Reconfiguring Your Views On Airport Security

There’s been a lot of news and reaction to last week’s attempted bombing of a US-bound Northwest flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has been quick to implement a series of vague and ineffective security countermeasures. These include prohibiting passengers from having anything in their laps for the last 60 minutes of international flights to the US.

Having worked as a security expert for years and still doing so part-time, I’m of the opinion that these security measures – and the overall approach of the TSA – is flawed. As frequent fliers and travelers it’s important to reconfigure your views on airport security to look at the larger system in play, worry less about flying, and realize the impact it has on the economy of travel.

The Airport Is The Last, Not First Line Of Defense

It’s attractive to look at airport security and imagine all of the action-movie terrorist schemes that could cause a major catastrophe on an airplane. Except that airport security is the last line of defense. Coordinated terrorist plots take planning, communication, and the acquisition of weapons and other materials. These are where bad guys are foiled, not at the airport.

• Good investigation, monitoring, and police work are the most effective ways to prevent terror events. When these systems fail, airport security can do little to prevent an attack. Consider September 11th and this latest attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, both preventable but weren’t due to flaws with basic police work.

Catching The Crazy and The Stupid

Airport security is designed to catch the crazy and the stupid, as well as ladies who might overthrow an airplane with more than 3 ounces of perfume. While Abdulmutallab was able to sneak powdered explosives on board according to initial reports, the amount of explosives would be unlikely to take down an airliner.

• The single most important security countermeasure which helped prevent this latest attack (and shoe bomber Richard Reid) from being successful was the reaction of the crew and other passengers. They reacted quickly to subdue both attempted terror events preventing them from igniting the explosives.

Sophisticated attacks take a great deal of planning, communication, and don’t happen out of the blue. Airport security isn’t designed to thwart well-coordinated terrorist attack attempts, that’s the job of other agencies. Airport security only catches the dumb, stupid, and lone attacker.

It Has No End

Solid investigative work to prevent attacks in the planning stages is the where more security funding should be spent because the TSA brand of reacting to each specific threat has no end. After an attempted shoe bombing the TSA has people taking off shoes, and after the ‘liquid bombers‘ were caught (by investigators, not airport security), liquids more than an arbitrary 3 ounces were banned (unless it’s contact lens solution, then you can bring up to 24 ounces). Matches and lighters were also banned briefly, among other common travel items.

The problem is that these security measures are trying to prevent previous methods of attack, all of which were unsuccessful for three reasons.

1. The reaction of the crew and other passengers.
2. Investigation and monitoring during the planning stages (not the final stage) of the terror plot.
3. Locked cockpit doors.
4. (Additionally) It also hasn’t been shown that these attacks are feasible and that these security measures have been effective.

Someone can still go on a shooting rampage at an airport security checkpoint, try to open a door on an airplane, or come up with another way to damage an airplane in-flight. Ban shoes, terrorists will use liquids; ban those and they’ll use something else. Security can’t (easily) prevent or predict a lone attacker but good police work can catch coordinated attacks well before they can ever be executed.

Why You Should Care

Aside from the inconvenience of airport security and not being able to read or leave your seat upon descent all of these measures are costly and questionably effective. What if the next terror attack attempt happens in the second hour of flight, does that mean more time sitting and not doing anything in hour 2? Security should be both cost effective and practical. How about the day someone tries to blowup a laptop or book and those are banned from flights. Imagine the impact on business travel – and the airlines who are already struggling.

You can voice your concerns to your politicians, no matter where you are to your government and even interact with the TSA via their blog. Security should be effective and to do so airport security needs to stop watching movies and start getting down to the boring basics. Crippling the airline industry, being a detriment to business travel, and keeping people in fear only provides the terrorists with their ultimate goal – to terrorize the innocent.

[photos by: alist, steuben, Arenamontanus, mudkat]

Why You Should Never Use Internet Kiosks At Airports

Most digital nomads have stumbled across Internet kiosks at airports but generally don’t notice them since they’re usually equipped with laptops. In my travels I’ve noticed many people using Internet kiosks like the one pictured below yet there are a host of reasons you should never use them.

Internet kiosks can put your credit card, online, and corporate information at risk even with the basic purchase of $5 for 10 minutes.

Hidden Dangers

From a security stand point an Internet kiosk is a nightmare. These machines are left alone around the clock and are easy targets for people who want to manipulate them. It’s even possible for someone to install a basic credit card skimmer over top the one built into the kiosk. Though that’s less likely there are some very real threats to be aware of.

