Atypical Events

Airport Employees get Politeness Training for the Holidays

Posted by jessie under Travel

Everyone knows that air travel can be a very stressful experience, especially if you’re travelling during the busy holiday season. The combination of already tired and stressed out passengers, delayed or cancelled flights, lost luggage, crowded planes and a whole host of other problems can easily lead to aggressive outbursts from passengers and airport employees alike.

This Thanksgiving there are expected to be 24 million people traveling by air. In an effort to make the situation a little less stressful, Newark Liberty International Airport is implementing a training program to help their employees to be more polite and offer a higher level of customer service.
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More Family Lanes to Appear at Airport Security Checkpoints

Posted by jessie under News, Travel

The TSA is expanding family lanes at nearly every airport just in time for the Thanksgiving and the busy holiday travel season.

By November 20th, family lanes will have opened at 533 airport checkpoints by November 20th. The lanes are intended to help people who are traveling with children and will have people on-hand to assist parents.

The family lanes will allow families to move through specially-designated lanes at their own pace. The lanes will be permanent additions at security checkpoints at every large and midsize airport.

The family lanes will also feature special scanners for screening large bottles of liquids deemed “medically necessary.” Anyone who is carrying a bottle of liquid more than three ounces will be directed to the scanners in these lanes, even if they are not traveling with a family.
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Ads to Appear in Security Checkpoint Bins Nationwide

Posted by jessie under News, Travel

Next time you take off your shoes and jacket and place them in a bin at an airport security checkpoint, you might see an advertisement staring up at you. The Transportation Security Administration has given the go-ahead to allow airports across the nation to sell advertising space in the bottoms of security checkpoint bins

If you’ve been traveling during the past year you may have already seen ads in the bottom of security checkpoint plastic bins.

Fourteen airports were participants in the Divestiture Bin Pilot Program, which allowed vendors to advertise in bins at security checkpoints. Now the program is expanding to be nationwide.

According to the TSA, the program is geared towards upgrading the equipment used at airport checkpoints. As payment for the advertising space, advertisers purchase the plastic bins, steel tables and carts for screeners that are used at checkpoints.
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iPhones Help Airlines Get a Little Greener

Posted by jessie under News, Travel

Airline and government officials are continuing the push to do away with paper boarding passes and converting them instead to electronic means.

Pretty soon when you get your boarding pass from an airline, you’ll be able to have it on your cell phone or PDA. In fact, this is already happening in some airports. The boarding pass will be displayed in the form of an electronic bar code that will be scanned at checkpoints by a TSA screener wielding a $1,000 scanning device.

The TSA plans on expanding the passes to be nationwide within the next year and have been testing out the new paperless passes to make sure that they are secure. read more »