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Vol.
5 | Issue 1 | January 2, 2007 | |
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The first of the scanners was supposed to go into operation at Phoenix’s SkyHarbor Airport (PHX) before Christmas, but implementation was postponed into January. That’s because one of the privacy requirements calls for the screening booths to be remotely viewed, and the TSA couldn’t sort out the coordination with SkyHarbor’s wireless network in time. Backscatter X-ray technology has been available since 2002, but was shelved for human use because it was considered “too revealing for deployment,” according to researchers at Pacific Northwest Laboratory, which developed the device. Test passengers were horrified to see extremely detailed pictures of themselves naked coming up on the viewers of the security scanners; backscatter X-rays see right through clothes. Even TSA Security Laboratory Director Susan Hallowell, who was a test subject for the device in 2003, said the original version of the device made a person “look fat and naked.” Instead of transmitting radiation through the target, as medical X-rays do, backscatter X-rays detect the radiation emanated from the target (and clothing doesn’t emanate). Between the virtual nudity being viewed by security personnel and the TSA’s penchant for storing and sharing the information from its other security scans, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and others had agitated against the adoption of the new scanners. The TSA has now worked with American Science & Engineering Inc., one of the two companies that will be producing backscatter scanners for use on humans at airports, to develop a modified viewing system that now only shows results in outline form (a version that imposed a “virtual fig leaf” was also rejected). It has also programmed the devices so that they do not store or transmit any of the scanned images. The new scanners will not be used on all airline passengers, only those who are singled out for pat-down searches, and those passengers will still be able to choose between the machine and the pat-down. After the Phoenix test, the pilot program is to be expanded to Baltimore (BWI), Dallas (DFW), Jacksonville (JAX) and San Francisco (SFO), with another 11 airports to follow. The machines, in their original “X-rated” versions,
have quietly been implemented in Customs facilities at 12 U.S. airports,
and at London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR), to scan people suspected
of smuggling drugs; the original devices are also in use at several
U.S. Embassies overseas. You can see a video
of how the modified devices work courtesy of the TSA; and images of
the
original scans at www.epic.org/privacy/airtravel/backscatter/. |
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Those London January Sales |
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A Star For The Swiss |
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Virgin America Hits Roadblock |
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Free Charging At JFK |
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Malaysia Is A Bargain |
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Santa’s
Sleigh Was Slow Returning from a day’s business in Boston just before Christmas, I paid the additional $25 at the terminal to move up to an earlier flight. This isn’t one of the ways US Airways rewards its top-tier flyers. (As a Silver Preferred Dividend Rewards member I think they ought to waive the charge, but they don’t.) I happily proceeded to the gate, where I could see that something was amiss. There was a line at the gate agent’s desk, and it looked like one out of every two passengers was being told to move to the side for some unknown reason. When it was my turn, as luck would have it, my ticket was not acceptable. “What's going on?” I asked. Despite her Santa Claus red hat, the gate agent had a sour look on her face as she said that there had been an aircraft change to a plane with a different seating configuration than one originally scheduled. I had to get in another line with the other hapless passengers who had hit the gate lottery. I joked with the gate agent that she should “smile, with that hat on.” She replied, "What's to smile about?” She might have been grumpy, but she was efficient; within a couple of minutes I had my new seat, 11F (changed from 4F). When I commented that it appeared I had lost my bulkhead seat, another gate agent said that I was lucky I hadn’t wound up in 23F, and that 11F was indeed a bulkhead seat. Of course, when I got in the aircraft, it was not a bulkhead seat, but rather the row behind one. There were also still quite a few duplicate tickets when we boarded, with people competing for the same seat; it all took time to sort out. Once airborne, the flight seemed to take forever; I had no idea an A320 could fly that slowly. When we approached Philadelphia, my destination, we entered a holding pattern, which the captain explained was necessitated by “congestion at the airport.” (My theory is that it was probably something to do with the fact that we had missed our slot, since it was now nearly an hour behind our originally scheduled arrival time). Needless to say, I wasn’t credited back with the $25 I’d paid to be “early.” Rather than the mystery sorting process occasioned by a change in equipment, it would have been so much better if they’d made an announcement about the change and explained how they intended to process us the best they could. Instead, it was a haphazard free-for-all, with good customers being treated as if we had no business knowing what was happening. The Department of Transportation’s recent report (see eFlyer, Dec. 5) chastised the airline industry in general about the lack of information given to passengers at gates. It appears US Airways didn’t get the message — at least not in Boston. Score: ••••• Francis
X. Gallagher | ||
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Airline Post-Holiday Fare
Sales |
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Win A Trip To Dominica |
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Discount Deals To Germany |
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| Kids Free To Heathrow Through Jan. 1, children up to the age of 15 can travel free with an adult on the Heathrow Connect rail service between Paddington Station and Heathrow Airport (LHR). The normal fare is $13.50 (£6.90) one-way. “Kids Go Free” vouchers are available at ticket offices at all the stations along the route. The new Heathrow Connect service only runs to Terminals 1, 2 and 3; you must transfer to Heathrow Express to go to Terminal 4.  |
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Fast Points from InterContinental |
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© 2007 FXExpress Publications Inc. All rights
reserved. Reproduction and/or distribution of eFlyer is strictly
forbidden without the written authorization of the publisher. |
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Produced by Mercury Solutions - www.mercury-solutions.com |