• Old Systems – Many of these machines are running older versions of Windows which are more vulnerable to viruses and various hacks.
• Not Patched – These machines are rarely updated so whenever there’s a new virus or vulnerability in the wild these computers aren’t protected against them until many months later.
• Installed Applications – Because these systems are often unpatched or running older software it’s much easier for someone to install a virus or Trojan horse on the kiosk computer.

What Does This Mean?

Anytime you use an Internet kiosk like these you’re potentially giving away your online account information, email accounts, and anything you have stored on your USB drives that you plug in.

• Don’t Login To Important Accounts – Refrain from typing anything, like passwords, that you wouldn’t want a stranger to read. Although I strongly recommend against logging into any accounts from an Internet kiosk, if you absolutely must use Neo Safekeys.
• Not The Place For Work – This particular kiosk in Dallas had Microsoft’s Office Suite installed so users could open documents and spreadsheets. When you plug in a USB drive into an unfamiliar machine you don’t know what you’ll be leaving behind…or taking with you. Many viruses can download your data, corrupt it, or hitch a ride to infect you computer at home.

Not Worth The Price

Internet kiosks like this one typically charge $5 for 10 minutes of Web access which is a pretty bad deal especially considering an entire day’s worth of airport wireless is about $8-12. (You can also try getting free airport wireless using the traveler’s guide to hacking wireless networks.)

Of course if you don’t travel with a laptop you may find yourself walking up to on for a little online time wasting. Protect yourself and your personal information by following the precautions above and following the same advice for keeping your online accounts safe at Internet cafes.

Use Sun Tzu’s The Art of War To Win Battles At The Ticket Counter

Sun Tzu’s book, The Art of War, written more than 2,000 years ago is one of the world’s most famous books on strategy. While Tzu was writing for generals in the army, the fundamentals of his wisdom can help you overcome even the most stubborn airline representative.

Advice from The Art of War can turn you into a negotiating ninja and ultimately a warrior who wins battles without fighting.

“Use Anger to Throw Them Into Disarray.”

A recent study from Stanford University demonstrated that being slightly agitated can help you get your way in negotiations but getting too angry had the opposite effect. Airline personnel see really stressed out people everyday so chances are they you won’t be the first person they’ve seen that day complaining about extreme flight delays. Be firm not crazed.

“Cause Division Among Them.”

Don’t attack the person behind the counter – they aren’t who you’re fighting with, it’s the airline you need to deal with. Using confrontational words like “you do this” will only put you in a tense standoff. Rather, hone your stress to improve your travels and get the airline representative to work with you to get your way with the airline. You’re more likely to succeed if the person behind the ticket counter is by your side.

“…Even if You Are Winning, If You Continue For a Long Time It Will Dull Your Forces…”

While it’s important to be persistent and not to give up, don’t belabor a point into the ground. Doing so can quickly make the person behind the counter regret ever trying to help you in the first place. Any people behind you in line certainly won’t appreciate it either. Get straight to the point and lay everything out as simply as you can to fight the airlines effectively.

“…Overcome Others’ Forces Without Battle…”

The power of reciprocity is a powerful motivator and you can use it to make your experience at the ticket counter a pleasant and fruitful one. Start off with a simple question or request, then let the representative know they’re doing a good job and you’d like to tell their supervisor. They’ll be more motivated to help you out since this technique makes them feel indebted to you and resistant to being a disappointment.

“Even Though You Are Competent, Appear to Be Incompetent.”

There’s no need to act like an idiot but sometimes being seemingly ignorant can be to your advantage. Keep your mouth shut if you get the opportunity to hop an earlier flight or get an upgrade later and don’t be a know-it-all. Silence can put subtle pressure on a stubborn airline representative. It’s also not the best idea to volunteer some information (i.e. like when you miss a flight for no good reason).

“Those Who Know When to Fight and When Not to Fight Are Victorious.”

This piece of advice is for those of you who lose you cool easily and argue with everyone – even those staff who are trying to help you. Remember, you want to work with the airline agent and make them feel inclined to help you. Know who and when to put up a good argument is a big part of that. Know when to fight the airlines. A flight that’s an hour late isn’t a good reason to argue and if there’s nothing to gain by complaining – don’t waste your breath.

“Using Order to Deal with Disorder, Using Calm to Deal with The Clamorous, Is Mastering the Heart.”

Accept the circumstances, come up with a strategy to resolve what you can, and reduce your flight delay stress so that you aren’t a raging maniac when you walk up to the ticket counter. Besides there are at least 3 fun things to do at the airport if your flight gets canceled.

“Matters Are Dealt with Strictly at Headquarters.”

