced the program at the participating airports — Atlanta (ATL), Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), Detroit (DTW), Miami (MIA) and Las Vegas’ McCarran (LAS).

Delta Air Lines added a surcharge of $3 each way on flights between the United States and Europe.
The carrier became the first airline to add a surcharge on flights between the US and Europe after the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) went into effect.

ETS is an European Union law charging airlines for their greenhouse gas emissions.
Airlines will pay for their greenhouse gas emissions by buying allowances from industries burning less fuel.

Industry experts predict airlines will add the cost of the new law to ticket prices.
Lufthansa Airlines said that it will include the cost of purchasing the certificates in its existing fuel surcharge. In a press release the German carrier said that in the future, the surcharge will reflect both the price of oil and the cost of acquiring emission rights.

2011 is the safest year for air travel, according to the aviation industry experts.
In 2011, there’s been one passenger death per 7.1 million fliers traveling on a commercial or charter flight — the previous record was one fatality per 6.4 million fliers in 2004.

Coming to air travel in the U.S., the data confirm the recent safety trend. U.S. airlines haven’t experienced a passenger death in a crash in four of the last five years.
From 2000 through 2009 U.S. airlines had 17 fatal accidents, a number showing that flying is safer than ever before; to make a comparison, 44 fatal accidents were reported throughout the 1970s.

Aviation experts say that better technology, improved training of crews and the increased amount of data — and sharing of data across the industry — are making the carriers increasingly safer.

The Transportation Security Administration has just launched TSA Cares, a toll free helpline number which will serve as an additional, dedicated resource for passengers with disabilities and medical conditions.

Travelers can call TSA Cares before they fly if they have questions about screening policies, procedures or what to expect when they arrive at the airport security checkpoint.
A representative from the TSA Cares helpline will answer questions about airport security and provide information that will be specific to the passenger’s disability or medical condition.

Also, TSA says: “If a caller’s concerns cannot be easily addressed, the passenger may be referred to disability experts at TSA. TSA recommends that passengers call approximately 72 hours ahead of travel so that TSA Cares has the opportunity to coordinate checkpoint support with a TSA Customer Service Manager located at the airport when necessary”.

TSA Cares Helpline: 1-855-787-2227. The line is open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. EST, excluding federal holidays.