Business Travel Tips

The Federal Aviation Administration has updated the rules for airline pilot work.  Based on the new FAA rules, the maximum time a pilot can be scheduled to be on duty is between nine and 14 hours — that also includes wait time before flights and administrative duties.

The maximum amount of time pilots can be scheduled to fly is limited to eight or nine hours.

The minimum amount of rest time between duty periods is 10 hours, a two-hour increase over the old rules. Also, the changes will increase 25 percent the minimum time off between work weeks.

New limits will be set on how many hours per month pilots can fly. Pilots flying overnight would be allowed fewer hours than pilots flying during the day.

The airlines have two years to adapt to the new rules. The FAA estimated the cost to industry at $297 million over 10 years. (source)

Last week, Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport has been added to the TSA Pre™ pilot, the program that allows TSA officers to use volunteered information to make risk assessments before the passenger gets to the airport.

American and Delta frequent flyers can take advantage of it — when flying domestically out of Las Vegas — at D Gates First Class screening lane.

In early 2012, two new airports will be added to the TSA Pre pilot, Minneapolis St. Paul (MSP) for Delta passengers and Los Angeles (LAX) for American Airline passengers.

As for airlines, TSA also announced US Airways and United will be the next airlines to offer TSA Pre™ pilot to eligible passengers in early 2012.

Following the screening experience of a passenger at JFK International Airport, who said TSA officers removed her back brace, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) takes the opportunity to clarify a few things about screening travelers with disabilities.

TSA informed advocacy groups that represent those with disabilities and medical conditions that they are in the process of establishing an 800 number dedicated to travelers with disabilities, medical conditions, or those who may require assistance during screening.

Also TSA adds a few tips to keep in mind for travelers with disabilities.

- TSA officers do not ask passengers to remove clothing to expose a sensitive area or to remove a medical device or brace. We have special procedures that allow us to safely screen passengers with disabilities.
- Notification cards, are a great way for passengers to discreetly let us know about a medical condition or disability. Passengers may presentthese cards at the checkpoint to our officers.
- Passengers should always be in view of their belongings. If you can’t see your belongings during secondary screening, please request that an officer bring them to you.
- Passengers who know they may need additional screening ahead of time may contact a TSA customer support manager at their departure airport ahead of travel to ensure their needs are met. If private screening is needed, passengers are free to have a family member or travel companion join them in the private screening room.
(source: TSA)

Full body scanners for passengers will be compulsory at UK airports. That means that air passengers selected for scanning at UK airports will not be allowed to opt for alternative screening methods and would not be able to fly if they were not willing to be scanned.

The airports of Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester, have been trialling full body scanners, but The Mirror quoted Transport Secretary Justine Greening as saying that she believed that scanners should be rolled out more widely at UK airports.

Ms Greening said she does not believe that alternative methods, for example, as a “pat down” search, are equivalent in security terms to a security scan.

The UK government says that the feedback from the airports conducting the trials shows that nearly all passengers accepted the use of scanners, with only 12 refusals among more than a million scans.

Travelers’ security complaints against the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) have hit the lowest level ever recorded.

Bloomberg News writes: “Consumer complaints about the TSA last month were down 59 percent from a May 2004 peak. In September, they dipped to 1,418, the lowest since record-keeping began seven years ago, according to data provided by the TSA and the Department of Transportation.”

The source quoted Richard Bloom, director of terrorism, intelligence and security studies at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona,as saying that complaints probably are down because the agency “finally gets” that a targeted, intelligence-based approach is best.

Also Bloomberg says that complaints in the “courtesy” and “screening procedures” categories dropped to 360 last month — as last November, when the TSA introduced more intensive pat-downs, they increased 41 percent from a year earlier.