How to prevent thefts by TSA employees when you fly

Several recent media reports highlighted a number of alleged and admitted thefts by TSA employees, and these stories serve as a reminder to passengers that while most TSA employees are honest and fully dedicated to protecting the public, a rare few will steal from passengers.

TSA employee sells stolen items on craigslist
A January 20, 2012 Miami Herald story described the arrest of a TSA employee who allegedly stole items from checked luggage, smuggled them out using a hidden pocket added to his TSA uniform jacket, and sold several items, including at least one iPad, on craigslist. This scheme reportedly had been going on for about three years. This TSA employee's wife was also charged.

How to prevent this from happening
Do not pack expensive and easy to sell valuable items such as laptops, money, or jewelry in your checked bag. On US flights, checked baggage must either be left unlocked, or use approved locks that can be opened by the TSA, so that the TSA can inspect checked luggage. This same advice would apply to a couple who had $500 stolen from their checked bag in December 2011 at the Punta Gorda, FL airport, though it is not clear if a TSA employee was involved in that theft.

Laptops stolen from screening area by TSA employee
A New York Post story reported a January 10, 2012 incident where a college student who forgot his laptop in a screening area at New York's LaGuardia Airport and had the laptop allegedly stolen by a TSA screener. The now-fired TSA employee was reportedly seen seen on a surveillance video taking the laptop and later admitted to the theft when confronted by a TSA supervisor.

Last October, another former TSA employee was convicted of stealing a laptop left at the screening area at the Memphis airport. Like the LaGuardia theft, this one was aslo caught on surveillance video.

How many TSA employees are theives?
A May 2011 New York Press stated that about 500 TSA employees had been fired or suspended because of thefts from passenger luggage. A February 2008 blog post on the TSA web site stated that the TSA had fired or sought prosecution for 200 TSA employees accused of theft. Some of those theft victims were other TSA employees. This means that on average, about 50 thieves had been discovered within the TSA each year.

How to prevent this from happening
If you travel with a laptop, make sure that you retrieve it after you pass through the TSA screening area. There are several things that you can do, including having some kind of reminder that you packed a laptop. For example, you can open up your backpack or laptop bag so that it is clear that something should be put back into it.

If you travel in a group, have the first person to make it through screening make sure that everyone's valuables are accounted for. Also, TSA lets you keep iPads, Kindles, and smaller notebook computers like the 11-inch MacBookAir in your carry-on bag when you go through screening.

Laptops are not the only things stolen
Last July, the the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that a former TSA employee at the Ft. Lauderdale airport admitted to taking a passenger's $450 pen. According to a statement by the former employee, the theft didn't happen at the screening area, but after the pen was set aside by the TSA, presumably as an item that was headed to the TSA's lost and found department.

Change the TSA can believe in
Sometimes the money left by passengers as they go through TSA screening isn't stolen, because the TSA can legally keep it. According to a December 2011 Los Angeles Times article, loose change left behind by passengers can be kept by the TSA and used to help fund the agency's operations. In the 2010 fiscal year, this spare change added up to more than $375,000.

What can you do to prevent theft?
While passengers can't do anything to prevent a rogue TSA employee from stealing from you, there is quite a bit that you can do to prevent thefts from happening in the first place. For more details, download out the AirSafe.com Baggage and Security Guide, which includes a number of articles on how you can pack your carry on or checked bag so that you reduce or eliminate the chance that you will be a victim of theft the next time you fly (available as a PDF file, or as an ebook for our iPad or Kindle). You can find similar advice at the baggage resources page at AirSafe.com

Passenger arrested for viewing child pornography in flight

On Saturday November 26th, a 47-year old man was arrested at Boston's Logan airport after he was allegedly seen viewing child pornography on a flight from Salt Lake City to Boston. The accused passenger, University of Utah chemistry professor Grant Smith, was sitting in first class when another passenger saw the pornographic images on a laptop and alerted the crew.