Go to the top of the command structure as fast as you need to address your concerns. Find someone with the authority to do what you need and keep going up the chain of command as long as you have to.

“Conflict Without Fighting is the Greatest Victory.”

Use everything to your advantage and find vulnerabilities in the other side. You may need to put a bit of frustration across the counter to resolve whatever issues you may have but you don’t always have to fight tooth and nail. If you travel enough you’ll get plenty of experience complaining at the ticket counter. Look at each instance as an opportunity to refine your skill as a traveling warrior.

[photos by: Emerging Birder, mellyjean, lewishamdreamer, blently, Jeff Bauche, ToniVC, b3ni, Richard Holen]

EDITED [8/27]: You can also see this post on The Consumerist.

The 5 Row Rule and 5 Expert Ways To Survive A Plane Crash

The tragic crash of Air France Flight 447 and apparent death of all aboard may have you feeling apprehensive and somewhat disappointed in air travel. Despite what the media portrays, 76.6% of people survive serious plane crashes and there are some simple ways you can increase your chances of survival if you are ever in one.

There isn’t much you can do if you’re on a jumbo jet that completely fails and you plummet to the ground from a high altitude like Flight 447. Luckily for us this isn’t how most crashes happen and expert research from air tragedies can teach us a lot about how to make it out of a disaster.

The 5 Row Rule

According to Ben Sherman, the author of The Survivors Guide: The Secrets and Science That Could Save Your Life, research shows that passengers usually move an average of 5 rows before they can get off a burning aircraft. Sitting any further away than 5 rows from any exit row greatly reduces your chances of surviving. You can also slightly improve your chances by sitting at the back of the plane.

Be Alert When Crashes Are Likeliest To Happen

Plane crash from statistics PlaneCrashInfo.com show that 68% of plane crashes occur with in 30 minutes of takeoff and 30 minutes of landing. In fact, 79% of all crashes happen when the plane isn’t cruising. Ben Sherman suggests that those are the times when most of us are buried in our books, deafened by iPods, and ignoring the safety directions. (Reading them, by the way increases your chance of survival too, even for frequent fliers.)

Keep Your Seat Belt On

Sudden losses of altitude and turbulence are rare but more common than plane crashes. A steep drop in altitude due to a strong downdraft, or computer error as happened on Qantas flight in 2008 can cause serious injuries. If you do survive the initial impact you don’t want to be hindered by a broken leg or head laceration because you were tossed about the cabin on the way down. A mere 20 second steep dive on that Qantas flight caused a number of serious injuries and while there was no crash, the injuries could have prevented those passengers from evacuating.

Dress For Success

Avoid wearing highly flammable clothing like nylon stockings and footwear that’s difficult to run in like flip-flops. Comfort is important but take a moment to think about how practical your clothing is before you head to the airport. It’s also a good idea to keep your shoes on during the critical times of takeoff and landing.

Put The Most Important Things In Your Pocket

Experts say that the single biggest factor to slow down an airplane evacuation are people trying to grab things out of their carry-on luggage. Anything that is sentimentally important or valuable enough to you that you’d risk your life to save should be in your pockets. If it can’t fit forget it. You can always by a new one and I’m sure your wife will forgive you for leaving behind that pen she gave you. Your loved ones would rather have you.

500 Feet (150 Meters)

Get at least 500 feet away from the aircraft’s wreckage to avoid explosions and fire from the plane but don’t get so far away that you’ll get lost or can’t be found. (Both are easy to do in a tense situation.) For water landings, get as far from the wreckage as possible to avoid strong waves and getting pulled under as the craft sinks.

Some More Survival Tips

• Stay Sober – Even though drinking is one of 3 fun things to do if your flight gets canceled being drunk won’t help you in any disaster, aerial or not. Getting drunk right before your flight is the worst time to be inebriated.
• Relieve Your Anxiety Without Relying On The Statistics – The further you are from being calm and assertive the less clearly you’ll be able to think and do the best things to survive. Relax while on any flight because your odds of being in a crash are extraordinarily small.  Stress and blood clots from flying are more likely to kill you.

Be Prepare But Not Scared

Your chances of being involved in a plane crash are very, very small. While these precautions are sound advice, don’t preoccupy yourself by worrying too much about them. Use common sense and be aware when it counts, get a seat close to the exit, dress practically, and enjoy your flight.

[photos by: eperales, Ti.mo, Peter Gerdes]

Heroes Superpowers Any Traveler Would Love To Have

I don’t have a TV but have been catching up to the show Heroes on Hulu and Netflix online (here’s how to watch them outside of the US). It seems that most of the characters are so busy trying to save the world from some crazy plot twist when their powers would be more useful in the hands of you, the traveler.

