headland

Airline Industry Information revealed on Tuesday that Korean Air is the first airline to receive permission from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration to carry Taser stun guns on board its passenger flights inside United States airspace.

The application of the airline was approved at the start of November, according to a spokesperson for the TSA. Reportedly, the airline has been using Taser weapons outside U.S. airspace for several years.

The arming of flight personnel with Taser guns is intended to meet the potential threat of terrorists and criminals aboard passenger aircraft.

Labels: airline security, Korean Air, stun guns, TSA

Headland switches coasts for a few days, coming to you from Los Angeles. Security lines this morning in the Baltimore-Washington airport were the longest I've seen -- perhaps 1/4 mile long. It didn't matter how far in advance you had arrived -- everyone eventually had to be called out of line to the front in order to make the departure time. At one point, one bold fellow stepped out of line and yelled to the rest of us: "You know what's going on here, don't you? They're having a sickout. Only seven of the fifteen security stations are doing business. They can't strike, so they're slowing things down in order to get a measly $400." I've googled about a bit today, but can't find anything on airport security screeners conducting a sickout. Any readers who can tell me more about this situation: please write.

Labels: airline security, Los Angeles