The accused passenger was charged with possession of child pornography and taken into custody and arrested. According to police, other passengers took a cellphone photo of the accused watching a suspected child porn video on his laptop.

According to prosecutors, a passenger seated behind Smith’s first class seat on the Delta flight on Saturday took a picture of what Smith was doing and sent a text message to his son with the picture, asking his son to contact Massachusetts police.

The passenger also alerted a flight attendant who confronted Smith and ordered him to shut off his computer, which happened to be the property of the University of Utah. After being contacted by the flight attendant, Smith allegedly tried to erase images from his computer. The images were mostly of girls between six and ten years old, naked or nearly naked, engaging in simulated sex acts.

Smith's employer, the University of Utah, has placed him on administrative leave and says it will permanently dismiss him if the child porn allegations are proven to be true.

In the recently published AirSafe.com Baggage and Security Guide, the issue of what passengers can or should be able to do with their laptop or other personal electronic device was discussed in some detail. There are two issues from that Guide that this recent incident in Boston brings up, the limitations of free speech and common sense limitations on the use of personal electronic devices in an aircraft cabin.

The First Amendment and personal electronic devices
In the US, the First Amendment of the Constitution forms the basis of laws and traditions when it comes to freedom of speech, which includes the right of adults to possess or view most, but not all, forms of sexually oriented material. One of the few limitations on speech is in the area of obscene material, specifically material that has been legally determined to be sexually explicit, offensive to conventional standards of decency, and lacking in serious literary, scientific, artistic, or political value.

While it may be difficult for the average person to identify obscene material, one type that is very easy to spot is child pornography, which is any kind of visual depiction of a person under the age of 18 engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The conduct does not have to involve either sexual acts or nudity, though in this alleged incident, the images contained both nudity and simulated sexual activity. This kind of material is illegal for anyone in the United States to view, possess, or publish.

What to do if you see child porn in flight
If you are on an airplane and you see what appears to be images or videos depicting child pornography, bring it to the attention of a cabin crew member immediately. This appears to be exactly what passengers did during the recent incident on the Delta flight to Boston. If this is not possible, and you are arriving at a US airport, contact a law enforcement representative after you land. If you are landing at a non-US airport, use your best judgment as to whether you should report what you saw.

Passenger behavior and electronic devices
Airline policies, and especially the cabin crew on your flight, usually are quite clear about when portable electronic devices can and cannot be used on an aircraft. What is not quite as clear is what is an acceptable use of these devices. Federal laws may affect when you can use a personal electronic device, but airline policies and social conventions may limit how you can use your device. Avoiding the potential embarrassment of having a flight attendant asking you to turn off your device, or avoiding the wrath of your fellow passengers, is easy if you follow these common sense suggestions for appropriate behavior involving portable electronic devices:

• Avoid making excessive noise - When playing music or videos, use headphones or earphones. For other devices that don't have a headphone jack, turn off the audio. If that is not possible, don't use the device. If you are on the phone, there's no need to speak loudly enough to be heard across the cabin. If you want to use some kind of voice recording device during the flight is within the rules, exercise some judgment and don't do it loudly or for long periods.
  
  
• Avoid displaying inappropriate images - These kinds of images generally include depictions of sexual activity, sexually suggestive nudity, material depicting extreme acts of violence, or other images that could be upsetting to other passengers. In the US, with very few exceptions, violent, disturbing, or sexually explicit material is legal to own. The problems come when one person's freedom to watch almost anything imaginable runs counter to an airline’s desire to provide an acceptable environment for all of its passengers. The inside of an airliner is not a private space where passengers are free to watch what they please. Most flight attendants would likely take a common sense approach and won't do anything about what people are viewing unless it is disturbing other passengers.
  
  
• Don't photograph people without their permission - Inside an aircraft, there is a certain expectation of privacy. While it may be tempting to shoot a funny picture or video of that snoring passenger across the aisle, don't do it without asking first.
  
