Boarding passes: Any child with a copy of a real boarding pass combined with 15 minutes with any publishing package should be able to produce an authentic-looking fake. And they're just figuring this out? This problem was obvious the first time I printed out one of these a decade ago. Until there's some sort of electronic scanning at the checkpoints that's linked with the reservation databases, this will be a problem.
Funding cuts: This is a story from Canada, but I'd expect the same problem to happen in the US. The airlines are really regretting their acquiescence of security to the government.
Minimum Wage screeners: Never been to Hong Kong, so I don't know how smoothly it works there. (Will need to ask my friends that live there) But it's hardly a surprise that low wages mean high turnover.
TSA Union: Tom Daschle's dream being realized. Can't wait until they all decide to strike. Will Obama have the balls that Reagan did in dealing with that?
“The Morning Briefing” is SmartPlanet’s daily roundup of must-reads from the web. This morning we’re readng about airport security and scanners.
1.) Fake boarding passes can fool airport security checks. More than 11 years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, it remains possible to use fake boarding passes to get through airport security checks, according to new evidence from security researchers and official documents.
2.) Airport security agency warns service could suffer following funding cuts. The federal agency for front line airport security warns reduced funding and increasing passengers may result in a drop in service.
3.) Minimum wage boosted turnover of airport security staff. Turnover of security guards at Chek Lap Kok shot up to 30 per cent last year, but pay rises have since reduced the problem, a company boss says.
4.) Airport screeners ratify first-ever union contract with TSA. The nation’s 44,000 newly unionized airport screeners have ratified their first-ever collective bargaining agreement, giving them more say in what they wear on the job, the shifts they work and the time off they take, whether they can change from part-time to full-time work or back, their union has announced.
5.) Airport security scanners a no-no for diabetes devices. Airport security scanners may be damaging diabetes devices despite multiple safeguards put in place by manufacturers, clinicians and airport administration, U.S. experts warn.
Bonus: Airport uses music by Tina Turner to scare birds.
Image credit: Phillip Capper
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