If you could steal the powers of 3 characters ala Peter Petrelli, you’ll want to take the best ones to be a super-traveler.

Hiro Nakamura – Teleportation

Time travel is a good power too, except that you could screw up the space-time continuum, or your mom. So take his power to teleport anywhere he pleases and use it to skip airport lines, visa hassles, and swing by Paris for a few hours after work. The best part is you can take your friends with you, just make sure they’re holding your hand.

Nathan Petrelli – Flying

Sure, teleporting gets you from place to place, but flying gets you the best camera angles. There won’t be too many other photographers that will get the shots you do. Adrian Pasdar, who plays Nathan, actually starting flying in the 80s with Tom Cruise in Top Gun (clip below).

Micah Sanders – Technopath

This little kid has the ability to talk to machines and have his way with technology (“technopathy” not techno-party). A great gift to have if you can’t figure out a train ticketing kiosk in Chinese or are baffled by the payphones in Europe. You could also be mischievous and get free plane tickets or manipulate ATM machines but borrowing wi-fi and avoiding speed traps is as far as I’d go.

Take 2 More

It’s unfortunate the writers of the show couldn’t give any female characters some good traveling powers, but here are two that are close enough.

• Daphne Millbrook - Can move at super speeds, useful for obvious reasons.
• Molly Walker - Think Facebook is a good way to find old friends, try just thinking about them to get the exact location.

Superheroes doing super things are nice, but superpowers could really make routine tasks, like traveling, so much easier than thwarting villains. What is truly special is that so many people already are super travelers, with no magic required.

Star Trek’s Top Intergalactic Travel Destinations

“To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations…”

-Star Trek title sequence

The Star Trek universe is full of planets which may not be real but certainly would be great travel destinations if they were. Imagine a universe where you could hop on board a shuttle craft and zip around the galaxy like an Enterprise crew member. Here are the Star Trek intergalactic destionations you’d want to beam down to first.

Risa

You know you’re heading to a fun place when it’s nicknamed the “pleasure planet”. Risa is home to the free loving Risans who converted their rainy planet into a tropical paradise where most anything goes. Getting laid in Risa is about as easy as placing a fertility statue (known as the horga’hn shown below) next to your chair by the pool to let the locals know you’re feeling frisky.

Vulcan

The Vulcans may be too logical for it, but their deserts, rocky terrain, and mountains would make for some pretty sweet off-roading and hiking grounds. Gravity on Vulcan is stronger than here on Earth, so you’ll need to get a decent amount of speed on your ATV for good jumps. It would also make a great place to hike, camp, and has several plenty of religious temples to visit as well.

Andoria

The ice moon, not too far from Vulcan, rarely gets above -30 degrees Celsius (in the summer). Completely covered with snow, ice, and mountains it would make a great place to cross country ski, or snowboard – provided that you bundle up. (Especially since Earth’s ski resorts are heating up.) All of the Andorian cities are underground and its caves are popular honeymoon destinations.

Notable Mentions – Some of the worlds that didn’t make the list but were close in the running.

• Betazed – Generally mild with lush rain forests and jungles. Just don’t try to lie to your Betazoid travel agent, they can read minds.
• Trill - The Hoobshian Baths are a little bit of sauna and a little bit of Risa in one.
• Romulus - I suspect that Romulus would be a great place to jet ski since its covered in vast lakes and oceans. It might be hard to get a tourist visa though, the Romulans are notoriously suspicious and don’t like aliens.

The Winner: Sol III aka. Earth

The planet we all take for granted has everything and more than the fictional worlds of Star Trek above can offer. With our oceans, wildlife, mountains, deserts, variety of climates to name a few, I’m sure that Earth will be the tourist destination of the 24th century and beyond. Let’s just hope we can take care of it so it lasts and flourishes until then.

Aren’t we lucky that we live on the best travel planet in the galaxy? The Star Trek worlds are really archetypes of what already exists here on Earth and a reminder not to take it for granted. Perhaps those strange new worlds are not as far as think and what drives us to travel as much as we can.

“It can be argued that a human is ultimately the sum of his experiences.”

-Benjamin Sisko, Deep Space: 9.

How Your Memory Fuels Your Fear of Flying

There are a number of you, including myself, that don’t necessarily trust airplanes even though we fly many times throughout the year. Much of our anxieties are fueled by the availability heuristic, basically how easily it is to recall past incidents, in this case, plane crashes.