  
• Don’t photograph unaccompanied children - It is customary to get a parent or guardian's permission before photographing a child, but that is not possible with a child traveling alone. Furthermore, to other passengers and to the crew, a person taking pictures or shooting a video of an unaccompanied child may look either creepy or suspicious.

Your personal privacy and electronic devices
When flying domestically in the US, TSA may inspect computers and other electronic devices for explosives and other hazardous or banned items, but they will not confiscate them, scan them, or even turn them on as part of their normal duties. Should anyone at a TSA checkpoint attempt to confiscate your electronic device or gain your passwords or other information, please to see a supervisor or screening manager immediately.

When entering or leaving the US, Customs and Border Enforcement officers are responsible for ensuring compliance with customs, immigration, and other federal laws, and may examine or even confiscate computers, digital storage devices, and other electronic devices. This can happen even if they don't have any evidence that you are breaking the law.

Photo: ShaneRobinson

NTSB to Open Up Public Docket on Northwest Airlines A320 Overflight in October 2009

Detailed information from the NTSB investigation into the October 21, 2009 incident involving the distracted Northwest Airlines pilots have been released to the public. The incident, which resulted in a large amount of media attention, occurred when the pilots of Northwest Airlines flight 188 was out of contact with air traffic control for about for 77 minutes while cruising from San Diego to Minneapolis.

The Airbus A320 (N03274) overflew Minneapolis by more than 100 miles before re-establishing radio contact with air traffic controllers and landing at the destination airport. There were no injuries to the 149 aircraft occupants, or damage to the aircraft.

Overview of Final Stages of the Flight

Reportedly, one of the reasons why the pilots did not respond to radio calls was because they were using their laptop computers in the cockpit and were distracted. While using laptops in the cockpit is allowed by the FAA, use of personal computers in the cockpit was not allowed by Delta (which owns Northwest). Both pilots were dismissed by the airline, and the FAA revoked their licenses.

Included in the docket will be factual reports from several of the NTSB-led groups involved in the investigation, including the Operations Group, Air Traffic Control Group, Survival Factors Group, Cockpit Voice Recorder Group and Flight Data Recorder Group. The docket will be available on Wednesday morning, December 16th. To view the contents of the docket, visit the the public docket page for this incident.

Related Information
Northwest Flight 188 public docket page
Previous AirSafeNews.com Incident Update
Original AirSafeNews.com article on this incident
Delta Airlines Statement 26 October 2009
FAA air traffic control transcripts and audio recordings
NTSB Update from 26 October 2009

Free Airborne WiFi Makes it More Likely That You Will See Inappropriate Inflight Entertainment

Recently, Google announced that it would provide free wireless access at 47 airports throughout the US, and on domestic US flights on Virgin America. While this is a temporary promotion, it represents a progression that will probably lead to universal, and likely free, Internet access in airport terminals and in aircraft.

While online access is something that most passengers will welcome, there are a few issues that have not been resolved, and likely will not be resolved by laws or regulation, and that is the issue of what is acceptable online behavior in an airport or on an airplane.


While laptop computers, cell phones, and other personal electronics have been around for more than a generation, only in the last few years have these technologies have made it easy to play videos, and the costs dropped so much that almost anyone can afford to have some kind of electronic device that can play audio files or video files, or stream audio and video online.

The problems come when one person's freedom to read, hear, or watch almost anything imaginable runs into another person's freedom from objectionable material. In the years before there were iPods and laptops, about the worst thing that a passenger could bring on board was a magazine featuring nudity (magazines still widely available in airport newsstands).

While there are no federal guidelines for what kind of content is allowed on PEDs, most flight attendants would likely use a common sense approach similar to the one described in a November 12, 2009 Washington Post article written by Monica Hesse. She quotes a flight attendant who said that he flights attendants don't do anything about what people are watching unless it is disturbing other passengers.


AirSafe.com has provided general guidelines for how a passenger should behave with their personal electronic devices. When it comes to wireless activity in the terminal, and especially in an aircraft AirSafe.com suggests the following guidelines:

• Don't Make Noise When playing music or other audio content, use headphones or earphones. If you are using a laptop, video game, or other device where you need the visuals but don't need the audio, turn the audio off. If that isn't possible, don't the device.
  
  
• Don't Display Inappropriate Images - Inappropriate images generally include sexually oriented material, material depicting extreme acts of violence, or other images that could be upsetting to other passengers. You can display these kinds of images only if no one else can see your display, but few seats in an aircraft or in a terminal would likely have this amount of privacy. This rule holds true
  
  
• Avoid Phone Calls While in Flight - It may be tempting to use in flight online access to make calls on Skype or some other VOIP service, but don't. It unlikely that your seatmate will take kindly to an unwanted conversation, and though it may be possible to make a call in privacy from the lavatory, but would you want to admit that in public later on?
  
  
• Read Whatever You Want - If someone is close enough to read what you are reading, then that person is violating your privacy.
  

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How to Protect Your Laptop and Your Computer Data When Going Through Airport Security

The recent arrests of the couple accused of stealing over 1,000 checked bags from the Phoenix airport highlighted one of the baggage theft risks that airline passengers face each time they fly. Another ongoing problem inside the airline terminal is the risks passengers face of having their laptop computer lost, stolen, or damaged.
The two areas of risks are taking the computer through security and inside the airport terminal.

Putting Laptops in Checked Baggage
There is a very simple way to avoid this problem-just don't do it. There is the obvious risk of a lost, damage, or stolen checked bag. Also, airlines often load bags on top of one another in the cargo hold of your flight. Hundreds of pounds of pressure in conjunction with the low temperatures in unheated cargo compartments may lead to cracks or damage to the laptop screen or damage to other components.

Taking the Laptop Through Security
In the US and in most other countries, laptops have to be taken out of its carrying case or out of your carry-on bag as you go through the x-ray scanners at airport security. To protect your laptop, you should do the following:

• Place laptops in a bin by itself before you put it through the x-ray machine.
  
• Keep your laptop in sight at all times. You may be delayed getting through the metal detector or you may be pulled aside for additional screening. If this happens, make sure you keep your laptop in sight. If you are traveling in a group, one thing that you can do is to have the first person through security be the person who takes care of all the laptops.
  
• Reclaim and secure your laptop as quickly as possible once you are through the screening process.

Laptop Security in the Terminal
If you decide to use your laptop during the time before boarding, take the same precautions that you would in any other public space. Don't leave your laptop unattended, and if you the airport has free wi-fi access, avoid doing anything online such as online banking that requires a secure connection.

Other Laptop Security Hints
In addition to protecting your laptop from loss, damage, or theft, you should also take the time to protect the information on the laptop. One way to do that is to separate the data from the laptop. For most users, the information on a laptop is far more valuable than the laptop itself. One easy way to protect against the loss of data is to either backup your data before you travel, or plan to keep any important or sensitive data data separate from the laptop in a device such as a flash drive, CD-ROM, or or external hard drive. Of course, these data storage devices should always be with you or with your carry-on bag, and not in any checked bag.

If you are unwilling or unable to separate the data from the laptop, at least put some kind of password protection on the laptop or on individual files or directories within the laptop.

One way to avoid the hazards and hassles of taking your laptop out for security screening is to use alternative electronic devices. Unlike the situation with laptops, special screening is not required for small data-related devices like Internet enabled phones such as the iPhone or Blackberry, PDAs, flash drives, and other small data-related devices.

Related Resources
Baggage Basics for Checked and Carry-on Items
Carry-on Baggage Advice
Top 10 Baggage Tips
Top Ten Tips for Dealing with Security
Overhead Baggage Risks
Hazardous and Prohibited Baggage Items