Psychology Today has an intriguing article that might help to ease, or at least explain, your airplane crash worries – despite the underwhelming odds against them.

What is the probability that the next plane you fly on will crash? The true probability of any particular plane crashing depends on a huge number of factors, most of which you’re not aware of and/or don’t have reliable data on. What type of plane is it? What time of day is the flight? What is the weather like? You get the idea.

Indeed, you probably have little or no data from which to base your estimate. Well, that’s not exactly true. In fact, there is one piece that evidence that you always have access to: your memory. The easier time we have recalling prior incidents, the greater probability the event has of occurring — at least as far as our minds are concerned. In a nutshell, this is the availability heuristic.

An example of an unexpected outcome due to our generally poor ability to gauge risks became evident after September 11, 2001.

Read more

When To Fight The Airlines

Often times you’re stuck waiting stand-by for a flight during a snow storm so angry that fumes are steaming off of your head. You want to do something but look around and see everyone else in the same agony and decide to do nothing.

With airfares going up and service going down, should you act or should you just keep quiet like everyone else?

A rule of thumb to follow is always fight the airlines when you think you’ve been wronged or the airlines don’t live up to their obligations.

• Don’t complicate things and speak up. You paid money for those plane tickets, remember?
• Avoid being complacent even if others are and hold the airlines to their obligations.
• Speak up – even when others are. Although the raging idiot yelling at everyone behind the ticket counter is embarrassing themselves, don’t worry that you’ll be seen as equally unstable. (It can actually help sometimes.) Also, don’t assume that other people voicing their opinions and gripes will be voicing yours as well – make your point, and clearly.

Speaking up is vital if you want to be reimbursed, upgraded, or get a decent explanation on how late to your destination you’ll really be. As simple as it is, most travelers – even experienced ones – stay quiet when they are bumped from flights, stuck sitting on the runway for hours, or get the run around from airline employees.

Remind yourself what the airlines do to you when you’re late or miss a flight – they make you pay. That contract goes both ways. Next week I’ll be taking a look at how to voice your complaints effectively during a number of situations to make sure you are compensated when the airlines don’t live up to their obligations.

[photo by: Mozul]

Will Flying Separately Save Your Family In A Plane Crash?

The other day I heard the morbid logic from a (non) frequent flier that he takes separate flights with one child and his wife with their other two. They do this so that in case of a plane crash, their family and one of the children will survive. This is not the first time I’ve heard people bring this up – some parents take separate flights when they leave the kids behind with relatives for this very reason.

As odd as it sounds, the idea intrigues me, does flying separately really reduce the chances of losing your entire family in a plane crash?

The Numbers

According to Plane Crash Info, the odds of you dying in a commuter plane crash are 1 per every 140,000 flight hours. Americans are at slightly higher risk, they have about a 1 in 20,000 chance of dying in a plane accident and frequent flier are more likely to die in a crash.

Two Flights, Better Odds?

Taking two flights (since plane crashes are random events) doesn’t reduce your chances of dying to 1 in 40,000. It just gives each passenger (if you’re family is taking two planes) a 1 in 20,000 chance of dying in a crash. So, even if the plane goes down you may still survive depending on where you sit and the type of crash.

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Interview With Cabin Cuddler Creator Jim Levings

Jim Levings is a former pilot who created the Cabin Cuddler travel blanket, which I reviewed earlier this week. Jim is a fascinating fellow who was kind enough to let me ask him a few questions about his product the Cabin Cuddler, how he found out that airplane blankets aren’t washed, and his career as a pilot.

Jim, in your own words, describe the Cabin Cuddler for us.

The Cabin Cuddler is a travel blanket designed to solve the basic problems travelers have with airplane blankets and pillows on flights.

What inspired you to create the Cabin Cuddler?

I created the Cabin Cuddler about 6 years ago and got the inspiration while I was an airline pilot. I was coming back from a four hour flight and just sitting at the back of a plane. I noticed this lady trying to get wrapped up in a blanket then struggling to get up to her carry-on in the overhead bin then sitting and trying to eat a meal . As I watched her go through this process I thought to myself, there has got to be a better travel blanket that can solve the problems she’s going through.

I sketched out on napkin the basic design and gave it to my sister who is a design artist and we came up with the Cabin Cuddler.

Why this particular design?

The original design of the blanket hasn’t changed since we started. We may have made some changes to the packaging and have since included an inflatable pillow and made the tote bag reversible. We wanted to make an all encompassing blanket and pillow combination that would be easy to carry and travel with.

Your website, CabinCuddler.com mentions that airplane blankets are reused many times, spreading germs – are they not washed after each use?

Read more

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